I was issued a Non O-A visa with one year validity valid upto 05th October 2020.  This was issued by a Royal Thai Consulate outside Thailand.  It is very unlikely that i will be able to travel to Thailand before this date.  I had sent in a mail to the issuing Consulate seeking a clarification as to whether the validity of this visa will be extended.  Of course till now, there has been no response from them.

 

What is the general opinion of our learned members?  Are there any real chances of Thai Immigration Authorities doing anything about this?  I am sure there will be many more like me.  All of us have taken lot of efforts and pain to submit required documents, obtain insurance etc. for getting this visa.  If not extended, the entire efforts will go futile and we all need to start all over again.  This is just punishing us for no fault of ours and against normal natural justice.

 

 

Opinion only............................. keep your expectations low  -  somewhere around zero.

 

 

 

Not fair on you, but neither is it the fault of the Thai authorities.

OP, imo very unlikely that borders will open prior to Oct 5. Even if they did what would the conditions of entry be. It certainly will be more than a visa only.

Kiss it goodbye.

 

Edited August 9, 20205 yr by DrJack54

other options that are available albeit pricey are 3 months extension due to "sickness" and a one year "volunteer" visa...

6 minutes ago, ezzra said:

other options that are available albeit pricey are 3 months extension due to "sickness" and a one year "volunteer" visa...

I take it the OP isn't currently in Thailand. Most likely, their visa will just expire and they will have to start over anew once somewhat normal travel has been restored.

The only adjusted expiry dates are:

• An extra six months for those with Thailand Elite memberships.
• Those with permanent residency in Thailand have their reentry permits extended for up to 12 months, with the qualification that return should be made as soon as is reasonably possible.

Your O-A visa is dead.

Yes

 

19 hours ago, excellfriend said:

I was issued a Non O-A visa with one year validity valid upto 05th October 2020.  This was issued by a Royal Thai Consulate outside Thailand.  It is very unlikely that i will be able to travel to Thailand before this date.

Covid-19 restrictions on entry only came around March/April this year if I remember correctly, you have had a valid Visa since October 2019. Why did you not use it earlier ? Or did you use it initially and leave not being able to return ? BTW...many of us have had our O-A visa potential cut short...grin and bear it...gloobal pandemics change things....

20 hours ago, excellfriend said:

I had sent in a mail to the issuing Consulate seeking a clarification as to whether the validity of this visa will be extended.  Of course till now, there has been no response from them.

well   well ....  and you expected a reply to confirm  ?  lol

Need UbonJoe on this but unless I'm mistaken, a 1 yr O-A issued 'whenever' does not go into effect until you enter the country (meaning you have 1 yr to start it) so IF you can get in before the expiration date your 1 yr should begin then.

5 minutes ago, mrwebb8825 said:

Need UbonJoe on this but unless I'm mistaken, a 1 yr O-A issued 'whenever' does not go into effect until you enter the country (meaning you have 1 yr to start it) so IF you can get in before the expiration date your 1 yr should begin then.

The visas one year validity starts on the day it issued.

When you enter the country you would get a one year permit to stay every time you enter the country up to the day the visa expires.

His visa will expire before he is able to enter the country so he will need to get a new one before entering the country.

VISAS are never and cannot be extended ! [from an embassy or consulate]
It is all about the "permission to stay ! [from Immigration]

When people finally understand this difference then the whole discussion will get a lot easier.

 

VISAS have nothing to do with leaving the country !

A visa is permission to enter the country for the time the visa is valid.

[single entry = enter one time / multiple entry = enter unlimited times]

A "permission to stay" is permission to stay in the country and says how long you can stay.

This is what local Immigration extends .... not the Visa !

Edited August 10, 20205 yr by brain150

22 hours ago, Caldera said:

I take it the OP isn't currently in Thailand. Most likely, their visa will just expire and they will have to start over anew once somewhat normal travel has been restored.

Caldera

If I read the OPs posting it states " It is very unlikely that i will be able to travel to Thailand before this date." So to me that means I aint in Thailand

Even if your visas validity will expire before you can come to Thailand,and you have to start over, you don't need to apply for an O-A visa. Go for an Non-O instead. Less documents needed and no need for a health insurance. 

1 hour ago, Max69xl said:

Even if your visas validity will expire before you can come to Thailand,and you have to start over, you don't need to apply for an O-A visa. Go for an Non-O instead. Less documents needed and no need for a health insurance. 

Poor advice...

