METV extension and amnesty

[NorthernRyland]

I understand there is an amnesty until the borders reopen to help people who have expired visas and can not leave the country. I came January 9th on a METV and my current stamp expires May 5th. Usually I would go to Chiang Mai immigration and do a 30 day extension but with the amnesty are they saying I should just wait until further notice?

 

I ask because technically I do have a valid visa and I can extend it at immigration for 30 days. My girlfriend insists the government wants their 2000 baht but I thought part of the reasoning of the amnesty was to keep people out of large immigration queues. Can anyone confirm they really don't want me to go to immigration?

[ubonjoe]

You visa being valid or not makes no difference for the "amnesty". Your permit to stay still needs to remain valid.

Your dates do not seem to be correct. If you entered on January 9th your 60 day permit to stay from your METV would of ended on March 8th.

The amnesty would apply to you if you were here on the 26th of March with a valid permit to stay.

 

[NorthernRyland]

7 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

You visa being valid or not makes no difference for the "amnesty". Your permit to stay still needs to remain valid.

Your dates do not seem to be correct. If you entered on January 9th your 60 day permit to stay from your METV would of ended on March 8th.

The amnesty would apply to you if you were here on the 26th of March with a valid permit to stay.

 

I exited via Mae Sai early March before the border closed so my entry is up 2 months after that (May 5th).

 

I have a valid entry stamp and the METV expires early June I believe so if I don't get an another stamp before then I lose the entire visa.

 

So I have a valid visa which could be extended but do they want me to show up at immigration?

[ubonjoe]

3 minutes ago, genericptr said:

I have a valid entry stamp and the METV expires early June I believe so if I don't get an another stamp before then I lose the entire visa.

It does matter whether you apply for a 30 day extension that you don't have to apply for since you can stay until July 31st your visa will still expire in June.

I doubt very much you would be able to use your METV to get a new 60 day entry before it expires but you could still do it if it was possible.

3 minutes ago, genericptr said:

So I have a valid visa which could be extended but do they want me to show up at immigration?

Immigration does not extend visas. They could only extend your current 60 day permit to stay for 30 days. You can stay until July 31st without doing anything at immigration.

[NorthernRyland]

5 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

Immigration does not extend visas. They could only extend your current 60 day permit to stay for 30 days. You can stay until July 31st without doing anything at immigration.

Thanks again Joe. I'll consider the visa dead and just wait for further news on borders reopening. I was planning to go home July 7th but I suspect my flight will get moved around. 

[Tanoshi]

Just to confirm what UJ has already stated.

The amnesty applies to your permission of stay granted on entry, not the Visa validity date.

 

The amnesty automatically extends permission of stay until July 31st, if your entry granted you permission of stay beyond the date of 26th March.

If you were permitted to stay until May 5th, then that permission is now automatically extended to July 31st.

You do not have to visit an Immigration office or do anything else.

 

Just watch and wait for further Immigration updates.

[GLouiseCooper]

Hello! I read through the above posting and just wanted to confirm that I understand what this means for my own situation.

 

I entered Thailand on March 21 on an METV that is valid until September 16. On May 19 I will have completed my first 60 days and will be due to extend my visa for another 30 days, and then on June 18th I will be due to do a border run since I intend to extend the METV as long as possible. 

Given the current situation, the above post suggests that I do not need to go to immigration on May 19 to extend? 

Does this mean I am in the clear until July 31, not needing to extend or do border-runs until then? Do you happen to know what I should do once the visa amnesty/extension has ended and I want to continue using my visa?

 

Thank you in advance for your time!

[Tanoshi]

1 hour ago, GLouiseCooper said:

Does this mean I am in the clear until July 31, not needing to extend or do border-runs until then?

Yes.

 

1 hour ago, GLouiseCooper said:

Do you happen to know what I should do once the visa amnesty/extension has ended and I want to continue using my visa?

Once the end date of the amnesty is announced you can make a border run to obtain a further 60 day re-entry. To utilise your Visa to it's maximum, you should make a further border run on or before September 16th to get a further 60 day entry, which you can extend by a further 30 days.

[GLouiseCooper]

Amazing! Thank you for your assistance!