@Kathy ***************

Recently changed. You still have to pay in advance 8,000 baht for the 3 RT-PCR tests but you do the booking yourself at a website and the hotel is not involved. You do need the tests prebooked to get the CoE still.

If late 2000 fine, notation made in passport, no further consequences.

@Wayne *********

Cool about the OX visa, don't know much about them.

I would re-approach the Thai consulate and ask specifically if you get the Non-OX visa from them whether they will sell a Non-O (dependent) visa to your wife. That would be the easiest way forward. Explain what you are trying to do and ask them the best way to accomplish that (you on a non-OX and your wife piggy-backing off that visa as your spouse).

Second best is getting a Tourist Visa (60 days) for your wife or even settle for visa-exempt entry (45 days) and you don't have to even get a visa.

Stay away from the STV visa. It is definitely and absolutely not convertible to anything else in Thailand. It was never a good deal and is on its way to a timely natural death anyway.

To go into the reason that I say better for your wife to come to Thailand with a Non-O visa herself is that it's not really clear to me whether she can get a Non-O visa in Thailand for the specific purpose of getting an extension of stay for reason of being a dependent. You can get a Non-O visa in Thailand, BUT there seems to be some troubling wording about that the Non-O visa needs to come from outside Thailand for purpose of a dependent visa.

Finally, I would also contact the Phuket Immigration Volunteers (great group, very knowledgable and helpful) by email about how exactly to do what you are trying to do -- get your wife in a position to piggyback off your visa and they may have good advice.

Yes, your wife qualifies for a dependent visa/extension based on your visa/extension. You will need to ask your Thai embassy/Phuket Immigration the best way to do that. In general if possible, it would be desirable to get your wife a Non-O visa (dependent) from your Thai embassy. It may also be possible for your wife to arrive in Thailand on a visa-exempt entry or Tourist Visa and then apply for a Non-O dependent visa inside of Thailand.

In Phuket the following is possible:



How to get a Non-O visa inside of Thailand, if that should be necessary:



The problem you will run into is that Thai Embassies and Thai Immigration don't seem to have a lot of mutual understanding of what and how the other party does things. Asking a Thai embassy about how extensions of stay work in Thailand is fruitless as they don't really know. Vice versa with Thai immigration and visas sold outside of Thailand.

@Vit ********

That is unfortunate, sorry to hear.

@Vit ********

Good to know. Haven't been able to check myself because I'm not eligible having already received one jab already.

@Charlotte *******

Yes, other people have reported the same. For some reason a long delay on getting confirmation emails. Possibly why the refresh button trick when getting the email already in use error message worked.

UPDATE: Official Announcement:

0

UPDATE: Official Announcement:

0

@Charlotte *******

Yes, well we should know the drill by now. Initially, the site is usually overwhelmed and becomes unavailable. Some people are getting in. There was a data leak early on which was fixed at about 11:40 AM. The usual rocky start. If it's down for you now, try checking it later.