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COVID vaccine roll-out could take months to curb spread of virus says PROF Karol Sikora.
So today is the day. A Covid-19 vaccine is being rolled out across the country and by the time you're reading this, thousands and thousands of people will have already received their first dose.
[URL]https://www.express.co.uk/comment/expresscomment/1369681/vaccine-roll-out-coronavirus-spread-virus[/URL]
And every country has differing roll out dates over years and some have no roll out dates at all.
[QUOTE=BananaBoi;2510283]Let's be clear that APPLY does not mean ACCEPTED.
Why not let everyone apply? Doesn't hurt Thailand at all. Who gets in will be another story. Leave your yacht at home guys. Only 6 boats are allowed to enter Thailand, including yachts.
14 day quarantine is no big deal. Aren't many of us basically under a 14 day quarantine in our home country anyways? Personally I'd rather get a reward at the end of my 14 day quarantine than the semi lockdown I have in my home country for the foreseeable future.
Let's say you are accepted for a STV. Has anyone from France/Belgium or the USA looked in to what current flight options there are to fly to Bangkok?
Has anyone here actually applied for any type of Visa for Thailand since COVID began?[/QUOTE]For the STV, I know that you have to pre pay for your Q but it reads like you have to choose your hotel and pre-pay for the whole stay. Your thoughts?
I am curious about the costs of flights. I'd be going from USA.
All,
There are Provincial Administration Office (PAO) elections this Sunday, 20th December which probably means no alcohol sales.
[URL]https://thepattayanews.com/2020/12/13/local-elections-are-this-upcoming-weekend-in-thailand-and-a-booze-sales-ban-is-nearly-certain/[/URL]
The article above says that entertainment businesses in Pattaya have been told unofficially at this stage that they will have to close from early evening on Saturday until after the polls close at 5 pm Sunday. It is unclear whether this will apply to Bangkok which has no PAO but is run by the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority (BMA), elections for which are not taking place.
[QUOTE=BananaBoi;2510283]Let's say you are accepted for a STV. Has anyone from France/Belgium or the USA looked in to what current flight options there are to fly to Bangkok?[/QUOTE]For France / Belgium options would involve travelling via another country e. G. Amsterdam (KLM or Eva), Frankfurt (Lufthansa or allegedly Thai), Zurich (Swiss), Doha (Qatar), Dubai (Emirates), Abu Dhabi (Etihad).
[QUOTE=BayView;2511488]I am curious about the costs of flights. I'd be going from USA.[/QUOTE]Emirates quote around USD 1,000 - 1,100 for NY JFK-DXB-BKK (25 hours including 6 hour layover in Dubai) return for outbound mid-January, return late March. Other options from the east coast would be Qatar (via Doha) or connecting at one of the European hubs listed in my response of BB.
West coast options would take some work to find connections on [URL]https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ijBJOTgFJPAuWUfkPIA60iniXB9j9Ba2XHafXzA6JCw/edit[/URL]#gid=686263740. Options might be via Taiwan (although there is a maximum layover of 8 hours), Hong Kong, Seoul. Possibly Singapore or Tokyo-Narita (although I'm not sure how reliable Thai Airways flight schedules are and the flight may be reserved for "returnees". Be aware you almost certainly need to be thru-ticketed I. E. Just transit not actually going through passport control to check in for the next flight.
[QUOTE=BayView;2511488]For the STV, I know that you have to pre pay for your Q but it reads like you have to choose your hotel and pre-pay for the whole stay. Your thoughts?[/QUOTE]Things may have changed by now but last I read it was from a list of select government approved hotels and you end up paying more than normal for the hotel. You can Google if you really want to know which hotels are approved but I'm sure that will all change by the time you will be allowed in.
[QUOTE=BananaBoi;2511509]Things may have changed by now but last I read it was from a list of select government approved hotels and you end up paying more than normal for the hotel. You can Google if you really want to know which hotels are approved but I'm sure that will all change by the time you will be allowed in.[/QUOTE]I have not done any research on it myself but the guy I met very briefly in Nana Plaza from the USA who had just finished his 14 day quarantine on arrival in Bangkok said he stayed in the Princeton (Downtown?) Bangkok Hotel near Victory Monument and his total cost was $1,000 USD/30,000 THB, including all tests, food, whatever. He said after the first 7 days he was allowed to roam around outdoors on the hotel property, around the pool area and such, for 40 minutes per day.
[QUOTE=EihTooms;2511567]I have not done any research on it myself but the guy I met very briefly in Nana Plaza from the USA who had just finished his 14 day quarantine on arrival in Bangkok said he stayed in the Princeton (Downtown?) Bangkok Hotel near Victory Monument and his total cost was $1,000 USD/30,000 THB, including all tests, food, whatever. He said after the first 7 days he was allowed to roam around outdoors on the hotel property, around the pool area and such, for 40 minutes per day.[/QUOTE]This might have been posted before but here it is again.
List of Thailand government approved quarantine hotels.
