Bloody-minded stupidity of London Thai embassy's website

[jrmaanda]

I am trying desperately to return home to Thailand via the Phuket Sandbox from London, from which it appears absolutely essential to obtain a Certificate of Entry from the Royal Thai Embassy there. I have tried carefully seven times to register with them, and each time, after checking meticulously that all was in order so far as it could be, my application has resulted in a demand to upload my vaccination certificate, which had of course already been painstakingly done. Naturally, not the slightest explanation is given as to why my upload has been implicitly rejected, but i have noted that the website demanded that the upload include passport details. I must admit that my vaccination certificate (the European Union's standard "EU Digital Covid Certificate" obtained through vaccination in France) does not include this, but then, so far as I can gather from googling from images, neither does the standard British NHS certificate. So what the hell do they expect? I find it hard to believe that such a stupid website (I use the term on reflection for one that fails utterly to give a comprehensible explanation for its reactions) is really capable of automatically detecting that passport details are missing from an upload, but i suppose anything is possible.

 

Two years ago, I despaired forever of getting another Thai visa from my birthplace of London when the same embassy's website inexplicably rejected good documents in like manner without intelligible explanation and decided thenceforth to fly especially to Vietnam for a human treatment of my application, but this time there appears to be no other way home. I would be eternally grateful to anyone who can furnish a workable solution.

[bojo]

Can it wait till Monday? My daughter spoke to them by phone recently with a C of E query and they were very helpful............

[KhaoYai]

You are correct that the UK's vaccination certificate does not include passport details - the only ID it has is your name and date of birth.  I haven't seen this as I haven't made an application yet but are you saying they want your passport details to be on the actual certificate?  What are they suggesting could happen - you just happened to find another person with same name and you're using their vaccine certificate?

 

I think you'll have to phone them to sort this out.  I'd be grateful if you could post the outcome...............................I'm having visions of a legally notarised document confirming the certificate belongs to the passport holder which then needs translating and the translation verifying by the MFA. ????

[Denim]

59 minutes ago, jrmaanda said:

Two years ago, I despaired forever of getting another Thai visa from my birthplace of London

You are not alone. I vowed to bypass them completely once things had to be done online. Gone are the days when a visa application consisted of filling in an A4 application , submitting a couple of supporting documents and two photos then posting everything off.

 

Its as bad when applying for a UK visa for your spouse from VFS global , with ridiculous questions like ' have you ever been a member of a terrorist organization or committed an act of terrorism ' or some such similar questions.

 

Good luck with your application. Others have somehow managed so presumably there is a winning method , even if it tries your patience finding it.

[sammieuk1]

It took me 36 days to get a new "O" visa and COE don't forget they do not accept post delivered at weekends work only from 9-12 week days and not at all on any Thai public holiday never answer the phone under any circumstances and take days to reply to any email and you will be fine????

[club]

Call them and speak to someone

[Whale]

You dont say if the computer system rejects your application or if its rejected on review by a human a few days later?

[ezzra]

9 minutes ago, club said:

Call them and speak to someone

I had similar issues with the Thai embassy in Canberra Australia and until i have phoned them and made myself known to one of the staff who took care of those arrangements and got friendly with her only than i have manged to complete the Coe, i mean you'd think that they will make life easy for those who want to travel to Thailand but NO, those foreign department workers were thought and told 'Make their life miserable before you let thing done' and they have been doing so ever since i remember dealing with Thai embassies and consulates in several countries...

Edited August 22, 2021 by ezzra

[John435]

I would check you have actually uploaded the document. After you select your document, there is a button underneath you have to press which actually stores the file. If you don’t press that, the embassy won’t see the file you selected. I didn’t read the instructions carefully.

[kiwikeith]

6 hours ago, KhaoYai said:

You are correct that the UK's vaccination certificate does not include passport details - the only ID it has is your name and date of birth.  I haven't seen this as I haven't made an application yet but are you saying they want your passport details to be on the actual certificate?  What are they suggesting could happen - you just happened to find another person with same name and you're using their vaccine certificate?

 

I think you'll have to phone them to sort this out.  I'd be grateful if you could post the outcome...............................I'm having visions of a legally notarised document confirming the certificate belongs to the passport holder which then needs translating and the translation verifying by the MFA. ????

I just checked documents I sent in for a friend, and the document showed a card with both

doses on it of Pfizer with only his name and batch number on it,

However it was also stamped and signed by a JP as a true copy.

The NZ embassy excepted this , however I uploaded a copy of his passport with the covid doc.

His Dr later gave him a letter to go with the card with his ID number and passport number and hospital number on it.

I never uploaded that doc as he only got it with his fit to fly and rt -pcr test to show at the airport.

I suggest you go to your doctor and get him to give you a letter with all your numbers on it, and get a JP to certify your covid doc along with putting your passport number on it and send it in with a certified copy of your passport as well , send it as one attachment.

[ronster]

As stated above there is a button to confirm as far as I remember once you have uploaded it . Or is the file size the issue as some only accept files to a certain size . 

