How can I enter Thailand?

[vinapu]

1 hour ago, Gaybutton said:

Have it your way, gents. 

 You might be interested in this article too:  https://thepattayanews.com/2020/08/13/fact-check-is-thailand-closed-to-all-foreign-tourists-until-2021/

It's not anybody's way as at the moment we are not in decision making positions.

That will come when borders will be opened - government may have their restrictions and we may have ours  for example  fear on catching virus , fear of getting caught in political troubles brewing in BKK or reports that bars are still devoid of stuff.

It not that when flights will be allowed all of the sudden everybody will pack and fly. Two month after my local mall here was re-opened , foot traffic is at best no more than half of normal. No idea about spending though, possibly people are not lingering in the mall but shop and leave. 

Article you posted link  to clearly states that Thai government  is aiming at zero cases while most countries policies are to have  disease under control, it's why Europe is quite opened now, not for everybody though. Change of strategy and heavenly gates will open.

[spoon]

UK has just included malaysia and brunei in their quarantine exemption list. Useful for those who wants to go there for work or study, but for travel, not really practical as we still need to be quarantine when we arrived home.

[Gaybutton]

1 hour ago, muscfair said:

Is this the visa fee ? Or can we get back the money after 5 years like in retirement visa?

Am I understanding you correctly?  Are you under the impression that you get any money back on the retirement visa after 5 years?  I'd love for that to be true, but you don't get anything back.  You just pay them their 1900 baht fee every year.  You also get nothing back on the Elite visa.

[ggobkk]

On 8/12/2020 at 5:46 PM, reader said:

Ten different international carriers are accepting bookings from NYC to BKK on Oct. 2. (lowest price $452 RT)

Is it possible that they know something we don't?

I doubt they know anything we don't.  I had a $450 ticket from the west coast for this month, it's now been refunded.  

I do think the airlines are, like me, optimistic.  At some point the fares might even go up...

[Guest]

On 8/13/2020 at 1:46 AM, reader said:

Ten different international carriers are accepting bookings from NYC to BKK on Oct. 2. (lowest price $452 RT)

Is it possible that they know something we don't?

Airlines need cash.    They take your booking & they have cash, problem solved.     If the October 2 flight has to be cancelled, you have just contributed to their working capital for a couple of months.    By then, they are hoping to sell flights for December and January.

 

[reader]

Thank you. That didn't occur to me.

 

 

[Jasper]

This is a very interesting story if you are interested in entering Thailand with 2weeks quarantine. 

*****
I flew out of Thailand to get a new visa – one person’s experience with the “new normal”

https://thethaiger.com/coronavirus/i-flew-out-of-thailand-to-get-a-new-visa-one-persons-experience-with-the-new-normal?amp&__twitter_impression=true

[spoon]

The total cost was 300k baht! Imagine what i can do with that amount in thailand!

[vinapu]

if they don't want us , we will not go

[Boy69]

It's not a matter if they want us or not ,till the apademic won't be stabilized the Thai government isn't willing to take the risk of opening their borders.

[anddy]

On 8/13/2020 at 8:21 AM, PeterRS said:

A friend with the 5 year visa tells me that the 5 year Elite visa inserted into his passport has a validity of 5 years. There is therefore no need to renew the visa/permission to stay annually. That is only required of those on annual retirement visas. He believes the annual multiple reentry permit does need to be renewed and costs 3,900 baht. But if there is an Elite member here he will surely clarify this small issue.

Seems your friend got it wrong on his own visa, or didn't relate it clearly to you, or some other misunderstanding.

The way it works is apparent from the Elite website. I also have a friend who has an Elite visa. He certainly doesn't buy any reentry permit.  

Quote

the 5 year Elite visa inserted into his passport has a validity of 5 years. There is therefore no need to renew the visa/permission to stay annually.

