On 8/15/2020 at 10:31 AM, L0cky said:

I can confirm the same experience. We were married on August 13th in Banglamung (very helpful and nice staff, I recommend it if you can go there) and went to Chonburi immigration on August 14th. Unfortunately the IO seemed particularly disinterested by the fact that we were married and simply pointed at the September 26th sign, saying "leave Thailand and come back, it's fine". I guess he hasn't seen the news.

 

I'm not even on amnesty yet, with a POS until August 18th. As the IO didn't process / record anything we'll try again at Chaeng Watthana on Monday 17th but I don't have high hopes.

 

He did seem perplexed by my PE visa. Reading around it seems IOs expect a tourist or existing non-O before granting an extension and the only way to get one is to leave. Obviously this wouldn't be a big problem pre-COVID. @greggraham what type of visa were you on before amnesty, and which immigration office did you go to?

 

Hat Yai.

 

Came in on 60 day tourist visa which expired at the start of March.

Got a regular +30 day extension.

Got the COVID +30 embassy letter extension (which it turns out I didn't need).

Now on Amnesty.

On 8/20/2020 at 11:29 AM, greggraham said:

Hat Yai.

 

Came in on 60 day tourist visa which expired at the start of March.

Got a regular +30 day extension.

Got the COVID +30 embassy letter extension (which it turns out I didn't need).

Now on Amnesty.

I don't see why you wouldn't be able to do a 90 day non "O" then. Perhaps they have some internal directive not to allow visa changes at this time. ????‍♂️ They really should waive this whole 'go and come back' bureaucracy for those that fully qualify for a visa, at least until the borders are open. Incidentally, the UK recently announced they are dropping this requirement for visa changes, forever.

 

I was advised ( @JackThompson by the agent next door) to try for a 60 day closer to September 26th as they're not deferring the extension start date to the end of the grace period. This goes against the published notices that they want to avoid a crowd near the end of the grace period.

 

Anyway, I'm currently making plans to return to the UK and will have to separate from my wife for 6-7 months, unless they announce something big by mid September (which I think is extremely unlikely).