Amnesty-Extension - Retirment Visa's.....................

[Peter Denis]

13 minutes ago, MrKFC said:

My visa falls between the dates specifically mentioned by the Embassy -mine expires April 25. (I've contacted them also, haven't heard back)

As Jackdd already mentioned, it's not the validity of the original Visa with which you entered Thailand that is important, but the permission to stay that has been granted either on entering Thailand or having applied at an IO for an extension.

If your permision to stay expires April 25, that means that you are covered by the amnesty.

But be aware that when your permission to stay is from a 1-year extension based on an original Non Imm O or O-A Visa, that it would be wise to visit your local IO once the permission to stay from such 1-year extension is due to expire.

Not doing so and - once the amnesty is over - applying after the window in which you were expected to renew your 1-year extension of stay based on your Non Imm O or O-A Visa, might have consequences.

There won't be any overstay fines or other consequences, because of the amnesty.

But since this is Thailand not all IOs will allow you to simply do the 1-year extension of your current permission to stay after the due date has expired.  And some will insist (already one case reported) that you have to exit Thailand and start the application from scratch again.

 

[MikeN]

17 minutes ago, Peter Denis said:

As Jackdd already mentioned, it's not the validity of the original Visa with which you entered Thailand that is important, but the permission to stay that has been granted either on entering Thailand or having applied at an IO for an extension.

If your permision to stay expires April 25, that means that you are covered by the amnesty.

But be aware that when your permission to stay is from a 1-year extension based on an original Non Imm O or O-A Visa, that it would be wise to visit your local IO once the permission to stay from such 1-year extension is due to expire.

Not doing so and - once the amnesty is over - applying after the window in which you were expected to renew your 1-year extension of stay based on your Non Imm O or O-A Visa, might have consequences.

There won't be any overstay fines or other consequences, because of the amnesty.

But since this is Thailand not all IOs will allow you to simply do the 1-year extension of your current permission to stay after the due date has expired.  And some will insist (already one case reported) that you have to exit Thailand and start the application from scratch again.

 

Only internet Facebook hearsay from one immigration office, but I have read that somebody on a non-O extension was told that when the amnesty ends everybody is expected to leave by the end date of their automatic extension (currently July 31). So if you are on a retirement or marriage extension that has expired and you did not renew it, you would have to leave and start again.

 Again, that is just one Facebook report of an interpretation from one Immigration Office so take it as you wish, but is it worth the risk to not extend when due, especially if you don’t have to go to Chaeng Wattana or other busy offices.

[sometimewoodworker]

37 minutes ago, Peter Denis said:

But be aware that when your permission to stay is from a 1-year extension based on an original Non Imm O or O-A Visa, that it would be wise to visit your local IO once the permission to stay from such 1-year extension is due to expire.

Not doing so and - once the amnesty is over - applying after the window in which you were expected to renew your 1-year extension of stay based on your Non Imm O or O-A Visa, might have consequences.

There won't be any overstay fines or other consequences, because of the amnesty.

But since this is Thailand not all IOs will allow you to simply do the 1-year extension of your current permission to stay after the due date has expired.  And some will insist (already one case reported) that you have to exit Thailand and start the application from scratch again.

My guess  is that there will be few if any offices who will accept a late (over 7 days) application for an annual or 90 day extension.
 

In the past you could sometimes/often pay the overstay if you were slightly late. Now any overstay charge is possibly problematic for immigration offices due to the emergency orders.

 

The emergency order allows you to stay in Thailand without penalty, it does not change the requirement to renew a permission to stay if you want to continue to live here.

 

Thailand has an extremely low incidence of infection.
The immigration offices are open for extensions. 
The immigration office’s have many fewer customers.

If you want to continue to stay in Thailand once the boarders open there is no reason not to renew on time. If you don’t you may have to (my guess, will have to) leave.

 

Do not plan on being able to return immediately, some may be able to if they have a valid current ME visa and cross a land border.

 

Expect that there will be extra requirements for travel to and from Thailand once the boarders open.
 

Do not think that what was OK and a good plan in the past will be the same (at least in the short term) in the future.

 

Expect Visa applications and processing times to be longer 

Edited April 25, 2020 by sometimewoodworker

[Peter Denis]

3 minutes ago, MikeN said:

...

So if you are on a retirement or marriage extension that has expired and you did not renew it, you would have to leave and start again.

