The Cabinet has approved a Special Tourist Visa proposal to allow long-stay visitors to enter the country, subject to quarantine and other requirements, allowing eligible visitors to stay in the country for a maximum of 270 days.
A Deputy Government Spokesperson, Traisuree Taisaranakul has revealed that the Cabinet in its weekly meeting today has approved the proposal for a country reopening to long-term visitors though the Special Tourist Visa (STV) arrangement, as proposed by the Ministry of Tourism and Sports.
With this visa, visitors entering the country must give their consent to complying with the public health regulations and requirements imposed by the Thai authorities, including a 14-day quarantine on arrival at their place of accommodation.
Visitors applying for this visa must be able to produce evidence of their long-term stay in Thailand, such as a receipt for their quarantine accommodation or hospital stay payment, plus either the payment confirmation for accommodation or hospital stay after their quarantine, or a copy of the title deed of their condominium, owned by either the applicant or a family member, or confirmation of a rental condominium or house, or a down payment confirmation for the purchase or rent of a unit legally sold to a foreigner.
After completing the COVID-19 screening and quarantine measures as set out by the Ministry of Public Health and other agencies, and provided that all the accommodation requirements are met, foreigners can apply for the Special Tourist Visa with the fee of 2,000 baht. The visa will come with a 90-day validity. An extension for another 90 days can be applied for twice, subject to the discretion of an immigration officer, with new applications and fee to be resubmitted and paid each time.
This Special Tourist Visa arrangement will be effective once publicly announced, until 30th September 2021.
The deputy government spokesperson said this arrangement has been made to attract high-spending tourists to the country in order to help with the recovery of tourism and related businesses.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Thailand usually received no less than 2 trillion baht revenue each year from international tourists. The lack of international visitors has deprived the tourism sector of revenue, causing a knock-on effect to all sectors in the economy. The government is now seeking to allow international visitors to return to limited areas of the country in order to ensure effective disease control against another spike of COVID-19 cases in Thailand. (NNT)
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