Thailand – Updated COVID-19 Entry and Quarantine Procedures
TH – Updated COVID-19 Entry, Quarantine Rules
Effective 1 April 2021, the Thai government reduced the mandatory quarantine period to 10 days and updated procedures for foreigners entering Thailand. Travelers vaccinated against COVID-19 with a certificate of vaccination completed at least 14 days before arriving in Thailand need only quarantine 7 days.
On 31 March 2021, the Thai government reduced the mandatory quarantine period and updated procedures for foreign nationals entering Thailand, effective 1 April 2021.1
The mandatory quarantine period is reduced to 10 days for foreign nationals entering Thailand. For travellers who are vaccinated against COVID-19 with a certificate of vaccination completed at least 14 days before arriving in Thailand, the period is reduced to 7 days.
WHY THIS MATTERS
The reduced quarantine periods may provide some relief to companies and their globally-mobile employees, but will continue to be an inconvenience. Awareness of these updated measures is important to help reduce disruptions to operations and to manage associated risks and costs.
More Details
Travellers from high-risk countries are still required to quarantine for 14 days. A list of these restricted countries was officially announced by the Ministry of Public Health’s Department of Disease Control on 26 March 2021,2 and currently includes the following 11 countries:
- Botswana
- Cameroon
- Congo
- Ghana
- Kenya
- Mozambique
- Rwanda
- South Africa
- Tanzania
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
In addition, obtaining “fit-to-fly” documents prior to arriving in Thailand is no longer required. However, a Certificate of Entry (COE), along with the results of an RT-PCR test taken within 72 hours, are still required to enter Thailand.
This required documentation for entry into Thailand, a COE and RT-PCR test, is the same no matter the length of the quarantine period.
KPMG NOTE
The 10-day quarantine actually lasts 11 nights and 12 days. This is because foreigners need to spend 10 full days in isolation before leaving and the days of arrival and departure are not included in the quarantine period. This should be the same across all the different quarantine period types, meaning that the 7-day quarantine actually lasts 8 nights and 9 days, and the 14-day quarantine lasts 15 nights and 16 days.
FOOTNOTES
1 The changes have been published in the Royal Gazette (in Thai): http://www.ratchakitcha.soc.go.th/DATA/PDF/2564/E/074/T_0042.PDF. For additional information (in English), see the webpage of the Royal Thai Embassy in the United States at: https://thaiembdc.org/2021/03/31/updated-regulations-to-enter-thailand-and-procedures-of-the-quarantine-effective-from-1-april-2021/ . There is also some helpful information on the Royal Thai Embassy’s website at: https://thaiembdc.org/covid-19inthailand/ .
2 See (in Thai): https://pr.moph.go.th/?url=pr/detail/2/04/155816/ .
* Please note the KPMG International member firm in the United States does not provide immigration or labour law services. However, KPMG Law LLP in Canada can assist clients with U.S. immigration matters
The information contained in this newsletter was submitted by the KPMG International member firm in Thailand.
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