Caldera

I'm of two minds about the guy. His reporting is often excellent and he clearly fills a void as local journalism is in a really sad state. On the other hand, he often comes across as arrogant and attention seeking for nothing but his own gratification.

I'm not surprised that the Thai authorities see his shenanigans with suspicion, and again I'm of two minds about it. Sometimes I'm glad that he exposes the truth and we all know how much those in power despise that. On other occasions he picks silly little battles (double pricing) and effectively baits the authorities by saying he shouldn't really do that while his "visa" is up for extension. So his trouble is kind of self-inflicted, maybe he wants to get kicked out to secure a book deal or something.

Then there's the fact that he says blogging is his "hobby", when clearly it is a lot more than that. As he gets compensated with stays at hotels quite frequently, the question of illegal work might also be on immigration's mind.

My guess is that he will ultimately get his extension. But who knows!

22 minutes ago, brianthainess said:

That would barely cover the fuel cost.

Maybe they do it in the same way as some forms of public transport - you'll have to wait until the truck is full. So depending on how many others they catch who need to be transported to Bangkok, it could take a while. ????

On 8/10/2020 at 10:36 PM, edwardandtubs said:

That's a far more sensible way of doing it. Pity the Pattaya branch didn't get the memo.

Apparently they've received the memo in the meantime. When I contacted them a few days later, they only wanted a photo of the entry stamp, plus a confirmation from me that I'm not / wasn't on overstay. I agree that it's unreasonable to expect photos of each and every passport page.

Their deadline (August 17th) is fast approaching though and I'm still exploring other options, so after having received their confirmation that it could be done, I have yet to decide if I'll go ahead with it.

As there are flights to the UK available that actually happen, I think they will probably follow other embassies who have stated that they will not issue visa extension letters.

I'd imagine that an embassy (any embassy) might still issue them in cases of extraordinary hardship, decided case by case, but that remains to be seen.

"The first case is a 24-year-old Thai construction worker who returned home on July 7 and went back to Japan on August 1, where he was found to be infected, Dr Suwannachai said."

I'm a bit surprised to read such a report. So this construction worker went through all the trouble to secure a repatriation flight to Thailand and spend 14 days locked up in state quarantine, only to travel back to Japan 10 days after being released from quarantine?

I don't buy that Thailand has eliminated the coronavirus, so I'm not surprised that it's seen as a possibility that he got infected while in Thailand.

I think one reason why neither Thailand nor its neighbors seem very eager to open the land borders is that they would all find plenty of cases imported from supposedly virus-free neighboring countries. That would shatter the illusion.

Phnom Penh has been known as quite strict and there's very little if anything that agents can do to help. While it's hard to predict what they (or any other Thai embassy for that matter) will be like next year, I wouldn't go there.

Well in fairness, according to the news report that included the address of the premises that were raided, this was NOT the Thai Visa Centre office, but Grace's residential address.

If they had targeted Thai Visa Centre, they would have (also) raided their office - even Thai immigration should be able to get that address from their public Facebook page. ????

So their explanation that this raid was related to Grace's other (or past) activities cannot really be dismissed out of hand.

Whatever we may think of this drama, I cannot help but notice that they are very confident that they've resolved the situation to everyone's satisfaction. And they probably have, as it so often plays out here.

2 hours ago, anchadian said:

Let's hope you do have a plan B, otherwise your preference to remaining in Thailand will be at some other accommodation.

Duh, my plan B remains the same, I simply changed my flight booking from July 30th to September 24th. I'm not feeling stressed at all, I'm just keeping an open mind about all the options that exist and might open up...

24 minutes ago, BritTim said:

I think this thread is a useful one, as it may clarify whether regular 30-day extensions (and 60-day extensions to visit family) will be permitted for those on tourist entries who already have stayed over six months longer than they normally would have been allowed to.

True. I guess the reason why we haven't had reports yet (either way) is that people are waiting for reports before heading to immigration themselves. ????

I'm no exception. I'd go myself to give it a shot, but I prefer to wait for a bit longer to see if any positive or negative reports surface.

3 hours ago, mtls2005 said:

Another consitution?

 

Just make a copy of rev. 1997.

 

 

Without going into detail, I think they should go a bit beyond merely going back to the 1997 constitution. But that would make a good interim one that could be enacted quickly.

Not sure if insuring them is such a good idea, they will just drive even more recklessly.

It isn't believable that they had zero deaths before and now they're suddenly having a handful from just a few hundred cases.

They simply didn't test enough people and the coronavirus has been spreading largely undetected, thanks to a very young population.

It could be as low as zero if they don't reopen the borders at some point (to foreign tourists, that is). A bit premature to talk numbers at this point!

I've visited twice within just a few weeks. Definitely a lot more pleasant than before the lockdown!

1 hour ago, ubonjoe said:

Some offices just don't follow the rules.

Sad but true. On the other hand, have you seen any reports of anyone getting that "regular" extension since the "grace period" kicked in on August 1st? If so, from where? I'm tempted to give it a shot at Chaeng Watthana.

1 hour ago, pavierre said:

He didn't get the stamp at immigration, it was stamped for him at another immigration office and then mailed back to him

Which immigration office was that?

10 hours ago, 363885 said:

It won't expire till next March, since I renewed just before going to Laos.  But I'm still anxious to get back, as I'm still paying rent and most of my personal belongings are in Thailand. 

I'm a bit surprised to hear that. I, too, visited Laos from Thailand in March, but the writing was on the wall that the borders were about to close at short notice. I needed a border bounce, so I just kept my trip shorter than I had planned. As you had just renewed for another year in Thailand, I'm surprised that you took the chance to travel to Laos at that time.

Out of curiosity, what's the situation like in Laos now? Is everything open? How about your visa there, do they still offer paid extensions for 30 days a time?

I hope you can return to Thailand soon, but as others I suspect they'll keep the borders closed for some more time. Quite a mess.

It's hard to tell at this point. Will there be horrific reports of adverse effects? Will a vaccination be required to travel? Etc. etc., many aspects to consider.

That said, I'm leaning towards yes, provided it's both safe and effective. So that's what I voted for. I won't be in a hurry until that will be known with a high degree of certainty.