Cheaper Alternative State Qurantine

[jimmya123]

actually i have been living and working in Thailand for 10 years. I am a teacher ,I have family , that means my lifestyle is as the same as thai's totally even i pay 2500 Baht for my rental home ,monthly in rural area, after short period in Turkey , i try to return Thailand but MFA listed ASQhotels with awful prices compared to my life expenses in Thailand (my monthly rent = daily ASQ hotel)

 

so , Is there anybody knowing cheaper ASQ options that MFA listed. Because if it is compulsory , i don't expect any luxury options , i can stay anywhere for 14 days 

 

meanwhile, how can thai returnees pay these amounts for ASQ , are they exempted from ASQ or are ASQ hotels for thais different than farang

Edited July 8, 2020 by jimmya123

[CLS]

Thais can choose between free quarantine in state facilities or ASQ. Foreigners have only the ASQ option.

[Pravda]

Paying for quarantine would be the least of your problems if you want to get back to Thailand.

[jimmya123]

2 hours ago, Pravda said:

Paying for quarantine would be the least of your problems if you want to get back to Thailand.

least or largest ? because after i return Thailand , my job is ready , i will start to teach in a new public school and the term has already started , they are waiting for me to start ASAP , i would continue my life at the point i left in Thailand if there was no ASQ   

Edited July 9, 2020 by jimmya123

[jackdd]

Thailand is focusing on allowing "essential workers" back in, those persons will usually have a higher salary and in many cases the company will pay for it, so the prices are not a big deal.

I guess teachers on 30k salary aren't considered as essential, so there are no hotels for their budget

[sammieuk1]

Awful prices is one way of putting it extortion is another together with ridiculous demands of entry most will forget the idea of a return until the rinsing "stage 6" is over ???? 

[DrJack54]

OP, you mention family. I'm guessing Thai wife. The good news is that foreigners married to Thai are on the list to make application to enter Thailand.

The 14 day quarantine is the least of your problems. (cost start ~40k). 

The list of requirements is extensive and not straight forwarded. 

Threads running about all the requirements with good advice how to return to Thailand.

This guy has posted lot of good info on your situation. Check out his post/threads for advice

@richard_smith237

 

Edited July 9, 2020 by DrJack54

[86Tiger]

The Thai "authorities" have no concern you deem their requirements as cost prohibitive.  They are very politely telling you to stay where you are.

[sometimewoodworker]

Prices range from 28,000 to 144,000 they include 3 meals per day + 2 COVID tests, the 28,000, considering the nurse attending and the rest is hardly excessive. If you can’t afford that then you should get a better job.

[unheard]

7 hours ago, jimmya123 said:

least or largest ?

The largest problem at the moment is the actual approval.

Some of us have been waiting for 3 weeks by now after the date of submitting the application.

I'm aware of just one approval notification so far (still unconfirmed) on the basis of joining the family.

[flinc2020]

So, I di some looking into these ASQ's and have decided that I really need to buy a hotel and get on this list!! Couple of factors (and I didn't check EVERY hotel on the list, just the first 6 for figures, the rest I scanned through to look at the prices.)

that they all seem to have in common is:

Transfer from the airport to the hotel. (In the case of one the transfer is to its affiliated hospital for 24 hours then to the hotel.)

Between 2 and 4 Covid tests over the 14 day period.

As for other things offered, well maid service every 2 or 3 days as opposed to the usual daily maid service. Discounts for room service and laundry. One location offers use of the gym facilities. MOST have an on call nurse 24 hours a day.

Now, a couple of the hotels are still accepting bookings by tourists (obviously domestic) on Trip.com and Booking.com so they are not exclusively for quarantine, which is a little disconcerting. On the whole, however, the additional factors being put in place as part of the Covid quarantine are pretty standard across the range. What you pay, on the other hand, for those extra factors is not. It ranges from the lowest at 16,200 baht up to 39,840 baht. And the standard of hotel doesn't seem to play much of a part in the pricing for the Covid care with 3 and 4 star hotels charging the same, if not more than the more expensive hotels. So yeah, being a hotel owner on the ASQ list looks pretty lucrative right now. 

One thing I should add is that the prices they quote for the ASQ are, in the main, for 1 person, so if both you and your partner are returning you can pretty much double the profit margin as most of the places are priced for single occupancy.

[jackdd]

57 minutes ago, flinc2020 said:

So, I di some looking into these ASQ's and have decided that I really need to buy a hotel and get on this list!!

I just had a look at Movenpick, about 60k for the 14 day package.

They cooperate with Bangkok Hospital, a Covid test costs 5900THB with them, two are included.

This leaves the hotel with about 48k, or about 3400THB per day, which is about the rate which they charged in normal times for a room.

But it doesn't take into account the extra costs for food, transport, nurse, and probably the biggest chunk the backhander to be on this list.

I think in normal times they make more money per night than with the ASQ now.

