Travelers can enter Thailand by sea & land from Dec 24

The Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) decided last week to allow travellers to enter Thailand by sea and land, in addition to current access by air.
The north-eastern province of Nong Khai, bordering the Lao PDR, will be the first overland entry point to reopen on December 24th, according to CCSA spokesman Dr. Taweesin Visanuyothin.

To enter Thailand via a seaport, travellers are required to be fully inoculated, have passed an RT-PCR test within the 72 hours prior to departure or since their last port of call, to have no infections among passengers and crew on the same vessel and have “Thailand Pass” registration before arrival.

Travellers under the “Test and Go” program will be exempted from quarantine and from providing proof of hotel bookings. “Sandbox” program travellers will have to stay at a hotel in the “sandbox” area for five days and have proof of SHA+ booking payments.

Dr. Taweesin said children under 6, who are accompanied by their parents, will not be subject to RT-PCR tests, but their parents must have negative results from RT-PCR tests taken within the 72 hours prior to travel and will be required to take rapid antigen tests upon arrival.

For Thais who want to travel abroad and need a vaccine passport, he said the CCSA has approved the use of the “Mor Prom” application to apply for the document online.

According to the CCSA, 104,065 foreign and Thai travellers entered Thailand between November 1st and 25th under the “Test and Go”, “sandbox” and quarantine programs. Of these, 135 or 0.13% were found to be infected with COVID-19. – ThaiPBS

Source - BangkokJack

VISA AGENT  /  How to register for: THAI PASS

Entry requirements for international arrivals starting November 1

The Thailand Pass is set to launch in 5 days, aiming to ease the process to get approval to enter Thailand. The entry requirements for international travellers still require some hoops, but the government hopes this streamlining will help welcome back much-needed tourism to the country.

The website for the Thailand Pass has been created at tp.consular.go.th but it is not active yet, displaying a message that registration begins at 9 am on November 1. All currently issued certificates of entry will be honoured and travellers can request refunds from their hotels for the cost of lifted requirements.

Thailand Pass will open for registration on 1 November 2021 at 09.00 hrs. We recommend you to register for Thailand’s new electronic entry document (Thailand Pass QR code) at least 7 days prior to your travel date. For travellers who have been granted COE (Certificate of Entry) and will arrive in Thailand from 1 November 2021 onwards, the COE remains valid for entering Thailand. Travellers can update the approved COE with the revised terms and condition of stay complying with new entry regulations by downloading the new COE at the registration website (coethailand.mfa.go.th) or the link from your COE approval notification email.

The Department of Consular Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have prepared an infographic outlining the 5 steps of the entry requirements for Thailand starting November 1.

1/ PREPARE: Required documents
1/ Passport
2/ Thai visa (if required)
3/ Vaccine certificate (for Test & Go or Sandbox Blue Zones scheme – unvaccinated travelers can quarantine 7 or 10 days for air travelers and 14 days for overland travelers.)
4/ Insurance with a minimum of US $50,000 coverage
5/ Paid SHA+ or AQ hotel reservation (including fee for RT-PCR test)

2/ REGISTER: Register at tp.consular.go.th at least 7 days before travel
1/ Fill in details and immigration forms
2/ Upload to the site
3/ Wait for pre-approval of your vaccine certificate
4/ Receive a Thailand Pass QR code

3/ TEST: Within 72 hours before departure, obtain a negative Covid-19 RT-PCR test

 
4/ ARRIVE: Travel to Thailand
1/ Officers will check your Thailand Pass QR code and negative RT-PCR test
2/ Pass through immigration and disease control checkpoints
3/ Take another RT-PCR Covid-19 test
1/ At the airport OR
2/ At your approved hotel OR
3/ At designated accommodations in the Test & Go or Sandbox Blue Zones schemes

5/ STAY: According to which entry program you do (see below)
1/ Test & Go – 1 night in AQ or SHA+ hotel while waiting for test results
2/ Blue Zone Sandbox – SHA+ hotel for 7 nights
3/ Happy Quarantine – AQ hotel for 10 nights (14 if you enter by land)

Source - The Thaiger

 VISA AGENT  /  THAI PASS

Thailand - New work permit rules make for an uncertain May Day for migrant workers

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WORKING IN Thailand is becoming harder and more expensive for unskilled migrant workers from neighboring countries after the government imposed tougher policies addressing illegal |immigration.

