A new kind of long stay visa

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This is only the tip of the iceberg, you really don’t want to attempt this tourist visa, it ridiculous. I can post the complete process via a link if anyone thinks about considering it.

There is a very complicated back and forth with the Thai Embassy in your home country that requires testing and entry documents, after that it’s a government approved charter flight which is limited and expensive. When you do arrive it’s into a two week quarantine with more testing, if you test negative after five days you will be allowed out of your room one hour a day, but cannot be near other people.

The need to quarantine in your home country is not yet confirmed, but you will need at least two negative tests before you start the embassy process.

Most of us feel that there will be some relaxing of the rules in the next couple months, hang on for a bit and see what happens.

It’s incredibly quiet here, but I will say the diving is excellent right now. This should be a great diving year in the Andaman sea.

All in all, there is no where else I would rather be in the world right now. We all wear masks around the city, not so much in the country. Everything is pretty much open, just no tourists, very surreal.
 
Thank you for posting it.
Not a chance that I will enjoy the experience! Probably fine to those who are returning home from aboard.

I've been working from home since this whole mess started, hardly venturing outside except to buy food. So long as the hotel has decent internet connectivity, two weeks in quarantine won't bother me at all.

It’s incredibly quiet here, but I will say the diving is excellent right now. This should be a great diving year in the Andaman sea.

All in all, there is no where else I would rather be in the world right now. We all wear masks around the city, not so much in the country. Everything is pretty much open, just no tourists, very surreal.

If I get the opportunity, I am seriously considering going to Koh Lanta or maybe Phuket for 2-3 months in December-February timeframe. Find a guesthouse with good internet connectivity, do my sysadmin stuff during the week, dive on off days...
 
If I get the opportunity, I am seriously considering going to Koh Lanta or maybe Phuket for 2-3 months in December-February timeframe. Find a guesthouse with good internet connectivity, do my sysadmin stuff during the week, dive on off days...
There is a huge difference between staying at home voluntarily and NOT allowed to go out at all!
Two weeks of solitary confinement is not my cup of tea.

Good luck if you do make the trip.
 
There is a huge difference between staying at home voluntarily and NOT allowed to go out at all!
Two weeks of solitary confinement is not my cup of tea.

Good luck if you do make the trip.

The “rumor” down here is that they are considering reducing the 14 days to 7 if you are negative in your home country and continue to be negative here for the 7 days......but this IS the land of rumors.

What we see as the major deterrent to some form of normal, is the entry permission from the Thai Embassy in the home country and the inability to use scheduled commercial airlines. The few people I know that have done this to return here say this very difficult, the rules are many, expensive, strict and lacks any ability for you to plan.
 
There is a huge difference between staying at home voluntarily and NOT allowed to go out at all!
Two weeks of solitary confinement is not my cup of tea.

Been there, done that too. I was actually in US for work in late March (and diving in the Philippines immediately prior to that), so when I came back home, I had to quarantine for two weeks - and towards the end of those two weeks, I started coughing and felt a bit short of breath. Called my HMO, they referred me to Magen David Adom, who sent a guy to collect a swab and told me to wait. So I waited. And waited. And waited. Ended up waiting three extra weeks for a total of almost five weeks of quarantine before they concluded that they lost the test and I'm free to go outside.

What we see as the major deterrent to some form of normal, is the entry permission from the Thai Embassy in the home country and the inability to use scheduled commercial airlines. The few people I know that have done this to return here say this very difficult, the rules are many, expensive, strict and lacks any ability for you to plan.

There's this, offering to deal with most of the paperwork for you: STV Visa-Thailand Longstay Company - but they want 10,000 baht + 7% VAT for it.
 
Been there, done that too. I was actually in US for work in late March (and diving in the Philippines immediately prior to that), so when I came back home, I had to quarantine for two weeks - and towards the end of those two weeks, I started coughing and felt a bit short of breath. Called my HMO, they referred me to Magen David Adom, who sent a guy to collect a swab and told me to wait. So I waited. And waited. And waited. Ended up waiting three extra weeks for a total of almost five weeks of quarantine before they concluded that they lost the test and I'm free to go outside.



There's this, offering to deal with most of the paperwork for you: STV Visa-Thailand Longstay Company - but they want 10,000 baht + 7% VAT for it.

Yeah, that’s the general process but their are many embedded rules that make it very difficult such as:

Very few people have the medical insurance they require, it must be zero deductible for COVID testing and any related sickness. So, you will most likely need an expensive rider that waves certain deductibles, all this must be presented to the Embassy prior to getting approval to depart the country. The entire process has added details between the major points listed......
 
When the Thai authority realized that the scheme does not work then they might introduce something less demanding and troublesome!
I might have to go through another quarantine when I return home!!!!!

I am not that desperate for a holiday with this kind of complexity and uncertainty!
 
Very few people have the medical insurance they require, it must be zero deductible for COVID testing and any related sickness. So, you will most likely need an expensive rider that waves certain deductibles, all this must be presented to the Embassy prior to getting approval to depart the country.

The provider that I normally use for travel insurance has explicit full coverage of COVID related stuff, up to $5 million hospitalization cost abroad. Don't know if the prices have changed, but normally it's about $2 per day of travel.
 
WHO has declared this "chinese virus' as pandemic on 12th Mar 2020. Better read the small print to find out if the travel insurance covers this "chinese virus".
 

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