Visa amnesty 27th September

[mtls2005]

17 minutes ago, FlyingThai said:

It's possible to get a flight to Buenos Aires via Amsterdam

 

Yeah, see KLM 701 and 702 AMS-EZE-AMS flew yesterday.  KLM 701 is in the air now, ~ 4 hours out.

 

KLM also has a flight AMS-SCL-AMS.

 

The question is, are those flights open for Argnetinians to fly?

 

I think so.

 

Given that KLM also flies BKK-AMS that would make an easy return?

 

What are the flights now to Argentina?
Every passenger flight that lands or takes off in Argentina is individual authorized by the aviation authorities. The airline needs to apply for a permit for each flight in Argentina. KLM, Iberia, Air France, Aerolineas Argentinas, and Eastern are some of the airlines that requested to land in Argentina. When approved they open the sales on their website or call center.

In Argentina, they call those flights “vuelos especiales”. Those flights don’t fly on a regular base. Since July, some of the airlines tried to create some frequency. KLM, Air France, and Iberia are flying once a week to Argentina.

 

 

Edited August 26, 2020 by mtls2005

[Sundown]

4 minutes ago, genericptr said:

exactly my point but I don't understand your objection about "we". For years I've been in the "I don't understand why I can't stay since I follow the rules, help the economy etc..." yet every year it gets harder and harder to stay. It's not just me either. Many of us don't actually understand how the Thais think and that's why I'm sharing. In every one of these threads people toss out totally reasonable solutions and yes, they, are confused as to why the government doesn't make it easier for us.

How the Thais think? They want the money. You got money, can do everything you want.

Even if it's the morning of 27th September ????

 

Keep the discussion going, it's entertaining ????

[mtls2005]

9 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

But it has to be a repatriation flight to enter Argentina. All other flights are suspended.

 

Not sure you're correct.

 

 

What are the special flights in September?
We received the following information:

Aerolineas Argentinas

Buenos Aires – Madrid: 2, 4, 7, 11, 18, and 25 September.
Buenos Aires – Miami: 2, 4, 7, 11, 18, and 25 September.
Buenos Aires – Cancún: 25 September.
Buenos Aires – New York: 1 and 17 September.
Flights in the opposite direction are taking place one day later. Contact the call center for bookings or their website.

Iberia

Madrid – Buenos Aires: 4, 7, 11, 14, 18, 21, 25, and 28 September.
Buenos Aires – Madrid: 5, 8, 12, 15, 19, 22, 26, and 29 September.
The sale will start soon on Iberia’s website. If you booked a flight in September with Iberia? Contact the call center for a rebooking on a special flight.

Air Europa

Buenos Aires – Madrid: 6, 13, 20, and 27 September.
Madrid – Buenos Aires: 4, 11, 18 and 25 September.
Air Europa gives at this moment priority to passengers of canceled September flights. Therefore, the flights are not available yet on their website. If you booked a flight in September with Air Europe? Contact the call center for a rebooking on a special flight.

American Airlines

Buenos Aires – Miami: 12, 17, 19, 24, and 26 September
Miami – Buenos Aires: 9, 11, 16, 18, 23, 25, and 30 September
Tickets can be booked on the American Airlines website.

KLM

Amsterdam – Buenos Aires: 1, 4, 8, 11, 15, 18, 22, 25, and 29 September.
The sale will start soon on KLM’s website. Return dates probably one day later.

Air France

Paris – Buenos Aires:  2, 5, 6, 9, 12, 16, 19, 23, 26, and 30 September.
Online ticket sales will start soon. Return to Paris from Buenos Aires probably one day later.

 

Edited August 26, 2020 by mtls2005

[JackThompson]

1 hour ago, mtls2005 said:

So logically, how long should they be allowed to stay....

 

until they run out of money

until they die

until they feel like leaving

until they are replaced by another tourist

Until the land-borders to ANY neighboring country open - Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, or Malaysia.
 

1 hour ago, mtls2005 said:

Should they pay for the privilege of staying?

Sure, 1900 Baht/mo should do nicely for the tourists.

 

For the rest, they could stop playing the "Go Out for a New Visa" / "We just made-up MORE Unrelated-Requirements to block your extension" extortion-tricks, used to force us to Pay Them OFF Via their Agent-Partners.  That would allow many to switch to permitted-stays.

 

We never asked for 'free' extensions - that was due to the Cabinet wanting to stop the crowd-scenes caused by immigration refusing letters, insisting on landlord-attendence, giving "under consideration + come back again" per 30-days, etc. 

 

Immigration fought our staying w/o Agent-Payoffs consistently - even pre-covid, when they were denying-entry to those with Tourist Visas.

