End of visa amnesty may spell uncertainty for some expats in Thailand

[FarFlungFalang]

2 minutes ago, trucking said:

Dito. I am preparing to do the 1 year extension with cash transfers as well but this is more difficult and depends on how friendly your local immigration office is. Need to go to mine for a ' chat ' before committing myself to either course. The only other option is to get 400,000 in the bank for 2 months seasoning.

I've committed to the money in the bank method but due to my procrastinating nature I miss out by about ten days for the seasoning which is why I'm trying for the special dispensation.

 

 

[trucking]

14 hours ago, NanLaew said:

I am currently under a visa-exempt amnesty having failed to secure a Non-O multi in Savanakhet just before the borders closed last March.

 

How could you fail ? No financials needed and with Thai wife  ?

[trucking]

14 hours ago, FarFlungFalang said:

I've committed to the money in the bank method but due to my procrastinating nature I miss out by about ten days for the seasoning which is why I'm trying for the special dispensation.

 

 

 

Well, if you had the 400,000 put in the bank by 1st September, that would give you the 2 months seasoning needed to apply for the yearly extension. ( assuming you were on your 60 day extension first )

[trucking]

14 hours ago, Keyser Soze666 said:

Yes, I am 50 also married and have had 400k in the bank for a good while now, so not short of options but can't be asked to even give this a second thought just yet.

 

Similar. Got the money but its in the UK.

 

I actually want to leave !! I was supposed to be in the UK in May to sort out some financial matters.

I'd still like to leave but getting back is such a major hassle that I have stayed on.

[FarFlungFalang]

1 minute ago, Keyser Soze666 said:

Yes, I am 50 also married and have had 400k in the bank for a good while now, so not short of options but can't be asked to even give this a second thought just yet.

I still have many options as well the three main ones are

1. Trying for the "special dispensational" extension which is a guaranteed fail but you never know if you never go.

2. Waiting to see if the amnesty is extended.

3. Go into hiding before going to jail.

Number four is swim or walk across the Mekong (depending on the level).

[FarFlungFalang]

5 minutes ago, trucking said:

 

Well, if you had the 400,000 put in the bank by 1st September, that would give you the 2 months seasoning needed to apply for the yearly extension. ( assuming you were on your 60 day extension first )

I had to get it out of my super then it took four days to transfer because of my daily limit so I finished on the 6th Aug.My 60 day extension finished in March as I was preparing to go to Suvanakhet luckily I waited an extra two days for a mate otherwise I would have been stuck on the other side of the Mekong when the border closed.

[OJAS]

2 hours ago, rooster59 said:

However, there is another group of expats for which the end of the visa amnesty period may still spell some uncertainty.

 

This concerns those who stay in Thailand on a Non-O multiple entry visa. These are obtained from a Thai embassy or consulate overseas. 

There is a further group which consists of retirees who originally entered Thailand with a non-OA visa and had been planning to exit Thailand in order to obtain a single-entry non-O visa so as to avoid the mandatory TGIA-approved health insurance requirement before the borders to adjacent ASEAN countries were closed. Presumably retirees who fall into this category may also have no choice other than to up sticks and exit Thailand by 26 September unless they are able to comply with this particular requirement (which, by reason of age and/or existing health conditions, may not, of course, necessarily be possible)?

 

Edited August 16, 2020 by OJAS

[trucking]

14 hours ago, FarFlungFalang said:

3. Go into hiding before going to jail.

 

I got the jail option too but after reading a Finnish posters description of Finnish jails I think I would fly to Helsinki , commit a crime and do my time there instead. Sounds very nice according to him.

[geriatrickid]

1 hour ago, ChipButty said:

Me thinks there will be a mad exodus on the said date utter chaos!

Not to be a smart a$$, but where are they expected to go? An exodus to Cambodia?   Sierra Leone? Congo?  The flights to the EU are prohibitively expensive for many of them and too many have nowhere to go home to. I have a  feeling we could see  a few thousand people in dire straits.

[4evermaat]

35 minutes ago, FarFlungFalang said:

........

I intend to go in tomorrow to seek "special dispensation" armed with my "embassy letter" and associated tale of woe is me!

might be easier to "arm" yourself with 10-25k in cash in your pocket ???? (1 year extension).

[NanLaew]

21 minutes ago, FarFlungFalang said:

I've committed to the money in the bank method but due to my procrastinating nature I miss out by about ten days for the seasoning which is why I'm trying for the special dispensation.

