Test & Go (and Thailand Pass) not required after June?

[JTXR]

I hear things to this effect.  How "official" is it?

[ubonjoe]

It is only being considered at the time. Nothing official yet.

[Havefunme]

Looking to see how the water festival goes . 

[Card]

I have booked my return to Thailand on 2 July just in case.

[D M G]

OFFICIALLY:  maybe or maybe not

[sandyf]

5 hours ago, JTXR said:

I hear things to this effect.  How "official" is it?

Nothing is ever official until it is in the gazette, and that can be very close to the effective date.

[Chelseafan]

It's officially unofficial 

[Snig27]

Others were saying May. hard to know as always. Thankfully the people running this clownshow are fully competent ????

 

[ivor bigun]

the family are over end of june so fingers crossed

[internationalism]

that's the 4th phase.

Still phase 3 is under consideration. Suppose to swap pcr with atk from 1st May, but decision will be made sometimes after songkran. The last hint from the PM it wont happen yet.

what a problem applying for t&g now?

[ThaiVisaCentre]

From what we have heard there is a high possibility of the removal of the RT-PCR test.

There are still some big questions

 

• Where does testing happen in Bangkok? 
• What happens when you test positive in the Airport? Can you choose hotel isolation, or are you now forced to stay in a hospital.

As for the removal of Thailand Pass (this seems highly unlikely), they did also mention removing the arrival date requirement, and making it valid for 3 months if the RT-PCR / hotel is removed.

We think that the May 1st target is too soon for things to be officially implemented, and started due to many moving parts. 

1. Need to review the fallout after Songkran (takes at least a week).
2. Thailand Pass would may need to be updated depending on what they decide to do.
3. Need to get everything published in the Royal Thai Government Gazette.

A more realistic earliest date would be May 15th based on the past.

[PJ71]

3 hours ago, ThaiVisaCentre said:

From what we have heard there is a high possibility of the removal of the RT-PCR test.

There are still some big questions

 

• Where does testing happen in Bangkok? 
• What happens when you test positive in the Airport? Can you choose hotel isolation, or are you now forced to stay in a hospital.

As for the removal of Thailand Pass (this seems highly unlikely), they did also mention removing the arrival date requirement, and making it valid for 3 months if the RT-PCR / hotel is removed.

We think that the May 1st target is too soon for things to be officially implemented, and started due to many moving parts. 

1. Need to review the fallout after Songkran (takes at least a week).
2. Thailand Pass would may need to be updated depending on what they decide to do.
3. Need to get everything published in the Royal Thai Government Gazette.

A more realistic earliest date would be May 15th based on the past.

Is this just an opinion?

 

Or do you know what you state for sure?

[ThaiVisaCentre]

On 4/13/2022 at 7:46 PM, PJ71 said:

Is this just an opinion?

 

Or do you know what you state for sure?

I tried to make my original post pretty clear that it was based on all the available information we have access to.

No one knows anything for sure (as always), but we can look at what has happened in the past 2 years to get a good idea of what will happen.

The TAT has always been aggressive with reopening the country, and we can only hope that the meeting on the 22nd goes well. But it does take time to actually implement things, and shooting for a 5 business day window to change everything would be quite hard.

They would need to remove all restrictions in order for that to actually work, unless the DGA is already working on a version of Thailand Pass which does not require hotel stay (they did just add Agoda about 8 days ago). Also removing the hotels for Test & Go would also require them to actually update the approval pipe-line as well so it is not a trivial change.

If your arrival date is before May 15th, it would be smart to just book a Test & Go hotel which will refund the RT-PCR, and get a Thailand Pass to avoid the stress.

Edited April 15, 2022 by ThaiVisaCentre

[Lancelot01]

On 4/12/2022 at 10:06 AM, D M G said:

OFFICIALLY:  maybe or maybe not

So that's a definite maybe. 

[ThaiVisaCentre]

This was rushed through yesterday, and all the airlines have already been informed of these changes.

It further supports my suspicions of the Thailand Pass not being removed on May 1st.

Additional Information about the 7 day +/- change:
 

Applicants can use their approved Thailand Pass QR Code to enter Thailand on different date of arrival if the new date of arrival is within 7 days before or after the original date of arrival as indicated on the QR Code. Please note that applicants are required to show proof of revised hotel accommodation that corresponds to the new travel dates, and non-Thais are also required to show proof of insurance with at least 20,000 USD coverage for medical treatments in Thailand for the entire duration of their revised travel itinerary. Failure to produce these documents may result in denied boarding. Further note that each Thailand Pass QR Code can be used only once.

[The Hammer2021]

On 4/12/2022 at 10:21 AM, Havefunme said:

Looking to see how the water festival goes . 

It's gone

[KhunLA]

Just in time for the full on rainy season ... ????

 

 

Edited April 18, 2022 by KhunLA

[OJAS]

37 minutes ago, ThaiVisaCentre said:

This was rushed through yesterday, and all the airlines have already been informed of these changes.

It further supports my suspicions of the Thailand Pass not being removed on May 1st.

Additional Information about the 7 day +/- change:
 

Applicants can use their approved Thailand Pass QR Code to enter Thailand on different date of arrival if the new date of arrival is within 7 days before or after the original date of arrival as indicated on the QR Code. Please note that applicants are required to show proof of revised hotel accommodation that corresponds to the new travel dates, and non-Thais are also required to show proof of insurance with at least 20,000 USD coverage for medical treatments in Thailand for the entire duration of their revised travel itinerary. Failure to produce these documents may result in denied boarding. Further note that each Thailand Pass QR Code can be used only once.

