22 minutes ago, CorpusChristie said:

There may be a considerable difference .

You may now have to give a valid reason to your Embassy as to why you need to stay in Thailand in order to get the letter and you may also have to give a valid reason to I.O as to why you want/need to stay .

  Or maybe they will just issue the letters and give the extensions without questioning the reasons 

I think the latter will be the case. It's just a question of which embassies will issue the letter. It's a matter of income for the Thai state and not one of national security I believe.

13 minutes ago, CorpusChristie said:

Could even be read as the I.O confirming that the free amnesty will NOT be extended ?

Maybe, but of course, TiT and in this crisis there are many contradictory things being stated.

9 minutes ago, vermin on arrival said:

I think the latter will be the case. It's just a question of which embassies will issue the letter. It's a matter of income for the Thai state and not one of national security I believe.

I wouldn't be surprised if the I.O "encourage" people to use agencies when applying for the extensions 

Why is this breaking news? The requirements for a 30 days extension is exactly as announced earlier?? 

6 minutes ago, Max69xl said:

Why is this breaking news? The requirements for a 30 days extension is exactly as announced earlier?? 

 

This is the part that was added that is "breaking news".  It is verbal though. It remains to be seen whether the Cabinet will file an official amendment. More likely the ability to continuously renew will not be guaranteed by them, and will be a the discretion of Immigration.
 

Quote

However, if the tourist’s circumstances have not changed within the 30 days, they can apply for another 30 days’ stay, he added.

 

Just now, audaciousnomad said:

 

This is the part that was added that is "breaking news".  It is verbal though. It remains to be seen whether the Cabinet will file an official amendment. More likely the ability to continuously renew will not be guaranteed by them, and will be a the discretion of Immigration.
 

 

 More likely the Thai government will extend the amnesty until the end of the year and ignore the 'money grab' ideas from immigration.

1 minute ago, BritManToo said:

 More likely the Thai government will extend the amnesty until the end of the year and ignore the 'money grab' ideas from immigration.

I could see that too and we have this thread going on simultaneously about giving us long stay visas:

 

 

50 minutes ago, CorpusChristie said:

Could even be read as the I.O confirming that the free amnesty will NOT be extended ?

That is exactly what they are saying. Part of the message is to the other decision makers to the effect that immigration's position is reasonable, and those with genuine problems are catered for.

54 minutes ago, CorpusChristie said:

Could even be read as the I.O confirming that the free amnesty will NOT be extended ?

 They cannot confirm or deny anything concerning AMNESTY since it is not them who declared it. They may have opinion about the amnesty. And the opinion may be totally ignored at the end (exactly what has happened in July).

9 minutes ago, BritTim said:

That is exactly what they are saying. Part of the message is to the other decision makers to the effect that immigration's position is reasonable, and those with genuine problems are catered for.

Correct. This announcement effectively makes it so that by 26-Sept everyone will be in one of these groups: left the country, ended up with a new stamp bringing their permitted stay current, or officially on overstay. It's clear their goal is to reset everything and be done with the amnesty stuff. Doesn't mean they will get what they want...but it does show that this is their goal.

1 hour ago, mr mr said:

how much per extension x number of people extending = cha ching. 

  

1 hour ago, Don Mega said:

Great.... I await the forum being flooded with moaners saying unfair it is to be charged for an extension....

We had no issue with paying "list price" for extensions.  The problem was/is not being able to get one w/o another 35K Baht or more "extra w/ no receipt"  and taking part in a crime - to spite qualifying "by the book" for the extension for which we were applying.

12 minutes ago, audaciousnomad said:

Correct. This announcement effectively makes it so that by 26-Sept everyone will be in one of these groups: left the country, ended up with a new stamp bringing their permitted stay current, or officially on overstay. It's clear their goal is to reset everything and be done with the amnesty stuff. Doesn't mean they will get what they want...but it does show that this is their goal.

I agree. Just another PR trick made with a purpose to regain control over foreigners (and their money). Hope it will not succeed. 

