Quarantine procedure “Tell your story” post it here !

[xn47140 27]

Thanks richard smith 237....hope you see your loved ones soon.

[unheard 220]

9 minutes ago, PatrickC said:

 

The trick is that I can only cancel it if there is a COE problem or flight problem, and they want the embassy to tell them if this is true.

A welcome development.

Hopefully all hotels establish and follow a similar policy.

[richard_smith237 26,079]

36 minutes ago, unheard said:

i don't agree with that. I don't think it's harsh at all but rather a necessary next step to eliminate the mess they have allowed to develop.

I welcome this development and hope other hotels follow the same policy and make it impossible to book an ASQ room unless eligible to do so.

The current unmanageable situation with the ASQ room bookings has developed in large part thanks to the ones ability to book those rooms well in advance, with full knowledge of an easy refund, while securing no seat on the repatriation flight, holding a bogus airline ticket or not even being approved to enter the country!!!

While the ones who've actually been approved, secured a repatriation flight booking are being left out,  struggling to find any available rooms under 60K for the dates of their arrival.

 

That makes far more sense IF the Embassies are not requiring ASQ bookings at the time of Application for the CoE, but only once the the applicant has been notified what flight they can take. 

 

The Applicant an then Book their ASQ (receive confirmation) and then pay for their flight. 

 

As you mentioned above, this common sense approach would not overwhelm the booking of ASQ hotels - both ‘Repatraitees’ and the ASQ hotels would know exactly their positions and it would be far easier to plan.

 

At the moment there must be 100’s if not 1000’s of speculative ASQ bookings clogging up what could be a simple process. 

 

The reasons for all of this are some fundamental flaws in the clumsy instructions initially issued by the MFA.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SVC Porter 201]

I've just had this in from Embassy UK.

 

csinfo@thaiembassyuk.org.uk via mout-bounce.kundenserver.de
to me

If you have all document requested, you can submit the document to proceed visa and COE at the same time at http://www.thaiembassy.org/london/en/services

You are also required to bring in a copy of all document submitted.

Please note that COE will be issued once you have the confirmed flight and ASQ.

We would like to emphasise that there are no commercial flights allowed to get into the country at the moment. However, the airline would like to sell you tickets that cannot really fly. They may be able to refund it later. It would be better to wait a little more until there are updated.

There will be a repatriation flight. The seat will be allocated prioritise for Thais. Please keep update further information about the seat available at www.thaiembassy.org./london

Should you any further enquiries, please kindly contact
visa@thaiembassyuk.org.uk

Thank you very much

 

As I am based in Ireland I'm stuck.....I have neither the funds nor the will to endure the amount of paper juggling to get all this sorted; so as advised I'll wait until the commercial flights are go!

[unheard 220]

5 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

That makes far more sense IF the Embassies are not requiring ASQ bookings at the time of Application for the CoE, but only once the the applicant has been notified what flight they can take.

I agree that the requirement of an ASQ booking (in some, not all countries) was the culprit of the on-going hotel shortage problem.

But it's no longer the case.

The rules have been clarified.

And as of a couple of weeks ago there should be no embassy requiring any booking to just start the process.

Edited July 24, 2020 by unheard

[vision 33]

13 minutes ago, SVC Porter said:

....I have neither the funds nor the will to endure the amount of paper juggling to get all this sorted; so as advised I'll wait until the commercial flights are go!

It's true this is not a simple or cheap way to go and if you have a manageable situation where you are and can wait (this may end up going a few more months or possibly into next year) I'm sure thats the more pragmatic approach.

 

Threads like this one are meant to assist those who feel the need to re-unite with thier loved ones in Thailand outweighs the cost of extra paperwork and quarantine or are currently in what they feel is a worse situation in the place they are stuck currently.

 

I can certainly respect the choice of anyone who decides they are fine to stand pat but speakaing as someone who has gone through the paperwork and payment process (and starting day 3 of quarantine) I can tell you that I feel it's reasonable and "worth it" considering as a contractor I had the choice of either being stuck paying $100 a day for a hotel room (as the cases /freedoms balance was swinging negative again) or coming here where I can ride it out with my wife in our home for as long as it takes for my home country to get it together. 

[SVC Porter 201]

6 minutes ago, vision said:

It's true this is not a simple or cheap way to go and if you have a manageable situation where you are and can wait (this may end up going a few more months or possibly into next year) I'm sure thats the more pragmatic approach.

 

Threads like this one are meant to assist those who feel the need to re-unite with thier loved ones in Thailand outweighs the cost of extra paperwork and quarantine or are currently in what they feel is a worse situation in the place they are stuck currently.

 

I can certainly respect the choice of anyone who decides they are fine to stand pat but speakaing as someone who has gone through the paperwork and payment process (and starting day 3 of quarantine) I can tell you that I feel it's reasonable and "worth it" considering as a contractor I had the choice of either being stuck paying $100 a day for a hotel room (as the cases /freedoms balance was swinging negative again) or coming here where I can ride it out with my wife in our home for as long as it takes for my home country to get it together. 

I absolutely agree with you 100% and if I were stranded from family I would probably pay the price.

 

My situation is ever so slightly different as I am to take up a job in Thailand ......I am not permitted to continue to work here at home for the duration of a career break so I have no source of income hence the up front costs to me are beyond my means.

