stephen tracy

45 minutes ago, Longchop said:

Was there this morning. Joined the line at the jomtien thani hotel at 6am. Got to the entrance gate at 8am. Always amazed at the dumbo falangs every time I go immigration. There was fighting at the gate because of line jumpers, dumbo falangs holding everything up becaue they had arrived with no documents and expected immigration to have someone to prepare everything for them. <deleted> in the line in front of me yapped on an on the whole time as to what the Thais were doing wrong and how he could manage everything so much better (t shirt, shorts, no face mask,) was turned away at the gate for the third day running,  told come back tomorrow.. how many days will he line up for hours to be turned away before the penny drops??.

 As always I was dressed respectfully, quietly kept to myself in the line, had all my paperwork well prepared, was admitted right away, was treated promply and very well by immigration staff, concluded my business and was out of there and eating breakfast at 9am.

 

Were you able to taste it?

15 hours ago, hashmodha said:

Is this a joke????Why aren't they disinfecting them before circulation like Chinese did??...to sun dry notes???.. this is ridiculous.... barbaric beyond belief!

How does a bank disinfect notes once they are in circulation?

I thought I did but it turns out it was just a hangover.

3 hours ago, jadee said:

Hi, to avoid another 4 hour wait - go early. The place opens at 8, I believe, and you can queue up before - then less wait time. Just space out in the queue to social distance. 
As for the social distancing - the immigration is doing the right thing. It doesn't need to shut down, just space people apart. 

The immigration is "doing the right thing"? There is a global pandemic that many people have died from and they are corralling thousands of people all over the country into enclosed places where the touching of doors, chairs, pens, documents, photos, lavatory faucets, money etc is ongoing and by multiple people. These places are now biological time bombs. If the government thinks this is safe, I'd like to see Prayuth down at Muang Thong Thani every day handing out free water in his tailored face mask. 

I can't provide all the required documentation, nor do I want to risk going to immigration to walk out ill and not even know it. This means after tomorrow, I am officially on overstay. Once this is over I don't think I will ever come back to Thailand again. That's how disgusted I am at this insatiable greed.

9 minutes ago, eppic said:

My family and I arrived on March 8th. Our only reason for the visit was to clear out our condo for our relocation to the Philippines, but Manila locked down while we were in BKK and all flights canceled.

 

We would need an extension by Monday, so are you saying we (including my 4-yr old boy) would not need to go to some God-forsaken hellhole at 5 am and queue with hordes of others? Would it take less time for us? Could we avoid the crowds and hot sun? NO!  Plus, in theory, people that have already extended once should have had plenty of time to leave the country -- why the first extension?  Lockdowns were not in full force to most countries a month ago. So there is logic to the plan, even if you don't like it. It will absolutely reduce the queues.  

 

The issue of need for embassy letter and other absurd requirements and only getting 7 or 15 days is totally different, but obviously needs to be addressed as well. At least this is a step in the right direction.

 

What they have done will help a lot of people, including my family of three (assuming "tourist visa" actually means exemption) who were here for legitimate reasons

It wont reduce the queues. Not enough tourists were arriving since 1 March to make enough of a difference country-wide. Nor is there logic to the plan as it does not in any way mitigate the national health risk posed by keeping them all running at full steam like this. The "plan" is about extracting as many fees and fines as possible while at the same time claiming the false moral high ground of tackling the situation. 

On 4/1/2020 at 3:17 PM, BritTim said:

I am not trying to defend what they are doing, but let me try to explain what might be their twisted logic:

• Foreigners who arrived before March 1 and are not already sick are surely Covid-19 free. There is no way they would be infected in Thailand. Thus, our officials are not in danger in dealing with them.
• Foreigners who arrived after March 1 will often be infected, and we must keep them away from our offices.
• There is no money to be made from agent assisted extensions for those who just need a regular 30-day tourist extension of stay.
• Regular tourists should not have planned to spend more than about four weeks in Thailand. If they had (as we expect) planned to leave mid March after arriving mid February, this was generally possible.
• Anyone who planned to be in Thailand for more than about three to four weeks needs to be properly scrutinised to see what they are up to.

I'd say you're over thinking it. Since the 1st the number of tourists coming in has been a trickle, and many who arrived earlier in the month have already left anyway. Due to mounting complaints online, particularly after news that 3 immigration officials at CW were confirmed infected on 30 March,  they needed to be seen to address the "problem", but without losing all that money in fees and fines. By exempting the small number if people still here since 1 March, they are losing very little. In short, it's about the cash. 

23 hours ago, Alittleguy said:

The officers should consider letting the foreigner have auto visa extension or online application.

So many people gathering at the office. If someone is infected, other people all will infected too

And the infected foreigner going back to their place, local people around them will infected too.

Hospital will get more overcrowded. Immigration really have to decide to stop the spreading

Don't be silly, that would be the logical, responsible and decent thing to do.

On 3/31/2020 at 3:09 PM, ETatBKK said:

stupid me I didn't check and I was there last Wednesday, for picking up the stamp for finalising the non-O VISA extension.  it took 30 minutes queuing into the building, then my queue number was 21xx, that took 5 hours before I could go into the office.

if 3000 foreigners queuing up there everyday, and hardly anyone keeping 2m apart, it would be surprised if everyone safe ! 

It looks like the entrance to Dante's Inferno

On 3/31/2020 at 1:47 PM, baansgr said:

If someone in Jomtien catches it....is the headline going to be" One new virus reported in Jomtien where Immigration is based"....it's already stated the three were from different departments to Immigration

So? If 3 people have been confirmed, imagine what the real number is. I think anyone that's been anywhere packed full of people all touching documents, pens, money, doors etc, is at risk in a place like that

23 hours ago, Jackcwba said:

I have to go in 2 days. I’ve been told that as of this moment they are still enforcing fines for overstay..

 

if these cowboys end up testing positive surely that’s the last straw. People’s health is more important.  I am sh***ing myself thinking about going there in 2 days being so close to thousands of different nationalities. 

 

when’s this announcement about foreigners potentially being allowed to stay until June 30? 

I have to go tomorrow but I'm not gonna do it. God knows how many staff and visitors to the place will have it by now.