Koh Samui Entry Schemes

UPDATED 1ST MARCH 2022

We have great news for all those who are looking to travel to Koh Samui - whether visiting for the first time to experience a wonderful tropical island or our many returning guests who can't wait to get back again.

Test & Go is now back - re-introduced on 1st February and together with the Samui Sandbox scheme welcomes fully vaccinated visitors to this beautiful tropical island and of course at the same time providing a boost to Thailand's Tourism economy.

As with other countries there are still some travel restrictions in place and Thailand particularly requires pre approval for entry in the form of a Thailand Pass before actually getting on the plane.  

This involves a number of documents relating to your stay to be uploaded to a web based system in order to receive the approved Thailand Pass QR code by email. The standard waiting time for approval is 3 - 6 days however if you have all the documents ready and they are in the right format then the Thailand Pass approval will be received in a matter of hours and you will be on the plane in no time. 

Further details for obtaining your Thailand Pass are set out in the graphic towards the end of this blog however for booking your accommodation and your RT- PCR covid test on day 1 we have set out an example of a procedure recently experienced by one of our guests which involves a level of input by the hotel itself to eventually receive the Thailand Pass approval.

TEST & GO (also known as "Exempt from Quarantine") 

ACCOMMODATION BOOKING

1. When booking your Day 1 in a SHA++ villa the villa managment will require the following details for each member of the party travelling used mainly for registration for the Day 1 RT-PCR test.

Name - booking period required – nationality - passport number - date of birth - phone number - email Address and flight details.

If arriving by transiting through Bangkok the flights number to Koh Samui on Bangkok Airways must be PG5125/PG5151 and PG6171. If arriving from Singapore the flight number is PG962.

2. Presuming the villa accommodation has already been paid earlier and you are in receipt of a booking number, the villa managment will forward an invoice for the total cost of the Day 1 RT-PCR tests for all the party of the booking (2,200THB each) The booking number from teh villa managment is required for the Thailand Pass.

3. Once the cost of the tests are paid, a Certificate of Confirmation for each of the guests in the party will be issued sent by email. This document is proof that the accommodation, airport transfer and RT-PCR test has been paid in full and be needed for the Thailand Pass, airline check in & immigration on arrival. 

NOTE: Some hotels may use another method of the payment of Day 1 RT-PCR tests where each guest is sent a separate link to settle the test cost individually and forward the receipts to the hotel for the issuance of the Certificate of Confirmation.  

On arrival at the airport or at the villa you will be given an ATK for self-testing on day 5/6 and the result is to be uploaded on a Government Ministry of Health App.

It is not possible to leave your accommodation after day 1 testing without a negative result and if you wish to leave before the 6^th/7^th day antigen test it is only possible on a direct flight out of the country.

THE SAMUI SANDBOX 

The Samui Sandbox entry scheme has been in place since July 2021.

The scheme is ideal for those fully vaccinated visitors arriving by air from overseas wishing to enjoy a minimum of 7 days in a particular sandbox destination before moving on to explore the rest of Thailand.

Originally only SHA+ approved hotels were available for the mandatory 7 nights stay, however we are delighted that a selection of our private villas have now been approved to enable guests to book straight into their villa after receiving the RT-PCR test on arrival rather than stay the first night in a SHA+ approved hotel.  As with Test & Go, guests will be required to take a self administered a ATK test on day 5/6.

For couples, families or groups of friends, you may wish to consider staying in a luxury villa rather than a hotel for both Test & Go and the Samui Sandbox scheme we have a number of SHA Plus and SHA Plus Extra villas in our portfolio as can be viewed under the following link- 

Collection of Luxury Koh Samui SHA Plus Villas 

To view all our Koh Samui villas please visit our Samui Holiday Villas website

THAILAND PASS

Applications for for entry can be processed through the Thailand Pass - an online digital platform set up for streamlining the entry process to Thailand.

To obtain a QR entry code or Thailand Pass ID, travellers will have to:

• Register at Thailand Pass web portal https://tp.consular.go.th/en/plan
• Input personal details
• Choose which sandbox scheme and name of accommodation
• Submit the required information and documents (jpeg format))
• Wait for the Thailand Pass approval QR code (average 3 - 6 days)

Requirements

• Bio page of passport (6 mths remaining until expiry)
• Any Visa (if not visa exempt country)
• Flight Number and arrival date
• Vaccine Certificate (fully vaccinated = at least 2 shots of approved vaccine)
• Health Insurance Certificate with medical cover of at least $20,000 including Covid cover
• Confirmation of prebooked fully paid accommodation, airport transfer and payment of 1 PCR test

There is a support email/telephone contact for the Thailand Pass should applicants experience difficulties

A pre-departure negative RT-PCR test is required taken within 72 hours before departure

Official graphic of entry scheme into Thailand.

FLIGHTS

International flights arriving via Bangkok

There are a number of international flights operating to Bangkok's international airport and sealed flights are available for the Test & Go and Sandbox schemes to Koh Samui. The international flight and relative sealed flight to Koh Samui must be booked on one ticket and travellers are held in a transit area in Bangkok before boarding the onward flights that operate daily at the current time.

If the two flights are booked on 2 separate tickets, the current rules are that the traveller will have to choose the Test & Go or Sandbox scheme for Bangkok first before getting a flight to Koh Samui.

The sealed flight numbers with Bangkok Airways from Bangkok to Koh Samui are PG 5125 (12.00pm) and PG 5171 (5.00pm) and they do not carry any domestic travellers from Bangkok and can only booked with an international airline either bythe traveller or an agent.

Bangkok Airways also operated flights from Singapore to Koh Samui 3 times a week (PG962) and those from other countries can transit through Singapore providing they are on a list of Singapore's approved airlines. Again, if flying with an international airline to Singapore and onward travel to Koh Samui with Bangkok Airways, it is recommended that both flights are on one ticket as unless you plan a long stop-over in Singapore the entry requirements for Singapore are occasionally quite strict.

CHECK IN

The Thailand Pass QR code together with copy printouts of the relative documents plus the results of the negative test will need to be presented at check in and will be needed again by immigration on arrival at your chosen destination Thailand province. The documents can also be shown on your phone as images however it is quicker to pass over the printouts rather than search for each of the imageswith a queue growing behind you.