Travel

Thailand Opens up for S’pore Tourists With Special Tourist Visa & the Requirements Are Strict

Boon Hun

2020-10-22 , 11:00 am

You know what?

Your dream of travelling to Bangkok for some cheap shopping and mango sticky rice is no longer a dream.

It’s now a reality.

Albeit with a catch.

Thailand Opens up for S’pore Tourists But the Requirements Are Strict

Thailand has been thinking of opening up its borders to tourists now for quite some time.

And on 7 Oct, Singaporeans and their spouses and legitimate children (not over 20 years old) are now allowed to travel to the land of smiles for some well-deserved R&R, according to the Royal Thai Embassy.

Now, before you cheer and start looking up airline tickets, there’s a catch: You better have a ton of savings ready to burn.

Minimum Stay Of 90 Days

Yes, you didn’t read that wrong. 90 days.

To travel to Thailand for leisure, you need to apply for the Special Tourist Visa (STV) to be allowed to enter the country.

And not just that, you cannot be employed within the country during the duration of your stay.

In other words, if you’re really looking to go to Thailand for some rest and relaxation, you’ll have to stay for around 3 months with no way to earn money (unless you’re an influencer who does Thailand lifestyle videos on YouTube).

Other requirements of the STV includes:

Not having any criminal record in the country;
Do not have prohibitive diseases like Leprosy, Tuberculosis, drug addiction, Elephantiasis, the third phase of Syphilis
Not banned from the country

And The Requirements Get Stricter

If you feel your Thailand dream dying after reading the above requirements, I assure you that what you’re going to read next will make it shrivel up and burst into flames.

Let’s say you’re still adamant on going to Thailand, even if it’s a 90-day stay, here’s what you need to apply for the visa:

A passport valid for the next 12 months
A bank statement (either from Singapore or a Thai Bank) showing that you have 500,000 Baht (~S$21,707.36) which must be maintained for 6 months before the application
- or a document proving that you own a property in Thailand
- or purchase of property in Thailand with 25% paid
- or an accommodation booking with the stay totally paid for
Thai medical insurance
Payment for 14-day SHN in Thailand at Alternative State Quarantine or Alternative Hospital Quarantine

Other than the visa, you’ll also need to apply for a Certificate of Entry.

Certificate of Entry (COE)

Requirements for that is a whole other story.

They include:

Two copies of:

A passport
The completed Declaration Form
A Health Insurance covering all expenditures of medical treatment, including COVID-19 for the entire period of stay Thailand in an amount of at least 100,000 USD (~S$135,482.50).
Alternative State Quarantine with Payment Confirmation

And a:

Singapore Airlines Ticket

Yes, just Singapore Airlines.

For Dependents

Now, unless you’re thinking of running away from your family like this man in India, you’re probably looking to get your family to go over too.

The good news is, you don’t need to go through the entire process for every single individual in your family.

For your spouse, all you need is a marriage certificate in English and his/her own bank statement showing a balance of 500,000 Baht (~S$21,707.36) for the past 6 months.

For kids, you’ll need their birth certificate and a bank statement with a balance of 500,000 Baht (~S$21,707.36) for the past 6 months.

Now, if your kid is too young and doesn’t have a bank account, don’t worry. All you need to do is to ensure that in your own bank account, you have at least 1,000,000 Baht (~S$43,414.72).

After reading all this, you’re probably thinking, I’ll just put my Thailand dream on hold first.

And you won’t be the only one thinking this way.

After all, besides the requirements, you can imagine how pricey the air tickets will be already, don’t you?

Just look at what happened to the air tickets for flights to Hong Kong.