Thailand requires 3 million baht insurance for ‘retirement’ visas

In a revision to the rules for non-immigrant OA visas, foreigners will now be required to hold a minimum of 3 million baht in health insurance, for in-patient services, in order to be eligible for long-term stays in Thailand, 8 times more than the 400,000 baht that has been previously required.

The OA visa is also known as the Retirement visa (or Geeza visa).

According to Thai PBS World, the new rule was announced yesterday by the Deputy Minister of Public Health, Satit Pitutacha, saying that the increase in insurance is necessary to make sure that, should a traveller get ill during their one year in the country, more insurance money available is necessary to guarantee they receive the proper treatment.

The massively increased insurance requirement would be for foreigners with a non-immigrant visa including O Visas and A Visas staying up to one year inside of Thailand. Due to the strict border control that closed entry to nearly everyone, just 3,768 expats and foreign travellers were granted non-immigrant visas in all of 2021 and 2020.

The Health Ministry says that insurance policies can be purchased from their home country or domestically within Thailand, but stipulate that the coverage must maintain that minimum of 3 million baht or the equivalent if the policy is issued in a foreign currency.

The announcement will likely be met with displeasure and backlash from international travellers hoping to make Thailand their home long-term, or at least for one year. It is especially difficult for those hoping to retire in Thailand as insurance policy premiums are infamous for skyrocketing once the applicant passes a certain age, increasing exponentially with age under the assumption that older people are more prone to illnesses and accidents.

As Thailand releases plan after plan to lure back tourists, many complain that the complicated entry process, the rising costs, and constant changes to immigration policy not to the benefit of international travellers seems to be simultaneously pushing away the same expats with money that the country espouses to be courting.

SOURCE: Thai PBS World / The Thaiger

VISA AGENT

#Thailand not seen as safe tourist destination until it fixes problems

TOURISM and Sport Minister Weerasak Kowsurat yesterday urged agencies to sort out a series of problems before they can send a convincing message to the world that Thailand is still a safe destination for tourists.

Weerasak was responding to the Phoenix boat accident that killed 47 Chinese tourists earlier this month off the southern resort island of Phuket. 

There are many issues that authorities should review and rectify to help improve tourists’ confidence in Thailand as a safe destination, Weerasak told The Nation in an interview. 

He said authorities should complete the first phase of the process by paying all compensation that is due to the relatives of victims and return them to their country.

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Authorities should then try to figure out what happened to the boats by retrieving the wreckage for inspection. Concerned agencies should collect statistics nationwide about boat accidents and study international standards for tour boats that can be compared to Thailand. 

He also urged authorities to explain that the cause of the accident was not related to so-called zero-dollar tours or nominee ownership in tourism. “[People] should not generalise. We should be sympathetic to those who lost their loved ones. Money cannot bring them back,” he said. 

He also urged authorities to speed up the completion of a safety standards manual to improve confidence. 

“If we can manage all the issues we then can send a single, convincing message to the world, the Chinese, and local people and ask them to have confidence in us,” he said. The number of Chinese tourist visitors to Phuket has dropped sharply in the wake of the tragedy. 

Source TheNation