Has anyone who's tourist visa expired and has been on amnesty successfully converted to a work or marriage visa? Went to my local immigration today and the officer I spoke to seemed to think I'd have to leave the country to do either of these.

 

(My situation: UK passport, came in on 60 day tourist visa, been on amnesty since it was announced)

 

Thanks in advance. 

There have been reports of immigration denying a application for a nonimmigrant visa application for those under the amnesty.

If you have not done the 30 day extension of your 60 day entry from your visa you should ask immigration about doing the change after it is granted to get a real extension of your entry.

If married to a Thai they might do it after applying for a 60 day extension to visit your wife as well.

1 minute ago, ubonjoe said:

There have been reports of immigration denying a application for a nonimmigrant visa application for those under the amnesty.

If you have not done the 30 day extension of your 60 day entry from your visa you should ask immigration about doing the change after it is granted to get a real extension of your entry.

If married to a Thai they might do it after applying for a 60 day extension to visit your wife as well.

Sadly I have already done the 30 day extension, and not legally married (yet). Cheers for the suggestion though.

 

Interested to hear the experiences of anyone on here ???? 

3 hours ago, greggraham said:

Interested to hear the experiences of anyone on here ???? 

Exactly the same circumstances as you.  All the paperwork needed for a work visa (they confirmed it was correctly filled out and complete).  Refused and told to wait then leave and come back.

 

Begging, protestation and saying that I would have to go on quarantine didn't work.  Supervisor confirmed that it cannot be done.  I think they just follow the rules and cannot exercise discretion.

 

Now just waiting to see if there will be a solution.  Would be good if they can sort it so we don't have to leave.  Would be OK if some sort of arrangement meant that we could somehow do a border run without quarantine.  Maybe we'll have to go through two weeks in Laos then two weeks in Thailand.  Or maybe they won't sort anything and we'll have to go home.

 

One would think that the sensible and practical solution would be options one or two.  But, this is Thailand.

 

My employer told me that many other workers had tried going to multiple offices and got the same result.  But in this part of the world you cannot always trust what people say.

 

They must know that there are many people in this situation.  It surely wouldn't be hard to pass something that means people can go from amnesty to new visa.  We just have to hope that they see sense.

 

It might be the case that they would rather everyone leaves so they can force them to get covid insurance or something.  But they could always ask for that when we apply for the visa.

 

It might be that they extend the amnesty and put off worrying about finding a solution, assuming that everyone will just work anyway.  Schools are about to start.  There must be many shortages of teachers.  (I realise you may not be a teacher.)

 

I think I've seen it written a few times that immigration don't really know anything and everything comes from the ministry of foreign affairs.

 

So after several months of stress, worry and uncertainty... there's a bit more.  ????

Edited June 26, 20206 yr by BangkokReady

3 hours ago, greggraham said:

Sadly I have already done the 30 day extension, and not legally married (yet). Cheers for the suggestion though.

Forget the (yet). Whenever extensions of amnesty ends you need exit Thailand.

On 6/26/2020 at 6:31 PM, greggraham said:

Sadly I have already done the 30 day extension, and not legally married (yet). Cheers for the suggestion though.

 

Interested to hear the experiences of anyone on here ???? 

If your circumstances were that you hadn't done the 30 day extension and or were married, you would have been in a much better position. Hope everything goes well for you anyway.