[Aussieroaming]

My personal experience with the Thai Embassy in London and getting COE's and visa was extremely positive when I communicated directly via email. Have you joined any of the facebook groups for farang stranded abroad, there is one for the UK. These groups discuss application issues and always offer methods being used to resolve the stumbling block issues.

 

Good Luck

[richard_smith237]

3 hours ago, John435 said:

I would check you have actually uploaded the document. After you select your document, there is a button underneath you have to press which actually stores the file. If you don’t press that, the embassy won’t see the file you selected. I didn’t read the instructions carefully.

Many people applying for CoE suffer from this ‘user interface error’ and blame the system.

 

The CoE process is relatively painless and quick, but it is clearly tripping up a lot of people who may not identify the various idiosyncrasies of the site such as hitting the ‘Upload’ button after uploading !... 

I also found that some web browsers are better than others (I found that I Safari would just hang, so I used Chrome instead).

 

Regarding not having a Passport Number on the Vaccination Certificate - I also had that issue and simply ‘edited’ the PDF to add in my Passport number before I submitted the Vaccination Certification. 

 

There is always a simple solution - we just have to think outside the box slightly. 

 

 

Friends found out a couple of hurdles when travelling with their Children.

The CoE application required the Vaccination details of the Children. Of course, children are not vaccinated. 

The work around was to just put the parents vaccination details in. 

 

The other issue was the requirement for Thai ID #, but young children do not have a Thai ID #, again the work around was to simply but the Mothers Thai ID number in that box.

 

The CoE application stage in many cases is simply about getting past that first hurdle, from there on ‘Humans’ can see that the issues can easily be ’side stepped’... 

 

 

 

[jrmaanda]

Thank you, everyone who has replied to my post. As regards getting the website to give its automated acceptance of the application, John435 had the answer, also stumbled on by my son after lengthy googling. It would be superfluous to comment further on such a user-unfriendly website which has been given such vital importance.

 

Nevertheless, the fact remains that the website does say "Certificate of vaccination shall include personal details (full name, date of birth, nationality and passport number [emphasis added])", so I remain very worried that my application will finally be rejected. Can anyone reading this whose vaccination certificate did not include a passport number please confirm that they have been either granted or refused a Certificate of Entry by the London Thai Embassy, and/or allowed/refused entry by immigration in Phuket airport?

 

Aussierooming, is there any chance you could give me a link to one of the Facebook groups you mention, as I may well find myself in need of one?

[ronster]

8 minutes ago, jrmaanda said:

Thank you, everyone who has replied to my post. As regards getting the website to give its automated acceptance of the application, John435 had the answer, also stumbled on by my son after lengthy googling. It would be superfluous to comment further on such a user-unfriendly website which has been given such vital importance.

 

Nevertheless, the fact remains that the website does say "Certificate of vaccination shall include personal details (full name, date of birth, nationality and passport number [emphasis added])", so I remain very worried that my application will finally be rejected. Can anyone reading this whose vaccination certificate did not include a passport number please confirm that they have been either granted or refused a Certificate of Entry by the London Thai Embassy, and/or allowed/refused entry by immigration in Phuket airport?

 

Aussierooming, is there any chance you could give me a link to one of the Facebook groups you mention, as I may well find myself in need of one?

When you see the words Thai government and website together then be prepared to either waste hours of your life trying to do a simple thing or have a nervous breakdown ! ????????. 
Having used a couple it seems they are all designed by the same inadequate company and most people with basic website design skills could make something better in a day  !!

Lost count of the times they cost me the will to live !! ????

[supersomchai]

I got my coe back in may by simple scanning my vaccination card they gave me in the uk.

As many posters have said its the upload icon on the site that fools many,confused me too.

That must be the answer unless something has changed recently.

Good luck.

[PeeJayEm]

Speak to them or email them -

but simply and clearly stating the problem - not a long rant like here with insult of them and your Vietnam experience and blah blah.

They are incredibly helpful and want to help if you address them respectfully and constructively.  They are so good that they may  try to help even if you insult them.

[BLACKJACK2]

Have done 2 COE'S, London and Rome, found it an excellent service. The upload button did catch me out first time and even though it says it accepts PDF it only accepted jpeg's.

[Almer]

Jpeg pdf coe std what has the world come to.

[bangon04]

11 hours ago, KhaoYai said:

..I'm having visions of a legally notarised document confirming the certificate belongs to the passport holder which then needs translating and the translation verifying by the MFA. ????

and submitted in triplicate together with your grandmother's birth certificate....

[Andycoops]

For petty bloody mindedness try the DWP and see how you get on.

[jimn]

Have you actually uploaded the document by clicking the small icon? This catches many people out. You have to upload from your computor or mobile device and once that is done upload to the COE application.

[n8sail]

1 hour ago, jimn said:

Have you actually uploaded the document by clicking the small icon? This catches many people out. You have to upload from your computor or mobile device and once that is done upload to the COE application.

