The Phuket Sandbox Scheme and how you can visit Phuket

I’ll start at the beginning. We applied for our exemption and continued with applying for a visa and then applying for a COE. It was a long and stressful process because we didn’t give ourselves enough time and postponed the trip at one stage. So I will begin by saying allow yourself a minimum of 8 weeks.

We began by applying to the Department of Home Affairs for an exemption to the rule of not being allowed to leave Australia.

There was only one exemption that we felt was relevant to us. That was to be out of “Australia for three months or more”. We want to return to Phuket because our yacht SV Thorfinn is anchored there and desperately needs to be lifted from the water and cleaned, anti-fouled and more than likely fixed before we can sail her back to Australia. 

SV Thorfinn 

To apply to leave Australia for three months or more, you need to have a compelling reason. Ours was in the form of a letter from the person looking after our boat explaining that Thorfinn was in desperate need of some attention.

To apply, we had to provide a statutory declaration that had to state we were making an application for travel exemption on the basis that we intend to be absent from Australia for more than three months, as well as noting the compelling reason that we wanted to leave.

Apply online for a travel exemption

Although you are not expected to have your flights and hotels booked, they might help the process, especially if you have a return ticket that proves you will be out of the country for at least three months. We decided to book our flights, knowing we could change our flight dates at no cost if we needed to. We also booked our accommodation through booking.com ensuring we had free cancellation up until four days before the date of our flight. When we booked our flights, we decided that four weeks would give us time to get it all sorted… that was not the case!

Apply online here. 

Firstly, we filled in our contact details, and then our flight details. We were asked if we intended to return to Australia, and we answered yes. We had to say where we were departing from and what was our destination country. And then, we had to attach our supporting documents, which were;

On the fourth day after applying, we received a response permitting us to leave Australia.

Apply for a Thai Visa

Firstly, we tried to apply for an STV (Special Tourist Visa – 90days)

Apply on line here

Supporting documents that need to be attached included;  

The Federal Police Check is what held us up at this stage.

You can apply online here or download an offline form here.

We applied online and after waiting a few days for a response, we phone them only to find out it can take up to 25 days to get your certificate. We waited and waited, and in the end, we gave up and applied for a TR (Tourist Visa – 60 days) instead.

TR (Tourist Visa)

To apply for the 60 days TR (tourist visa), we went to the Royal Thai Embassy, Canberra website.

Clicked on ‘Entry to Thailand’

Clicked on ‘Apply Visa’

Clicked on Tourist Visa

Download the visa application form.

With the application, we had to include;

We posted our application on the 16th of August 2021 in an overnight, priority, registered envelope. We were, unrealistically still hoping we might be able to get on our flight on the 24th of August. The Thai Embassy in Canberra finally received our overnight parcel on the 19th of August, and then I promptly received a call from the embassy to say that they would not be able to get the passports and visas to us in time. It went to reason; even if they could get them processed quickly, there was still no guarantee they would get back to us in time. Yes, we included a paid for and self-addressed, overnight delivery envelope for the return, but there was absolutely no chance it would be overnight.

Therefore, I changed the dates of our flights and accommodation. As I mentioned earlier, we ensured we would be able to do this before purchasing the flights and booking the accommodation. Our new departure date was now set for the 6th of September.

On the 27th of August, we received our passports, complete with visas.

Apply for a COE (certificate of entry)

We applied online at https://coethailand.mfa.go.th

We filled in our details, plus the type of covid vaccine we’ve had and the dates we received them. Then we attached the following documents:

Once the embassy had pre-approved our registration/application for COE. We then needed to go back online and upload;

To book your COVID test in Phuket, click on – https://www.thailandpsas.com/

To pre-pay for the COVID swab test, you need to say when you will arrive in Phuket and when you will leave. We have no departure flight because we will be sailing from Phuket. The program they use needs a departure day, time and flight number, so we just put down a flight leaving three months after we arrived. I was not particularly eager to do that, but there was no option.

The three COVID Swabs which we pre-paid, cost THB8000 per person (when we paid that converted to AUD340.67 each).

During our application for the COE we discovered that if you arrive after 18:00 you need to stay at a SHA+ hotel for 15 nights. So we booked another night and uploaded a second Shaba certificate to our COE application. And then we finally had everything we needed apart from the COVID test we need to do before we leave.

RT-PCR COVID 19 with certificate

Lastly, we need to have an RT-PCR COVID 19 test within 72 hours of leaving Australia. We cannot do this test for free because of the paperwork we need for international travel. We had to book in at the Mile End Covid Drive Through at 21 James Congdon drive and pre-pay it. We phoned the Covid Hotline on 1800 870 778 to fill out a request form which includes details of our flights, passports and a QR code – cost per person AUD145.

Be organised, have hard copies of your paperwork

So as far as I am aware, we should print the following paperwork and have it at hand when leaving Australia and flying to Phuket.

Part Two – Leaving Australia, Transiting Singapore and Arriving in Phuket!