[Covid] How We Got the CoE (Certificate of Entry) for Thailand + 45-Day Visa Exemption

We managed to get the CoE for Thailand in two working days, without going through an agency. I think we’re already paying enough for quarantine, no need to shell out extra for an agency.

It’s very easy and quick, you just need to understand English and have a fairly well-stuffed wallet (we estimate €1600/person in expenses before even setting foot on Thai soil).

Note, we’re showing you the process for those who decide to do quarantine in Bangkok. If you opt for the Phuket Sandbox, there’s another article here
Soon there won’t be any quarantine in Bangkok, so keep an eye out because things change fast!

Should you opt for a visa?

We compared the different visa options in this article.

Personally, we chose to coming to Thailand with a 45-day visa exemption. This lets us avoid having to go to the Thai embassy in Paris. Plus, getting a visa only gives us 15 extra days compared to the exemption. Right now, extensions (Covid visa extensions) are 60 days each time, so we don’t see why we’d bother that much for 15 days.

CoE: Certificate of Entry

However, even with a visa exemption, you need to apply for what is called a “Certificate of Entry” on the official website https://coethailand.mfa.go.th/

If you plan to come with a visa exemption, here is the process for the corresponding CoE:

1. You submit the required documents for pre-approval, namely: proof of international insurance covering Covid (minimum $100,000) and a scan of your passport
2. Once you’re pre-approved by the whole lot (one working day currently), you book the flight and a quarantine hotel
3. You upload these new documents to the platform to complete your application. These documents must be uploaded within 15 days of pre-approval.
4. Your Certificate of Entry is issued (one business day at the moment)

You can see we got the CoE in 2 working days:

• Submitted CoE documents on April 22 (Thursday) at 6pm
• CoE pre-accepted on April 23 (Friday) at 11am
• Over the weekend, we arranged the hotel booking and flight tickets
• Sent the final CoE documents on April 26 (Monday) at 9:26am
• CoE issued the same day at 11:15am

Currently (September 2021), the processing time observed is 7-9 business days. There are many applications, so they are processed by arrival date in Thailand (the most urgent applications first). Feel free to call the embassy if you haven’t received a response. Attention! CoE emails can end up in spam so check every day. At worst, check the status of your application directly on the website to not miss anything!

What documents to prepare?

• Pre-approval:
  • Scan of your passport info page
  • Certificate of international insurance covering COVID for a minimum of 100,000 USD
• The remaining documents:
  • Round-trip flight tickets
  • Confirmation Letter from the quarantine hotel
  • To also provide to the quarantine hotel in order to share the same room:
    • marriage or civil partnership certificate (some hotels don’t accept civil partnerships, so check)

How to obtain the documents?

Here are the required documents and where to get them:

• Scan of your passport info page: we had it scanned in color and saved as a PDF. If you don’t have a scanner, go to any photocopy shop, they’ll know how to do it for you. If you’re in the middle of nowhere, you can just take a photo. Make sure all the information is clear and readable.

• Certificate of international insurance covering COVID for a minimum of 100,000 USD : We simply went through our current international insurance Yupwego. You can get this insurance certificate directly on their site. You need to buy insurance for the duration of your stay (minimum 45 days). Personally, since we plan to stay longer, we paid for insurance for 4 and a half months (knowing that unused days will be refunded). The certificate looks roughly like this. I’ll just show you an excerpt. You can also go through Chapka who is used to handling this type of request.

Insurance will cost you around 50€/person/month.

• Round-trip flight tickets:
  • Only certain semi-commercial flights are allowed. I invite you to check the list here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ijBJOTgFJPAuWUfkPIA60iniXB9j9Ba2XHafXzA6JCw/edit#gid=2100613241
  • So we don’t have to provide a compelling reason for any travel outside the EU from France, we decide to take the following route: Paris – Amsterdam – Bangkok (stopover in Amsterdam, with Air France & KLM without leaving the airport as they handle sending our luggage through to Bangkok), then the return Bangkok – Paris direct with Air France.
  • We’re going with KLM and Air France because right now, all their tickets are cancellable/changeable/refundable until the end of the year
    • Note, there are also flights with a stopover in Singapore to land in Phuket, but we couldn’t find any quarantine hotel available in Phuket and don’t know how to justify a direct Paris – Singapore flight without a compelling reason, so we accept doing quarantine in Bangkok
  • Even though we plan to apply for a visa extension in Thailand, we’d rather buy our an exit ticket on the 44th day (as required) and we’ll change this ticket later.
  • You can choose a destination other than France for the exit ticket, but it should be somewhat plausible. Dubai or Istanbul, for example, could be a credible exit ticket

Round-trip flights cost us €650/person

• Confirmation Letter from the quarantine hotel:
  • there’s an Excel file available on Google here, where you have the list of all hotels and their brochures.
  • You have to do quarantine in the city where you first land in Thailand. For example, if you arrive in Bangkok, you must quarantine in Bangkok, even if you plan to catch a flight to Koh Samui afterward.
  • Attention, some hotels don’t accept civil-partnered couples, so you have to ask the question too, otherwise you’ll be forced to quarantine separately and pay more.
  • For married couples, it’s very simple, you just need a scan of the marriage certificate (we sent it in French). Demand is very high and many hotels won’t have availability for your desired dates.
  • So the easiest is to go through Agoda, which is approved for online bookings, to see which hotels are still available on your date (Agoda link). Be careful, use this special ASQ link because the rates are not the same as for regular rooms. The advantage of going through Agoda is the possibility to cancel, for many hotels, until the day before without justification (check the cancellation conditions carefully!). Whereas if you go directly through the hotel, you have to make a deposit of 5000 THB, justify the cancellation with a positive Covid test, or the refusal of the CoE 3 days before arrival. Agoda also allows you to pay by bank card, or PayPal, in euros, which will save you from expensive and complicated international transfers with exchange fees.
  • Once you’ve spotted your hotel, go to Google Maps, type the name of your hotel, sort the reviews by date to read comments on quarantine conditions and especially the quality of the food & the speed of the WiFi (very important)
  • How many days to book? From May 1st, 2021, it’s back to 14 days of quarantine, either 14 nights or 15 nights depending on your arrival time. So you’ll be released on the 15th day.
    • If your plane lands before 6 PM, the day of your arrival counts as DAY 1.
    • If your plane lands after 6 PM, the day of your arrival counts as DAY 0.

