COVID-19: Immigration proposes extending visas for people stranded in Thailand to 30 June 2020

[Katy Gorice]

who bets that the hua hin immigration demands will soon be for all over Thailand

 

why make things EASY in case of CORONA crisis

 

while you can make it much much more difficult

 

[DualSportBiker]

Live: 

 

Announcement likely...

 

Sorry - waste of time. Nothing about immigration....

 

Edited April 1, 2020 by DualSportBiker
Correcting my error-by-assumption

[DrJack54]

2 minutes ago, PMZ said:

Thanks. for this info.

I entered Thailand (UK Passport) on a 30 Day Visa Waiver on 06 March, valid to 04 April.

I will go to CW tomorrow, so I assume this is classed as a 'first extension'?

What form do I need to complete for the 'first extension?

And, do you happen to know if 'first. extensions' will be at CW or at the new Muang Tomg Thani location?

Apologies for so many questions....

You need a TM7 form. A photo. 

Photocopy of your passport identity page.

Your entry stamp and your tm6 card.

1900 baht. 

As for CW Air the "new" temporary office, I'm not sure. Someone will be along with answer.

[BillStrangeOgre]

14 minutes ago, PMZ said:

Thanks. for this info.

I entered Thailand (UK Passport) on a 30 Day Visa Waiver on 06 March, valid to 04 April.

I will go to CW tomorrow, so I assume this is classed as a 'first extension'?

What form do I need to complete for the 'first extension?

And, do you happen to know if 'first. extensions' will be at CW or at the new Muang Tomg Thani location?

Apologies for so many questions....

Yes, first extension.

On this site go to >Thai visas, residency and work permits>Immigration templates

Download form TM7 you can fill out online, print and sign. Copy of Bio page of passport, (i included a copy of TM6 Departure card on same page as bio) 1 passport photo and entry stamp. 1,900thb

No need for a letter from the Embassy or any proof of cancelled flights

Don't forget to sign all photo copies

Last week all extensions were being done at Muang Thong, perhaps someone can confirm latest?

Edited April 1, 2020 by BillStrangeOgre

[nemo38]

I just [this morning] extended my 30 day tourist visa exempted stay for the first time in Pattaya.

 

No embassy letter needed.

 

Original letter from hotel saying I am there + one copy

Passport photo page (2 copies)

Entry stamp passport page with TM6 (slip of paper) (2 copies)

One photo

One application form which you complete (someone gave me one the day before, no idea where you get them)

1900 baht

 

Best be there before 8am to get it all done quickly.

 

You queue up and get your temperature taken at the door. Then you queue at the information desk, where they check your paperwork, and give you a ticket for a.desk. You will come back to the information desk for the ticket after the first desk.

 

You can get photocopies outside in a commercial store on the premises. That same store can fill in your paperwork if you pay them (I don't know the price).

 

You can get photocopies (3baht) and photographs (150 baht) inside the immigration office itself.

 

I got my first ticket for desk 10, then I got a ticket for desk 1, where they stamped my passport and took the money.

 

Between desk 10 and desk 1 I had to photocopy a slip of paper that my visit to desk 10 produced.

 

That was it. It took 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Have all your docs and photos ready and get there before 8am and you can have time.

 

 

 

[Zikomat]

28 minutes ago, DualSportBiker said:

Live: Sorry - waste of time. Nothing about immigration....

Edited April 1, 2020 by Zikomat

[Zikomat]

1 minute ago, nemo38 said:

I just [this morning] extended my 30 day tourist visa exempted stay for the first time in Pattaya.

 

No embassy letter needed.

 

Original letter from hotel saying I am there + one copy

Passport photo page (2 copies)

Entry stamp passport page with TM6 (slip of paper) (2 copies)

One photo

One application form which you complete (someone gave me one the day before, no idea where you get them)

1900 baht

 

Best be there before 8am to get it all done quickly.

 

You queue up and get your temperature taken at the door. Then you queue at the information desk, where they check your paperwork, and give you a ticket for a.desk. You will come back to the information desk for the ticket after the first desk.

 

You can get photocopies outside in a commercial store on the premises. That same store can fill in your paperwork if you pay them (I don't know the price).

 

You can get photocopies (3baht) and photographs (150 baht) inside the immigration office itself.

 

I got my first ticket for desk 10, then I got a ticket for desk 1, where they stamped my passport and took the money.

 

Between desk 10 and desk 1 I had to photocopy a slip of paper that my visit to desk 10 produced.

 

That was it. It took 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Have all your docs and photos ready and get there before 8am and you can have time.

 

 

 

I suppose that was your FIRST EXTENSION. Things are much more complicated when it comes to the SECOND EXTENSION.

