PART 2

I'm sorry, I am not clear from your post if you are in Thailand already or where you have gotten tested positive. Are you in your Test & Go hotel and got the RT-PCR test result? What is Berkeley? This is the correct procedure:

It is important that you are aware that Thailand's normal policy if you test positive upon arrival is that you are required to be taken into hospital quarantine for 10 days - even if asymptomatic.

As you likely know, it is possible to test positive on a RT-PCR test for several months after recovering from Covid, and Thailand's test sensitivity is higher than that of many countries. There have been multiple incidents of arriving passengers who tested negative pre-departure, and positive upon arrival.

A certificate of recovery does NOT exempt you from needing to take the arrival RT-PCR test.

However, the Thailand Pass FAQs webpage states the following regarding traveling after a previous covid infection:

"Those who have recovered from COVID-19 within 3 months before travelling to Thailand must present a valid COVID-19 recovery form or medical certificate certifying that they have recovered from COVID-19 within 3 months before travelling or are asymptomatic in case their COVID-19 RT-PCR test shows a positive result."

The Samui Command Center in charge of Covid testing for arriving passengers also has confirmed on 23 Dec that you are not transferred to the hospital if tested positive, as long as you have certificate of recovery per the above conditions. You will be released normally after your Test & Go period even with a positive test result, as long as it can be checked that the result is from recovery from having covid. Wether this policy is the same nationwide, I don't know.

Yes, but it isn't visa on arrival, it's actually 30 day visa exempt entry, for French nationals. Visa on arrival is a different program granting 15 day entry for some other nationalities. They aren't the same thing.

Everyone that got Thailand Pass applications in before the cut-off are entering by the OLD RULES. Even those whose applications that are still under consideration. The only difference is you must do a second RT-PCR test on day 6 rather than an ATK antigen test. Otherwise it is still the same one-night Test & Go stay. Here's the official Ministry of Foreign Affairs announcement.

Take a look at the Tourism Authority website at explaining the different entry schemes. You need to book a SHA Extra Plus hotel for a Test & Go package for the first night. Thailand Pass applications get approved anymore from a few seconds if auto-approved by the computer, to 7 days if needing human review.

If in Bangkok, the hotel must pay the hospital partner about 2200 baht for your test, and pay the SHA Plus transfer company taking you to the hotel. That's why you can't find any qualifying test and go package for under about 3500 baht. Your booking cannot possibly include the test and transfer and doesn't qualify. Your Thailand Pass was approved by mistake. The airline shouldn't let you board and if they do, you will be stopped in Bangkok and forced to book the qualifying package which can cause big delays to coordinate it with your hotel.

Hotels.com, Expedia and booking.com specifically do not offer Test and Go packages. They've made a specific corporate policy not to do so and don't provide a way for hotels to add their test and go package rates. They only list SHA+ hotels with the normal room rates for normal stays. For those sites, you must contact the hotel separately to book a test and go package on top of your room rate after booking the room stay, if staying in Bangkok or Samui, where the RT-PCR test and transfer must be arranged through the hotel. For Phuket only, you can book any SHA+ hotel then book your test separately yourself at Thailandsha.com and book your own transfer. Agoda offers test and go packages at some SHA+ hotels but you must read the room rate inclusions to ensure they specifically mention the RT-PCR test and transfer are included in the rate or else you are just booking the normal room only like a normal guest's stay.

@Myron *********

that's not including test and go. It isn't possible since the hotel must pay about 2200 baht as a set fee to the hospital partner for your RT-PCR test and must pay the SHA+ approved transfer service. The cheapest hotels including test and go package are about 3500 baht as has been posted many times in other Facebook Thailand travel groups.

@Duncan *********

That's purely laziness, since it takes about 10 seconds to report each guest, and the sign-up process doesn't even require you to prove you have a hotel license or any specific business. The idea is so that any homeowner can register in the system to report their foreign guests. You could sign up yourself to report someone you have stay in your guest bedroom once a year if you wanted to. It's only complete laziness for any hotel or guest house to not do it. Most of the ones not doing it are probably operating illegally without hotel licenses and are afraid of getting caught and don't realize the TM30 system has nothing to do with being a legal hotel.

Eddie Jarvis Not legitimate hotels. There's no reason for them not to take the literally 10 seconds to register each guest into the system. It doesn't even require that hotel have a hotel license or be operating legally. Anyone can get an account. You could literally sign up your backyard shed for an account to report TM30s if you thought you'd rent it out occasionally.