Immigration Is Allowing 30 Day Extensions Of Entries (memorandum dated 18/03)

[Detty]

22 hours ago, bestie said:

Hi Detty I'm from Germany too. Try to write the German Embassy in Bangkok if you don't want to show up in person. 

https://bangkok.diplo.de/th-de/service/aktuelle-informationen/2320408#content_4

Here you can find what you need: https://twitter.com/GERinThailand?

 

Looks like they send it by email. 

@ bestie  -->   Hi bestie, many tanks for the information. I am now more hopeful

because I sent the documents to the embassy yesterday. It was like an "inspiration" to try it.

But didn't have the clues from you yet. Now I have to wait ...

[audaciousnomad]

Decree issued on 27-Mar.
Item #9 sounds very ominous for those who are here on tourist visas or visa exemptions.
http://www.mfa.go.th/main/contents/files/news3-20200327-221547-964607.pdf

What are your thoughts @ubonjoe ?

Edited March 28, 2020 by audaciousnomad

[bestie]

19 minutes ago, Detty said:

@ bestie  -->   Hi bestie, many tanks for the information. I am now more hopeful

because I sent the documents to the embassy yesterday. It was like an "inspiration" to try it.

But didn't have the clues from you yet. Now I have to wait ...

Your welcome. How much time have you left before your extension or visa expires? 

They say it take a few days before you will receive the letter per email.

 

Stay safe and Good luck

Edited March 28, 2020 by bestie

[Detty]

9 minutes ago, bestie said:

Your welcome. How much time have you left before your extension or visa expires? 

They say it take a few days before you will receive the letter per email.

 

Stay safe and Good luck

I can until April 10th. stay. There is still a little time left, but I hope to get the letter by then.

Greeting from Ubon and stay and stay healthy

[ubonjoe]

17 minutes ago, audaciousnomad said:

Decree issued on 27-Mar.
Item #9 sounds very ominous for those who are here on tourist visas or visa exemptions.
http://www.mfa.go.th/main/contents/files/news3-20200327-221547-964607.pdf

The same thing has been in the news already. Nothing new there and and nothing to worry about.

[bestie]

Just now, Detty said:

I can until April 10th. stay. There is still a little time left, but I hope to get the letter by then.

Greeting from Ubon and stay and stay healthy

That should be hopefully enough time. If you don't receive the letter by the end of next week I would send the documents again and try to call them. Their hotline is available on the weekends too. Don't worry. Seems like their doing everything to help us. 

 

It would be nice to hear from you again when you receive the letter from the embassy

 

Habe einen schönen Tag. 

[BangkokReady]

17 minutes ago, bestie said:

Habe einen schönen Tag. 

Have a good day?

[DrJack54]

Fact is this thread is 45 pages long and in unprecedented times a lot of this could have been avoided. 

Even our #1 go to man was stating that embassy letters not required as per order.

Clearly they are. Then many folk having trouble with presenting what is required. 

Such rubbish as embassy letter needs to be in colour etc. 

I have no dog in this fight. Sitting on beach with 8 month left on stay. That's not a boast. I truly feel angry about what folk are being forced to to. 

Did we expect anything better from Thai gov.

 

 

[TamadeYao]

4 hours ago, timoti said:

Canadian embassy emailed me asking for info, again giving differing info that they don't give out a letter that will keep their citizens outside Canada. But they might provide one under exceptional situations.

 

For people who managed to get this letter successfully what excuse did they use?

The operator lady said to me that the Candian government is urging everyone to come home as soon as they can and that I should just reschedule my flight in May.   

 

But her tune change when I told her that there are 40 something confirmed cases in all of Chonburi and maybe like 4 here in Pattaya. And that I feel much safer here with all the closures and empty streets then being crammed in a plane with 100's of people with nowhere to go if one of them looks down on the weather.

