Rants, Stupid Shit and Coronavirus in Thailand

[IGotBottle]

Hello folks,

First time on ISG. Nice to meet you all.

I am flying in to Thailand this week on the 30-day stay and have some questions regarding visa and extensions; if any of you could help me out with them that would be great:

1. Is it possible to apply for a tourist visa after I arrive in Thailand? Google seems to say no but I couldn't find a clear answer.

2. Is the maximum extension on the 30-day stay the 60-day Covid extension? Making the maximum stay 90 days? Any way to stay longer than 90 days, perhaps through multiple extensions?

[Banana Boi]

What if you are not staying 5 days? You want to go over just for the weekend. Can you just leave on day 3 or4?

Pretty sure not many people will go through the hassle of getting a Thailand Pass, purchasing asymptomatic COVID insurance, pay for a RT-PCR test before departure and again on arrival, be stuck in a SHA+ quarantine hotel for 1 night, only to leave a day or 3 later. But if you don't mind risking 10 days hospitalization there is nothing stopping you from leaving on day 3 or 4 if you tested negative. Keep in mind you will be there a minimum of 11 days if you test positive on arrival. You also may raise red flags for a sharp Immigration Officer too.

If you are really interested in doing this, ask on a Visa board like The Thaiger or AseanNow.

[Locamotive]

No one is going to sign up for this PCR test on the 1st and 5th day crap. I predict these rules will be amended over the next few days after they hear all the negative feedback people have. Then it will be posted in the Royal Gazette.

Example how silly this rule is. Guy flies in to Bangkok and does 1 night stay in Sha+ hotel. He came back to Thailand to be with his family in Rayong. So after 1 night he drives 3-4 hours to Rayong. On the 5th day he has to book a SHA+ hotel for 1 night and drive 3-4 hours back to Bangkok to get a PCR test. If he had COVID he's already spread it around Rayong so at the very least let him just get the 5th day COVID test in Rayong.

I think the thought process was that people would be lazy and book 5 straight nights at the Test and Go hotel instead of booking nights 1 and 5. One of the things SHA+ hotels were complaining about is that people only stay 1 night and leave.

What if you are not staying 5 days? You want to go over just for the weekend. Can you just leave on day 3 or4?

[ElMexicant]

Staying at an airbnb for the first time ever in Thailand and the owner upon me checking in informed me that I had to file paperwork with immigration with my passport showing my current residency. But I recalled reading in the Cambodia forum that travel agents would for a fee go to immigration on your behalf for a fee. So I stopped by a local visa agent and for 500 baht they went and filed the paperwork with my passport, just had to pick it up the next day. Anyway got their LINE ID and said I would be stopping by to do the 30 day extension and was informed I could now increase that to 60 days for an extra 2000 baht. Have plans to go to Cambodia but for 2000 baht this gives me some extra insurance if I am delayed, flight cancelations etc.

This is from Richard Barrow. No more COVID extensions for Non Immigrant Visas like work or education. Looks like they are kicking them out and those who came on VOA. You will also have to do a 30 days automatic extend before applying for a 60 day COVID extension.

🔴 Good news for people on the special covid stamp. On this Immigration letter released today, it says that the deadline to apply for the stamp has now been extended to 25th March 2022. However, they add that they will be even stricter than before.

I will need to consult with some visa experts, but it looks like people with Visa on Arrival (Section 3) and Non-Immigrant Visa (Section 5) can no longer use the covid stamp to extend their stay in #Thailand. I will add more information soon.

Update: I've spoken with someone in Immigration and this is what I understand from that conversation:

If you have VOA you cannot change to Covid stamp.

If you have a Tourist Visa you can change to Covid stamp after you've extended it for 30 days.

If you have a Non be, for example, and you lose your job, you cannot change to Covid stamp.

On some other questions they will get back time. But Immigration should be releasing some infographics tomorrow.

[PedroMorales]

I wish we had a definitive answer to this question. Either way the thought of having to quarantine for an extra 10 days, even in a nice hotel, will keep me away from Thailand for the time being.

Governments are flip flopping as they balance the views of their focus groups with those of their more draconian overlords. Travelling anywhere in these times, as I am, involved a lot of extra uncertainty. Added to that, one has to deal with all kinds of min or ass holes, some of whom let the authority go to their heads. To take an ongoing example. And let's hope Mr Entertainment or some other ghetto dweller does not weigh in. In ordinary times, you have two passports, one for the Peoples Republic of China and another for the Republic of China (IE Taiwan). Taiwanese I have bonked have claimed they ran into problems many times with airport / immigration staff mistaking one passport (and visa criteria) for the other. Fancy where we stand with non stop Covid flip flops.

We have seen such BS already with countries in Africa being on green lists (unrealistic for logistics) and others being on other lists. In the civilized world, a Dutch could fly from Portugal with no problem, or go from Spain to Portugal with no problem and then fly onwards but could not fly from Spain. Then the situation was reversed, Spain ok, Portugal not ok. If a simple hop like that is so problematic, what chance has a longer one (with stop overs)?

[Allover]

But is it a steadfast rule that you have to go to hospital if you tested positive on either day 1 or 5 or can you stay isolated in your hotel?

I wish we had a definitive answer to this question. Either way the thought of having to quarantine for an extra 10 days, even in a nice hotel, will keep me away from Thailand for the time being.

[Explorer8939]

The latest Test and Go rules.

[Tomasb]

That's a good description to line out the risk you undertake by going to Thailand now. Because Omicron virus does not always appear on first test, there is always the potential that you were infected on your journey to Bangkok so even if you stayed in your hotel for day 2- 5, you could still test positive because of a prior contact. The whole reason for the the additional testing on Day 5 is because some tourists and citizens entering the country in late 2021 were tested as negative and then discovered afterwards that they had been infected on their flight or traveling to airport or whatever.

