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

[Mike Teavee]

1 hour ago, smedly said:

That is not quite clear - and highlights the problem with throwing in this fixated 26th March date into the mix since most people get 30 days on entry then 8th March might have been more appropriate 

 

In answering your question - a visit to Immigration may be required as you are outside the date (26th) specified

I read it as anybody who has a valid permission to stay until 26th March can now stay until 30th April.

 

However, the BM asking the question said his permission to stay was "Under Consideration" so I would strongly recommend he contacts Immigration to confirm 

 

 

[Max69xl]

17 hours ago, greggraham said:

Title text: "grant visa amnesty to foreigners"

Article text: "special permission for some classes of aliens to stay in the Kingdom."

 

Not quite the same is it. 

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

[Terry2905]

13 hours ago, Sambotte said:

Ok look lucky timing for me. I was due tomorrow.

 

Yeah! But you will have to go and join the even bigger queue on 30th April when EVERYONE'S 30 day tourist visa automatic extension expires!

 

 

[khunjeff]

11 hours ago, teatree said:

So, official policy is for hundreds of thousands of people's visas to all expire on the same day?

 

 

The assumption presumably is that people who are genuinely unable to travel due to the crisis will be given enough time (after additional time is eventually granted beyond April 30) to make travel plans and depart before a trip to Immigration would be necessary.

 

For those who are not actually trying to leave, then yes, there will be a large buildup of demand for extensions once the "amnesty" period ends. It's worth noting, though, that section 2.3 of the order says that after the situation has stabilized, aliens will have to regularize their situations "within a time frame specified by the immigration Bureau" (ภายในระยะเวลาตามที่สำนักงานตรวจคนเข้าเมืองกำหนด) - and one hopes that that time frame would be long enough that everyone wouldn't have to swamp the offices all at once.

 

2 hours ago, LawrenceN said:

I read the order in Thai. I find no mention of 90-day reports. Assuming it's true, it must be in a separate order, not shown here. 

It's in section 2.2 of the order - "extending the time for reporting the place of residence under section 37(5) of the Immigration Act of 1979".

Edited April 9, 2020 by khunjeff

[lostmebike]

37 minutes ago, sapson said:

 

 

 Auto Extensions until 30th April if you current pts date expired before that.

 

90 day reports not needed only if due up until 30th April.

 

non 0 or retirement expiring after this date no extension.

 

So now the 9th, they have allowed 21 days of amnesty, truly stunning how incredibly myopic they seem to be.

 

Or they have true clairvoyant abilities and they already have the virus figures they will publish for the end of the month and in Thailand all we be fine.

 

The sensible 3 month extension for all across the board reviewable just too horrendous for them to entertain.

 

 

 

 

I have to extend my Non O next week. We are currently visiting banks and amphur buildings to gather the necessary docs - coming into contact with way too many people, contradicting the whole social distancing/stay at home mantra. Why are we still having to do this?   

 

Keep jumping thru hoops, I suppose

[brianbbb]

Is it the same dates for 90 day reporting from now till 30th of April 

[jackdd]

1 minute ago, lostmebike said:

I have to extend my Non O next week. We are currently visiting banks and amphur buildings to gather the necessary docs - coming into contact with way too many people, contradicting the whole social distancing/stay at home mantra. Why are we still having to do this?   

 

Keep jumping thru hoops, I suppose

You don't have to do this, you could wait until the Corona situation is resolved.

But doing it now is probably easier than doing it when everybody else also wants to get an extension.

[Terry2905]

41 minutes ago, sapson said:

So now the 9th, they have allowed 21 days of amnesty, truly stunning how incredibly myopic they seem to be.

 

Or they have true clairvoyant abilities and they already have the virus figures they will publish for the end of the month and in Thailand all we be fine.

 

 

Yes! The virus will be gone in 21 days time, bars will be open, every country in the world will open it's borders, thousands of flights will be available, millions of Chinese flooding back into Thailand, life back to normal!

 

????

[sometimewoodworker]

16 hours ago, greggraham said:

"...foreigners who entered the kingdom with visas, visa on arrival, or through visa waiver programs will be granted an extended stay from March 26 to April 30" according to one news site.

 

So that's where the March 26th comes from, though I still don't really know what it means... 

it means that (if you entered on a visa, visa on arrival or visa exempt) whatever your permission to stay end date is (if between 26th March and 29th April) it is extended and you now have permission to stay until 30th April, you need take no action, you will not be fined for overstaying.

 

It is quite probable that if the situation stays the same or gets worse that there will be a further order. Of course TIT so no guarantee 
 

 

[GordonP]

Does a "residents visa" include the extension to stay based on retirement? I am currently stranded in the UK having had to return for family reasons. It is possible that my annual extension will expire before I am able to get back to LOS. I would much prefer to maintain continuity of extensions rather than start all over. 

[Road Warrior]

not really a long time to end April /??

[Moo 2]

He wants to play the "Good Guy" but when one is looking at the actual situation

he doesn't much of a choice in this matter.

