New from US Embassy: "Official extension stamp" to change to long-term visa

[vermin on arrival]

Finally they are treating us like we matter.

[lopburi3]

14 minutes ago, greggraham said:

t's real, my housemate received it by email this morning, and others have posted about it on Facebook. @WhateverDude also got it. No need to scaremonger. 

The fact is at least some of us on Embassy mailing list have not received it and the Embassy has just posted this on web site - below is what has been posed on website within the last hour:

Frequently Asked Questions

Home | News & Events | Frequently Asked Questions

 

Quote

 

Last update: 27 August 2020

Q: What is the status on the Royal Thai Government’s visa amnesty?
A: On July 29, the Royal Thai Government officially approved a grace period until September 26, 2020 for persons in Thailand in temporary visa status (of all visa types) to depart the country. The measure was published on that date in the Royal Thai Gazette.  The grace period further extends the automatic visa extension that was first announced in late March due to Covid-related travel difficulties.   In light of this decision by the Royal Thai Government, visa extension letters from the U.S. Embassy are not required to remain in Thailand between now and September 26. After that date, normal thirty-day extensions may be available for individuals who can demonstrate compelling reasons for not being able to depart Thailand.  Those decisions will be made by Royal Thai Immigration officers on a case-by-case basis. You should make plans to leave Thailand before the September 26 deadline or risk being in violation of Thai immigration law. If you wish to request a letter from the U.S. Embassy to accompany your application for a 30-day extension past the September 26 extension, please click on this link to complete this form to request a letter. Please note the Royal Thai government is under no obligation to extend short-term visas and may end the practice at any time. If your request is denied or you do not wish to change to an appropriate long-term visa category, you should begin making plans to depart Thailand as soon as possible. Please contact the U.S. Embassy if you need financial assistance to depart Thailand.

 

https://th.usembassy.gov/covid-19-faq/

[greggraham]

2 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

The fact is at least some of us on Embassy mailing list have not received it and the Embassy has just posted this on web site - below is what has been posed on website within the last hour:

Frequently Asked Questions

Home | News & Events | Frequently Asked Questions

 

 

Okay well that links to the exact same form I posted from the email ???? 

[Phillip9]

17 minutes ago, vermin on arrival said:

Finally they are treating us like we matter.

That’s why I didn’t believe it was real ????

[lopburi3]

12 minutes ago, greggraham said:

Okay well that links to the exact same form I posted from the email ???? 

Yes indeed and appears the 30 day option is valid if for good reasons.  But did not see any mention of the other information so suspect that is not for release yet? 

[FarFlungFalang]

33 minutes ago, Maestro said:

 

At what immigration office was this?

Yasothon.It's only opened in the last year.

[audaciousnomad]

15 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

Yes indeed and appears the 30 day option is valid if for good reasons.  But did not see any mention of the other information so suspect that is not for release yet? 

Wording of the email body and attachment seems to suggest that the Embassy is acknowledging its citizens' presence here, but will not be of use in any appeals or justification in getting your extension request approved. You are still at the discretion of Thai immigration, and the burden rests with you in proving your case to them on why you deserve 30 more days.

[FarFlungFalang]

14 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

Yes indeed and appears the 30 day option is valid if for good reasons.  But did not see any mention of the other information so suspect that is not for release yet? 

Any idea what those good reasons might be?

[audaciousnomad]

1 minute ago, FarFlungFalang said:

Any idea what those good reasons might be?

I can think of one. If you have well-documented attempts at leaving and getting your flight(s) cancelled by the airline even into September.

[vermin on arrival]

2 minutes ago, audaciousnomad said:

Wording of the email body and attachment seems to suggest that the Embassy is acknowledging its citizens' presence here, but will not be of use in any appeals or justification in getting your extension request approved. You are still at the discretion of Thai immigration, and you will have to prove your case to them on why you deserve 30 more days.

