PM Prayuth signs order to grant visa amnesty to foreigners in Thailand

[Nong Khai Man]

7 minutes ago, innosiem said:

definitely NOT a Brit, Stating 1900 baht = "about £20"????‍♂️

Yeah Nearer 50 Quid !!

[connda]

32 minutes ago, lensta said:

Aliens who are due for 90 days reports between 26th of March 2020 and 30th of April 2020 are temporarily exempted from reporting in this period until further notice.

At this rate the signed order will be enacted in May 2020.  

[Winky Wilson]

Thank you. I will kindly stay at my residence , be safe, and follow the rules. Back home , the lack of public trust and skepticism is becoming a healthcare nightmare. One thing is certain, Thai law enforcement is good at maintaining public order without getting too technical. 

[connda]

The order is confusing enough and will no doubt create a situation where confused foreigners who believed they were covered by an extension find out they are on overstay.  So the funding short-fall that Immigration encounters by not charging ฿1900 a pop for extensions until April 30 will be made up by excoriating those who are now on "over-stay" who legitimately thought they were covered. 
This should be entertaining to watch.  I feel sorry for those who don't get it right.

[DefaultName]

90 days, great, hopefully it won't restart.

 

Does anyone know if the "show ฿800,000 still in the bank 3 months after renewing a retirement visa" is still needed?

 

The money's there, I just don't want to go to Jomtien immigration if I can help it.

[Ebumbu]

No 90-day reports from when and until when? Please be sure to omit all critical details. 

[Phuket Pete]

Why did it take him over a week to sign it ? Couldn't stand the thought of letting dirty farang off the hook, even when the whole world is in lockdown.

[Chalong circle]

5 minutes ago, Ebumbu said:

No 90-day reports from when and until when? Please be sure to omit all critical details. 

From now to April 30th first, and until further notice.

[tomazbodner]

18 hours ago, xtof2 said:

Did I get it wrong?

And before March 26th ????

The insanity goes on ????

It says that if your visa expired more than 2 weeks ago, then you don't get automatic extension. Does it mean you are already on 2 weeks overstay and didn't bother to address it since? They can't give blanket amnesty to someone who overstayed 15 years to get automatically extended stay to 30 April, come on...

[trainman34014]

27 minutes ago, Ebumbu said:

No 90-day reports from when and until when? Please be sure to omit all critical details. 

30th April !

[connda]

14 hours ago, scorecard said:

Meaning that they should check the order, an official English translation will probably be on TV on Thursday 9 Apr.

That 'official English translation' is essentially unreadable legalese.  

[audaciousnomad]

11 minutes ago, connda said:

That 'official English translation' is essentially unreadable legalese.  

https://immigration.go.th/content/visa_auto_extension

[worldfun]

15 hours ago, Condog97 said:

Yes, I always get a visa exemption and just extend it to 30 days, no questions asked and no need to prove anything. Much simpler that way and beneficial for me, I dont need to stay any longer than 60 days at a time and if I do, i quite enjoy visiting other countries for visa runs. I understand that isnt the case for everybody, just emphasising how easy it is to visit the country and how laid back the immigration is about it.

 

 

I'm not blaming anyone, like I said above, I was just emphasising the relaxed laws on  visiting Thailand. I understand they're are people looking to come and work illegally in other countries, I just think its harsh of people to slander the rules on visa's in thailand right now... when theres no factors such as a global pandemic affecting travel and causing restrictions. The thai government is extremely relaxed on letting people come and go freely to visit their country. My girlfriends been wanting to come to visit the U.K now for over 2 years... just looking at the whole process, I think what's the point, when it's so much easier, cheaper and generally just better to come and see her here.

great for your visa choice mate I've done similar ????
however for saying Thailand is relaxed visa wise or really not correct. compare with similar countries in the region like malaysia and indonesia or taiwan you get 'easily' 90 days there not just 30. that's why I'll be over there next time my visa expires...

[worldfun]

1 hour ago, Nong Khai Man said:

Yeah Nearer 50 Quid !!

at any rate plenty of beer money to support the online warriors ????

[Kalasin Jo]

No mention of the plight then of those of us who entered before March. Who are not tourists, but, as for example my case, visiting wife on non  O mltiple entry now expired but got my 90 days permission to stay before the visa expired. That permission expires tomorrow.. And  this automatic  extension for those it does cover, only until 30 April

 

As couldn't go to Savanakhet for new visa let week, instead I got a further permission of 60 days at local IO expiring 9 June. So ok for a while. Hope that will be enough. But if not ? More wait and see I guess.

