No delays in Phuket Sandbox entry permit processing: Foreign Ministry

[webfact]

 

By Tanakorn Sangiam

   

BANGKOK (NNT) - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs says processing of all Certificate of Entry requests in the Phuket Tourism Sandbox campaign is being done in a timely manner, however a permit cannot be issued for applications that fail to comply fully with the regulations.

 

The spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), Tanee Sangrat has refuted an allegation that the MFA has failed to issue Certificates of Entry (COE) on time for some travelers who planned to arrive in Phuket on 1st July.

 

Currently, any person seeking entry to Thailand, regardless of their nationality or purpose of visit, must obtain a Certificate of Entry (COE) from a relevant Royal Thai Embassy or consulate via an online portal. This also applies to fully-vaccinated travelers visiting Phuket for quarantine-free tourism.

 

Mr Tanee said that embassies and consulates have successfully processed all COE applications from Phuket Sandbox travelers arriving on 1st July, however some applications had been rejected due to incomplete documentation.

 

As of 1st July, the MFA had received 6,020 COE applications from international travelers, with 3,034 applications now approved, and 379 rejected.

 

According to the MFA’s data, 323 people applied to enter Phuket on 1st July, followed by 471 people on 2nd July, and 279 people on 3rd July.

 

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[2 is 1]

15 minutes ago, webfact said:

According to the MFA’s data, 323 people applied to enter Phuket on 1st July, followed by 471 people on 2nd July, and 279 people on 3rd July

Almost 3 million "tourist" already! Nice job TAT! Cant wait to see the missing 2998927!

[gim12]

what the hell is the point of a COE? Could not immigration at the airport do the exact same thing?

[asiam110]

2 minutes ago, gim12 said:

what the hell is the point of a COE? Could not immigration at the airport do the exact same thing?

 

I'm pretty sure they do all the exact same checks in addition too (along with your airline check-in and gate agent). Thailand always has to be #1... with bureaucracy, inefficiency, and just plain stupidity with regards to immigration

[nkg]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Mr Tanee said that embassies and consulates have successfully processed all COE applications from Phuket Sandbox travelers arriving on 1st July, however some applications had been rejected due to incomplete documentation.

 

 

Never mind, I'm sure that the rejected applications were able to get full refunds for their home country PCR test, 3 Thai PCR tests, mandatory 15 day hotel booking paid in full, Thai covid insurance, and flights.

[gk10012001]

follow all rules is fine, if the rules were clearly listed.  Another post just now is talking about how one needs to pay for the COVID tests up front, show proof of payment, or itemized listing on a hotel bill which many hotels were not aware of until now!

[gk10012001]

29 minutes ago, nkg said:

 

 

Never mind, I'm sure that the rejected applications were able to get full refunds for their home country PCR test, 3 Thai PCR tests, mandatory 15 day hotel booking paid in full, Thai covid insurance, and flights.

Yeah.  After 15 trips to the LOS I love and miss the place. But I also have run into one or two pay and not get items or service issues over the years, ranging from non working plumbing in a hotel room, to paying for a VIP bus seat and then on the day of travel they try to give me only a coach seat, etc.  I don't trust any large ticket expense.  The reason I first went to Thailand was because it was easy.  No advance booking needed.  Visa Exempt upon arrival.  All easy peasy.  I am dying to return but I have to let my pocket book and wallet sense spidey sense to say wait

[impulse]

1 hour ago, gim12 said:

what the hell is the point of a COE? Could not immigration at the airport do the exact same thing?

 

Ya don't figure anyone would be cheezed off to make it all the way to arrival, then get turned back?

 

Look at COE as a kindly public service, to prevent that from happening.  By making sure you have all the documents before you hop on the plane.

 

[poskat]

they need to re-assign the people doing the speedy document processing to the departments responsible for getting foreign-produced vaccines into thailand ASAP

[khunjeff]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

The spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), Tanee Sangrat has refuted an allegation that the MFA has failed to issue Certificates of Entry (COE) on time for some travelers who planned to arrive in Phuket on 1st July.

 

It depends on your definition of "on time". I have no doubt that they did issue COEs in time for people to theoretically make their flights, but it's totally understandable that many people would have given up and cancelled their plans when they still didn't have the COE a day or two before their planned departure.

 

That isn't a criticism of MFA, by the way - the delays were totally the fault of the invisible hands in Bangkok dragging out the planning and approval process for the program, and adding new requirements at the last minute.

[ukrules]

9 hours ago, gim12 said:

what the hell is the point of a COE? Could not immigration at the airport do the exact same thing?

 

Paperwork number one!

 

Without all the paperwork they wouldn't have jobs, half of them could be fired with zero consequence overnight.

 

They've built an entire industry around it.