Residing in the Kingdom for more than 12 years, 28-year-old Ei Dhan Dar from Myamar has already adapted to Thai society and can speak the language |fluently.

But despite her integration into society, she said she felt increasingly uncertain about her future in Thailand, since tough new regulations to register for work permits were issued, which entail a difficult and expensive process.

“Recently, I had to spend nearly Bt10,000 for the work permit registration fee and other related costs just to make my status legal, but I only earn Bt300 salary per day. It’s like we work hard to pay Thai bureaucrats and we are getting poorer in Thailand,” she said.

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“As I’ve lived in this country for a long time, I now feel that I have a bond with Thailand and I always hope that one day I can live comfortably in this country, but now I am not sure about this dream.”

Ei Dhan Dar is just one among hundreds of thousand migrant workers who have struggled to legalise their work status.

Labour Rights Promotion Network Foundation coordinator Surachai Mintun said his organisation had received many calls for help from migrant workers across the country, who had problems with the recent migrant worker registration, including some who were facing deportation.

“There are so many workers having problems with the registration because the regulation is unclear, specifies too short a period to register for a work permit, and lacks information for applicants,” Surachai said.

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According to the rule implemented this year, migrant workers who hold temporary pink identification cards have to register certificates of identity to get a passport and Thai visa, and then they have to register for a work permit within 15 days. If they fail to register within that period, their status will be illegal and they will be |subject to deportation.

The government cancelled its recognition of the temporary pink identification cards for migrant workers nationwide on March 31, requiring migrant workers to hold valid visas and work permits. There were an estimated 1.3 million migrant workers holding the temporary pink identification cards.

As a result of the rule, Surachai said migrant workers faced two major issues. First, many workers were unable to register for the work permit in time for various reasons, so even if they were |legally registered with authorities and holding a Thai visa, they |suddenly risked arrest and faced deportation.

The second problem is the cost of registration. Although the official cost was only Bt910, Surachai said, many workers had to employ an agent because the entire process was complicated and slow, which could cost as much as Bt10,000.

“It is very hard for workers to register by themselves because many of them cannot communicate in Thai and have limited knowledge about the bureaucratic procedures, so registering through an agent is the easiest way, but there is an extra financial burden,” he said.

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The tough new regulations are justified as an effort to tackle human trafficking and illegal migrant workers by the Labour Ministry.

Labour Ministry deputy permanent secretary Varanon Peetiwan has said the government wants to control the entire migrant labour system, meaning that all migrant workers should be brought to Thailand under the memorandum of understanding (MOU) system only.

Sakultara Bhupornwiwat, owner of a Samut Songkram squid processing factory, said she would like the government to reconsider the policy, because the MOU system was unreliable and unsuitable in practice.

“If I want to import workers via the MOU system, I have to pay a large amount of money first before the agent will recruit workers for me and there is no guarantee that I’ll get the workers. The business cannot rely on that,” Sakultara said.

“Moreover, the workers in the MOU system have to pay more than Bt10,000 in their home countries just to apply to work in Thailand. They cannot afford such an expensive fee. If they could pay that amount of money, why would they want to work in unskilled jobs in Thailand in the first place?”

She said that if the situation remained unchanged under the new policy, there would be a serious shortage of workers in the near future, which would harm not only her business but the country’s economy as a whole.

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Source - TheNation

'Bike for Dad' booked out for riders in Bangkok

Worldwide cycling events to celebrate King's birthday

THE "BIKE FOR DAD" cycling event in Bangkok has been fully booked after only the second day of registration, the event organizers said yesterday.

  The Bangkok event, organised in tandem with various other cycling events across the country and around the world to celebrate His Majesty the King's birthday, had targeted 100,000 participants when registration opened on Monday.

Participants had until November 10 to register online at the bikefordad2015.com website. District offices yesterday said they had assisted 14,499 residents to sign up for the event, which will be held at the same time everywhere on December 11. Dusit District notched up the most applicants with 654.

Meanwhile, thousands of prospective participants queued up to register for the cycling event in their respective provinces.

In Nakhon Ratchasima province, 14,919 people have registered for the event so far - the reported largest number in the Northeast.

