Rants, Stupid Shit and Coronavirus in Thailand

[Franciscass]

Some people have 30 days and some have 45 days. .

Any idea on what makes the difference. If arriving from UK is it 30 or 45 ?

[Franciscass]

Thailand Pass does not give you a visa. Your first step is to get a visa, or decide to enter Visa Exempt. If you choose the latter, tell Thailand Pass you are staying for 30 days.

Lovely people, great food, world class hotels and resorts whether you enjoy mountains or beaches, interesting entertaining nightlife but is there a more chaotic confusing immigration department on the planet?

Thanks to all who responded.

[Banana Boi]

Thai e-Visa service will be temporarily unavailable from 10 December 2021 at 11.00 AM to 12 December 2021 at 11.00 PM (UTC).

Pretty impressive they can predict a system upgrade over a month away. Luckily I'll already be in Thailand by December 10.

[Member #4753]

https://www.thaievisa.go.th/

Attention: Due to system upgrade, Thai e-Visa service will be temporarily unavailable from 10 December 2021 at 11.00 AM to 12 December 2021 at 11.00 PM (UTC). Should there be any enquiries, please contact Thai Embassy / Consulate at your country of residence.

A truly "only in Thailand moment".

[Banana Boi]

I applied today for my Thailand pass. From press the button to receive the QR code in my mail took less than an hour.

There is very quick 'automatic' approval for Thailand Pass if you completed your app correctly and Thailand has received the pki (public key infrastructure) from your country.

[Explorer8939]

Are you sure? I am about to fall down that rabbit hole and was sure that I read that during the process you will choose your length of stay, which equals a visa or no visa for 30 days. For example I intend to stay 60 days that translates to a tourist visa. Once in country you can always extend by 30 days for a fee. I think it's 1900 baht. If you don't get your visa through Thailand Pass, where do you get it "first?

https://www.thaievisa.go.th/

[Mr Enternational]

If you don't get your visa through Thailand Pass, where do you get it "first?

The Thai embassy or consulate as has always been the case. Unless you are eligible for visa on arrival, in which case you get it from the immigration agent when you arrive at the airport in Bangkok.

[Crazy4Thai]

Thailand Pass does not give you a visa. Your first step is to get a visa, or decide to enter Visa Exempt. If you choose the latter, tell Thailand Pass you are staying for 30 days.

Are you sure? I am about to fall down that rabbit hole and was sure that I read that during the process you will choose your length of stay, which equals a visa or no visa for 30 days. For example I intend to stay 60 days that translates to a tourist visa. Once in country you can always extend by 30 days for a fee. I think it's 1900 baht. If you don't get your visa through Thailand Pass, where do you get it "first?

[CIMguy]

Tried but couldn't find answers.

How long can one stay using the Thailand pass.

Can the stay be extended once here.

Many thanks.

Some people have 30 days and some have 45 days. They have special rules right now allowing you to extend your stay another 30 days with a quick trip the immigration office and a 1000 bht fee. I will be going to do that again and I think there is more involved the second time. I can report here when I find out how it works.

The Phuket office right off beach road in Patong was pretty easy. Get there before 3 pm because the lady who does the visa extensions leaves at that time. One note, let them do the visa copies there for 100 bht or whatever it is. The nearest place to get copies will take you an hour and / or cost you more than 100 bht in taxis. Several of us didn't understand that he could do the copies there and almost left to get them done near the hospital. It's much quicker and easier to have him do it.

[Mr Scand]

Tried but couldn't find answers.

How long can one stay using the Thailand pass.

Can the stay be extended once here.

Many thanks.

For me it is 30 days, however I think that is related to Visa rules more than the Thailand pass. Normally we have 30 days on arrival.

[Explorer8939]

Tried but couldn't find answers.

How long can one stay using the Thailand pass.

Can the stay be extended once here.

Many thanks.

Thailand Pass does not give you a visa. Your first step is to get a visa, or decide to enter Visa Exempt. If you choose the latter, tell Thailand Pass you are staying for 30 days.

[Franciscass]

Tried but couldn't find answers.

How long can one stay using the Thailand pass.

Can the stay be extended once here.

Many thanks.

[HorseTrader]

Why are they making such a radical change so far out? I take it you are flying from a large city and not some dirt strip in Yellow Brick Road State. Have they spelled out where the extra hours / lay over is coming from?

I, say, f you intended to fly LAX-Narita-BKK, then they might choose to cancel one leg nearer the date if the traffic was not there (this has happened to me on multiple occasions recently in Europe with different air lines). But this far in advance indicates your carrier is at sea.

I was only sent a revised itinerary, no explanation. My 2nd of 3 flights was from one huge city to another huge city, long flight. That flight no longer appears on the airline schedule. I don't know why.

I called the airline today and arranged a 100% refund, so that is positive. The agent didn't know why the change was made.

[Mr Scand]

Most of the early problems have been fixed in Thailand Pass, except one: they have a huge backlog, and are not processing apps very quickly.

If you want a QR code fast, just select the Alternative Quarantine option instead of Test and Go, everything is the same, except it works.

I applied today for my Thailand pass. From press the button to receive the QR code in my mail took less than an hour.

The hard part was to collect all doc's and convert to jpeg for upload.

[Explorer8939]

Yeah, I tried when they opened the site (very early morning here in Europe). Site froze several times so I gave up after a few tries.

A few hours later I tried again and got onto site and progressed a bit. Then discovered that they would not accept pdf uploads. WT actual F. JPG or one other only, so I gave up 'til later in the day when I could transfer my pdfs to jpg. A real PITA.

Later Nov 1 I tried again and got the successfully accepted message. Now I await the QR code with email 'within 7 working days'.

Wouldn't want to be a worrier or have high blood pressure if you were travelling soon.

BTW: API error seems to have been fixed now and there was a workaround published elsewhere (Involved using Chrome, I believe).

I used Firefox browser and gmail.

Most of the early problems have been fixed in Thailand Pass, except one: they have a huge backlog, and are not processing apps very quickly.

If you want a QR code fast, just select the Alternative Quarantine option instead of Test and Go, everything is the same, except it works.