BritTim

21 minutes ago, VIPinLanna said:

If you have an approved elite application can you get a Certificate of Entry/COE from a Thai Embassy in int US

even if you don't get the visa sticker until you arrive in Thailand?

The confirmation from Elite that you have been approved and paid is, in principle, sufficient. However, there appears to be high demand for seats on repatriation flights from the US. It is unclear how long it would take for you to reach the top of the (prioritised) waiting list for foreigners. I think you will need to wait until key workers, and those with Thai spouses and Children have been handled.

In my opinion, this is a valid question, and the answer may depend on the immigration office where you will be applying. However, some here will claim that it is clearcut that you will get the 60-day extension starting from September 27. Bottom line, you will not get a reliable answer on this board, and need to be guided by what Khion Kaen immigration tell you.

1 hour ago, bluebird729 said:

PS:  you said that you are not allowed more than 2 land-border entries per year.

So, this means someone can do 2 land entries and fly for the other ones ?   so it seems its still pretty easy to get around.

The actual rules were (prior to Covid-19)

• Two visa exempt entries by land per calendar year.
• No fixed limits by air, but in practice all airports imposed some kind of limit to prevent serial visa exempts to live indefinitely in Thailand. How strict they were varied by airport.
• No official limit when entering through a land border with a visa, and some land borders would automatically admit Westerners with a visa. However, consulates everywhere were routinely cracking down on providing tourist visas to those who had already spent a few months in Thailand on tourist entries.
• When entering by air with a tourist visa, some airports imposed no limits. At other airports, they tended to deny entry to tourists with more than 180 days in Thailand over the prior 12 month period.

Summary: unlike in the past, staying indefinitely on tourist entries (whether visa exempt or with tourist visas) was becoming very difficult. Some nationals could still do it with serial multiple entry tourist visas from home country, and careful selection of arrival airports.

Without the services of an agent, the major hospital where you are an in patient will normally provide the appropriate documentation (including, at strict immigration offices, photographic proof that you are incapacitated in hospital). Without actually being in hospital, a signed and stamped letter from a doctor at a major hospital stating that you are totally unfit to fly might suffice at some lenient offices. However, applications for medical extensions are looked at very sceptically, and the very fact that you are able to visit an immigration office tends to be looked at as evidence that you could travel to an airport and get on a plane.

4 hours ago, padthaininja said:

Also, is it possible to fly to Bangkok now? (from Phuket)

Yes.

It is great that you have such a good relationship with the Thai family, but it is highly unlikely they can help with visa issues. The volunteer visa will not work because they are not a registered charity. Actual employment would also be tricky due to the nature of their business where only specialist work would qualify under the alien business laws. I believe you will have no choice other than to use the services of an agent who can arrange a volunteer visa (through a registered aid organisation they have a relationship with) or possibly an education visa. I am unsure of the costs you are faced with in Surat Thani. Good luck!

I am hoping @ubonjoe is right (he usually is) and immigration is not going to insist that the 60-day extension begins from the end of you last official permission to stay from a tourist entry.

6 hours ago, SnipTheCat said:

But they do take this extremely seriously...

When I look at what happened in places like Melbourne and Hong Kong, I would expect them to be absolutely paranoid. I put the chance of Thailand keeping SARS-CoV-2 out at about 20%, and this is only if attempts are made to stick very strictly to the rules.

3 hours ago, Timwin said:

I have heard some offers that for few tens of thousands of Bahts you will get a new Visa inside Thailand but how does that work if you go out next year and there is an used new visa in the passport without going out...

There is a mechanism for getting a Non Immigrant visa from immigration in Thailand, under some circumstances, which is immediately used to give you a 90-day permission to stay. It is sometimes possible without the services of an agent. An agent is not infrequently needed to smooth the way when, for some reason, you cannot 100% satisfy the official rules for the granting of the visa.

16 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

Confusion from there being so many posts about the extension stuff.

