vermin on arrival

Yet another article about how this ridiculous visa is actually a stroke of genius.

So full court press in the media by everyone to say that this idiotic plan approved by the cabinet onTuesday is actually some form of brilliance.

4 minutes ago, Peterw42 said:

There appears to be no mention of the $100k insurance requirement, hopefully that has been dropped.

maybe...details will be forthcoming this week I think.

1 minute ago, HaleySabai said:

So,that's all the breaking news coming from the Cabinet meeting today?....no discussion around that 'A'-word?...is it safe to conclude the 'A'-word has been buried?

At least for this week.

22 minutes ago, tomazbodner said:

From Bangkok Immigration phone hotline last week: visas that have a sticker/stamp in passport (the visa stamp, not arrival stamp) can be extended for 30 days at the time. Those that don't have stamp (visa-free entry), need to leave the country before or after 26 September. There are some exceptions, like for medical reasons or no flights available - but these require a certificate/letter.

I think that's the same as what was posted on this very forum, and there was no suggestion of any changes to above coming.

 

Called for someone else asking the question (who entered half a year ago on 30 days stamp - no visa of any kind - and used amnesty after that), as there is no embassy of that country in Thailand. Was told he would have to find a flight and leave by 26 Sep or would be on overstay from "day that his stamp expired"... I'm not sure that's correct, so I didn't bother posting, and rather waited for someone else to post something. I mean if that were true, then anyone who leaves on 27 September would already get charged 20k baht and banned for 6 months overstay... can't be...

Actually I was referring to Sheryl's comment about whether these special visas are able to be switched to and used by people currently in country on amnesty. I have US embassy letter as a fallback as well as the usual bribery route through a special fixer agent for a long stay visa (that many have done) as potential fallback options, but thanks....

Also for those on amnesty overstay will not start until Sept 27...I'm sure that other comment was incorrect.

11 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

 

A key question for many TV members will be: can foreigners already in Thailand switch to this visa or do they really have to leave the country and come back in?

Yup. Will they tell us that next week or will the details be forthcoming this week?

3 minutes ago, champers said:

It is a start, albeit a cautious one. I imagine there will be a monthly review with a view to allowing more people to come in the future. How your home country is faring with controlling Covid looks like a critical element in this scheme. How will Thailand define how a country has Covid under control?

Before it was 0 cases for 30 days lol.

4 minutes ago, GeorgeCross said:

the fact that they are not discussing amnesty would suggest their minds are already made up on that issue unfortunately. they have already announced amnesty runs to the 26th - they'd only need to make an announcement if they planned to extend it surely?

 

That is something that seems more and more likely even though the PDMU said they were asking for e-mails to report on directly to the PM. Based on this, one might expect some kind of  statement.

"The officer at the PDMU that The Phuket News spoke with on Tuesday said that Mr Stoever’s plea had been heard at the highest level. PM Prayut had asked the PDMU to interview Mr Stoever and investigate how many other long-stay foreign tourists already in Thailand were facing the same predicament."

https://www.thephuketnews.com/open-letter-from-long-stay-tourist-in-phuket-spurs-action-from-prime-minister-77181.php

7 minutes ago, RubbaJohnny said:

Planning, Development and Monitoring Unit (PDMU)

Ahhh no lol. It is starnge that the acronym doesn't actually match the letters. Maybe was a typo in Phuket News but would be weird but...

"The officer at the PDMU that The Phuket News spoke with on Tuesday said that Mr Stoever’s plea had been heard at the highest level. PM Prayut had asked the PDMU to interview Mr Stoever and investigate how many other long-stay foreign tourists already in Thailand were facing the same predicament." from the bottom of the above article.

8 minutes ago, Maestro said:

 

What do you mean with PDMU?

"An official working at the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit, a research and policy advisory division that operates under the Prime Minister’s Office and reports directly to the Prime Minister, confirmed on Tuesday (Sept 1) that PM Prayut Chan-o-cha had read the open letter, penned by German man Bernhard Stoever. "

They requested e-mails and were going to report on them to the PM.

https://www.thephuketnews.com/open-letter-from-long-stay-tourist-in-phuket-spurs-action-from-prime-minister-77181.php

4 minutes ago, JacksSmirkingRevenge said:

Hopefully there is still a meeting happening so we can have our hope for visa amnesty extension

I think we are out of luck today. May be next week, but currently seems highly unlikely....plans, b c and d will need to start being put into motion...with muted hopes for a reprieve.