The first part is correct, the second part is not. The visa (= permission to ENTER, not to stay) is good for 5 years. Upon each entry, he will receive a stamp with permission to stay for ONE year. Therefore, after one year without leaving Thailand, the PERMISSION TO STAY will have to be extended (by another year). The visa itself is of course still valid, but is not relevant in this scenario, other than that it is the basis for granting a one year extension, which Elite holders are eligible to get (as they do upon each entry into the country). This extension is very similar in nature to the annual retirement extension (except the paperwork etc). That retirement extension, by the way, does not allow you to enter Thailand as such. That's why you need the re-entry permit to re-enter Thailand under the same permission to stay that was granted with said extension. A retirement extension holder does not hold a visa. This is the difference to the Elite. The Elite holder DOES hold a visa and therefore does NOT need a reentry permit, because he can reenter the country using the still-valid visa and get a new 1-year stamp.

Quote

He believes the annual multiple reentry permit does need to be renewed and costs 3,900 baht.

Well, he believes wrongly. No need for reentry permit, as per above.

Below is from www.thailandelite.com/faq :

Quote

W H AT I S T H A I L A N D E L I T E V I SA ?
Thailand Elite visa is "Privilege Entry Visa"
1. Special renewable five year multiple entry visa
2. One year extendable length of stay
3. Stay in Thailand longer without the usual need to leave the country
4. Elite Personal Liaison service to represent the member in making the 90-day period
appeance as required by Thai Immigration*
* Restricted to the office at Chaengwattana, Bangkok

There you have it:
1. MULTIPLE ENTRY visa => hence no need or room for reentry permit
2. one year EXTENDABLE length of stay

All very clear.

[anddy]

On the topic of flights to Thailand: There are in fact international flights arriving in BKK. I arrived in Suvarnabhumi today from Koh Samui and saw the following foreign planes:

SWISS
Ethihad
Oman
Malaysian
JAL
ANA

Also Lufthansa flies I think twice a week. I have checked on flightradar24  while ago if those flights are just bookable mirages that disappear when flight date arrives or if they're for real. They are real. Now WHO exactly is on those flights is an entirely different matter. Must be mostly Thai returnees and the odd business traveler and others who are now permitted with the onerous requirements (such as the guy who spent 300k Baht on his "visa run" as per the article quoted in this thread).

All the information from Barry Kenyon as quoted by @Gaybutton appears very correct to me. And I note that in those statements B. Kenyon makes no assertions or predictions about the future, it's just an (accurate) descriptions of how things work (or don't) at the moment. 

[gaperking]

Please, someone of you, go to these flights and report here how did it go. I am waiting.

[Jasper]

Entry to Thailand for Thailand Elite members, current procedures.

[PeterRS]

That is some jigsaw puzzle! But it may not even be that simple.

I spoke to an Elite Visa holder presently stuck in London. He was not sure if he wished to return and only decided yesterday that he was prepared to go through all those hoops. So he went to the Thai Embassy to check on flights since he can only return on a designated repatriation flight allocated by Embassies. He was informed the earliest flight he and his partner can get on is in March 2021. He told me there is a waiting list of 1117 and they are #118 I. That is way less than one flight per month. I asked him to check on other European departure cities. Vienna and Frankfurt have shorter lists but you are only permitted to travel from the country where you have your official residence. But with so many on waiting lists I cannot imagine why they do not add extra flights. I can only assume there are insufficient rooms available in ASQ hotels.

My friend added that the Embassy is happy to arrange arrival details for those travelling by private planes!

[spoon]

Contact those in waiting lists (more than 1000 candidates) and charter a private plane together might be the solution here. 

[vinapu]

42 minutes ago, PeterRS said:

He was informed the earliest flight he and his partner can get on is in March 2021. He told me there is a waiting list of 1117 and they are #118 I.

whole thing is becoming more nonsensical by the day

[Jasper]

1 hour ago, PeterRS said:

 But with so many on waiting lists I cannot imagine why they do not add extra flights. I can only assume there are insufficient rooms available in ASQ hotels.

Apparently, Thai government is limiting the number of incoming passengers to 500 per day.

There are more ASQ hotels available now, ie Le Meridian, Pullman G etc.

Ten of thousands qualified foreign work permit holder businessmen, their families, medical tourists are on waiting lists all over the world and I cannot see the list shortening anytime soon.

