The medical insurance scheme for tourists visiting Thailand, which the Thai government announced last week, will not only cover tourists who have obtained a tourist visa before their arrival to Thailand, but also all tourists who have received a visa on arrival – which is typically the case for tourists coming from the Nordic countries.
The key to understanding the coverage of the scheme is in this sentence from the announcement.:
“Foreign nationals with valid passports with tourist visas visiting the Kingdom of Thailand between 1st January – 31st August 2024. Except in the case where a visa is not required for certain types of aliens in special cases, this must be for the purpose of not pursuing a career or earning income or have behavior that shows that they did not come here mainly for tourism.”
Ms. Kantara S. Olofsson, Public Relation & Communication Coordinator of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Stockholm Office, explains that this should be interpreted like this:
“People with visa on arrival with a purpose of traveling are included. People who are on any type of tourist visa are included. [However,] people who came to work and earn income even if the have a tourist visa are excluded,” she says.
Ms. Kantara S. Olofsson adds, that the Ministry of Tourism and Sports has informed her that any long-stay visa (including Non-Immigration Visa) are excluded from the scheme.