[Katy Gorice]

don't you love the answers from the BOOMERS here .... just go back to your country... right

 

I am on a non-o multi

 

I have no "home country" to go to

 

I cannot travel because of corona to get a new non-o

 

and immigration does not want to give an extension, even I have the money in the bank, bank papers, tm7, blablabla ...

 

 

 

 

[jacko45k]

3 hours ago, pattayapip said:

Why do they make everything just so difficult,

Because they can, and as the scorpion said, it is my nature.

They have yet to grasp the issues,

[audaciousnomad]

If you're a tourist who arrived after Mar. 1st, you'll be granted an automatic extension. Anyone else? No change in the process.

 

[Zikomat]

7 minutes ago, audaciousnomad said:

If you're a tourist who arrived after Mar. 1st, you'll be granted an automatic extension. Anyone else? No change in the process.

 

What about those who arrived before 1 of March? Looks like those who stayed longer than 1 month in Thailand are considered to be criminals who should be punished. But the typical tourist visa is for 2 months! These people are incurable.

 

Edited April 1, 2020 by Zikomat

[sallecc]

6 minutes ago, audaciousnomad said:

If you're a tourist who arrived after Mar. 1st, you'll be granted an automatic extension. Anyone else? No change in the process.

 

Is this a joke? They will reward those who decided to travel after full-blown worldwide epidemic, and not those who arrived before that, got caught up and stranded... Why it's so difficult to do just like every other nation did - blanket automatic extension for all stranded foreigners... unbelievable.

[audaciousnomad]

@Zikomat  @sallecc I don't think they are wanting to walk away from all of the money, just the ones that newly arrived. They're not running a charity here...even if there's a fatal virus going around, they still want to earn a big paycheck like the rest of us....unfortunately. ????

Edited April 1, 2020 by audaciousnomad

[DualSportBiker]

23 minutes ago, DualSportBiker said:

Live: 

So there is an announcement 

 

"There is no need to Q at the immigration office en-masse as is happening right now. We know that about 5:00 or 5:40 in the morning around 300 q is already in place. The reason is because it is already in the pipeline that we will be granting the extension of visa permission to extend stays as an automatic renewal. I say that this is in the pipeline because this issue has been proposed and it has passed the cabinet meeting of Thailand on Tuesday, yesterday, and therefore it is in the pipeline and what has to happen now the the announcement, the ministerial-level announcement and the agency-level announcement to implement the cabinet decision. This is the visa flexibility the extension of visa stays for tourist visas who arrived after March 1, which I believe will be the majority of persons currently lining up to file their documents at the immigration bureau. But of course this is for the general population of people going on the Q for specific cases certain cases such as those who have other types of visas for extension, you may have to come to the immigration office."

 

There you have it! Tourists OK if after March 1, all others go fight it out with your local office!

 

 

23 minutes ago, DualSportBiker said:

Announcement likely...

 

Sorry - waste of time. Nothing about immigration....

 

 

[Zikomat]

1 minute ago, DualSportBiker said:

 

"There is no need to Q at the immigration office en-masse as is happening right now. We know that about 5:00 or 5:40 in the morning around 300 q is already in place. The reason is because it is already in the pipeline that we will be granting the extension of visa permission to extend stays as an automatic renewal. I say that this is in the pipeline because this issue has been proposed and it has passed the cabinet meeting of Thailand on Tuesday, yesterday, and therefore it is in the pipeline and what has to happen now the the announcement, the ministerial-level announcement and the agency-level announcement to implement the cabinet decision. This is the visa flexibility the extension of visa stays for tourist visas who arrived after March 1, which I believe will be the majority of persons currently lining up to file their documents at the immigration bureau. But of course this is for the general population of people going on the Q for specific cases certain cases such as those who have other types of visas for extension, you may have to come to the immigration office."

 

There you have it! Tourists OK if after March 1, all others go fight it out with your local office!

 

 

 

I personally came to Thailand on 27 of December on 2 month tourist visa which I extended for one more month in the end of February. Why people like me are refused an automatic extension? Because, according to the government official, we are not the part of the majority cases? This is an absurd.

[jacob29]

7 hours ago, jacko45k said:

We are discussing mostly tourists here and there are a plethora of reasons they will be better off back in their home country. Dwindling finances is one. Hotels and restaurants being closed another. Medical facilities you are not entitled to another. Becoming a burden on both the place you are and your own country another. 

Your example of one person, I am alright Jack, in The Philippines seems minor compares to the hundreds of thousands who are now crying about being stranded and requiring special flights to extradite them. 

Strange that only Thailand has this plethora of issues, and neighboring countries showing some flexibility apparently do not. Those crying for special flights have nothing to do with this topic or immigration.

[jacko45k]

3 minutes ago, Zikomat said:

I personally came to Thailand on 27 of December on 2 month tourist visa which I extended for one more month in the end of February. Why people like me are refused an automatic extension? Because, according to the government official, we are not the part of the majority cases? This is an absurd.

