Too Old for Thailand

[Steveo]

Hi , i am Steve.

Have lived in Thailand for about 10 years before Covid. Have been married to a Thai lady

For 12 years. Returned to Australia at the start of Covid as per the Australian Prime Minister.

Problem is as i am now nearing 66 years old. The requirement to enter Thailand is to have Health insurance.

Need this to apply for visa.

Insurance must be with Thai company.

I have applied to many Thai insurance companies, they all need me to have a health medical with a Thai doctor of their choise before they will issue me with a policy.

Problem. I cant get a visa without Health insurance.

Catch 22.

Have spoken to many insurance agents in Hua Hin, they dont know what to do.

Does this mean if you are older tha 60 you cannot go to Thailand.

Too old for Thailand.

 

[riclag]

6 minutes ago, Steveo said:

Hi , i am Steve.

Have lived in Thailand for about 10 years before Covid. Have been married to a Thai lady

For 12 years. Returned to Australia at the start of Covid as per the Australian Prime Minister.

Problem is as i am now nearing 66 years old. The requirement to enter Thailand is to have Health insurance.

Need this to apply for visa.

Insurance must be with Thai company.

I have applied to many Thai insurance companies, they all need me to have a health medical with a Thai doctor of their choise before they will issue me with a policy.

Problem. I cant get a visa without Health insurance.

Catch 22.

Have spoken to many insurance agents in Hua Hin, they dont know what to do.

Does this mean if you are older tha 60 you cannot go to Thailand.

Too old for Thailand.

Health insurance coverage  is currently for $50k premium and that depends how long your permission to stay in country .

Wait a little there should be some expert advise coming from others here

[LoongFred]

51 minutes ago, riclag said:

Health insurance coverage  is currently for $50k premium and that depends how long your permission to stay in country .

Wait a little there should be some expert advise coming from others here

Is that per year? If so it's much cheaper than back home. That is unless back home you pay via your taxes.

[Faz]

Confused @Steveo. are you currently in Australia or Thailand.

[Faz]

1 hour ago, riclag said:

Health insurance coverage  is currently for $50k premium and that depends how long your permission to stay in country .

That's for all foreigners entering Thailand (Covid Insurance).

I suspect @Steveo is in Australia and the only Visa they offer based on retirement is the Non Imm O-A which now requires Health Insurance of 3M baht.

[KaptainRob]

Yes Steve's in Aus.

Surely he can enter on a 90 day visa and then apply for a non-O? 

[yselmike]

I thought it was only necessary to cover for COVID? That has to be from a Thai insurer.Health insurance to cover for accidents,hospital and repatriation is another matter,I will get that from an insurer from where I reside that's the Netherlands. 

[JamesE]

2 hours ago, Steveo said:

Insurance must be with Thai company.

This isn't true. Any company can be used as long as they have a certificate of insurance that is acceptable to immigration. I, from the US, have a policy from a Spanish company (HeyMondo.com) underwritten by AXA. They issued me a certificate acceptable to the Thai authorities for health and COVID coverage.

[palooka]

Every State Capital city in Australia has a Thai consulate, go and have a chat with them first. 

If they are all like Brisbane Consulate they are extremely helpful. 

Things are a bit screwed up with Covid and they may be getting wires crossed on the Insurance angle.

O-A long stay visa Insurance and Covid Insurance are two different animals.

[Faz]

@Steveo

Australia only offers the Non Imm O-A Visa for the reason of retirement, which comes with the mandatory 3M Health Insurance policy.

The way around that is to enter Thailand on a Tourist Visa. You can then apply to change your Tourist status to that of Non Immigrant (Non O) status at a local Immigration office. Thereafter you can apply for the 1 year extension of stay based on retirement. No mandatory Health Insurance requirements.
Procedure for doing this here;  VE-TV to Non O Retirement.pdf

Everyone entering Thailand requires the $50,000 USD Medical Insurance policy, which covers treatment from Covid, accident, illness.

[Faz]

On 10/31/2021 at 3:33 PM, JamesE said:

This isn't true.

They don't offer the Non O in Australia, only the Non O-A based on retirement and Immigration will only accept policies purchased through the approved tgia (Thai General Insurance Association) website.

[JamesE]

2 hours ago, Faz said:

They don't offer the Non O in Australia, only the Non O-A based on retirement and Immigration will only accept policies purchased through the approved tgia (Thai General Insurance Association) website.

Thanks. I thought Australia had been on eVisa for longer than the US.  I'm also a bit surprised about the insurance as TGIA has a link on their O-A page for the foreign insurance certificate (https://longstay.tgia.org/companiesoa). Must be a renegade embassy.

[Faz]

1 hour ago, JamesE said:

Thanks. I thought Australia had been on eVisa for longer than the US.  I'm also a bit surprised about the insurance as TGIA has a link on their O-A page for the foreign insurance certificate (https://longstay.tgia.org/companiesoa). Must be a renegade embassy.

Australia isn't on the E-Visa online application system yet. I believe Germany is next.

For the Non Imm O-A Visa application, you can indeed use a foreign Insurer, provided they sign the foreign Insurance certificate, which if you look at the form, it should be pretty obvious why they refuse.
Foreign Insurance cert.pdf

Once the permission of stay from a Non Imm O-A Visa comes to an end and the foreigner applies for a 1 year extension of stay based on retirement, Immigration will only accept a Health Insurance policy issued from one of the approved Thai Insurers through the tgia website.
548-2562 (2019) change clause 2.22 327-2557 O-A Ins ENG-THAi.pdf  (Scroll down for ENG).

(6) Only for an alien, who has been granted Non Immigrant Visa Class O-A, must buy a Thai health insurance online, which covers the length of stay in the Kingdom with no less than 40,000 baht coverage for outpatient treatment and no less than 400,000 baht for inpatient, via the website longstay.tgia.org.

If you look at the top right hand corner of the tgia website page for Non O-A Insurance, you'll notice 'Log In'.
When applicants purchase through tgia the policy details are uploaded to a site and Immigration can 'log in' to confirm the policy details and it's conformity.  https://longstay.tgia.org/
It's not unknown for a client to subscribe to a policy, then after receiving it, cancelling and requesting a refund, thinking they've circumvented the system, but alas ..........