[anddy]

Yeah I do remember reading something somewhere a few weeks back about quarantine capacity constraints, both for ASQ and for SQ. That seems to be the limiting issue and even kinda makes sense and explains a fair bit. Still frustrating for all those affected  

[Keithambrose]

That's a very good rate for an Avantec Suite at Le Meridien! That's my normal port of call. Looks like proper meals, too  plus gym use? Almost worth it....

[Guest]

6000 baht per night, for the cheapest package ?     

I could just about begin to rationalize it if I make allowance for it presumably including some decent meals and access to sufficient hotel facilities to make the 15 nights bearable.   

However, whilst the photos show gym facilities etc, surely one is supposed to stay in the bedroom whilst in quarantine ?    Allowing everyone to use the gym would surely make quarantine pointless.

One thing is clear though, if confined to a hotel for 2 weeks, I would be rather keen to avoid an unsatisfactory room.

[vinapu]

2 hours ago, Keithambrose said:

That's a very good rate for an Avantec Suite at Le Meridien! That's my normal port of call. Looks like proper meals, too  plus gym use? Almost worth it....

 

1 hour ago, z909 said:

One thing is clear though, if confined to a hotel for 2 weeks, I would be rather keen to avoid an unsatisfactory room.

luxury prison is still prison

[spoon]

2 hours ago, z909 said:

6000 baht per night, for the cheapest package ?     

I could just about begin to rationalize it if I make allowance for it presumably including some decent meals and access to sufficient hotel facilities to make the 15 nights bearable.   

However, whilst the photos show gym facilities etc, surely one is supposed to stay in the bedroom whilst in quarantine ?    Allowing everyone to use the gym would surely make quarantine pointless.

One thing is clear though, if confined to a hotel for 2 weeks, I would be rather keen to avoid an unsatisfactory room.

Based on the story shared above, after you tested negative at the hotel, u are allowed 1 hour time a day for accessing limited hotel facilities. 

 

3 hours ago, Keithambrose said:

That's a very good rate for an Avantec Suite at Le Meridien! That's my normal port of call. Looks like proper meals, too  plus gym use? Almost worth it....

Cant say the rate is bad but the fact is you cant go out or bring boy in. Deal breaker for me haha.

[Guest]

OK, so summarizing from above:    Flight waiting lists until March 2021 and apparently limits on incoming passengers of 500 per day.   So that would amount to a maximum of  182,000 visitors per year, compared with over 39 million in 2019.   About a 99.5% reduction in numbers.    Not yet rescuing the tourism sector.

Whilst it's not Thailand, I also know of some Chinese students in the UK who have finished their studies here, but are finding the flight prices so silly that they plan to stay in the UK for a few more months and find a temporary job.

At that point in writing this post, I went to Skyscanner for research purposes.  This is showing flights from London to Bangkok, departing in December and returning in February, for something in the same ballpark as normal.   Whether they run these flights or not is another matter and anyone booking is effectively giving the airline an interest free loan from now until December.   In December, all they need to do is find another customer to roll the loan over.     [I presume the need for cash explains why airlines like Easy Jet were opening bookings for 2021 flights much earlier than normal]. 

The ability to book these flights is pretty much irrelevant until government policy is relaxed.

 

1 hour ago, spoon said:

Based on the story shared above, after you tested negative at the hotel, u are allowed 1 hour time a day for accessing limited hotel facilities.    Cant say the rate is bad but the fact is you cant go out or bring boy in. Deal breaker for me haha.

I must read more carefully.  

I wonder if they have T&C which require gym users to extend their stay at their own expense, if another gym user fails a test ?   

If not, it makes about as much sense as allowing people to order a boy on Grindr, providing they have passed a covid test.

[anddy]

4 minutes ago, z909 said:

I wonder if they have T&C which require gym users to extend their stay at their own expense, if another gym user fails a test ? 

My guess (and no more than a guess) is they allocate time slot for ASQ guests to use the gym separately and individually, and sanitise after each use. That way no risk.

Quote

If not, it makes about as much sense as allowing people to order a boy on Grindr, providing they have passed a covid test.

Now that's great idea and business model