But is it a steadfast rule that you have to go to hospital if you tested positive on either day 1 or 5 or can you stay isolated in your hotel?

It would still suck as you pointed out as that means up to 16 days you are in limbo, either in a hospital or quarantined. The risks might be small but who knows given the virulence of Omicron. IMHO, I am taking a hard pass on traveling there at the present time. Also, since the clubs are closed and the drink curfew is at 11 pm, it is also another reason not to bother. It seems the joy has left the city for late night carousing, mongering, or just wandering about in the wee hours.

You are correct you can get the 2nd test in any province but not every province will have SHA+ hotels. We'll see the SHA+ hotel list and what the Royal Gazette ends up publishing after the backlash this new proposal generates.

Correct Tomas. Now your 1st 16 days in Thailand could be wasted. Day 1 SHA+ hotel waiting for test. Days 2-5 for anyone smart is really don't go with any girls and more or less stay in your hotel. Day 5 SHA+ hotel waiting test. Day 6 test is positive even though you are symptomatic. Days 6-16 you're in a hospital with all other COVID Farang. At least for other countries you get to stay in the hotel for quarantine and not go to a hospital.

[Mr Enternational]

As regards your points about various regions of Mexico having different rules, they do not control border entry, which is a privilege that can be denied even to citizens as we have seen during this Covid baloney.

Cancun, Mexico City, Puerto Vallarta, LOS Cabos all have different requirements to enter Mexico by air.

[Explorer8939]

For me, that is the main problem with Thailand travel now.

I was assuming that there was no need to make your first and fifth nights in the same hotel. Thought I could do night 1 in Bangkok and night 5 in Hua Hin and any other place other times.

The specific rules for the new Test and Go have not been published. Until then, everyone is guessing.

[PedroMorales]

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-ad...y-requirements#entry-rules-in-response-to-coronavirus-covid-19.

Mexico's second link did not come up properly so there it is above. I am moderated here, meaning I cannot edit my own posts and must wait until they are approved. This is because a former USAID fat cat, who lives in the Philippines and who has never posted one, single solitary report but it here for other, more sinister reasons, objected to me calling prostitutes he has never met and I have skanks, just as one might call them hookers (an Americanism) or whatever.

As regards your points about various regions of Mexico having different rules, they do not control border entry, which is a privilege that can be denied even to citizens as we have seen during this Covid baloney. I have forfeited several flights during Covid because of that. Hotels next week have told me I must produce certs on arrival. Fancy arriving late at night with no certs. You'd be out with Jesus, Mary and Joseph hoping to get into a shed with a water buffalo.

Davos is winding up now. And so too is Covid. This is so even though several. France, Netherlands, Greece, Italy, Austria / Germany and more have, along with the Nazi state of Australia, draconian laws.

The rule of thumb now is one must check multiple sources before travel for things like locator forms.

Mongering is now a matter of logistics, of putting an increasing number of ducks in order. In the past, mongers hit BKK and Pattaya only. Travel anywhere beyond them was too exotic, too much hassle. Now they too are too much hassle because of too many rules by too many bodies.

https://embamex.sre.gob.mx/suiza/ind...vid-19/english

https://apply.joinsherpa.com/travel-restrictions Many airlines use this. I use it too but more as well.

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-ad...y-requirements#entry-rules-in-response-to-coronavirus-covid-19.

Do you have an article for this? Different cities in Mexico have had different entry requirements.

[HorseTrader]

…. it's unclear to me if you were to test positive on day 5, does that mean a trip to the hospital for ten days even if asymptomatic? I am hearing many horror stories …

For me, that is the main problem with Thailand travel now.

I was assuming that there was no need to make your first and fifth nights in the same hotel. Thought I could do night 1 in Bangkok and night 5 in Hua Hin and any other place other times.

[Banana Boi]

I agree with what you're saying but just a correction the SHA hotel for the second test can be in any province in Thailand only the first hotel needs to be in Bangkok.

You are correct you can get the 2nd test in any province but not every province will have SHA+ hotels. We'll see the SHA+ hotel list and what the Royal Gazette ends up publishing after the backlash this new proposal generates.

Correct Tomas. Now your 1st 16 days in Thailand could be wasted. Day 1 SHA+ hotel waiting for test. Days 2-5 for anyone smart is really don't go with any girls and more or less stay in your hotel. Day 5 SHA+ hotel waiting test. Day 6 test is positive even though you are symptomatic. Days 6-16 you're in a hospital with all other COVID Farang. At least for other countries you get to stay in the hotel for quarantine and not go to a hospital.

[Mr Enternational]

You have a funny definition of a girlfriend. You seem to have a girlfriend in every city that you have ever been to and multiple girlfriends in most. You actually have many friends that are girls instead of girlfriends.

It's all good I think most guys understand what you mean.

Maybe I do have a funny definition. When I say girlfriend I mean my main girl that I have in a particular place that I go out and do normal shit like travel and go to the movies with.

Then I would also have several side chicks that we probably just mainly fuck, but I would not refer to them as a girlfriend. I would refer to them as a chick that I mess with or one of my chicks.

Then I would refer to a chick that I give money to as a hooker. And this would be a payment on a per meeting basis. I do not send remittances or keep anyone on retainer. If you did not get it when you were in front of me then you will not be getting it.

[Explorer8939]

I agree with what you're saying but just a correction the SHA hotel for the second test can be in any province in Thailand only the first hotel needs to be in Bangkok.

I can't argue with you, because the new rules have not yet been published.