 

1 hour ago, mtls2005 said:

Do they need to show they have sufficient income, and insurance?

For Tourists, how about show 20K in a bank-account - same as when applying for a Tourist Visa.  If they want to add insurance, that's fine - provided they don't run a SCAM like their O-A Visa insurance, only valid if purchased from their "insurance-partners."

[Letseng]

19 hours ago, The33 said:

Thanks UbonJoe, appreciate your reply, I do use this website a lot when Im wondering about something, noticed that you are up to date ???? Usually I would find the answer to what Im wondering about, but I would say this is a bit of a "special situation".. I guess they might be in the right anyways, as my extension is expired, and Im now her on Amnesty until the 26th? I guess I will just have to do what they seem to want me too then, using an agent... Trying hard not to make any remarks here, but the frustration.. And the lack of empathy from IOs is quite scary, they were gonna operate on a case to case basis now, from my understanding..? Well, they arent, they werent even considering my case, only that thanks to their advice, I had 1 day overstay on previous visa.. I hope you are right Joe, agent might cost me more, but as long as it can be done... The only thing that makes me unable to apply for the Non O, is a stupid advice from one of their own.. Still they arent even willing to listen to hat my case, situation is... My experience with Thai Immigration have always been ok, never had any issues with any officers or anything, but now I can kinda understand how <deleted> off people can get at the IOs at times...!

Are IOs in your country more friendly & more helpful?  

[ubonjoe]

10 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

Not sure you're correct.

Tell the IATA that not me.

Maybe those flights are not really flying into Argentina. Possibly the same as all the flights that are shown for here that are not really arriving.

[BritManToo]

5 minutes ago, Letseng said:

Are IOs in your country more friendly & more helpful?  

Never interacted with IOs in the UK so can't say.

Philippines, they are very friendly, they used to suggest I stayed longer, I even got the idea one lady was up for a date, inside you never see them again and can stay forever.

Malaysia, one lady suggested I stay longer (90 days on entry) instead of just passing through.

China, no problems at all, VISA very easy

Cambodia, you only ever see them when entering the country, and once I was asked for 100bht, inside you never see them again and can stay forever.

Vietnam, very smiley.

 

Thailand, scowling and rude every time.

Edited August 26, 2020 by BritManToo

[david555]

BTW. Today 9.15 Jomtien immigration as good as deserted ...i could even not go sit down seat ...straight to the outboard guy at desk 8 ...checking documents ...9.30 i was outside again . Passport tomorrow , and  they give still  the 3 month document to come let check your bank money , only difference on document is stated "after " date  x...so you can choose date .

 

800k methode is equal to a Flash extention .

 

So to avoid crowds do whatever you need as soon as possible...

 

 

 

 

[mtls2005]

7 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

Tell the IATA that not me.

 

Well, you brought it up. Maybe that should be your job?

 

The point being, again, very few people are truly stranded, and most others could get home, or to a third-country.

 

7 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

Maybe those flights are not really flying into Argentina. Possibly the same as all the flights that are shown for here that are not really arriving.

 

Maybe, possibly. 555

[david555]

2 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

 

Well, you brought it up. Maybe that should be your job?

 

The point being, again, very few people are truly stranded, and most others could get home, or to a third-country.

 

 

Maybe, possibly. 555

 

 

 

"The point being, again, very few people are truly stranded, and most others could get home, or to a third-country."

 

 

The border hoppers consider themself as "stranded "as closed borders making it impossible to do their usual visa/ extension stuff and so avoiding the normal visa for their status .. as preference by immigration ...????

[Caldera]

51 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

AFAIK, Visa exempt and VoA (technically) require proof of funds for a 15/30 day stay.

 

Many extensions of stay require bank funds parked, or income.

 

Requiring less for amnesty people seems unusual.

They could have ended the automatic extension once it was safe to visit immigration offices and introduced a "pay to stay" scheme at that time. This could have included: Pay 1,900 baht for each extension, show proof of funds and/or accomodation, show proof of insurance. I think most of those affected wouldn't have had a problem with that.

 

For whatever reason, that didn't happen.

 

[JackThompson]

1 hour ago, genericptr said:

Of course I agree with that but Thais see their country like a personal home and they don't want people from anywhere living freely and getting too comfortable. It's very hard for us to understand this because we've been treating our own countries like shopping malls. Thailand is for the Thais.

If that is the case, then restrict us to living in certain zones.  If they want 90% of the country Thai-only, up to them - but don't be stupid and forefit the income. 