[unheard]

6 minutes ago, jackdd said:

They cooperate with Bangkok Hospital, a Covid test costs 5900THB with them, two are included.

Is that really what they charge for a test?

No way hotels are paying those prices.

Edited July 9, 2020 by unheard

[Wars]

3 hours ago, unheard said:

The largest problem at the moment is the actual approval.

Some of us have been waiting for 3 weeks by now after the date of submitting the application.

I'm aware of just one approval notification so far (still unconfirmed) on the basis of joining the family.

Agreed been waiting almost 4 weeks now . Called embassy the other day to notify its been more than their "15 business days" they told me only 1 person got approved for the COE and he applied weeks before I did they told me to check my email diligently... 

[darrendsd]

10 hours ago, jackdd said:

Thailand is focusing on allowing "essential workers" back in, those persons will usually have a higher salary and in many cases the company will pay for it, so the prices are not a big deal.

I guess teachers on 30k salary aren't considered as essential, so there are no hotels for their budget

How have you come up with this rubbish?

 

WP holders are allowed back in - check the CAAT site - there is nothing mentioned about salary

 

From the CAAT site

 

(8) Non-Thai nationals who have work permit or have been granted permission from government agencies to work in the Kingdom,

[jackdd]

24 minutes ago, darrendsd said:

How have you come up with this rubbish?

 

WP holders are allowed back in - check the CAAT site - there is nothing mentioned about salary

 

From the CAAT site

 

(8) Non-Thai nationals who have work permit or have been granted permission from government agencies to work in the Kingdom,

On the website of most Thai embassies (just one example: https://thaiembdc.org/2020/06/24/29717/) you will find this: "Applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis, taking into account urgency and economic importance."

As i said before, the ASQ hotels were selected based on the preferences of economically important (which usually means a good salary) people, not on the preferences of teachers with low salaries.

Teachers can of course apply (if they can afford it), but i guess that Thailand doesn't care much about them and it could happen that they have to wait a while until there is a free spot, economically important people will be allowed in first.

 

 

Edited July 9, 2020 by jackdd

[darrendsd]

16 minutes ago, jackdd said:

On the website of most Thai embassies (just one example: https://thaiembdc.org/2020/06/24/29717/) you will find this: "Applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis, taking into account urgency and economic importance."

As i said before, the ASQ hotels were selected based on the preferences of economically important (which usually means a good salary) people, not on the preferences of teachers with low salaries.

Teachers can of course apply (if they can afford it), but i guess that Thailand doesn't care much about them and it could happen that they have to wait a while until there is a free spot, economically important people will be allowed in first.

 

 

How do you know that Thailand doesn't care about teachers or are you just assuming?

[jackdd]

1 minute ago, darrendsd said:

How do you know that Thailand doesn't care about teachers or are you just assuming?

Many teachers in Thailand get a quite low salary, if Thailand would deem them to be important they would offer a hotel in their ASQ program which they can afford (or maybe order the school to pay for the ASQ of a returning teacher)

[BritTim]

3 minutes ago, darrendsd said:

How do you know that Thailand doesn't care about teachers or are you just assuming?

Well, it has been made clear that those returning to work are considered on a case by case basis. It is, I suppose, possible that Thailand has started treating teachers as more important to the economy than, for instance, project managers on provisioning data centres. However, if so, that is a huge change in attitudes from what I have observed over the years. Thailand has historically neglected its education sector.

[jimmya123]

17 hours ago, jackdd said:

Thailand is focusing on allowing "essential workers" back in, those persons will usually have a higher salary and in many cases the company will pay for it, so the prices are not a big deal.

I guess teachers on 30k salary aren't considered as essential, so there are no hotels for their budget

You are totally right, unfortunaely, the government always think if a farang has family in Thailand, he must be rich and can pay whatever he needs to pay, nobody think if this farang is happy in Thaland , he can live very simple

[jimmya123]

6 hours ago, BritTim said:

Well, it has been made clear that those returning to work are considered on a case by case basis. It is, I suppose, possible that Thailand has started treating teachers as more important to the economy than, for instance, project managers on provisioning data centres. However, if so, that is a huge change in attitudes from what I have observed over the years. Thailand has historically neglected its education sector.

I agrre with you, as long as 10 years in Thailand , the policy for foreigners has changed and most of regulations have been changing , it's also getting more difficult to stay in Thailand unless you have unlimited money to spend , actually , the government want foreigners just to contribute economy by spending money , not to get money from economy. meanwhile education in Thailand is most unimportant thing compared to other sectors

[Caldera]

As it's being decided case by case, there's probably no consistency anyway, so the discussion of whether or not teachers are valued enough as "essential workers" seems almost moot to me.

 

I think it might depend a lot on where the OP is located. In some countries, there are still thousands of Thais waiting to be repatriated, so there's no hope that any foreigner who wishes to return will get permission promptly. Elsewhere they might struggle to fill up repatriation flights.