 

Also, when I questioned her, on her thoughts of the Consulate making people travel 100's miles to Bangkok, where covid-19 is at it worse, in Thailand, instead of just doing everything by email like the US embassy.  She said they things are changing everyday and they are looking into simpflying the process.  YEAH WHATEVER.

 

On the sidenote, on the Facebook group that was mentioned a couple of posts earlier.  A Candian poster said he had a lot of luck calling  emergency line at one of the embassies or Consulates or whatever in Canada.  When the embassy here refused him of the letter (sorry I'm a bit wasted now, trying to drown my sorrows 55555) I'll try to find the number later and post it if I can. 

But supposedly the office in Canada called the embassy here and had  him sorted out in 30minutes. 

 

And yes TextNow - is your friend if I can find the number again  (free voip calls to Canada and Us)   

 

I hope the mods don't see this as advertising 

 

 

Good luck to everyone.  

 

Edited March 28, 2020 by TamadeYao

[timoti]

58 minutes ago, TamadeYao said:

The operator lady said to me that the Candian government is urging everyone to come home as soon as they can and that I should just reschedule my flight in May.   

 

But her tune change when I told her that there are 40 something confirmed cases in all of Chonburi and maybe like 4 here in Pattaya. And that I feel much safer here with all the closures and empty streets then being crammed in a plane with 100's of people with nowhere to go if one of them looks down on the weather.

 

Also, when I questioned her, on her thoughts of the Consulate making people travel 100's miles to Bangkok, where covid-19 is at it worse, in Thailand, instead of just doing everything by email like the US embassy.  She said they things are changing everyday and they are looking into simpflying the process.  YEAH WHATEVER.

 

On the sidenote, on the Facebook group that was mentioned a couple of posts earlier.  A Candian poster said he had a lot of luck calling  emergency line at one of the embassies or Consulates or whatever in Canada.  When the embassy here refused him of the letter (sorry I'm a bit wasted now, trying to drown my sorrows 55555) I'll try to find the number later and post it if I can. 

But supposedly the office in Canada called the embassy here and had  him sorted out in 30minutes. 

 

And yes TextNow - is your friend if I can find the number again  (free voip calls to Canada and Us)   

 

I hope the mods don't see this as advertising 

 

 

Good luck to everyone.  

 

Can you please share that number? Also which FB group?

 

Did they send him the letter via email? Maybe all of us should contact [email protected] and explain the situation.

[TamadeYao]

21 minutes ago, timoti said:

Can you please share that number? Also which FB group?

 

Did they send him the letter via email? Maybe all of us should contact [email protected] and explain the situation.

I'm having a hard time finding the post.  But the group is called - Thailand Visa Advice. And everything else - 

 

 

 

[DualSportBiker]

On 3/22/2020 at 10:13 PM, UdonRoy said:

As a side thought, I wonder if immigration will require the marriage certificate validation from the Amphore office to apply for this "special" extension?

Think I will go to immigration first and wait to be told I need it. I have no wish to visit the always busy Amphore office unnecessarily!

 

Social distancing, apparently not for me tomorrow! ????

As of Thursday at Nonthaburi IO and Amphoe office on Friday, they need it. 

[thecolonel]

does these special extensions apply to 1 year 'visas'(extension of stays ) as well or just visa exemptions?

[jackdd]

32 minutes ago, thecolonel said:

does these special extensions apply to 1 year 'visas'(extension of stays ) as well or just visa exemptions?

Any visa. But getting a yearly extension is obviously way more comfortable than having to visit the immigration office once or twice a month.

[thecolonel]

2 minutes ago, jackdd said:

Any visa. But getting a yearly extension is obviously way more comfortable than having to visit the immigration office once or twice a month.

thanks but still slightly confused, sorry

 

If my 1 year extension of stay(retirement visa) is due say end of May, can i get a temporary extension 'online' ie without visiting Imi, thus putting back my renewal date. Im not suggesting i would do this i just want to know if these special extensions can be used this way.