 

Quite happy to stay on here as long as I don't fall foul of immigration, run up fines for overstay. And I neither want nor is it practicable to apply for a 1 year marriage based extension, raising and seasoning funds in a Thai bank at such short notice. 

[khunjeff]

25 minutes ago, connda said:

That 'official English translation' is essentially unreadable legalese.  

The original Thai version is also essentially unreadable legalese, so I guess the English translation is accurate!

[josephbloggs]

50 minutes ago, Phuket Pete said:

Why did it take him over a week to sign it ? Couldn't stand the thought of letting dirty farang off the hook, even when the whole world is in lockdown.

Yeah, because you are top of everyone's list and everything should be about you.  He is the Prime Minister of a nation of 70 million people that is going through an unprecedented global crisis..........and you complain it took a few days from being proposed to being signed.  You don't think he perhaps has other things to do too?

Honestly the entitlement of people on here is ridiculous.

[BritManToo]

2 minutes ago, josephbloggs said:

You don't think he perhaps has other things to do too?

Every other country managed to do it faster.

Obviously they didn't have anything better to do.

 

How long does it take to sign a bit of paper in a stack of other bits of paper?

5 seconds? 10 seconds?

Edited April 9, 2020 by BritManToo

[solomon david]

i was at the immigration office last friday and extended my tourist visa till may 7th(paying 1,900 baht)

Hopefully the flights back to europe will have resumed by may 7th but if not what are the implications of an automatic visa?(will i still need to return to the "impact" complex again or does automatic visa imply that it will be asumed another 30 visa is in my passport from may 7th onwards?

Confused of silom!!!

[khunjeff]

1 minute ago, josephbloggs said:

Yeah, because you are top of everyone's list and everything should be about you.  He is the Prime Minister of a nation of 70 million people that is going through an unprecedented global crisis..........and you complain it took a few days from being proposed to being signed.  You don't think he perhaps has other things to do too?

Honestly the entitlement of people on here is ridiculous.

Fair enough, but the letter from Immigration to the Cabinet requesting this relief was dated March 23, so it's been more than a few days.

[NightSky]

The problem with this is that non o and non b visa holders usually need to renew 1 or 2 weeks prior to expiry date (just in case you get the run around with a document etc)

 

so if my extension is due first week in May, this short time auto extension is useless. 

 

They haven't thought this through very well. People will still need to queue at immigration because under normal circumstances immigration is very busy.

 

This waver simply removes some temporary tourists from the equation.

 

Edited April 9, 2020 by NightSky

[justin case]

12 minutes ago, josephbloggs said:

Yeah, because you are top of everyone's list and everything should be about you.  He is the Prime Minister of a nation of 70 million people that is going through an unprecedented global crisis..........and you complain it took a few days from being proposed to being signed.  You don't think he perhaps has other things to do too?

Honestly the entitlement of people on here is ridiculous.

and other, even more poor countries did it fast than neighbor thailand and this is still half a matter as it is not for EVERYBODY...

 

get out of your high tower of being better than other TOURISTS

 

whatever visa you have, you still are a TOURIST same as the one's trapped here

 

one day, you will find out you have no special rights, you might have a visa that is good for the next couple of months, that makes you lucky, nothing else compared to people FORCED as slaves to follow stupid rules...  or you think some people love to be trapped here ???

[Raphael54]

Sadly, the decision and announcement are poorly done with a classic mistake.

 

Visas should not be all made to expire all on the same day as now has been announced: 30 April 2020: "????‍♂️ The person whose visas has expired from 26th of March 2020 will be automatically extended to 30th of April 2020".  This will clearly cause chaos some time in the future. 

 

The automatic visas extensions should have been made to expire on the monthly/2-monthly or whatever anniversary date of the expiry.  So for example, a 30 day visa that expires on 15 April 2020 should have been automatically extended to 15 May 2020.  This avoids the chaos some time in the future.  Again, a missed opportunity for this government.

 

I hope that in future they will not make the same mistake with the 90-days reporting.  It now says "????‍♂️ Aliens who are due for 90 days reports between 26th of March 2020 and 30th of April 2020 are temporarily exempted from reporting in this period until further notice."   This "until further notice" leaves open the possibility to avoid the same mistake.  Just imagine, all these 80,000 (??) long term stayers having to go to report on the same day.
 

[sometimewoodworker]

15 minutes ago, NightSky said:

This waver simply removes some temporary tourists from the equation.

Sorry no, it also removes thousands (tens of thousands) of Lao, Cambodian, Malay and Myanmar

[Kerryd]

Really makes me wonder.

All these people here on "Tourist Visas" who don't seem to be making ANY effort to fly home. 