Where ever we are "zoned" will be where Thais will be able to move to earn better money than they can get anywhere else in the country.  Unlike Hi-Sos, we treat working-class people with respect.  Ask any Thai working in the Tourist industry if they prefer a foreign-boss, and which foreign-customers treat them best. 

Maybe that's the real problem - why they have no problem with the Chinese coming in to abuse / exploit their people, and wreck their tourist-areas with crowding, but hate Westerners who spend with smaller businesses - creating a ladder of economic progress out of poverty, which  the elites resent.

 

59 minutes ago, genericptr said:

Listen, these are not MY views, these are the views of the Thai government and a large portion of the public. The problem is that WE don't understand how the Thais think and so we're very confused as to why they don't do simple and obvious things to improve the situation. I'm merely trying to shed light on the disconnect we appear to have with the Thai way of thinking.

You are talking about hi-sos who do not rely on our spending as a bridge out of poverty - not regular Thais, who want our business, and resent Immigration's forcing many of us out pre-covid. 

 

Regular Thais are fine with us here a guests, provided we cannot buy them out of their land, or vote in their elections (for what those are worth).  I support both of those restrictions - and no problem if they want to arrest, boot, and ban any foreigner who gets involved in political-demonstrations and such. 

[from the home of CC]

20 hours ago, Caldera said:

As immigration have put affected foreigners on notice that they need to either extend their "visa" or prepare to leave by September 26th, I wouldn't bank on any additional time to get out in case the government doesn't extend the blanket extension again.

 

What to make of this depends on your personal circumstances. Some qualify for extensions that could be applied for at the very end of the automatic extension. Others don't and might need weeks of preparation to extend their stay.

and some will have to go home (or somewhere else) although they won't want to but if they're unprepared then they better revisit their priorities in life for they've had ample time..

[mtls2005]

9 minutes ago, david555 said:

The border hoppers consider themself as "stranded "as closed borders making it impossible to do their usual visa/ extension stuff and so avoiding the normal visa for their status .. as preference by immigration ...

 

Understood.

 

Already said a virtual border should be set-up, but it seems too straightfoward, so there must be some quasi-legal reason why that can't be done.

[JackThompson]

1 hour ago, genericptr said:

then please you tell me. Why do they make us jump through hoops and monitor us like children? Why not just give another 3 months of amnesty until the borders return to normal? There's a million ways they could make life easier for expats but they continue to make life more difficult. Why?

Corruption.  They are happy to let us stay for payoffs.  Their entire immigration-system is CENTERED around corruption, with the "official functions" being "gilded" on top of it, for show.

 

All the fake-nationalism and "bad guys" propaganda out of Immigration is just their way of keeping the foot-soldiers in line (and rude to us and our Thai families), to keep the brown-envelopes rolling in.

Edited August 26, 2020 by JackThompson

[mtls2005]

13 minutes ago, Caldera said:

They could have ended the automatic extension once it was safe to visit immigration offices and introduced a "pay to stay" scheme at that time. This could have included: Pay 1,900 baht for each extension, show proof of funds and/or accomodation, show proof of insurance. I think most of those affected wouldn't have had a problem with that.

 

This seems reasonable but it does need some limited time period, right? Or could you renew every month forever?

 

 

[BritManToo]

4 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

This seems reasonable but it does need some limited time period, right? Or could you renew every month forever

I'd let us stay here until the borders open.

It's not as if we're taking up rooms needed for other foreign tourists.

 

What I don't understand is why the government isn't laying off most of their immigration staff.

They've gone from working 40M foreigners down to about 1M, and 6 months later they're all still on full pay.

Edited August 26, 2020 by BritManToo

[JackThompson]

1 hour ago, Bangkok Barry said:

Not at the moment, they're not. Anyone can leave Thailand, but try re-entering.

You cannot leave, unless the other country will accept you. 

 

Even if land-borders were open one-way - so we could, for example, walk across into Cambodia (even w/ short-quarantine + test) - that would be a step-up from the status-quo.  Normally, no problem getting an "other" visa upon entry to Cambodia, then extending 6 mo+ (a year+, if 55+ YO) - but this is not available now.

If we could even fly to the PI, that would be do-able - no problem At ALL staying there for YEARS after entering on a TR-Exempt entry, or apply for one of their affordable and corruption-free retirement-schemes - but only those with PI-family can get in now. 

[mtls2005]

1 minute ago, BritManToo said:

I'd let us stay here until the borders open.

 So leave the day the borders open? Within some time period?

 

2 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

They've gone from working 40M foreigners down to about 1M, and they're all still on full pay.

 

That's why government jobs are so highly prized.

 

Doubt many miss airport duty, was said to be the least desirable posting by some.

