Is there any downside in applying for the special tourist visa instead of the regular tourist visa?

[user70]

Is there any downside in applying for the special tourist visa instead of the regular tourist visa?

 

I only see one upside, which is that special tourist visa allows a visitor to stay for 90 days, with two potential 90-day extension, whereas a regular tourist visa allows a visitor to stay for 60 days, with one potential 30-day extension. 

 

Did I miss something? (e.g., perhaps the special tourist visa takes much longer to obtain than the regular tourist visa, or is much more expensive?)

[ubonjoe]

You have to have 40/400k baht of medical insurance to apply for a STV and the fee is 5000 baht. Plus proof of where you are staying for the time you are here.

The fee for a single entry tourist visa is 1000 baht and does not require the insurance.

[farang51]

The requirements differ. The two worst requirements for the special tourist visa are proof of paid accommodation after quarantine and health insurance from a Thai insurance company.

[Spellforce]

A visa agency told me that if you want later apply for a non-o visa, it can be done with a TR visa (tourist visa) but not with a STV visa.

Maybe @ubonjoewill confirm ?

[ubonjoe]

4 minutes ago, Spellforce said:

A visa agency told me that if you want later apply for a non-o visa, it can be done with a TR visa (tourist visa) but not with a STV visa.

That is correct.

[aldriglikvid]

In the country where I applied the fee was 2 100 for STV compared to 1100 for a TV. 

The 400/40k insurance cost me 110$ (LMG 1)

 

I did several bookings on booking.com that I later canceled to solve the last issue. 

As I'm not over 50 and I want to stay longer than 3 months this was near excellent. 

[user70]

6 hours ago, aldriglikvid said:

The 400/40k insurance cost me 110$ (LMG 1)

 

Thanks very much, do you have a link for the insurance plan that you purchased (90-day plan?)? Also, how many days did it take for you to receive STV? Lastly, just to make sure that I got it correctly, you first apply for STV, then once you received it, you applied for CoE?

[aldriglikvid]

Via: https://longstay.tgia.org/ 

 

LMG 

 

Correct, first I got my visa in order and then I applied for COE

[pacovl46]

15 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

You have to have 40/400k baht of medical insurance to apply for a STV and the fee is 5000 baht. Plus proof of where you are staying for the time you are here.

The fee for a single entry tourist visa is 1000 baht and does not require the insurance.

How about travel health insurance from your home country? They usually cover a lot more than the 400K Baht Thai health insurance! Will one of those suffice, too?

[Tedly]

Sorry, If I'm going a little off topic or hijacking the thread, but then in my case since I am married to a Thai and we want to this year to stay. I'm over 50 by the way. Would I be OK to apply for a tourist visa and then after I'm there do the extension of stay based on marriage? Or is there a better way, that I wouldn't have to buy a round trip ticket?  Ubon Joe, I know you seem to know all when it comes to this stuff so hopefully you can advise me. Thanks in advance.

[ubonjoe]

34 minutes ago, Tedly said:

Sorry, If I'm going a little off topic or hijacking the thread, but then in my case since I am married to a Thai and we want to this year to stay. I'm over 50 by the way. Would I be OK to apply for a tourist visa and then after I'm there do the extension of stay based on marriage? Or is there a better way, that I wouldn't have to buy a round trip ticket?  Ubon Joe, I know you seem to know all when it comes to this stuff so hopefully you can advise me. Thanks in advance.

It would be best if you applied for a single entry non-o visa based upon marriage to a Thai. It will allow a 90 day entry that can be extended for one year. No return or onward ticket is needed for it.

If entering on a tourist visa you would have to a apply for 90 day non-o visa entry at immigration before applying for the one year extension.

[Peter Denis]

11 hours ago, user70 said:

..., do you have a link for the insurance plan that you purchased (90-day plan?)? Also, how many days did it take for you to receive STV? Lastly, just to make sure that I got it correctly, you first apply for STV, then once you received it, you applied for CoE?