Almost as though they were living here and not just visiting. Little wonder they are clamouring for (free) 3 month extensions instead of trying to get home.

After all, there are PLENTY of flights still leaving the country. The ban is on people flying INTO Thailand. Not leaving it.

The Canadian Embassy has been sending out emails noting the different airlines that have flights out (where connections can be made to Canada, i.e. Lufthansa to Frankfurt then to Canada).
As well, other airlines are still arriving and picking up people. They arrive empty and leave with as many as they can carry (that have tickets obviously).

My g/f flew out of Suvarnabhumi this morning on Qatar Air, which apparently has 1 or 2 flights a day out of Thailand. She should already be on her connecting flight from Doha to Berlin as we speak (or type).

Oh right. I forgot. It's not about getting home. It's about scamming the system to stay here longer (for free). And then bitching about how the government is treating them.
 

[Terry B]

Ok by me. ????

 

However, would be nice to know asap if they intend to extend for an additional 30 days. I think most other nations have already extended their emergency visa-related programs until end of May or June?

[worldfun]

3 hours ago, Max69xl said:

Every foreigner doesn't need an amnesty. It concerns mostly stranded tourists. 

you are quoting an older non valid text. pls dont spread misinformation. ALL aliens ALL visa types covered by amnesty ONLY people overstaying BEFORE 26MAR are still in trouble...
It's really that simple this time because it will be the only time for visa amnesty ever...

Edited April 9, 2020 by worldfun

[JackThompson]

7 hours ago, Matzzon said:

It´s easy. If one does not like the help of Thailand regarding ones visa, then one should have thought about that before staying to long or starting to travel during a virus outbreak. All the varning signs was there for a long time. Problem solved. Nothing more to discuss.

Folks married here, kids here, working/living here, etc - just abandon all that, because immigration could not do the SANE thing all other countries already did?

[teatree]

40 minutes ago, Kerryd said:

Really makes me wonder.

All these people here on "Tourist Visas" who don't seem to be making ANY effort to fly home. 

Almost as though they were living here and not just visiting. Little wonder they are clamouring for (free) 3 month extensions instead of trying to get home.

After all, there are PLENTY of flights still leaving the country. The ban is on people flying INTO Thailand. Not leaving it.

The Canadian Embassy has been sending out emails noting the different airlines that have flights out (where connections can be made to Canada, i.e. Lufthansa to Frankfurt then to Canada).
As well, other airlines are still arriving and picking up people. They arrive empty and leave with as many as they can carry (that have tickets obviously).

My g/f flew out of Suvarnabhumi this morning on Qatar Air, which apparently has 1 or 2 flights a day out of Thailand. She should already be on her connecting flight from Doha to Berlin as we speak (or type).

Oh right. I forgot. It's not about getting home. It's about scamming the system to stay here longer (for free). And then bitching about how the government is treating them.
 

Airports and planes are pretty high on my list of places I would avoid in the middle of a pandemic.

[Galomir]

54 minutes ago, Kerryd said:

Really makes me wonder.

All these people here on "Tourist Visas" who don't seem to be making ANY effort to fly home. 

Almost as though they were living here and not just visiting. Little wonder they are clamouring for (free) 3 month extensions instead of trying to get home.

After all, there are PLENTY of flights still leaving the country. The ban is on people flying INTO Thailand. Not leaving it.

The Canadian Embassy has been sending out emails noting the different airlines that have flights out (where connections can be made to Canada, i.e. Lufthansa to Frankfurt then to Canada).
As well, other airlines are still arriving and picking up people. They arrive empty and leave with as many as they can carry (that have tickets obviously).

My g/f flew out of Suvarnabhumi this morning on Qatar Air, which apparently has 1 or 2 flights a day out of Thailand. She should already be on her connecting flight from Doha to Berlin as we speak (or type).

Oh right. I forgot. It's not about getting home. It's about scamming the system to stay here longer (for free). And then bitching about how the government is treating them.
 

Your forget that many save for a year or more to go on holiday. May you be alone or in a family of 4, not everyone has the luxury to spend 800-1000€ a ticket for an extra flight home when their original flight has been canceled. On top of that what what would they do with a voucher which airlines are giving out now if they don't even have money left for groceries and clothing if they have to spend that extra cash? Many wait for a rebooking or got one at a later date.

 

It seems you're quite quick to bitch about the bitchers. That's kind of narrow minded to put everyone on the same basket. Doesn't make you better. Of course there are many who take it as an extra holiday time, but many not... 

 

Edit : spelling

Edited April 9, 2020 by Galomir