2 minutes ago, 2530Ubon said:

2 years ago - in and out of Thailand for a 30 day stamp at the end of my teaching contract.

Ok. Not the same now. I don't think that helps. Are there any reports of that being allowed now? I sincerely doubt it. Anyone?

37 minutes ago, 2530Ubon said:

2 years ago, my NON-IMM B visa ran out on a saturday. Due to having to do an English camp on that day, I couldn't leave. I drove to Phibum on Sunday and exited the country via mukdahan friendship bridge to obtain a VOA. I had to pay a 500 baht fee. It's also worth noting that overstaying makes you ineligible to apply for any extension or conversion. Hope this helps!

You were able to go to Laos? Or was that 2 years ago? If so, then I don't think it helps.

2 minutes ago, Walker88 said:

The last two times---May and June---all the announcements about 'not waiting until the last minute' came from Immigration. The thing is, the amnesty decision was then, and is now, up to the Cabinet and PM, which is to say the Army and not the Police.

 

Amnesty may well end, but Immigration doesn't know any more than you or me.

As a matter of fact, some immigrations are starting the rumors that there may well be an amnesty, but yes you are correct. They also do not know what the government will decide; in addition they are notoriously corrupt. Just think 1,000 people on amnesty pay 1,000 dollar bribe via agents that is 1 million dollars for them, 10,000 do it it 10 million dollars, etc. I understand why people did this because we are all in a difficult situation, but in the end it is enabling the whole corrupt system. It is not difficult to see why immigration is pushing all to get long stay visas in country and trying to stop amnesty.

Meanwhile in Taiwan, they just issued another 30 day extension today for people stuck there since March 21. I was just 2 hours off from getting in there...damn.

Taiwan announces 30-day extension for foreigners

https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4009171

11 minutes ago, JensenZ said:

As I have never seen vitamin D sold as a standalone supplement in stores in Thailand (only with Calcium in low dose) I had a quick check on Lazada. I was surprised to learn that many of the brands available on iHerb are now sold on Lazada.

 

A lot of people think that if you get some sunshine you will have enough, but to have decent serum levels of Vitamin D you need to expose a lot of skin for quite long periods of time, and the more tan you become, the less Vitamin D you will produce.

 

This presents a dilemma - a choice between skin aging/damage from constant sun exposure, or no sun exposure and supplemental Vitamin D. Due to the harsh nature of Thailand's sunshine, I choose to stay out of it if possible and get little direct sun exposure. My wife has fair skin and sunshine is her worst enemy LOL. We both take 5000 - 10,000 IU per day. We have been taking this dose (me - 10,000, wife - 5,000 IU) for many years. I remember when my wife first started taking it she had a huge increase in energy. Most certainly she was deficient.

I do 5-10K IU a day of liquid vitamin D and have only gotten ill once since starting. It really is a great immune system booster. I had a horrible time a few years back of getting ill 4 times for 1 month at a time over the course of 1 year. After I started using vitamin D, I had no issues of that kind again.

I agree sunshine alone is not enough.

It's very obvious. Vitamin D is cheap and easily accessible to the population. New vaccines and new treatments load in work and profits for the pharmaceutical industry.

Recent studies showing that hydrochloroquine is, actually in fact, effective at treating covid and may be a good preventive are also not getting airplay. The WHO and Oxford studies cited to shutdown research on it used toxic levels of the medicine. Hydrochloroquine is cheap and will not open the tap on government funding that new treatments and vaccines will.

Thomas Borody's push for, the anti-parisitic, Ivermectin as a treatment for covid is also not getting a lot of airplay. He considers it a real killer of covid. It is also ridiculously cheap, which means it will most likely not get tabbed as the 1st line treatment.

13 hours ago, Yinn said:

 

New infections of coronavirus in the UK are now growing as fast as they were at the beginning of April, according to Telegraphanalysis.

 

After a spate of continuous decline in May and June, new cases of coronavirus began to tick up again in July - around when pubs and restaurants re-opened on so-called 'Super Saturday' on the 4th. 

 

Link 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/09/08/charts-uks-second-wave-picking-pace/

But not ICU admittance and deaths. It's a casedemic based on being hypervigilant for the disease and testing a lot, similar to what happened during the H1N1 flu epidemic in 2009. Also, this is not a second wave. It's a summer surge of cases during the first wave. We'll see if there is a second wave next winter. Many think there will not be one or it will not be that serious.