Ongart Piromkraipak, 81, a retired civil servant, said he would participate in the ride to express his loyalty to His Majesty and to keep healthy. He said he loves exercise and has participated in 430 marathons in his life as well as the "Bike for Mom" cycling event in August in honour of Her Majesty the Queen.

Source: The Nation

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Mandatory registration of SIM cards in Thailand (UPDATE)

All you need to know on the mandatory registration of SIM cards in Thailand (UPDATE)

Further to the recent news that mobile phone users in Thailand must register their SIM cards, according to the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission, the methods and rules for registration are *slowly* becoming clearer, but thousands of people are still confused about what it means in practice.

Registering SIM cards in Thailand

Thai Tech and news outlets such as the Bangkok post recently reported that anyone who has purchased a prepaid mobile phone SIM card in Thailand must “register” their personal details with their mobile network before July 31st. Everyone seems confused and rightly so, as even though the dates are clear, nobody seems to know how to check if you are already registered (best to assume not), as well as complications if you are abroad during the registration period.
RELATED: Deadline looms for prepaid mobile users in Thailand to register
Here’s a little clarification on a few of the details, but we will update the information as we learn more.
The new rules come into effect on February the 1st, after which users will have 6 months to provide their personal details (name, ID, and of course the phone number in question) after which they will not be able to use their SIM. If you are a foreign citizen resident in Thailand, you will need to take your passport to register at any of the “subscriber information registration points” setup at Big C and Tesco Lotus, as well as 7-11 stores. It will also be possible in the near future to register at Krungthai registration point, but the date has not been officially confirmed yet.
Last year, the independent SIM card resellers were told to use a mobile app to register the user SIM cards. Using the app, the salesperson would take a picture off your SIM card and your subscriber ID and it would be sent to NBTC for “safekeeping”, both for new and existing users to register their numbers at any shop with the ‘2-snap’ logo. However, the app (which could be downloaded by anyone) was exposed to have lots of security issues. It’s not yet clear what method of actually sending the details to the operators will be used at the aforementioned outlets, but that’s their problem, not yours.
If you are abroad between now and 31st of July, it appears that you will not be able to register by phone or the Internet, as it would impossible to prove who you are without showing your ID in person. We will monitor this closely, as it would be convenient if an Internet/fax/telephone registration method was available for such scenarios. With tens of millions of people needing to register, we doubt that anything other than turning up at a registration point will be accepted.
Tourists who come to Thailand for a holiday and purchase a prepaid SIM card will simply need to show ID at the point of purchase in order to qualify as ‘registered’. This means a passport (valid for at least 6 months, which it should be anyway if you just travelled here) in order to register your SIM card.
Even if you have previously provided such information when you bought a SIM card in Thailand, it’s highly likely that you are not registered because the mobile operators seem to have completely ignored or failed to implement the proper registration procedures.

How to register your prepaid SIM in Thailand

We are still waiting for official word on the process of mandatory SIM registration in Thailand. As eluded to earlier, there has been talk of an app where users can register and perhaps the authorities will think of some other way of ensuring that mobile phone users can easily register their prepaid SIM cards between now and 31st July.
Regardless of what is planned for the registration process, as it stands currently, the easiest way to register your SIM card is to visit the local store of mobile network provider.
Jonathan, one of the writers for ThaiTech recently registered his prepaid SIM card at the Dtac store in Hua Hin.
Jonathan’s situation was that he needed to replace his old SIM card with a new nano SIM for his Google Nexus 6.
As part of this process, he also asked the staff member if he could register his prepaid SIM card. In order to register, Jonathan gave the Dtac staff member his passport who then proceeded to input his details into the computer. The whole process took no more than 5 minutes.
Even if you think you already registered your SIM card when a similar policy was rolled out by a previous government several years ago, we’d still advise that you go into the local store of your network provider to double check your phone is actually registered. Alternatively, you could always try calling the customer service numbers below, but good luck with that.
Seriously, if you are unsure about this whole process, visit your network provider at their local store to check the status or your prepaid SIM.

Contact details of mobile operators in Thailand

Here are the customer service contact details for the mobile operators in Thailand:
AIS: call 1175 from your mobile, or +66 2299 5000 from abroad.