• Our plane lands at 1:30 PM, so we have to book for 15 days, 14 nights
  • Most hotels will tell you they have a “package” so whether it’s 15 days or 16 days, it’s the same price. What’s important for you is to check that they release you on the 15th day (if you’re eligible for a 15-day stay of course) with a certificate attesting that you’ve completed your quarantine. This certificate is important to move quickly to another Thai region
  • on Agoda, even if you only stay 14 nights, you’ll see that you’ll still have to pay for 15 nights, that’s how it is, it’s a “package” as they say.
  • After booking on Agoda, the hotel will contact you to ask for:
    • a copy of your passport
    • marriage certificate
    • plane tickets
  • Before issuing you the confirmation letter which looks like this (be careful, the Agoda confirmation is not enough, it has to be the hotel that gives you the document)

The quarantine hotel cost us €1220/person at Eleven Hotel Bangkok because we opted for a very large room to be able to work effectively.
Prices start from €700/person for the lowest prices, and in the €900 / person for hotels with good standing and good food.

How to apply for the CoE?

Go to https://coethailand.mfa.go.th/

Select Non-thai nationals

Watch the video and read the explanations carefully

You have to choose category 11 (Exempt)

Here’s how to fill out the form

Be careful, you must write the first and last name exactly as on the passport (without accents, e.g., Hélène becomes HELENE). With the third given name, EP WV etc. if there is one.

Now upload the passport scan you’ve already prepared.

Be careful, you have to click on the upward arrow to really submit the document

Do the same with the insurance certificate

Be careful, you have to click on the upward arrow to really submit the document

Check then SAVE

The next page will show your 6-digit CoE file number. Write down and keep this number like the apple of your eye

You’ll need it to access your file later

If your file is refused, you’ll receive the reason for refusal. In general, you just need to complete something.

In JB’s case, they wanted them to fill in his address in Thailand after quarantine. We just put the address of a cancellable hotel in Koh Samui.

You can complete this file by going back to https://coethailand.mfa.go.th/ and choose: EDIT PERSONAL INFORMATION mid-ship

If your file is pre-approved, you will receive an email like this:

Next, look for your hotel, book your plane tickets. Once you have the two documents in question, go back to the site and choose CONFIRM/EDIT TRAVEL on the left.

You will be asked for your passport number, your first/last name & the 6-digit file number to access your file.

Click on Upload

You will see a countdown for your file. Indeed, from the moment of pre-approval, you have 15 days to upload the rest of the file.

I have a stopover in Amsterdam so I also have to provide the flight to Bangkok and the previous flight (Paris – Amsterdam).

Upload the plane tickets (round trip).

Be careful, you have to click on the upward arrow to really submit the document

Upload the confirmation letter from the quarantine hotel.

Be careful, you have to click on the upward arrow to really submit the document

That’s it, save and wait patiently for a response from the embassy. Here’s what the CoE looks like. Note the PARxxx number written in the top left corner of the certificate.

If your flight is delayed or postponed, the CoE is still valid for 72 hours after the supposed departure date, provided that the other documents (especially the PCR test and insurance) are still valid.

After getting your CoE, what’s next?

• One week before arrival: send your CoE-related documents to the hotel
• At least 72 hours before departure: get a PCR test and ask for results in English
• Send negative PCR test results to the hotel
• Once you get the negative PCR test results: ask the doctor for a paper confirming that you are indeed negative. That’s the famous non-Covid medical certificate: beware, some travelers told me this document was requested, but NO ONE, not a single person asked me for it, whether in Amsterdam or Thailand.
• The day before your trip:
  • Download the ThailandPlusapp. Prepare your Reference ID = the 6 digits given when you created your CoE file. And your CoE number.
  • Fill out and download T.8 Form (Health Declaration Form) on https://bit.ly/34X6sAJ
  • Book a cancellable hotel after quarantine and print the booking confirmation. The Thais might ask for this document upon your arrival in Bangkok because you need to provide your address in Thailand somewhere. Your address in Thailand = your first accommodation. after quarantine.

• D-DAY: At the airport, after check-in: enter the 6 digits and your CoE code in the app ThailandPlus
• Flight to Thailand
• 15/16 days of quarantine depending on your arrival time
• Last day of quarantine: with your quarantine confirmation, you can go anywhere in Thailand the last day of your quarantine (check-out possible from 6AM)
• Print two copies of your documents. Even if they only keep one copy of the negative Covid test, you never know…

After quarantine, what to do?

That same day, you can normally leave for anywhere in Thailand, if the situation is favorable. We left for Koh Samui for example.

However, during a Covid wave like the one at the end of April, restrictions change every day.

Sources

Here are my reliable sources:

• Thai Embassy in France : not always up to date, but at least correct for the list of documents to provide
• Thai Embassy in the US : more up to date than the embassy in Paris
• ASQ in Thailand : English-speaking group with photos of quarantine meals & very interesting feedback
• Richard Barrow in Thailand : updated daily
• Return to Thailand from France : French-speaking group with very interesting experiences
• Tat news : updated daily
• PR Thai Government : official page of the Thai government

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