Presumably the rationale of the +/-7 day change is to deal with the issue of cancelled flights since I can think of no other reason for it? But if your flight to Thailand were cancelled for whatever reason at the last minute it might prove difficult - if not impossible - in practice, would it not, to get suitably-revised hotel accommodation and insurance arrangements sorted in time in time for a rescheduled flight within the following 7 days - particularly if your flight was rescheduled by the airline sooner rather than later within this timeframe!

 

[ThaiVisaCentre]

9 minutes ago, OJAS said:

Presumably the rationale of the +/-7 day change is to deal with the issue of cancelled flights since I can think of no other reason for it? But if your flight to Thailand were cancelled for whatever reason at the last minute it might prove difficult - if not impossible - in practice, would it not, to get suitably-revised hotel accommodation and insurance arrangements sorted in time in time for a rescheduled flight within the following 7 days - particularly if your flight was rescheduled by the airline sooner rather than later within this timeframe!

 

They should have updated this rule when Test & Go came back.

The whole reason why they stopped allowing travelers to come 72 hours before the original flight date was to prevent people from changing their arrival dates to avoid the removal of Test & Go in January ( https://thethaiger.com/news/national/test-go-registration-closed-indefinitely-last-group-to-enter-on-january-15 ). This started to be enforced Jan 1st 2022.

Many of our clients had issues where the airline actually moved flights up, and because of this we would need to re-rush the approval with a fresh Thailand Pass submission.

[MajorTom]

40 minutes ago, OJAS said:

Presumably the rationale of the +/-7 day change is to deal with the issue of cancelled flights since I can think of no other reason for it? But if your flight to Thailand were cancelled for whatever reason at the last minute it might prove difficult - if not impossible - in practice, would it not, to get suitably-revised hotel accommodation and insurance arrangements sorted in time in time for a rescheduled flight within the following 7 days - particularly if your flight was rescheduled by the airline sooner rather than later within this timeframe!

 

Yeah. If a flight its rescheduled its usually by hours or at most a day. Will be tricky to to get new T&G confirmation within that timeframe. Took me at least a day in both cases. Not impossible now though. Some hotels have instant confirmation.

 

Insurance update would be another problem. If you paid for 30 days from arrival it would be challenging to move that by a day and get the paperwork in time..?

 

If they did the test and go at the airport and scrapped the hotel and insurance it would make more sense to have the TP flexible.

[ThaiVisaCentre]

1 hour ago, MajorTom said:

Yeah. If a flight its rescheduled its usually by hours or at most a day. Will be tricky to to get new T&G confirmation within that timeframe. Took me at least a day in both cases. Not impossible now though. Some hotels have instant confirmation.

 

Insurance update would be another problem. If you paid for 30 days from arrival it would be challenging to move that by a day and get the paperwork in time..?

 

If they did the test and go at the airport and scrapped the hotel and insurance it would make more sense to have the TP flexible.

The current rumor is that the RT-PCR will be replaced by ATK, and only Phuket / Samui airport arrivals will be allowed to do the test at the airport.

ATK test may not be at Suvarnabhumi Airport for logistical reasons, and instead arrivals would have to book a Hotel + ATK + Transport.

[Tuvoc]

1 hour ago, ThaiVisaCentre said:

ATK test may not be at Suvarnabhumi Airport for logistical reasons, and instead arrivals would have to book a Hotel + ATK + Transport.

For those of us who don't live in Bangkok, this isn't so bad. After a long flight I would stay in a hotel overnight anyway before heading home to the provinces the next day. More expensive for sure, but hopefully these Covid requirements should go away eventually.

[OJAS]

2 hours ago, ThaiVisaCentre said:

Many of our clients had issues where the airline actually moved flights up, and because of this we would need to re-rush the approval with a fresh Thailand Pass submission.

Whilst the effort involved in updating a hotel booking or insurance period is probably nowhere near as great as that involved in obtaining a completely fresh Thailand Pass, those who are faced with the need to amend existing hotel bookings and updated insurance coverage will still be up against the clock in being able to use their extended Thailand Pass QR code in practice. Strikes me that this change will only benefit those who decide to defer their flights to Thailand by up to 7 days and can presumably factor in the time taken to obtain revised hotel bookings and amended insurance coverage as part of their decision-making process. But those who have flight deferments unexpectedly sprung on them against their will as a result of last-minute airline cancellation decisions are more likely to find themselves in deep, deep, deep doo-dah in being able to use extended QR codes. So for them this change will have a net zero effect either way (good or bad) in practice, it seems to me.

 

One would, of course, hope that the cautious attitude which many airlines appear to be taking to ramping up their schedules (now that the worst of the pandemic is hopefully behind us) will minimise the risk of last-minute flight cancellations. However such cancellations could, of course, still prove unavoidable if a sufficient number of critical airline staff (in particular pilots & cabin crew) were to test positive at any given time and have to self-isolate as a result.

 

[MajorTom]

I just remembered the old Thailand Pass also had a forward window of 72 hours in case of delay or cancellation. So there was never any need for a new TP application in that case. Providing all other documents were up to date.

 

From FAQ:
3. Can I change my travel itinerary once I have registered and received my QR code?
Will my QR Code remain valid?
- Yes. However, flight changes are permitted within 72 hours after the original flight time
registered in the Thailand Pass without the need to apply for a new Thailand Pass QR Code,
provided that all other required documents remain valid