Indeed! As if there was not already enough confusion around visas, extensions, expiry dates etc., without now having to be careful about which embassy letter someone wants. ???? 

23 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

Australia is already said the will do them

The US and the UK will do them when told they are needed by immigration. Same as before when thet first said no back in March.

I was responding to a post about income letters for a retirement extension.

On 7/30/2020 at 9:43 PM, Damual Travesty said:

I am not certain of what embassies if any still are allowed to give a letter.

All embassies that previously provided such letters will still do so, except the US, UK and Australia.

Those who anticipate a need to travel during the time taken to get a new passport can usually apply for an additional passport rather than a replacement one. This requires a letter explaining why the additional passport is needed, but any reasonable justification is usually accepted.

42 minutes ago, nightfox said:

Anybody know what the going rate for extending a Non O visa based on marriage for 12 months through an agent is these days?...I was quoted 40,000 bht+ from couple agents in Pattaya a few year ago. It might be a last resort for me as cant come up with the 400k requirement. 

 

I will give the 40k monthly income for 2 month a try and hope IO accepts it. If not and if the boarders don't open in the next couple months, its agent time.

If you are aged over 50, and intending to use an agent to circumvent the financials anyway, go for a retirement extension instead. This is much cheaper. The trouble with the marriage extension is that the application is scrutinised at the regional level, which means more palms need to be greased.

57 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

I think Thai Airways is a good indication of future Thai government actions.

If Thai airways ain't flying, I don't think they'll be expecting us to be flying.

I am fairly sure you are wrong, but I will be keeping my fingers crossed for you. You have indicated your intention of doing nothing until September 20th, and I expect there will be plenty like you. At that point, trying to find flights out of Thailand before the September 26th deadline (with the limited number of flights leaving) is going to be expensive, at best, and impossible at worst. Do not rely on immigration being sympathetic. They will not be interested in whether you have been trying to leave for a few days. They will want to know what you have been doing for the last six months. It will also be way too late for an agent to help. Volunteer and education visas take much more than a few days to arrange.

10 hours ago, PFV said:

I was wondering if a pre-existing condition, such as diabetes, which makes it very dangerous to be exposed to COVID, would be sufficient to obtain a medical certificate and an extension of stay?

It is a long shot, frankly. If a doctor at a major hospital was willing to write, sign and stamp a letter to the effect that you are not fit to fly and why, your local immigration office might accept it. However, immigration tends to be very skeptical of applications for medical extensions.

58 minutes ago, mokwit said:

Can an agent get you anything other than a retirement visa [extension]?

Not always. However, volunteer and education visas are usually on offer and, depending on region, sometimes spouse and child extensions.

2 hours ago, vermin on arrival said:

Immigration will not have the final say here. The cabinet will as it did with all of the decisions from March until now. They have overridden immigration every time so far. It of course, does not mean they will do so again.

None of this is set in stone, obviously, and the cabinet could decide there are more important considerations than just enforcing immigration rules. However, I consider the September 26 date (exactly six months from March 26) to be significant. Immigration, I believe, is arguing that no tourist should be here longer than six months. If the cabinet was not swayed by that argument, I think the new deadline would have been September 30.

3 hours ago, OneeyedJohn said:

Years ago I was on an extended overstay, and I took the option of going to Immigration, paid the maximum fine of 20,000 and also had in hand an airline ticket to Uk . They let me back in for 7 days.

 

The risk of messing up a 50,000 baht ticket by going direct to the airport was too high for me.  If they had kept me overnight I was screwed.

As long as you arrive at the airport allowing plenty of time, there is very little risk. On the other hand, if you run into the wrong immigration official in the immigration office, you face the possibility of being taken to the immigration detention centre, formally prosecuted (meaning you miss your flight) and deported (meaning an expensive ticket, typically on a national airline). I am glad it worked out for you, but I would never take such a risk.