Hi - I live in Thailand with a work permit and 1 year visa. I have medical insurance from Cigna that covers COVID but pay monthly.

I have to return to US for a few weeks and applied in advance online for my COE, enclosing the Cigna policy and my ID card. The embassy  just temporarily rejected my COE saying I need to show the period of insurance that covers my stay in Thailand.

So if I have to buy one of those separate COvid policies does this mean that I need to buy an entire year's worth which is very expensive.

Appreciate any thoughts -

Stephen

I assume you have a extension of stay based upon working not a valid visa.

The insurance would need to valid up the day your extension of stay and re-entry permit expires.

When entering Thailand on an Emirates-flight the 100.000 US $ covid-19 treatment insurance is provided FREE and is included in the flight-ticket price.   You can't get much cheaper than that.  However, as the coverage is only 30 days for a one-way flight, you would need to book a return-flight with return date AFTER the permission to stay date you would receive on entry, as in that case Emirates covers your full trip with that free 100.000 US $ covid-19 treatment insurance.  When booking a flexible ticket you could of course use that return-leg at a date of your convenience.

even though you pay the premium monthly your policy will have an expiration date, typically they are issued for one year. Check what that date is. If it ends before your current extension of stay then you could either renew it early or get a separate COVID only policy.

thanks for all your helpful replies - I appreciate it.