Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Certificates of Entry and Thai Visas.

A recent article which was published in the Bangkok Post print edition, it is from the January 2nd issue of the print edition of the Bangkok Post, January 2nd 2021. It is in the Bangkok Post Postbag and it is titled Impossible Dream, by someone named Stephan Karlsson, again published in the Postbag here. I am going to quote a little excerpt and then I want to get into this. So quoting directly: "Monday, December 28 midnight I get an email from the ASQ Hotel requesting something called a Certificate of Entry. I call and let them know "I have this already. It is called a Visa. That is what a Visa is." "No, it is a different form altogether." "And where does one obtain such a form?" "You get it at the Thai Consulate." "The same place I got the Visa?" "Yes." Remember this is the hotel reservation's clerk I am speaking to now. "I was just there last week. Any reason why no one there mentioned this ostensibly required document?" "No." "Okay, I guess I will ring the Consulate in the morning and see what happens." 

There is a lot in there. I urge those who are watching this video to check out Bangkok Post online or if you can get a copy of the print edition January 2nd's Post bag for 2021 they go into this it is under Impossible Dream. Yeah, the Certificate of Entry is vexing. It is not something that existed prior to quarter 2 of 2020. It just was not part of the Thai Immigration super structure if you will. It didn't have anything to do with processing visa or admission to Thailand. Now unfortunately, I hesitate to use the term 'unfortunately' because it is just what we are dealing with, but now as a matter of fact we have to deal with it as part of the Visa process to be able to get in to Thailand. Even if you are coming in with a Visa Exemption, a Certificate of Entry is a requirement and it is not a Visa, it is a different thing. We have made other videos on this channel, one which we actually have an example, exemplar copy, of what a Certificate of Entry looks like. They are valid for a one-day validity. It is like hitting the bull's eye. Like I have said in other videos, I have talked about this at length. This whole thing is like tumblers in a lock. Everything has to just come together right. The timing has to be perfect in order for you to unlock and gain admission to Thailand. I understand it is very frustrating when you are dealing with this and for those who are doing it themselves, I completely get it and I sympathize with you but yeah I have seen a lot of people come to us after they have tried to deal with this on their own and it is like two steps forward one step back, like this gentleman is talking about in this article. Well he got the Visa but he doesn't have the Certificate of Entry and it leads to these kind of catch-22 situations. If you don't know what you are doing, you have never dealt with it before and you can't see it from a bird's-eye view where you understand the whole process from beginning to end, yeah it can be really for lack of a better term annoying, because you will think you have everything and then "oh low and behold, there is another document or some other type of document", things like "fit to fly" documentation as well as COVID testing". That is another example of things that can cause people to be rather frustrated because they think they have everything and then it turns out no they are missing some other document. 

So again, we have seen a lot of folks trying to do this themselves and certainly my sympathy goes out to you. For those of our clients who dealt with us, a lot of them have told us "yeah I really would not have any fun doing this on my own." Most times they tell me you know "it already sets my teeth on edge doing this and I have got somebody to help get me through it but at least it is somebody that has dealt with this thing from beginning to end." And we have. We have had a lot of success in quarter 4, 2020 associated with getting folks into Thailand. We look to have even more success getting them in in quarter 1 of 2021 but yeah it is a cumbersome process and getting through it can be difficult and it is quite unlike Thai Immigration processing of times past.