I did PM you a Guideline document on how to apply for the cheapest 'throw-away' IO-approved health-insurance requirement, including tips and caveats.  That's the LMG Plan-1 Insurance (with 200K deductible) as used by @aldriglikvid.

As he indicated, when you are under 50 years of age, the STV is a good option to stay up to 9 months in Thailand.  If you are under 50 years of age and only staying a couple of months, it would be far easier to enter Thailand VisaExempt or on a 60-day Tourist Visa which will provide you with a 45-days or 60-days permission to stay on entry.  And it is easy to extend such entries with a one-time 30-day extension of stay at any local IO.  Currently you also have the option once in Thailand to apply for the 60-day covid-19 extension (currently valid till end of March), but it is as good as certain that these covid-19 extensions will be prolonged every 2 months.  So for a 5 or 6 month stay in Thailand, that might be a better option.

And of course when you are over 50 years of age, and intend to stay long-term in Thailand, you could apply for a Non Imm O-A Visa in your home-country, or at the end of your available options (see higher) apply for a 90-day Non Imm O Visa in Thailand which can subsequently be followed by 1-year extensions.

>> In order to access your PM messages just click the letter-icon next to your profile when logged in to the Forum

[Peter Denis]

3 hours ago, pacovl46 said:

How about travel health insurance from your home country? They usually cover a lot more than the 400K Baht Thai health insurance! Will one of those suffice, too?

You can use travel-insurance to meet the 100.000 US $ covid-19 treatment insurance requirement which is now mandatory for everybody entering Thailand (it is part of the CoE requirements).

SafetyWing < https://safetywing.com/nomad-insurance/ > does provide a generous travel-insurance package that meets that requirement and which in many cases will be even CHEAPER than the ridiculous covid-19 only travel insurance policies offered by TGIA.

However, for the 400K/40K in/out-patient health-insurance policy, mandatory when applying for an STV in your home-country (or returning on a still valid re-entry permit from a retirement-extension based on your orignal Non Imm O Visa), the options are limited to Thai insurers offering those IO-approved insurance policies.  The only exception being the Thai Embassy in USA, which allows making use of foreign health-insurance provided your foreign/international policy meets the requirements and your insurer is able/willing to fill-in and sign the Foreign Insurance Certificate.

 

[pacovl46]

7 hours ago, Peter Denis said:

You can use travel-insurance to meet the 100.000 US $ covid-19 treatment insurance requirement which is now mandatory for everybody entering Thailand (it is part of the CoE requirements).

SafetyWing < https://safetywing.com/nomad-insurance/ > does provide a generous travel-insurance package that meets that requirement and which in many cases will be even CHEAPER than the ridiculous covid-19 only travel insurance policies offered by TGIA.

However, for the 400K/40K in/out-patient health-insurance policy, mandatory when applying for an STV in your home-country (or returning on a still valid re-entry permit from a retirement-extension based on your orignal Non Imm O Visa), the options are limited to Thai insurers offering those IO-approved insurance policies.  The only exception being the Thai Embassy in USA, which allows making use of foreign health-insurance provided your foreign/international policy meets the requirements and your insurer is able/willing to fill-in and sign the Foreign Insurance Certificate.

 

Ok, thanks for clearing that up! ????
 

 

[connda]

On 2/8/2021 at 3:08 PM, ubonjoe said:

You have to have 40/400k baht of medical insurance to apply for a STV and the fee is 5000 baht. Plus proof of where you are staying for the time you are here.

The fee for a single entry tourist visa is 1000 baht and does not require the insurance.

Did I miss something recently.  They are letting people in again on SETVs? 

[richard_smith237]

4 minutes ago, connda said:

Did I miss something recently.  They are letting people in again on SETVs? 

 

If I’m not mistaken they are letting people in on Visa Exempt on arrival (for certain 56 countries), 45 days instead of the standard 30 to accommodate quarantine.

 

(Note: there is no Visa on Arrival) 

[BangkokReady]

On 2/8/2021 at 3:23 PM, ubonjoe said:

That is correct.

