BKKTRAVELER

Einstein said, the difference between intelligence and stupidity is that intelligence has a limit...

If it would only be a few days delay and you could get an extension or your visa/extension was cut short due to your passport expiring, you'd pay 500 baht fine per day late. With things being uncertain about delivery timings, who knows... Also, you'll sweat at night thinking you can randomly get arrested by the police while on an expired passport, which will put you in trouble. Don't know about emergency travel documents rules though, others may have the answer.

It will end in July, happened to a friend of mine, he got until his Elite expired. Separately, will you be eligible for the 6 months free extra visa from Elite? You should check into that.

Nothing has changed, if you are eligible for the Thailand Pass, you still get only one night in quarantine as far as I understand.

How come this is so quietly introduced? I didn't see anything about it in the news. Such a weird thing for the government to do...

A sad story, drivers are usually pushed to their limits to meet quotas for under-average pay.

Most of my friends said they would go to the beach last weekend, then said they'll go the next week for the next long back to back weekend. In the end, nobody is going anywhere. The reason, everybody is broke and don't want to spend 20k+ on leisure anymore.

Clearly you don't know much about the country. You really think Thai economy is made of brothels? Have you ever walked in a major city? I'm baffled.

You're right, didn't do it the official way. Still, shared my ideas on various forums and social media, hoping to make others understand how crucial it was for the country to open in order to avoid a complete economic meltdown. At the end, the general opinion matters for the authorities to make decisions ( or so it should).

I am all for the country's reopening, been advocating for it for many months. But I would lie if I said I didn't find the current situation worrying. I think the ATK test with no quarantine at all on December 16th should be postponed a bit if we don't know yet the severity of the Omicron variant. Confusing times...

Thank you for that piece of information. Too bad as it is quite convenient and not many people seemed to know about it, making the immigration trip much more pleasant.

I'd like to report that I went to CW this morning to help out a friend obtain his first Covid extension. He was on Elite visa which would have expired early next week. We arrived at 9am. the place was absolutely deserted. All the shops were closed downstairs except 7/11 which meant we couldn't make copies of his passport. Luckily the officer did it for us at immigration. Luckily my friend had photos... We filled in all the documents, got queue no7 and were called in as we walked to the N1 counter. It took quite a while with the male officer, he was polite but clearly not so happy to work on a Saturday. He asked my friend to sign documents again with stamps he added, add phone number, ask his Elite card, file one more form we missed apparently. Anyway, took about 20 minutes with him. My friend paid 1,900B and then we were sent to the other desk nearby and got everything done and passport back in a few minutes. He was not asked any questions nor flight back home thankfully. He provided a TM30 receipt from his hotel which the IO barely glanced at. Took roughly 30 minutes and by the time we left, the place was still like a ghost town. If they keep opening on weekends, I recommend everyone to go then, much better.

Oh, the Elite staff also told me that if I tried to attempt to get a 6th year out of my 5 years visa, they'd threaten me by blacklisting me from ratting me out to immigration. I did it anyways... Went to immigration a few days later and they laughed at Elite for making such a claim while my permit of stay was 100% valid. So, I wouldn't take their word for it at this point... Most of Elite staff are talking out of their... hmmm... you get me.

I second that question.

Anyone, please PM for Moderna shots in Bkk.

I apologize in advance if this is not the right forum section or of it is even allowed by the forum. One of my girlfriend's relatives has bought Moderna shots since earlier this year with Intrarat hospital in Bangkok. She has 11 rights for 2 shots each. She and the whole family got fully vaccinated already and won't be needing them. She was told today she can make bookings and appointments now. She can transfer the right to have the shots to anyone. If anyone is interested, please PM so I can forward you her details. Price is at cost (1,650B per shot). Hope it helps some of you still waiting for your vaccination.

Wonderful news. I have a question, is CW open on Saturdays to do Covid extensions? Thank you

Just so it was clear, he went to his agent for a Covid extension, not volunteer visa. I don't know either if his agent can do volunteer visas currently.

And yet, Coremouse has a valid Elite visa, nothing cheap about it. Just can't have it converted back inside the country for silly reasons.

He sent his passport and paid the fee, pretty straightforward. Don't know if he got it back yet but seems that it went as expected.

I'm pretty sure he means Thailand Pass. No idea if you can go to Cambodia at the moment though.

Because that is the rule. If some IOs give some leniency, great but you can't do your letter 2 days prior and expect not to be turned away. Rules have to be followed on both sides. You come with everything prepared according to official guidelines, and the IOs have to comply and do their job. People saying that different offices have different rules should not be ok with that. Thai immigration rules are nationwide. If IOs and/or their superiors go rogue and adapt the rules to their liking, it is plain wrong.

I don't get pulled over, because I respect the rules, drive at the right speed and officers don't need to do so. If they did while I follow the rules, I would surely complain and so would you. That is what is happening with Covid extensions when people meet the requirements and are getting turned away. Following your reasoning, IOs are giving Covid extensions to only some people that they want to be kind to. It doesn't work like that... The fact that they don't give it to people who are lawfully eligible for them is the issue. There is no "human judgement" calls when it comes to Covid extensions. If you fit the requirements laid out by the government, they have to give it to you. I never said that it doesn't hurt to not be nice to IOs, just that they have to do their jobs according to the guidelines they were told to follow by the government, their employer. I also apologize for my last comment last night, it was out of line. We can just agree to disagree.

Let's put it this way, you have a job and your employer tells you to do it a certain way. If you do it another way with different results, you get fired. That's the reality of it. Immigration officers are government's employees. They were told to grant covid extensions under certain requirements by government officials. They have to follow that guideline, and that only. There is nothing about kindness about it, they just do their work. Clearly, some IOs are don't and that doesn't make it right one bit. Rules need to be followed, even by immigration. Officers who gave you extensions were not kind, just doing their jobs properly. I don't want to be rude, but stop living in lalaland...

It will be a race for him, either the tourists come back and he can hope to make money, or they don't and he'll keep bleeding money until he's dry and has to sell/go bankrupt. Time will tell. As he is trying to revive the hotel industry (yes, for his own profit), I hope that he makes it. And I sure hope he is not scamming his investors somehow, crazier things have happened...