 

And i assume all these extensions are for a month ONLY 

 

thanks again 

 

[greggraham]

For anyone with twitter, this is worth a retweet. This guy has 160,000 followers and could actually cause some change if it gets traction...

 

 

[jacob29]

On 3/27/2020 at 8:00 PM, Zikomat said:

Got to the Jomtien immigration today. Waited in the line another hour (again a huge crowd of people) just to be asked for another document from the homeowner which they have never ever asked for before. No chances I will get that paper any time soon. I was so disappointed that I have asked the IO if she was serious. Yes, she was. For some reason, they don’t want me here and it is too late to go anywhere else.
 

This is the key - they should have flagged earlier they were going to make life miserable, before flights started getting cancelled. Had I known back in Jan or Feb they would be <deleted> about this, I would have chosen another country to visit. I personally will find a way, others may not have that luxury.

 

About Jomtien, I read elsewhere they need photos of you at your hotel, and in the room? I mean oddball requirements that have never been asked for in the past. I can't even fathom how this is supposed to be of any use to them, aside from making life difficult.

[timoti]

5 minutes ago, jacob29 said:

This is the key - they should have flagged earlier they were going to make life miserable, before flights started getting cancelled. Had I known back in Jan or Feb they would be <deleted> about this, I would have chosen another country to visit. I personally will find a way, others may not have that luxury.

 

About Jomtien, I read elsewhere they need photos of you at your hotel, and in the room? I mean oddball requirements that have never been asked for in the past. I can't even fathom how this is supposed to be of any use to them, aside from making life difficult.

I was also asked this to bring next time and I saw one guy did it, 1 pic in bed, 1 pic in room, 1 pic outside his door with number visible, and 1 pic outside building.

[jackdd]

13 minutes ago, thecolonel said:

thanks but still slightly confused, sorry

 

If my 1 year extension of stay(retirement visa) is due say end of May, can i get a temporary extension 'online' ie without visiting Imi, thus putting back my renewal date. Im not suggesting i would do this i just want to know if these special extensions can be used this way.

 

And i assume all these extensions are for a month ONLY 

 

thanks again 

 

There is no extension which you can get "online", every extension requires a trip to immigration.

In case of the 30 day Corona extension based on an embassy letter, you have to request such a letter from your Embassy. Apply for an extension at the immigration office, get a stamp with an under consideration stamp, then 20 days or so later go to the immigration office again to get the remaining days.

[thecolonel]

2 minutes ago, jackdd said:

There is no extension which you can get "online", every extension requires a trip to immigration.

In case of the 30 day Corona extension based on an embassy letter, you have to request such a letter from your Embassy. Apply for an extension at the immigration office, get a stamp with an under consideration stamp, then 20 days or so later go to the immigration office again to get the remaining days.

sorry its the Embassy letter thats avaialable online, my bad! thanks

 

[jackdd]

9 minutes ago, greggraham said:

For anyone with twitter, this is worth a retweet. This guy has 160,000 followers and could actually cause some change if it gets traction...

The problem with this guy is that he often has no idea what he is talking about. This Twitter post is useless, no need to retweet.

Currently Thai immigration's official stance is that their rules don't allow them to help more than they currently do (imho this is wrong, but this is what they say).

So if somebody from the MFA would do what he asks for, the answer from immigration would be: We already do everything we can.

[audaciousnomad]

26 minutes ago, jackdd said:

The problem with this guy is that he often has no idea what he is talking about. This Twitter post is useless, no need to retweet.

Currently Thai immigration's official stance is that their rules don't allow them to help more than they currently do (imho this is wrong, but this is what they say).

So if somebody from the MFA would do what he asks for, the answer from immigration would be: We already do everything we can.

In light of the virus apocalypse...it doesn't hurt to try to get them to reconsider their stance. With covid-19...it only takes one super-spreader to wreak havoc, and when you get THOUSANDS of people coming to do all their paperwork and exposing everyone in the process to potential covid infection...it's only a matter of time before we'll be saying...."told you so".  All those fees they are raking in ain't gonna matter if this place becomes the next epicenter in the region.