 Again, that is just one Facebook report of an interpretation from one Immigration Office so take it as you wish, but is it worth the risk to not extend when due, especially if you don’t have to go to Chaeng Wattana or other busy offices.

Thanks.

It confirms that it is wise not to let the due date expire for your 1-year Non Imm O or O-A extension.  There won't be any overstay consequences (as you would be covered by the amnesty) but it is not sure that your IO will allow you to simply do your 1-year extension when you let the due date expire.  As this is Thailand some IOs might be lenient, but with this report there are now already 2 IOs that say that you have to do 1-year extensions in the window foreseen, otherwise you would have to exit Thailand and start your application from scratch again.

[ubonjoe]

1 minute ago, Peter Denis said:

It confirms that it is wise not to let the due date expire for your 1-year Non Imm O or O-A extension.

You should really include all extensions of a non immigrant visa entry. There other categories of them that can be extended.

[Peter Denis]

13 minutes ago, sometimewoodworker said:

My guess  is that there will be few if any offices who will accept a late (over 7 days) application for an annual or 90 day extension.
 

In the past you could sometimes/often pay the overstay if you were slightly late. Now any overstay charge is possibly problematic for immigration offices due to the emergency orders.

 

The emergency order allows you to stay in Thailand without penalty, it does not change the requirement to renew a permission to stay if you want to continue to live here.

 

Thailand has an extremely low incidence of infection.
The immigration offices are open for extensions. 
The immigration office’s have many fewer customers.

If you want to continue to stay in Thailand once the boarders open there is no reason not to renew on time. If you don’t you may have to (my guess, will have to) leave.

 

Do not plan on being able to return immediately, some may be able to if they have a valid current ME visa and cross a land border.

 

Expect that there will be extra requirements for travel to and from Thailand once the boarders open.
 

Do not think that what was OK and a good plan in the past will be the same (at least in the short term) in the future.

 

Expect Visa applications and processing times to be longer 

Those on 90-day permissions to stay from a Non Imm O Visa, are covered by the amnesty.  So there is no need for them to visit their IO for an extension.

The only issue are with those who are staying in Thailand on 1-year extensions of stay based on their original Non Imm O or O-A Visa.

That category is recommended to do the application for their 1-year extension when their permission to stay is due to expire.  Not doing so will have no overstay consequences, but it is not sure that their IO will be willing to extend their 1-year permission to stay of their long-stay Non Imm O or O-A Visa, and so they might be forced to exit Thailand and start their application from scratch again.

[Jip99]

17 minutes ago, sometimewoodworker said:

My guess  is that there will be few if any offices who will accept a late (over 7 days) application for an annual or 90 day extension.
 

 

 

Be careful..... unless I am wrong (always possible), there is no 7 day 'grace' period for an annual extension. The due date is the due date and you can apply (in theory) up to 45 days before that date. AFAIK there is no provision in Thai Immigration rules for an application after the due date.

[DrJack54]

15 minutes ago, Peter Denis said:

It confirms that it is wise not to let the due date expire for your 1-year Non Imm O or O-A extension.

Except for the one situation that you have helpfully pointed out many times, where someone wants to kill off their non O-A with intention to obtain a non O in order to avoid useless Thai insurance. Perhaps a good time to consider for some folk in that situation.

 

[sometimewoodworker]

1 hour ago, Jip99 said:

 

Be careful..... unless I am wrong (always possible), there is no 7 day 'grace' period for an annual extension. The due date is the due date and you can apply (in theory) up to 45 days before that date. AFAIK there is no provision in Thai Immigration rules for an application after the due date.

Did you read the complete post???

 

I did not suggest there was a “grace” period. 
 

In some cases in the past Udon immigration office HAS accepted a slightly late application and charger the overstay fine. They have also said that anything over 7 days would not be accepted.

 

Also the time before is 30 days for the majority of offices only some allow 45 days

[Jip99]

1 hour ago, sometimewoodworker said:

Did you read the complete post???

 

I did not suggest there was a “grace” period. 
 

In some cases in the past Udon immigration office HAS accepted a slightly late application and charger the overstay fine. They have also said that anything over 7 days would not be accepted.

 

Also the time before is 30 days for the majority of offices only some allow 45 days

 

<removed> I was suggesting that some people could infer that there was a 7 day tolerance. There isn't - officially.

 

The official Thai Immigration website quotes 45 days before............................ some offices allow less. I believe Surin is 30 days, for example, and Buriram 40.

Edited April 25, 2020 by ubonjoe
baiting remark removed