But it may be just a formality as they collect there 1900 baht from thousands of us to help refill the government coffers. The Thai government needs the money from immigration fees. It is an important source of revenue, if nothing else to pay the salaries of immigration

[vermin on arrival]

17 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

Yes indeed and appears the 30 day option is valid if for good reasons.  But did not see any mention of the other information so suspect that is not for release yet? 

I am skeptical that you will need a good reason. Maybe just a smile on your face, the proper forms and 1900 baht. It will pay immigrations salaries without the Thai government taking out loans and engaging deficit spending.

[audaciousnomad]

1 minute ago, vermin on arrival said:

But it may be just a formality as they collect there 1900 baht from thousands of us to help refill the government coffers. The Thai government needs the money from immigration fees. It is an important source of revenue, if nothing else to pay the salaries of immigration

I hope it is that easy.  The fee doesn't concern me so much as the idea that I will somehow need to smooth-talk the officer into approving my application. ????

[Daithi85]

I'm surprised visa agents havent penciled in a price for a 30 day extension with/without Embassy letter yet.

[audaciousnomad]

2 minutes ago, Daithi85 said:

I'm surprised visa agents havent penciled in a price for a 30 day extension with/without Embassy letter yet.

Time-value of money. The other long-stay visa options are worth much more money per hour worked compared with a simple extension application. That said, the closer we get to 26-Sep, we may start to see some offers for that service.

[finy]

Lucky Yanks.

 

Does anyone know if the UK embassy is being so generous?

[FarFlungFalang]

5 minutes ago, audaciousnomad said:

I can think of one. If you have well-documented attempts at leaving and getting your flight(s) cancelled by the airline even into September.

Doesn't work for me as I'm not going anywhere on a plane,I'll go to Suvanakhet for a new visa or if they'll give me the yearly extension with money in the bank I would take that but I'm not going to Oz to get a bloody stamp it's just to expensive.I would also go to Suvanabhumi and exit at immigration then re-enter and get a visa on arrival without leaving the ground but that's probably a bit to easy to be allowed to simple and most of all to logical.

[Caldera]

6 minutes ago, Daithi85 said:

I'm surprised visa agents havent penciled in a price for a 30 day extension with/without Embassy letter yet.

From reports, visa agents can help you get a medical extension without seeing a medical doctor. By going that route, no embassy letter is required.

[KayH]

9 minutes ago, audaciousnomad said:

I hope it is that easy.  The fee doesn't concern me so much as the idea that I will somehow need to smooth-talk the officer into approving my application. ????

I will (for the most part) happily go (yet again) to Muangthong Thani to humbly request a real stamp and then an extension. I feel like I burned my first extension when I went on March 16 (on Koh Samui) to extend to April 27. I first arrived in Thailand on Feb 28; I was on a trip around the world that has turned into my basically residing in Bangkok. I went today and got turned back because I didn't have a reservation. Shrug. Have reservation now, going back tomorrow. With my only other solid option being Thai Elite visa (five year option, 500K baht), I'll just eat these many round trips from Sukhumvit.

[greggraham]

9 minutes ago, finy said:

Lucky Yanks.

 

Does anyone know if the UK embassy is being so generous?

Sort of; https://www.gov.uk/guidance/notarial-and-documentary-services-guide-for-thailand#covid-19-visa-extension-applications--support-letter 

[ndreamer]

3 hours ago, FarFlungFalang said:

I got it on the 31/07/2020.The weren't giving them out but gave me one because of extenuating circumstances.It was exactly the same as the first letter.It still didn't help as I've used my 60 extension and my office says they can only give one extension and to wait until 26th Sept to see what happens.

Wow okay i did not know that. That was originally my plan as well but i'm stuck trying to do the 60 day extension. I have requested the letter since i can't see any flights that are even possible before the 26th. 

[ubonjoe]

10 minutes ago, finy said:

Does anyone know if the UK embassy is being so generous?