Edited March 28, 2020 by audaciousnomad

[TamadeYao]

1 hour ago, jacob29 said:

This is the key - they should have flagged earlier they were going to make life miserable, before flights started getting cancelled. Had I known back in Jan or Feb they would be <deleted> about this, I would have chosen another country to visit. I personally will find a way, others may not have that luxury.

 

About Jomtien, I read elsewhere they need photos of you at your hotel, and in the room? I mean oddball requirements that have never been asked for in the past. I can't even fathom how this is supposed to be of any use to them, aside from making life difficult.

Baht Baht Baht  I never coming back to Thailand. After this 

 

Sorry mods im still drowning my sorrows.  

Edited March 28, 2020 by TamadeYao

[Maestro]

3 hours ago, jackdd said:

So if somebody from the MFA would do what he asks for, the answer from immigration would be: We already do everything we can.

 

The MFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) is not involved in granting extensions of stay.

[jacko45k]

On 3/27/2020 at 8:11 PM, sanemax said:

ubonjoe (or anyone who knows) , is it possible to get a different visa after getting two extensions on a visa exempt entry ?

  After getting the normal 30 day extension and the Corvid 19 extensions, will it be possible to then apply for and get a retirement visa ?

It is possible you could get a conversion to a Non-Imm-O entry although applying it to this special Covid-19 Extension is new territory. 

[ubonjoe]

8 hours ago, greggraham said:

For anyone with twitter, this is worth a retweet. This guy has 160,000 followers and could actually cause some change if it gets traction...

Not sure why he would bother with the MFA since they have no power over immigration and nothing to do with people that are already in the country.

There are some things in the works already by Immigration and the Ministry of Interior. We might know something later this week about some longer extensions.

[audaciousnomad]

44 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

Not sure why he would bother with the MFA since they have no power over immigration and nothing to do with people that are already in the country.

There are some things in the works already by Immigration and the Ministry of Interior. We might know something later this week about some longer extensions.

Longer time period is an improvement.  Fee waiver would make it perfect. But I doubt they would ever go that route. In Baht We Trust is the motto here.

[BangkokReady]

10 minutes ago, audaciousnomad said:

Longer time period is an improvement.  Fee waiver would make it perfect. But I doubt they would ever go that route. In Baht We Trust is the motto here.

Even if they just said "OK, you can get 30 days repeatedly no questions asked until this is over, just come in once a month and do the normal procedure and pay 1,900", it would be better.  Having to get an embassy letter that anyone can get and then making people apply maybe twice a month to get the same amount of time is just sadistic.

 

Especially when most countries around the world are treating Thai people a lot better.

[audaciousnomad]

Other countries (Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia) are charging ZERO fees, and telling foreigners not to come to govt offices until further notice.  I doubt that will happen here.
So for here the realistic wishlist would be:
Still charge fees (obviously they won't give these up) SMH
60 days per extension until Covid threat level returns to normal (Level 1?)
No special letter required (We believe you when you say it's hard to get home)

Bonus: You can do it online. (Yeah right)
 

[Zikomat]

9 hours ago, jacob29 said:

This is the key - they should have flagged earlier they were going to make life miserable, before flights started getting cancelled. Had I known back in Jan or Feb they would be <deleted> about this, I would have chosen another country to visit. I personally will find a way, others may not have that luxury.

 

About Jomtien, I read elsewhere they need photos of you at your hotel, and in the room? I mean oddball requirements that have never been asked for in the past. I can't even fathom how this is supposed to be of any use to them, aside from making life difficult.

 The photos in the hotel room would be no big problem it there was not one more request coming with it: a letter from the hotel owner guaranteeing your stay until the end of the visa extension. This one is impossible to get since nobody will want to take that kind of responsibility.