A Non Imm O-A Visa will provide the applicant with almost 2 years of IO hassle-free stay in Thailand.  No need to park or transfer money to a personal thai bank-account, no need for jumping through hoops to apply at a local IO for a 90-day Non Imm O Visa and later again for a subsequent 1-year extension of stay.

At the end of the 2-years you can then either convert to a Non Imm O Visa (in order to avoid the in-country thai IO-approved health-insurance requirement) or - when visiting your home-country - re-apply for a Non Imm O-A Visa.

Admitted, the now mandatory thai IO-approved health-insurance requirement makes it somewhat more difficult to apply for the Non Imm O-A Visa at the thai Embassy in your home-country.

However, OP already successfully applied for it last year, so it's only a matter of addressing the IO-approved health-insurance requirement, which is relatively easy if you know how.

Obviously OP would have to wait till thai border situation relaxes, to apply for that Non Imm O-A Visa, as travel to Thailand is now only possible for specific categories of travellers and several covid-19 requirements to be met.

> I did PM you a Guideline document outlining how to meet that health-insurance requirement when applying for the Non Imm O-A Visa at the thai Embassy/Consulate in your home-country.

In order to access your PM-messages just click the letter-icon next to your Profile when logged-in to the Forum.

Edited August 10, 20205 yr by Peter Denis

5 hours ago, brain150 said:

VISAS are never and cannot be extended ! [from an embassy or consulate]
It is all about the "permission to stay ! [from Immigration]

When people finally understand this difference then the whole discussion will get a lot easier.

 

VISAS have nothing to do with leaving the country !

A visa is permission to enter the country for the time the visa is valid.

[single entry = enter one time / multiple entry = enter unlimited times]

A "permission to stay" is permission to stay in the country and says how long you can stay.

This is what local Immigration extends .... not the Visa !

The OP appears to understand all of that. He's currently outside of Thailand, and is hoping that Thai authorities might announce something along the lines of "all visas with expiry dates after March 26, 2020, are automatically considered to be valid until March 26, 2021", thereby "extending" the validity of his visa.

 

Although I've read news reports that a few countries actually have made such announcements, the great majority have not, and I agree with other posters that it is VERY unlikely that Thailand will make any concession along those lines.

At the very least one could hope that at least SOME embassies will make it very easy to apply for another one, as the applicant got one in the first place that fact alone should be enough for applying again...

 

But then again, bureaucrats and common sense........

3 minutes ago, EbhB said:

At the very least one could hope that at least SOME embassies will make it very easy to apply for another one, as the applicant got one in the first place that fact alone should be enough for applying again...

 

But then again, bureaucrats and common sense........

Think you will find very different process this time if amnesty is not extended again.

Perhaps proof of cancelled flights etc.

The majority of folk without options can in fact return to their home country.

Don't think stating that flights are expensive etc will cut it.

Having stated that, I cannot see why Thailand gov want tourists out..

While applying for my Non O-A during October 2019, the embassy insisted on a valid health insurance and i did obtain one.  then only my visa was granted. 

 

I was only hoping that Thai immigration authorities will issue a guideline to the effect that the visa validity will be simply extended without any major conditions attached (except for the insurance part) by about atleast six months so that i can avoid the hassles of applying again.  It remains only as a hope.  We all need to wait and watch.

 

just for information, i did use the visa and made a trip in November 2019 and again in February 2020.  I just left Thailand before the flights were stopped.

 

 

38 minutes ago, excellfriend said:

While applying for my Non O-A during October 2019, the embassy insisted on a valid health insurance and i did obtain one.  then only my visa was granted. 

 

I was only hoping that Thai immigration authorities will issue a guideline to the effect that the visa validity will be simply extended without any major conditions attached (except for the insurance part) by about atleast six months so that i can avoid the hassles of applying again.  It remains only as a hope.  We all need to wait and watch.

 

just for information, i did use the visa and made a trip in November 2019 and again in February 2020.  I just left Thailand before the flights were stopped.

You are actually in the same situation as those with a still valid Non Imm O-A Visa, residing in Thailand.  My own Non Imm O-A Visa was valid till 18 June 2020, but with borders closed I was not able to do a quick border-run and get hold of a full 2nd year that Visa would normally have provided me.  Luckily I made a trip to Cambodia in January, and thus was stamped in again on re-entry with a permission to stay till 28 January 2020.

But I did lose 4,5 month of the potential full year I could have gotten when being able to do that border-run.  Some that didn't make a trip abroad were even more unlucky and lost the full 2nd year they could have gotten, if borders had been open by the time their Visa validity almost expired.

 

>> See also my earlier post #15 as well as the unopened PM I did sent you.

Edited August 11, 20205 yr by Peter Denis