 

 

Ten days overstay and pay that fine at the same time you drop by to file the marriage extension which is after the money seasoning meets requirements.

 

Drop by your local Immigration office ahead of time and ask your friendly local IO if this 'ultra' special dispensation will be acceptable.

[wmlc]

1 hour ago, Lizard2010 said:

That is if they can find a flight and country to go too

 

1 hour ago, ubonjoe said:

Do those on non-o visa fit under number one.

They do not fall under number 1 so it is number 2 for them.

They might be able to apply for a extension for  medical treatment or with a letter from their embassy but that is not clear.

After that is only possible to apply for a one year extension under clause 2.18 or a 60 day extension under clause 2.24 of the order that only allows one per entry. What do they do it they cannot get either one.

 

 

The embassy letter regulation seems pretty clear to me.

[sundaram444]

Thanks for the Information Update. My Non-Imm O visa is due for renewal on October 02 , 2020. I have been renewing the Visa every year with the Income Affidavit Document from the Canadian Embassy in Bangkok, for the past 10 years. I am thinking of visiting the Immigration Office in Korat next week to update my 90 Day report and ask about my Non-Imm O Visa renewal. 

[NanLaew]

4 minutes ago, geriatrickid said:

Not to be a smart a$$, but where are they expected to go? An exodus to Cambodia?   Sierra Leone? Congo?  The flights to the EU are prohibitively expensive for many of them and too many have nowhere to go home to. I have a  feeling we could see  a few thousand people in dire straits.

For broke-assed Brits, the British Embassy Consular service (that some members here moan about as useless) will provide a one-way ticket back to the UK if one requests and qualifies for it. A Scots friend of mine went home about three weeks ago on KLM via Amsterdam for about 500 quid o/w. They bought the ticket and he has to pay them back.

 

He's done his quarantine already and is entertaining me daily with pictures of meat pies, Lorne sausage, Tennent's lager and stuff like that. Not sure if he's paid the FCO back yet.

[ubonjoe]

7 minutes ago, wmlc said:

The embassy letter regulation seems pretty clear to me.

The infographic is not official. The immigration notification is the only thing that is official.

It is only for those under number one in the notification.

[Pattaya Spotter]

2 hours ago, Lizard2010 said:

You would think that keeping Xpats in Thailand would be good

After all we put Millions into the Thai econamy

Who has been help keep the country going in the last few months  Xpats of course

The 10-20k Non-Imm O Multi's hanging around are propping up 65M Thais and their economy? If you say so.

Edited August 16, 2020 by Pattaya Spotter

[CorpusChristie]

14 minutes ago, geriatrickid said:

Not to be a smart a$$, but where are they expected to go? An exodus to Cambodia?   Sierra Leone? Congo?  The flights to the EU are prohibitively expensive for many of them and too many have nowhere to go home to. I have a  feeling we could see  a few thousand people in dire straits.

Nan Laew has posted above how you can get Money for Nothing and flights for free 

[Keyser Soze666]

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

It's actually working out very well for me as I've already saved a lot of money on my 'foreign holidays'.

 

if you value saving 'a lot' of money by not going anywhere, why don't you just scrap any 'holidays' for good?

[Pattaya Spotter]

1 hour ago, Lizard2010 said:

That is if they can find a flight and country to go too

Maybe where they came from, i.e., have citizenship?

[CrunchWrapSupreme]

1 hour ago, FarFlungFalang said:

any person married to a Thai national would be automatically considered

Just the marriage certificate unfortunately does very little. There is the Non-O marriage visa, which requires a whole other set of hoops, like income requirements, visits from IOs, photos of you and your wife pointing at things around the house.

 

Despite this, there's another popular thread at the moment about farangs now having more trouble getting married around BKK, getting asked for additional embassy docs and police reports. Oh, think you can get married and stay? Haha, think again! (Even though you really couldn't have, closing a loophole that didn't exist).

[Wongkitlo]

23 minutes ago, OJAS said:

There is a further group which consists of retirees who originally entered Thailand with a non-OA visa and had been planning to exit Thailand in order to obtain a single-entry non-O visa so as to avoid the mandatory TGIA-approved health insurance requirement before the borders to adjacent ASEAN countries were closed. Presumably retirees who fall into this category may also have no choice other than to up sticks and exit Thailand by 26 September unless they are able to comply with this particular requirement (which, by reason of age and/or existing health conditions, may not, of course, necessarily be possible)?