This one got me yesterday.  My Thai GF figured it out...  her job in Thailand is government liaison officer for a large power plant, and she has to take care of 48 separate government permits, some of which use the same 'file upload system' as the COE site.  Thai Gov't must have a contract with whatever company that provides this web interface or something.

 

So far no complaints about the USA CDC vaccine 'certificate' which shows nothing other than my name, the date and type and batch number of the injection.  They did insist I send a personally signed letter guaranteeing that I had spent at least 21 days in the USA after departing Thailand...  lucky for me as that is exactly the length of our stay here.  Never heard of that requirement before.   TIT....

[SunsetT]

6 hours ago, Aussieroaming said:

 

I agree that the thaievisa and COE websites are appallingly user-unfriendly and what gets me is that they have done absolutely nothing to improve the former yet it has been up and running for a 2 or 3 years now. Glad u got it sorted though.

 

It is difficult to get through to the embassy on the phone but as others have said if you email (Not the COE website email provided which does not work!) the embassy: [email protected] politely asking for help the response is appropriate, helpful and usually prompt (Same or next day, excluding weekends). The service has improved greatly with the Pandemic (couldnt have been much worse before!).

 

You have to sift the wheat from the chaff with the answers to questions on these two Facebook groups but both are very helpful and useful and have been a Godsend to many pulling their hair out like yourself:

 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/272003337395576/?multi_permalinks=535388357723738&notif_id=1629309804941097&notif_t=group_highlights&ref=notif

 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/408498092970363/?multi_permalinks=1147963465690485&notif_id=1629399700218608&notif_t=group_highlights&ref=notif

 

 

[sambum]

14 hours ago, Denim said:

You are not alone. I vowed to bypass them completely once things had to be done online. Gone are the days when a visa application consisted of filling in an A4 application , submitting a couple of supporting documents and two photos then posting everything off.

 

Its as bad when applying for a UK visa for your spouse from VFS global , with ridiculous questions like ' have you ever been a member of a terrorist organization or committed an act of terrorism ' or some such similar questions.

 

Good luck with your application. Others have somehow managed so presumably there is a winning method , even if it tries your patience finding it.

 ' have you ever been a member of a terrorist organization or committed an act of terrorism '

 

 Honestly, I wonder if anyone has ever answered "yes" to either of those questions!

[richard_smith237]

7 hours ago, jrmaanda said:

Thank you, everyone who has replied to my post. As regards getting the website to give its automated acceptance of the application, John435 had the answer, also stumbled on by my son after lengthy googling. It would be superfluous to comment further on such a user-unfriendly website which has been given such vital importance.

 

Nevertheless, the fact remains that the website does say "Certificate of vaccination shall include personal details (full name, date of birth, nationality and passport number [emphasis added])", so I remain very worried that my application will finally be rejected. Can anyone reading this whose vaccination certificate did not include a passport number please confirm that they have been either granted or refused a Certificate of Entry by the London Thai Embassy, and/or allowed/refused entry by immigration in Phuket airport?

 

Aussierooming, is there any chance you could give me a link to one of the Facebook groups you mention, as I may well find myself in need of one?

Provide yourself with a pre-emptive solution. 

 

Edit your Vaccination Certificate (which is very likely in PDF) with a PDF editor and add in your passport details. 

 

I’ve done this already to resolve the same potential issue. I did e-mail the issuing authority (of the Vaccine Certificate) and have had no response - thus, I was left with little choice but to resolve the minor issue myself - no biggie. 

 

No need to be too rigid and maintain stumbling blocks when they can easily be demolished with a little ‘creativity’.

[Denim]

13 minutes ago, sambum said:

 ' have you ever been a member of a terrorist organization or committed an act of terrorism '

 

 Honestly, I wonder if anyone has ever answered "yes" to either of those questions!

Well if they do there is a blank section further on where you can detail the mitigating circumstances that obliged you to join ISIS and decapitate people,

 

" i was going through my sharia fundamentalist phase at the time but should my application be accepted I intend to join the Salvation Army as soon as I land in England "

[sandyf]

3 minutes ago, Denim said:

Well if they do there is a blank section further on where you can detail the mitigating circumstances that obliged you to join ISIS and decapitate people,

 

" i was going through my sharia fundamentalist phase at the time but should my application be accepted I intend to join the Salvation Army as soon as I land in England "

The police do not have the resources to deal with domestic burglaries, you put your ISIS flag up to get surveillance 24/7.

[Denim]

8 minutes ago, sandyf said:

The police do not have the resources to deal with domestic burglaries, you put your ISIS flag up to get surveillance 24/7.

Many a true word said in jest .

[impulse]

I'm not going to claim to know how it is in the UK.  But in the USA, when I need a tricky visa, I hire a visa agency to navigate the details. 

 

Costs about $150 and I don't wait in any lines.  They do that part.  They tell me what documents they need and vet the ones I give them for accuracy and adequacy.  On occasion, they've even told me the visa I want isn't available, saving me a bunch of heartache.