@Don ********

, thanks. My plan is not even to try to come back until winter of 2021. Hopefully by then things will be a little easier for us who are married to a Thai national. Also, having a vaccine available should make things a little easier, but time will tell.

Why would you not be able to get back in if you are married to a Thai?

What is your guess?

Good post by the OP. I too have always obtained a yearly visa on my own. Note that I said yearly visa and not extension. Every year, for 15 years, I would go home to visit with family and friends in the US. While home, I would go to the Thai Consulate in Los Angeles and apply for a Non-Immigrant O multiple entry visa based on marriage to a Thai national. The process has been easy and straight forward with only requiring 750 dollars in a US bank. I drop of the paperwork and pick up the passport the next day with the one year passport inside. Very little dialogue takes place and I return to Thailand never having to visit the Thai immigration office or having money in a Thai bank account. My concern is that some things have changed due to Covid-19. I am 73 years old, so the newly required health insurance is going to be very expensive. The 14 day quarantine is another expense that I did not have to worry about before. I am hoping that quarantine will either be reduced in duration or done away with once Thailand realizes that it is killing their tourism. Air fares are beginning to come down now that several airlines are flying to Bangkok. All in all the process for going back to Thailand has become much more expensive for me and I am stubborn enough to wait for things to calm down, however I am not sure how long that will be. In the meantime I will just wait to see what the "new normal" will be and what the baseline cost of living in Thailand is. Right now, everything is to hectic and expensive for me. I admire all those who currently brave all the new requirements and excessive costs.

Very high rates considering the odds of being put in the hospital due to Covid-19. The insurance companies are making a killing.

Udon has always been a tough immigration office to deal with.

I mailed the package two days ago via US Postal Service 1st class International since DHL wanted 165 US dollars and I paid 67 dollars. I have a tracking number and will see how long it takes.

@Kool ******

, even with the published numbers of the cases and deaths in the US, I am in an area that has few of both. Soon I will be going to Arizona to spend the winter that has very low numbers. If I stay low key here in the US, I should be fine. I believe things will continue to get better with regard to total cost of reentry and it is just a matter of time before I return. As for the economy, it will take a long time before Thailand returns to pre Covid-19 numbers and it is up to the government to start opening things up again. Right now they have a major public relations problem.

@Steve *********

, do you believe the numbers that the Thai government is using for coronavirus cases and deaths?

@Sammy ******

,that is one of the main reasons I am not trying to go back to Thailand right now. That and the quarantine. I am now trying to talk my wife into coming to the US and bringing our son since he has a US passport. It is an uphill battle I am afraid.