 

 

"It's nice to be important, but it's important to be nice".

[khunjeff]

14 minutes ago, GordonP said:

Does a "residents visa" include the extension to stay based on retirement? I am currently stranded in the UK having had to return for family reasons. It is possible that my annual extension will expire before I am able to get back to LOS. I would much prefer to maintain continuity of extensions rather than start all over. 

No, that was a poor English version - that section of the order is only referring to people with permanent residency. You (and I) are considered to be in Thailand temporarily.

[sometimewoodworker]

20 minutes ago, GordonP said:

Does a "residents visa" include the extension to stay based on retirement? I am currently stranded in the UK having had to return for family reasons. It is possible that my annual extension will expire before I am able to get back to LOS. I would much prefer to maintain continuity of extensions rather than start all over. 

While I am NOT giving an answer to your question. My opinion is that there is nothing (apart from the 90 day report suspension) that has any bearing on annual extensions of stay. I think that the intention of the order is to extend the short term permissions to stay without requiring a visit to immigration, so letting immigration process the annual extensions without big problems.

 

 you are not helped by this.
 

While there could be an order addressing your situation and others extending the annual permission to stay, unless immigration becomes so short of staff that they are unable to continue (or there is a complete lockdown) there is no change in view

Edited April 9, 2020 by sometimewoodworker

[lostmebike]

24 minutes ago, jackdd said:

You don't have to do this, you could wait until the Corona situation is resolved.

But doing it now is probably easier than doing it when everybody else also wants to get an extension.

Please tell me more jackdd

 

I wasn't aware that there are alternatives.

[Bangkok Barry]

16 hours ago, Condog97 said:

 Imagine being a thai and wanting to visit the uk... that would be a massive deal of paperwork and loopholes to have to jump through! 

There is a very valid reason that Thais need to prove themselves before receiving a visa. Especially if they are female. Think about it.

[sometimewoodworker]

54 minutes ago, jackdd said:

56 minutes ago, lostmebike said:

I have to extend my Non O next week. We are currently visiting banks and amphur buildings to gather the necessary docs - coming into contact with way too many people, contradicting the whole social distancing/stay at home mantra. Why are we still having to do this?   

 

Keep jumping thru hoops, I suppose

You don't have to do this, you could wait until the Corona situation is resolved.

But doing it now is probably easier than doing it when everybody else also wants to get an extension.

Nothing that I can see let’s someone on an annual extension be given an automatic extension to April 30.

 

Every reason to call your local immigration office to confirm and probably to go before the automatic short term extensions finish.

 

@lostmebike From your post I guess you have a family (spouse) extension, if so we’re you able to get a KR2/KR22 from your amphur? 
 

UPDATE SWMBO’s just got back from the Amphur with a new KR2 they said that though they normally wouldn’t do it as it’s not considered important as it’s for an extension and they are not busy they did it for us.

Edited April 9, 2020 by sometimewoodworker
New information

[jackdd]

17 minutes ago, lostmebike said:

Please tell me more jackdd

 

I wasn't aware that there are alternatives.

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

Let's assume your current permission to stay expires tomorrow.

Immigration says that you permission to stay is extended until 30th April. So with the current order in place you would not have to apply for your extension tomorrow, but could wait until 30th April.

Most certainly this order will be extended by at least another month, which would then allow you to apply for your extension as late as 31st May (maybe even later)

The only problem which could occur, once the Corona situation is resolved, is that then thousands of people attend immigration to get further extensions within the same day or week. So considering this it's probably not a bad idea to just get the one year extension now while the immigration offices are quite empty.

 

5 minutes ago, sometimewoodworker said:

Nothing that I can see let’s someone on an annual extension be given an automatic extension to April 30.

Edited April 9, 2020 by jackdd

[hotchilli]

18 hours ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

The order was signed by Prayuth and head of the Ministry of Interior Anupong Paochinda

Shamed into signing the order after photo evidence of ridiculous scenes at immigration offices across the Kingdom showed the depth of ineptitude of some ministers to get their houses in order.

After naming specific businesses to close, imposing curfews, travel restrictions and alcohol bans to cut people gathering they do the exact opposite.. all in the name of collecting fees from stranded tourists!

[khunjeff]

7 minutes ago, sometimewoodworker said:

While I am NOT giving an answer to your question. My opinion is that there is nothing (apart from the 90 day report suspension) that has any bearing on annual extensions of stay. I think that the intention of the order is to extend the short term permissions to stay without requiring a visit to immigration, so letting immigration process the annual extensions without big problems.

 

 you are not helped by this.

The order isn't clear on that. It doesn't specifically mention people on extensions, but it grants relief to aliens who were permitted to stay in Thailand temporarily on the basis of a visa, visa on arrival, or visa exemption. I believe that Immigration considers someone who has extended their stay (from an O or OA, for example) to still be connected to that status - that's their argument for requiring health insurance for people extending from an OA, in addition to people applying for an OA.