 

Like anything in Thailand I think there are solutions to this. I think one  of the regular posters will help you with this.

[Dogmatix]

2 hours ago, Lizard2010 said:

You would think that keeping Xpats in Thailand would be good

After all we put Millions into the Thai econamy

Who has been help keep the country going in the last few months  Xpats of course

 

There is no visa problem for most expats working in the Kingdom and they do appreciate the value of value added long term foreign tourists.  They have just launched a sales campaign for the Elite Card to attract foreign tourists already in the country. Unfortunately the reality seems to be that they have little interest in keeping foreigners who are not working and cannot afford the Elite Card and having Thai families doesn't make much difference them.

 

[newnative]

     Thailand should be doing all it can to retain the expats that are here.  At the same time, it should be doing all it can to encourage the return of all the long-stay expats that winter in Thailand year after year.  We have a lot of them that come to Pattaya and they would help with the local economy.  These are the very people who might be ok with a 14 day quarantine because they aren't tourists and will be here for 3 or 4 months over the winter.  

[chilli42]

2 hours ago, Lizard2010 said:

You would think that keeping Xpats in Thailand would be good

After all we put Millions into the Thai econamy

Who has been help keep the country going in the last few months  Xpats of course

We’ll if the country depends on Expats to keep it going, things are in much worse shape than I thought.  

[JackThompson]

22 minutes ago, geriatrickid said:

Not to be a smart a$$, but where are they expected to go? An exodus to Cambodia?   Sierra Leone? Congo?  The flights to the EU are prohibitively expensive for many of them and too many have nowhere to go home to. I have a  feeling we could see  a few thousand people in dire straits.

Turkey seems to be the closest location accessible, and w/o some "covid-security-theater" to enter.  Unless you show up with a high-fever, you are set.  Those who are EU citizens may have other options (I don't).

 

Bali did a 180-flip on opening in Sept (sad), so that appears to be out.  Any SE Asian country could open just one island (no risk to the general population), and thousands of expats would be there and spending money for months - until semi-normal travel is possible, again. 

[dougiemac52]

2 hours ago, mokwit said:

As I interpret it you will have to leave by 26th and might not be able to come back in. Thai Immigration see it as a visa that gives 90 days at a time, not as a 1 year entitlement to stay. People on 1 yr extensions with re entry permits are not being allowed in, so why would 90 day family visit visa holders  be?

<removed>

It’s a 1 year multiple entry so what are you talking about 

[CorpusChristie]

1 minute ago, JackThompson said:

Turkey seems to be the closest location accessible, and w/o some "covid-security-theater" to enter.  Unless you show up with a high-fever, you are set.  Those who are EU citizens may have other options (I don't).

 

Bali did a 180-flip on opening in Sept (sad), so that appears to be out.  Any SE Asian country could open just one island (no risk to the general population), and thousands of expats would be there and spending money for months - until semi-normal travel is possible, again. 

Turkey though, you can only stay 90 days out of 180 days

[FarFlungFalang]

22 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

Ten days overstay and pay that fine at the same time you drop by to file the marriage extension which is after the money seasoning meets requirements.

 

Drop by your local Immigration office ahead of time and ask your friendly local IO if this 'ultra' special dispensation will be acceptable.

If I can get around my "special dispensation" to procrastinate and my wife's need to work on our farm or someone else's farm I'll head in tomorrow.

There was also mention of being blacklisted immediately after the 26th Sept by backdating the overstay but that would be a bit harsh and it would also give the impression that foreigners are not welcome in Thailand. 

[FarFlungFalang]

31 minutes ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

The 10-20k Non-Imm O Multi's hanging around are propping up 65M Thais and their economy? If you say so.

We 10-20k Non Imm O Multi's are propping up 10-20k families who appreciate our efforts to do so.To be fair the poster said "helping to prop up" and not "propping up".

[CrunchWrapSupreme]

37 minutes ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

The 10-20k Non-Imm O Multi's hanging around are propping up 65M Thais and their economy? If you say so.

There sure are a lot of homes, motorbikes, pickup trucks, and home appliances all across Issan, for which the families who possess them did not have the money to purchase. Nor did they magically appear. I also know of many young Thai people who were able to attend university through such "magic", without money of their own. Hmm.