Thailand’s entry requirements have shifted due to COVID measures. Entry requirements are now back to normal in Thailand.
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Note: The Thai Embassy in Washington DC has reached out to clarify that the pages remained up in error due to a previous backup restored version of the site. As the information and bad links have been removed, Live And Let’s Fly is happy to update the information and point out the site has been corrected. However, as this piece also notes why it’s so important to have the proper information updated on the website – especially as things change – the article remains live but updated.
What Are The Thai Entry Requirements Today?
Thailand has done away with all of the testing schemes (though briefly bringing them back for one day before rescinding.) There is no sandbox, no quarantine hotel, no test and go – all of those requirements have been dissolved. The prior requirements for citizens of respective countries are back in place and have been for some time.
Thai Embassy in Washington DC Lists Incorrect Requirements
On the Thai Embassy Washington DC website, a red link runs just under the menu stating “COVID-19 situation in Thailand and travel to Thailand” and directed to the following information:
- COVID-19 Situation in Thailand: Information for foreign nationals traveling to Thailand (U.S. or Foreign Passport Holders)
- Entry Schemes for Entering Thailand (Revised measures effective from 1st July 2022)
- Guideline for International Flights with Transit/Transfer Passengers
- Thailand Visa
However, most of that information is no longer true. Take a look at this fun transfer guide.
Details from the Thai Pass remain highly ranked for the topic on search engines and that leads passengers back to this item which has a start date of February 1st, 2022 but no end date:
Here’s more information from the embassy:
Government Websites Should Be Primary Authority For Information
We had a client travel to Thailand and at the last moment, I checked the requirements and caused a panic due to the information I found. The embassy website should always have the latest and best information. Old, dead requirements should be scrubbed and removed so that search engines don’t locate pages that are no longer active. Listing program start dates (but no end dates) even after new programs have started is confusing to travelers.
For this client, we ultimately relied on a consumer website that had better information than the Thai government’s. That’s a bad practice. When in doubt, I would always trust the embassy of the country being visited but in this case, that was a mistake.
Conclusion
I have lived in Thailand and visited more times than I can count, my daughter took her first steps in Bangkok. I love the country but admittedly, we have waited for our own return for requirements to return to normal. Had I been aware that, in fact, its January proposed return to heavy restrictions lasted just a day before being rescinded, I might have made my own return, aside from recommending others. I don’t expect every website to be updated all the time, it’s just not realistic, but for something as important as entry requirements, the mouth of that government needs to have the correct information without a doubt.
What do you think? Are you surprised that the embassy’s website hasn’t been updated? Are there others that need a refresh too?
Travelled there in December and there were no requirements that I could remember. Maybe a Covid vaccination?
I follow LHs Entry Requirements guide or Timatic.
I just returned from Thailand- no requirements at all and they did not ask for my COVID vaccination card. I flew through both their international and domestic terminal and was never required to show anything other than my passport and boarding documents.
I waltzed right in yday w/ just my passport, not much in the way of mask wearing here either given the hot weather
I don’t know how this is news. I was there for a week at the end of November, and three weeks from last week of December until January 17th, multiple entries back and forth from KUL and SIN. There were no restrictions, at all, including masks.