 

So, my guess is that annual extensions will also be covered by this, but that will depend entirely on how Immigration decides to interpret the rather vague wording. (The order contains dozens of references to specific paragraphs of specific laws. Those references might shed more light on the issue, but I'm not going to try to look all of them up...!)

[lensta]

Is the 90 day report in suspended until further notice or just for 30 days?

[hotchilli]

17 hours ago, anchadian said:

Now that we have reached the final stage before this becomes law, surely it would be sensible to wait that bit longer rather than to speculate.

 

Benjamin Franklin once said, “Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today.”

[sa2014]

5 minutes ago, jackdd said:

 

The only problem which could occur, once the Corona situation is resolved, is that then thousands of people attend immigration to get further extensions within the same day or week. So considering this it's probably not a bad idea to just get the one year extension now while the immigration offices are quite empty.

 

This. I think I'll still do online reporting for 90-day next week when it allows me to do it....

[jackdd]

2 minutes ago, lensta said:

Is the 90 day report in suspended until further notice or just for 30 days?

Suspended until 30th April.

But we don't know yet if this means:

- Your 90 day report is due now, just skip it and do the next one in 90 days

- Your 90 day report is due now, you have to do it by May 1st.

[khunjeff]

8 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

After naming specific businesses to close, imposing curfews, travel restrictions and alcohol bans to cut people gathering they do the exact opposite.. all in the name of collecting fees from stranded tourists!

I really don't believe that money had anything to do with this - the government has waived the 2000 baht visa on arrival fee for 10 million Chinese several times, for a loss of billions in possible revenue, so a few tens of thousands of extension fees are relatively meaningless. The big issue, I think, is an overwhelming reluctance on the part of the bureaucracy to acknowledge that changed circumstances might ever lead to changes in procedures - the rules say to do xyz, so we HAVE to do that, even if it makes no sense and it (literally) kills us.

Edited April 9, 2020 by khunjeff

[lensta]

4 minutes ago, jackdd said:

Suspended until 30th April.

But we don't know yet if this means:

- Your 90 day report is due now, just skip it and do the next one in 90 days

- Your 90 day report is due now, you have to do it by May 1st.

Just found this: ????‍♂️ 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. It would be nice if they scrapped it forever. Wishful thinking I guess

[sometimewoodworker]

2 minutes ago, khunjeff said:

The order isn't clear on that. It doesn't specifically mention people on extensions, but it grants relief to aliens who were permitted to stay in Thailand temporarily on the basis of a visa, visa on arrival, or visa exemption. I believe that Immigration considers someone who has extended their stay (from an O or OA, for example) to still be connected to that status - that's their argument for requiring health insurance for people extending from an OA, in addition to people applying for an OA.

 

So, my guess is that annual extensions will also be covered by this, but that will depend entirely on how Immigration decides to interpret the rather vague wording. (The order contains dozens of references to specific paragraphs of specific laws. Those references might shed more light on the issue, but I'm not going to try to look all of them up...!)

We are going to have to wait until someone who’s annual extension is due gets an answer from immigration on that point. They are likely to be few of them. My extension is due May 15  so I am likely to be talking to immigration next week.

 

UPDATE while typing this SWMBO’s just got back from the Amphur with a new KR2 they said that though they normally wouldn’t do it as it’s not considered important as it’s for an extension and they are not busy they did it for us.

 

Though an extra little time 4.5% is not very significant. 
 

 

[sometimewoodworker]

19 minutes ago, jackdd said:

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

Let's assume your current permission to stay expires tomorrow.

Immigration says that you permission to stay is extended until 30th April. So with the current order in place you would not have to apply for your extension tomorrow, but could wait until 30th April.

Most certainly this order will be extended by at least another month, which would then allow you to apply for your extension as late as 31st May (maybe even later)

The only problem which could occur, once the Corona situation is resolved, is that then thousands of people attend immigration to get further extensions within the same day or week. So considering this it's probably not a bad idea to just get the one year extension now while the immigration offices are quite empty.

 

I will probably have more direct information next week, as the 15th April is the earliest I can apply for my extension. I will certainly be contacting Udon Immigration to confirm that they are accepting extension applications 30 days before, as normal (a week or 2 ago they were not accepting the 30 days before as they were just too busy and one person was told to wait a couple of weeks). I now have all the documents needed.

 

 

[innosiem]

17 hours ago, Pravda said:

 

Interesting first post 

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

[Ketyo]

"The country reported 111 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday. They included 42 Thais repatriated from Indonesia who had travelled South Sulawesi province for a religious gathering last month before the event was postponed."

 

Wow 42 is a lot. No wonder the number jumped. Even though it was cancelled they all got it from being together. Religious festivals seem to be one of the main causes of cluster events. Many cases in Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand came from that big Muslim festival in Malaysia. About half the cases in South Korea are linked to that Christian cult. India is now seeing spread that started off in mosques. And moronic religious leaders in Iran and the USA insist on keeping places of worship open.

 

Why would God target those people who go to worship his very feet? Funnily enough Covid-19 spreads in the same way that it would if there were no God.