Does anyone have information re how / if this ban being carried out? For what it's worth I have worked hard with a lot of help from this board to get everything together for Non-Imm OA with a potential leaving date of 18th March. Just as I approach the final hurdle the rug is pulled.

I guess you don't have to be a Buddhist to work out the first noble truth - life is suffering (otherwise translated as simply unsatisfactory).

You say you've worked hard, presumably you want to buy health insurance with the OA? as for the ban I've not seen anything on Facebook and it usually comes out on there first 

As I understand it all international travel is banned from the UK unless you have a legally permitted reason to do so, for example because of work, but even then not in every case, as with many rules from the UK the actual rules are pretty unclear.
It depends why you are actually intending to travel, if you're returning home, and can prove it, you should be ok, otherwise you might possibly encounter a problem.
Checks are supposed to be carried out by airline staff, UK Border Force and the Police at the point of departure, you may not be allowed to travel if it's deemed you acting outside of the law.

 

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/national-lockdown-stay-at-home#international-travel

 

You can only travel internationally – or within the UK – where you first have a legally permitted reason to leave home. In addition, you should consider the public health advice in the country you are visiting.

If you do need to travel overseas (and are legally permitted to do so, for example, because it is for work), even if you are returning to a place you’ve visited before, you should look at the rules in place at your destination and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) travel advice. 

Then the next problem arises. finding a carrier Emirites is the next casualty

10 hours ago, Seagull Sam said:

Buddhist to work out the first noble truth - life is suffering (otherwise translated as simply unsatisfactory).

Well, first, sorry for your troubles. The whole world is inconvenienced at best, sick, afraid and dying at worst...

 

However - Thailand has done well for itself in being very careful to minimize the virus here. So, what might appear unsatisfactory for you has been a great blessing and triumph for the country... 

Thanks for responses. The issue is not with the rules, as always it is the enforcement. Our current government doesn't help matters much by appearing to make up rules for the sake of it. International lockdown should have happened a very long time ago if it were to happen at all.

I was in hospital in Bangkok (and Trat) for a while so I may arrange an appointment to help my case.

Suffering? Not really, just having to take a lot of little knockbacks. Some Buddhist style equanimity can go a long way. And yes Thailand has a great record on Covid. Hats off to them.

 

Hi, if it helps , British trying to get back to France were controlled and stopped twice. Others were refused boarding with BA and had to go home and re book with Air France. It seems everyone, including the Brits are taking this seriously. Imagine  you pay everything and then get turned back. There’s warnings everywhere.

11 hours ago, 1FinickyOne said:

However - Thailand has done well for itself in being very careful to minimize the virus here. So, what might appear unsatisfactory for you has been a great blessing and triumph for the country... 

 

All well and good but irrelevant to this thread which is about UK regulations not Thai.

22 hours ago, Seagull Sam said:

Does anyone have information re how / if this ban being carried out?

 

So far I've seen no reports of people being asked let alone stopped when boarding a flight to Thailand (no surprise given it's early days and allegedly the rules haven't been sent to border control yet). Seeing you are planning for March no point in worrying about it now; things will no doubt have changed, for better or worse, by then.

Sorry about your trouble, I know every country is different and Australia hasnt had huge lockdowns like the UK has, but we still had rules on leaving the country, ours were at least set out and the one I think most used to get to Thailand is if you were leaving the country for longer than 3 monyhs it was ok, its just a thought for you as most countries get all their ideas from somewhere else and cobble together a response and maybe british border force has the same I had my permission to leave in November good for 3 months before I needed to re apply and left Oz on Jan 25th. 

4 hours ago, Salerno said:

All well and good but irrelevant

I was responding to someone talking about Buddhism.. it was relevant to that... Are you the relevance police now? You can say that about 90% of the responses on Thai visa... we are flexible and sway in the wind... relax buddy.