 

Same for Non-B?

[macster44]

 

Hi all

 

I was looking at the LMG policy and saw that the deductible starts at 100,000 THB.....just in case anyone was considering that policy.  That seems like a HUGE deductible for most people and hopefully the premium is lower as a result of such a high deductible.  I saw that it is for the long stay O-A but think maybe is for STV visa also....can anyone confirm that

 

Also.....what is the 400/40 policy for ?   

 

I thought that all visas that required a C-19 policy was a mandatory 100,00 USD

 

Stay healthy everyone....leaving for Thailand in a few days.

 

mac

[ubonjoe]

On 2/8/2021 at 3:18 PM, Spellforce said:

A visa agency told me that if you want later apply for a non-o visa, it can be done with a TR visa (tourist visa) but not with a STV visa.

 

On 2/8/2021 at 3:23 PM, ubonjoe said:

That is correct.

 

10 hours ago, BangkokReady said:

 

Same for Non-B?

A STV visa entry cannot be changed to a any category of non immigrant visa.

[Tedly]

22 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

It would be best if you applied for a single entry non-o visa based upon marriage to a Thai. It will allow a 90 day entry that can be extended for one year. No return or onward ticket is needed for it.

If entering on a tourist visa you would have to a apply for 90 day non-o visa entry at immigration before applying for the one year extension.

Thank you very much for the info. I knew you would be the best guy to give an answer I could trust.

[Peter Denis]

3 hours ago, macster44 said:

...

I was looking at the LMG policy and saw that the deductible starts at 100,000 THB.....just in case anyone was considering that policy.  That seems like a HUGE deductible for most people and hopefully the premium is lower as a result of such a high deductible.  I saw that it is for the long stay O-A but think maybe is for STV visa also....can anyone confirm that

 

Also.....what is the 400/40 policy for ?   

 

I thought that all visas that required a C-19 policy was a mandatory 100,00 USD

...

The sole purpose of the LMG Plan-1 policy, is to meet the now mandatory requirement for an IO-approved policy that meets the (ridiculously low) 400K/40K in/out-patient treatment coverage.

That otherwise virtually worthless policy was designed to meet that mandatory requirement, and is the cheapest way to meet it.

Obviously, subscribing to insurance (be it health-insurance or travel-insurance) is a good idea in order to have you covered in case of catastrophic accident/illness and there are many international insurance policies that do provide excellent value in that respect.  But by imposing a mandatory Thai IO-approved insurance which is only accepted when issued by a TGIA-associated insurer, the Thai insurance lobby has clouded the issue.  

Imo the best way to go about this is to opt for the dirt-cheapest policy that meets Immigration requirements (mandatory for Non Imm O-A Visa and STV applications), and by doing so saving money to subscribe to an insurance policy that meets your actual needs.

= = = = =

The above is separate from the current CoE requirement that anyone now entering Thailand needs to subscribe to a 100.000 US $ covid-19 treatment insurance.  Depending on age and nationality, subscribing to a SafetyWing travel-insurance package (which does meet that 100K US $ covid-19 coverage), will be a much better value deal than the (once again) ridiculous covid-19 only policies offered by the TGIA Thai insurance maffia lobby.

[BangkokReady]

10 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

A STV visa entry cannot be changed to a any category of non immigrant visa.

 

Perhaps I should have quoted a little more of your comment.

 

Quote

A visa agency told me that if you want later apply for a non-o visa, it can be done with a TR visa (tourist visa) but not with a STV visa.

 

I was replying to the comment where you quoted the above and said "That is correct.".

 

So my question was essentially "Can you currently enter Thailand on a classic tourist visa, find work, then change onto a Non-B?".

[ubonjoe]

10 minutes ago, BangkokReady said:

So my question was essentially "Can you currently enter Thailand on a classic tourist visa, find work, then change onto a Non-B?".

Yes you can if you and your employer can meet the requirements.

See: https://bangkokimmigration.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/01-edit_NON-B.pdf