 

If the travel ban shifts soon I would happily do quarantine.

[richard_smith237 26,079]

41 minutes ago, unheard said:

46 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

That makes far more sense IF the Embassies are not requiring ASQ bookings at the time of Application for the CoE, but only once the the applicant has been notified what flight they can take.

I agree that the requirement of an ASQ booking (in some, not all countries) was the culprit of the on-going hotel shortage problem.

But it's no longer the case.

The rules have been clarified.

And as of a couple of weeks ago there should be no embassy requiring any booking to just start the process.

 

Someone needs to tell ‘quarantined’ (poster) of this in this thread.... 

 

He [the poster called quarantine] got somewhat shirty with me when when I suggested that the Embassies had started taking a more common sense to the CoE application process and the Flights and ASQ bookings were not needed until the applicant had been notified the CoE was approved.

(according the quarantine - the application process is different in the US)

 

 

His comments below: 

 

[unheard 220]

4 minutes ago, PatrickC said:

 

As a policy it makes sense, but I am not sure if it will be consistently applied. But it should ideally be mandated on ASQ hotels that they have to refund you if you have a COE problem

Agree, there should be a consistent booking policy required for the hotels to follow as a part of the ASQ certification process.

[vision 33]

4 minutes ago, PatrickC said:

 

As a policy it makes sense, but I am not sure if it will be consistently applied. But it should ideally be mandated on ASQ hotels that they have to refund you if you have a COE problem

Hopefully it doesn't come to a mandate.  My hotel had a tiered structure:

Cancel within 24 hours, is free

Cancel with at least a week, there was a clerical fee to pay

Cancel with less than 24 hours left and you would only be refunded half

[unheard 220]

3 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

and ASQ bookings were not needed until the applicant had been notified the CoE was approved.

(according the quarantine - the application process is different in the US)

Therein lies the problem.

There are quite a few that are unable to get a clear picture of the process.

And it's not entirely their fault.

There is still so much mis-information floating across the facebooks of the world, many people are now totally confused and don't know who to believe.

[vision 33]

27 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

Someone needs to tell ‘quarantined’ (poster) of this in this thread.... 

 

He [the poster called quarantine] got somewhat shirty with me when when I suggested that the Embassies had started taking a more common sense to the CoE application process and the Flights and ASQ bookings were not needed until the applicant had been notified the CoE was approved.

(according the quarantine - the application process is different in the US)

 

Well he describes the process I did so I think he may be technically right (for US applicants) but what of it?  If the UK requires A before B and the US B before A?  Either way you end up with the same result and nothing is ever going to be guaranteed.  The first step is to submit your application to your local embassy and after that follow thier directions.  The information you have given in this thread and others was extreamy helpful to me even though the process might have been ever so slightly different. 

 

Just to inform anyone considering this process:  You are not going to get any guarantees.  The situation is in flux and the program may be modified or canceled at any time.  Thats just the reality. 

[richard_smith237 26,079]

4 minutes ago, vision said:

42 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

Someone needs to tell ‘quarantined’ (poster) of this in this thread.... 

 

He [the poster called quarantine] got somewhat shirty with me when when I suggested that the Embassies had started taking a more common sense to the CoE application process and the Flights and ASQ bookings were not needed until the applicant had been notified the CoE was approved.

(according the quarantine - the application process is different in the US)

 

Well he describes the process I did so I think he may be technically right (for US applicants) but what of it?  If the UK requires A before B and the US B before A?  Either way you end up with the same result and nothing is ever going to be guaranteed.  The first step is to submit your application to your local embassy and after that follow thier directions.  The information you have given in this thread and others was extreamy helpful to me even though the process might have been ever so slightly different. 

 

Just to inform anyone considering this process:  You are not going to get any guarantees.  The situation is in flux and the program may be modified or canceled at any time.  Thats just the reality. 

B before A in this case involves Purchasing throwaway tickets and ASQ bookings prior to Application for the CoE... This is definitely worth triple checking - I think it might not be a requirement and someone is simply taking a long list of requirements at face value as if they have to all be submitted at the time of application for the CoE - in my experience they don’t. Unheard also seems to imply so. 

 

[vision 33]

3 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

B before A in this case involves Purchasing throwaway tickets and ASQ bookings prior to Application for the CoE... This is definitely worth triple checking - I think it might not be a requirement and someone is simply taking a long list of requirements at face value as if they have to all be submitted at the time of application for the CoE - in my experience they don’t. Unheard also seems to imply so. 

 

Ummm?   Are most hotel reservations "throwaway" ?  Mine at Solaria were not and if I had to cancel they would have refunded me.  Is that not typical?  These are in essence just hotel reservations are they not?  Am I missing something here?

[Willy333 9]

29 minutes ago, vision said:

Ummm?   Are most hotel reservations "throwaway" ?  Mine at Solaria were not and if I had to cancel they would have refunded me.  Is that not typical?  These are in essence just hotel reservations are they not?  Am I missing something here?

I recently contacted half the list and almost all require a full payment and it is non refundable in most cases, some allow changes with proof of a problem with your flight or visa. A lot requires proof of a repatriation flight for booking as well.