[URL]https://thaiest.com/blog/list-of-alternative-state-quarantine-asq-hotels-thailand[/URL]
[QUOTE=EihTooms;2511567]I have not done any research on it myself but the guy I met very briefly in Nana Plaza from the USA who had just finished his 14 day quarantine on arrival in Bangkok said he stayed in the Princeton (Downtown?) Bangkok Hotel near Victory Monument and his total cost was $1,000 USD/30,000 THB, including all tests, food, whatever. He said after the first 7 days he was allowed to roam around outdoors on the hotel property, around the pool area and such, for 40 minutes per day.[/QUOTE]I'm not asking about the paying for the quarantine hotel. From what I've read, you need to pre-pay for the hotels after quarantine. Do you have to give them an itinerary? I'm sure that your application would be denied if you told them that you want to spend your time in Pattaya. Not really finding any information on the process. I'm thinking that it's probably best to wait for the vaccine before traveling.
[QUOTE=BayView;2511841]... Do you have to give them an itinerary? I'm sure that your application would be denied if you told them that you want to spend your time in Pattaya. Not really finding any information on the process. I'm thinking that it's probably best to wait for the vaccine before traveling.[/QUOTE]I would be surprised if an application was denied because you listed a post-quarantine hotel and destination in Pattaya on an itinerary as though saying so is no different than telling them you intend to stay full time in "a brothel."
Sure, they know why many if not most single men travelers are ultimately booked in a hotel on Walking Street in Pattaya or on Sukhumvit Soi 4 in Bangkok instead of a quiet little hotel in Ayutthaya or even a hotel in On Nut. But I don't think they'll need to know in advance what you'll be up to on an hour by hour basis while you are here.
Does anyone else know? Aren't the usual "To visit friends", "To visit historic sites", "To tour the country" or "To research business opportunities" acceptable on these itineraries as they have been in the past?
[QUOTE=BayView;2511841]From what I've read, you need to pre-pay for the hotels after quarantine. Do you have to give them an itinerary?[/QUOTE]You may need to tell the authorities where you will be staying after you leave quarantine depending your visa but it is not necessary to prepay just make sure that you have hotels booked for your stay and report them but I would expect that this would be an ordinary reservation so you would not need to pay up front.
Hotels have a legal obligation to inform Immigration that you are staying there. Thai Immigration will always know where you are. This even applies to a ST hotel but I'm guessing ST hotels don't do it. One of the reasons Thailand is against AirBNB because an AirBNB owner is not going to go to the Immigration office to file a TM30 for someone staying at their condo for 1 day.
There will be no issues in booking a hotel in Pattaya unless Thailand implements a provincial lockdown like it did when COVID began. Maybe just book a Bangkok hotel for 1 night the day after you are finished quarantine so you can report that as your residence after quarantine. The Form only asks where you will be staying, not for how long. It's not the worst thing in the world to stay 1 night in Bangkok. Really, it isn't.
However, all this information is irrelevant. Who knows what the rules will be when we are allowed to return to Thailand in 2022.
[QUOTE=BayView;2511841]I'm not asking about the paying for the quarantine hotel. From what I've read, you need to pre-pay for the hotels after quarantine. Do you have to give them an itinerary? I'm sure that your application would be denied if you told them that you want to spend your time in Pattaya. Not really finding any information on the process. I'm thinking that it's probably best to wait for the vaccine before traveling.[/QUOTE]Apologizes if this seems too negative but as the mindset of the government here seems to be to take no chances it may perhaps be worth considering the following in making decisions about when you intend trying to travel.
As I understand it neither Pfizer nor Moderna vaccines while reducing the odds do not prevent Covid infection. More relevant the data is not yet clear whether a vaccinated person who becomes infected can be a transmitter. Consequently its possible vaccines will not change requirements to quarantine. We may have to wait for herd immunity for that.
For those waiting to visit hopefully this is not be how it goes, data will show vaccinated people cannot be spreaders and a certificate of vaccination will allow normal entry. Hopefully.
[QUOTE=BananaBoi;2512186]Hotels have a legal obligation to inform Immigration that you are staying there. Thai Immigration will always know where you are. One of the reasons Thailand is against AirBNB because an AirBNB owner is not going to go to the Immigration office to file a TM30 for someone staying at their condo for 1 day.[/QUOTE]Which is the dumbest shit ever. I arrive at the airport and put all that information on my form. Then when I get to Pattaya, because I have a place there, I have to go down to the local immigration office within a certain time frame and fill out a form with the same information that was on the one I gave them at the airport. What is the purpose of filling the damn thing out at the airport if you have to self report or the place you are staying has to report you? Waste of paper and time.
[QUOTE=Franciscass;2512236]...As I understand it neither Pfizer nor Moderna vaccines while reducing the odds do not prevent Covid infection. More relevant the data is not yet clear whether a vaccinated person who becomes infected can be a transmitter[/QUOTE]I understand the same thing. That bad part is vaccinated people won't know they are infected and they could become the super spreaders of late 2021.
People should understand that COVID is the disease that is caused by a certain virus. Preventing someone from getting the disease does not necessarily stop the virus. We hope it does, but at this point in time we really don’t know.
[QUOTE=EihTooms;2511856]Does anyone else know? Aren't the usual "To visit friends", "To visit historic sites", "To tour the country" or "To research business opportunities" acceptable on these itineraries as they have been in the past?[/QUOTE]A mate of mine that has done a ton of traveling gave me the advice that when filling out an immigration card for any country list "tourist" as what you're doing there and "Grand hotel" as where you're staying. Works in every country because there's always a grand hotel.
BTW I definitely do not think they will turn anyone down just because they only want to visit Pattaya.