Yes

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/notarial-and-documentary-services-guide-for-thailand#covid-19-visa-extension-applications--support-letter

[Daithi85]

12 minutes ago, FarFlungFalang said:

Doesn't work for me as I'm not going anywhere on a plane,I'll go to Suvanakhet for a new visa or if they'll give me the yearly extension with money in the bank I would take that but I'm not going to Oz to get a bloody stamp it's just to expensive.I would also go to Suvanabhumi and exit at immigration then re-enter and get a visa on arrival without leaving the ground but that's probably a bit to easy to be allowed to simple and most of all to logical.

How are you going to get to savanaket with borders being closed and zero sign of them opening any time soon?

[greggraham]

11 minutes ago, KayH said:

I will (for the most part) happily go (yet again) to Muangthong Thani to humbly request a real stamp and then an extension. I feel like I burned my first extension when I went on March 16 (on Koh Samui) to extend to April 27. I first arrived in Thailand on Feb 28; I was on a trip around the world that has turned into my basically residing in Bangkok. I went today and got turned back because I didn't have a reservation. Shrug. Have reservation now, going back tomorrow. With my only other solid option being Thai Elite visa (five year option, 500K baht), I'll just eat these many round trips from Sukhumvit.

Let us know how you get on. So you're going for the free "official extension stamp" to request changing to a long-term visa, no letter needed, right? 

[lopburi3]

2 minutes ago, Daithi85 said:

How are you going to get to savanaket with borders being closed and zero sign of them opening any time soon?

Getting a visa might be the hard part.

[Mike Teavee]

44 minutes ago, audaciousnomad said:

Wording of the email body and attachment seems to suggest that the Embassy is acknowledging its citizens' presence here, but will not be of use in any appeals or justification in getting your extension request approved. You are still at the discretion of Thai immigration, and the burden rests with you in proving your case to them on why you deserve 30 more days.

I would imagine some of the Agents will offer a "30 day extension with letter from US Embassy" very soon ???? 

[audaciousnomad]

3 minutes ago, Mike Teavee said:

I would imagine some of the Agents will offer a "30 day extension with letter from US Embassy" very soon ???? 

God I hope not. They are already making a killing from the ED and Volunteer visas. They should leave these short-stay requests alone. ????

[IraqRon]

are non o's considered short term visas, seems I saw that in an official doc, as compared to an non imm O-A visa.  Say a non imm. m/e based upon thai wife.

[ubonjoe]

3 minutes ago, IraqRon said:

are non o's considered short term visas, seems I saw that in an official doc, as compared to an non imm O-A visa.  Say a non imm. m/e based upon thai wife.

Since they only allow a 90 day stay a non-o visa is considered a short stay visa.

[Peter Denis]

1 hour ago, Caldera said:

From reports, visa agents can help you get a medical extension without seeing a medical doctor. By going that route, no embassy letter is required.

Hi Caldera,

I do not doubt what you are saying (after all this is Thailand), but have to warn anyone going that route that such a 'special extension' is not a regular extension, and that it normally cannot be used as a spring-board to apply for a 1-year extension of stay, but these are exceptional times and with 11/26 september deadline approaching things might have changed...

 

See attached link >

https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1177074-has-anyone-here-gotten-their-30-day-extension-beyond-26-sept/?do=findComment&comment=15750398

[FarFlungFalang]

1 hour ago, ndreamer said:

Wow okay i did not know that. That was originally my plan as well but i'm stuck trying to do the 60 day extension. I have requested the letter since i can't see any flights that are even possible before the 26th. 

I was originally refused a letter as I thought it was a simple matter of sending a request for one but after the refusal I tried again with a lot more info and photo's of passport showing used visas and extensions and used a few words like extremely stressful and distressing and hardship and extenuating circumstances and was successful.I will be going into immigration tomorrow to try the same thing there and see if I can get them to make some enquiries to Bangkok to explore all available options on extenuating circumstances.