I don't mean to direct this at you or be a smart-ass in any way, but it is as if they are either saying you should have gone home while you could, or had the right type of visa!

[sallecc]

1 minute ago, jacko45k said:

I don't mean to direct this at you or be a smart-ass in any way, but it is as if they are either saying you should have gone home while you could, or had the right type of visa!

Why Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, UK, etc etc etc etc... didn't say that to their foreign visitors?

[jacob29]

1 minute ago, jacko45k said:

I don't mean to direct this at you or be a smart-ass in any way, but it is as if they are either saying you should have gone home while you could, or had the right type of visa!

They never issued advice that tourists should leave though. I had a visa approved for Vietnam on 16-March (I had a one month approved earlier, and missed the flight due to feeling unwell, but re-applied for a 3 month). Clearly Vietnam wouldn't have been issuing visa's if they didn't want tourists to get stranded.

[Zikomat]

1 minute ago, jacko45k said:

I don't mean to direct this at you or be a smart-ass in any way, but it is as if they are either saying you should have gone home while you could, or had the right type of visa!

So those who decided to make a long international voyage after 1 of March are rewarded and those who came long before Covid epidemics has started and did not leave on the first rumors about the closed borders etc should be punished? 

[totally thaied up]

4 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

I don't mean to direct this at you or be a smart-ass in any way, but it is as if they are either saying you should have gone home while you could, or had the right type of visa!

Still loads of people here that are running visas or the such. Government does not want them here anymore. I think that is what it is more directed at.  

[jacko45k]

3 minutes ago, jacob29 said:

Strange that only Thailand has this plethora of issues, and neighboring countries showing some flexibility apparently do not. Those crying for special flights have nothing to do with this topic or immigration.

What other countries do is not related either. And of course those issues relate to other countries, unless those places will also subsidize the stranded tourists?

[jacko45k]

5 minutes ago, sallecc said:

Why Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, UK, etc etc etc etc... didn't say that to their foreign visitors?

You ask me to explain the reasoning behind the Thai Government's decisions. Sorry, well beyond me!

[jacob29]

2 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

What other countries do is not related either. And of course those issues relate to other countries, unless those places will also subsidize the stranded tourists?

These stranded tourists are going to be subsidizing the tourist sector, that is currently on life support and needs all the help it can get. I asked my hotel if they were going to close, the reply was an emphatic no, stay here as long as you like. If Thailand was worried about tourists running out of cash, they can easily ask for proof of funds.

[jacko45k]

6 minutes ago, Zikomat said:

So those who decided to make a long international voyage after 1 of March are rewarded and those who came long before Covid epidemics has started and did not leave on the first rumors about the closed borders etc should be punished? 

Not punished, made to dance through hoops apparently. A strange directive to me too you know!

[jacko45k]

3 minutes ago, jacob29 said:

These stranded tourists are going to be subsidizing the tourist sector, that is currently on life support and needs all the help it can get. I asked my hotel if they were going to close, the reply was an emphatic no, stay here as long as you like. If Thailand was worried about tourists running out of cash, they can easily ask for proof of funds.

Oh put that to bed, there isn't much of a tourist sector anymore. You are lucky, many hotels are choosing to close their doors...  how many guests at your place? It may become necessary for the Thais to use public funds to keep these places open for you.

[SpanishExpat]

What does that new announcement mean? If you had a border run after 1st of march, you will get an automatic extension?

 

Why do those morons even use their brains/ valuable time to develop such a s***!!!??? Do it for everyone or just leave it. Seriously...a normal person just can`t come up with such out of the world ideas! Seems they have a fetish for complicated solutions. Maybe the one who comes up with the most complicated one wins a price? It`s just a huge joke what is happening here day by day. 

Edited April 1, 2020 by SpanishExpat

[jacob29]

9 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

Oh put that to bed, there isn't much of a tourist sector anymore. You are lucky, many hotels are choosing to close their doors...  how many guests at your place? It may become necessary for the Thais to use public funds to keep these places open for you.

Not sure how many guests (probably similar to last week, as it has not exactly been easy to leave since then). There's no need to use Thai funds to keep places open, just close as you need and consolidate to those remaining, there will be plenty of other places desperate for income. 

[jacko45k]

Just now, SpanishExpat said:

What does that new announcement mean? If you had a border run after 1st of march, you will get an automatic extension?

If you came in on a TV or Visa Exempt it seems likely.

[jacko45k]

2 minutes ago, jacob29 said:

Not sure how many guests (probably similar to last week, as it has not exactly been easy to leave since then). There's no need to use Thai funds to keep places open, just close as you need and consolidate to those remaining, there will be plenty of other places desperate for income. 

I hope so... but I envisage a time when stranded tourists here need some financial help. A hotel needs a minimum guest number or loses money. Many are just shutting the doors.