 

 

[poloshirt]

21 hours ago, Kay McDonnell said:

I was at immigration yesterday and today.  they said that tourists will 100% have to leave on the 26th September or apply for a student visa.

Good day everyone, from what I read the border will be open end of August? Or is it September? I am talking about the land border in Pedang Besar(malaysian border).

My question is "Would I be able to take a train to Penang?" If Yes, exactly when I can do that? End of August? In September?

I believe there will be quite a few expats going to Penang to do their visa renewal, they perhaps know something wouldn't they?

Don't forget the big brother said, "Everybody must leave"-

Oh, by the way in Kuala Lumpur Thai Embassy they want you to download the application form from their website , fill it up and bring it to Thai Embassy to renew your visa. I am not sure what they want in Penang. Anyone knows?

I believe I have to look for an internet cafe in Penang to download the application form I supposed. They know you love Thailand so much and dying to get back in: so you will search for the internet and do whatever they want you to do- that's the feeling I got.

Have all the Penang internet cafe closed & out of business because of our I-phone? In Hatyai very very few internet cafe. I may have to go to the public library in Penang to get it done. I am sure the Public Library has the facilities.

 

[Seik]

34 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Thailand, scowling and rude every time.

I feel like this has to do with the way Thai people's demeanor with strangers in general (Thai or otherwise). It's common to see people selling things to their clients without saying so much as a word to any of them, which in the west would be considered very rude, it's just not the case in Thailand.

[david555]

11 minutes ago, JackThompson said:

Corruption.  They are happy to let us stay for payoffs.  Their entire immigration-system is CENTERED around corruption, with the "official functions" being "gilded" on top of it, for show.

 

All the fake-nationalism and "bad guys" propaganda out of Immigration is just their way of keeping the foot-soldiers in line (and rude to us and our Thai families), to keep the brown-envelopes rolling in.

Come on..

this rating from you is only half correct ...and only needed for those who do not comply with the requirements.

 

Since my all 8 applications for ret. Ext. Following the needs set by Immigration  i never got any problem or refusal .and to be clear i never used an agent !

[JacksSmirkingRevenge]

Unless things change, it'll be extended probably until early 2021.  

[BritManToo]

Just now, poloshirt said:

Good day everyone, from what I read the border will be open end of August? Or is it September? I am talking about the land border in Pedang Besar(malaysian border).

My question is "Would I be able to take a train to Penang?" If Yes, exactly when I can do that? End of August? In September?

Answer: Forget it, it ain't gonna happen, you ain't going anywhere.

[JackThompson]

31 minutes ago, david555 said:

The border hoppers consider themself as "stranded "as closed borders making it impossible to do their usual visa/ extension stuff and so avoiding the normal visa for their status .. as preference by immigration ...????

Translation: "Impossible to get visas we qualify to receive from the less-corrupt MFA - thus avoiding Immigration's agent-money extortion schemes." 

 

Thick brown-envelopes from "bad guys" are their preference - not Honest Applicants paying 1900 Baht.

Edited August 26, 2020 by JackThompson

[Max69xl]

"agent might cost me more, but as long as it can be done."

It doesn't have to cost you a lot more using an agent because the explanation you got about the overstay is not correct. 

[JackThompson]

1 minute ago, david555 said:

Come on..

this rating from you is only half correct ...and only needed for those who do not comply with the requirements.

Which requirements?  The official-ones, or the additional ones the make-up to block your agent-money-free application?
 

1 minute ago, david555 said:

Since my all 8 applications for ret. Ext. Following the needs set by Immigration  i never got any problem or refusal .and to be clear i never used an agent !

Retirement is easy.  And even if you didn't have the financials, it would still be cheap (~12K/yr for Jomtien reported - max 15K).  Thai-Family and Business related is a whole other can of Agent-Money worms.

[Bikke]

20 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

Actually it is possible to apply for a 90 day non immigrant visa (category ED) entry at immigration to attend a school with the correct supporting documents if on a visa exempt or tourist visa entry.

Ugh, really? I've called seven schools in Bangkok and they've all said you have to apply from outside the country!

 

[poloshirt]

3 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Answer: Forget it, it ain't gonna happen, you ain't going anywhere.

Oh, please don't say that. I am dying to go to Penang for some good foods. I am a foodie. A self style foods critic.

[david555]

3 minutes ago, JackThompson said:

Translation: "Impossible to get visas we qualify to receive from the less-corrupt MFA - thus avoiding Immigration's agent-money extortion schemes." 

 

Thik brown-envelopes from "bad guys" are their preference - not Honest Applicants paying 1900 Baht.

That was my argument it to only half correct .

 

The good guys can not be their clients for a pay ...and they know very well who is and who isnt