 

 

Quote

COVID-19 Visa Extension Applications – Support Letter

The British Embassy can issue a letter to support applications to extend existing visas for British Nationals who require a letter to apply for a Non-Immigrant visa or for those who are unable to travel to their country of residence due to border closures or if the FCDO advises against travel to that country.
 

 

The British Embassy  will  not  be  issuing a visa extension letter to British Nationals here on short-term visas who can travel to their country of residence.

 

An inmate has just tested positive for the virus.  And that ends the 100 days of no new cases.  And Myanmar is having a little outbreak and many are sneaking across the border.   Now isn't the best time to have people going to immigration offices in big crowds and fighting with immigration over embassy letters.  It's getting worse, not better.  

2 hours ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

Well looks like all the "Thailand hates farangs" and "Immigration just want all dirty farang to leave" brigade have a lot of egg on their posts.

Why?

Ok, so we just need to ask the US Embassy if we can get a letter due to the notoriously bad virus outcome the United States is having. Even my Thai friends think it's cruel I'm being sent back home when I'm in a safe country.

Quote

However, if the tourist’s circumstances have not changed within the 30 days, they can apply for another 30 days’ stay, he added.

 

To my understanding, this simply means that everyone should be able to extend with 30 days as of now and then be able to provide a medical certificate or embassy letter of they are unfit or unable to travel back to their home country.

16 minutes ago, genericptr said:

Ok, so we just need to ask the US Embassy if we can get a letter due to the notoriously bad virus outcome the United States is having. Even my Thai friends think it's cruel I'm being sent back home when I'm in a safe country.

If you haven't heard yet, the US embassy is already issuing letter now.

8 minutes ago, racket said:

To my understanding, this simply means that everyone should be able to extend with 30 days as of now and then be able to provide a medical certificate or embassy letter of they are unfit or unable to travel back to their home country.

But most of us CAN travel back home. Thailand knows this and Embassies know this. It remains to be seen if they will issue these letters (even once) let alone for multiple months.

1 hour ago, audaciousnomad said:

This is the part that was added that is "breaking news".  It is verbal though. It remains to be seen whether the Cabinet will file an official amendment. More likely the ability to continuously renew will not be guaranteed by them, and will be a the discretion of Immigration.
 

Quote

However, if the tourist’s circumstances have not changed within the 30 days, they can apply for another 30 days’ stay, he added.

 

This still isn't news.  It was already well know before that you can get multiple extensions with an embassy or doctors letter if you really can't travel.

5 minutes ago, Phillip9 said:

This still isn't news.  It was already well know before that you can get multiple extensions with an embassy or doctors letter if you really can't travel.

Never met anyone who ever successfully did that though.  Since Mar. 26th, everyone was on auto-amnesty without needing a letter, and the understanding it will now not be auto-renewed after 26-Sept.  This new announcement affirms that in the absence of an auto-amnesty, immig has explicitly committed to allowing the letters to be used continuously.

So amendments to this announcement notwithstanding, those of us on "Amnesty Time only" have three primary options?

 

1.  Obtain a medical certificate and apply for the 30 Day Extension.

2. Meet the requirements of your respective embassy to obtain a letter and apply for the 30 Day Extension.

3. Seek out the services of an agent to obtain a 1 Year Non O visa that matches your status. (Married, Dependant, Retirement)

This thread is nonsense. Bit similar to recent rubbish re Au and other countries invited to Phuket.

Never read rubbish that comes from thaivisa news forum and posted on visa.

In my thinking this is not definitive news.

5 minutes ago, fondue zoo said:

So amendments to this announcement notwithstanding, those of us on "Amnesty Time only" have three primary options?

 

1.  Obtain a medical certificate and apply for the 30 Day Extension.

2. Meet the requirements of your respective embassy to obtain a letter and apply for the 30 Day Extension.

3. Seek out the services of an agent to obtain a 1 Year Non O visa that matches your status. (Married, Dependant, Retirement)

Or wait a little longer for things to change again,there's now discussions going on to make a longer term visa for tourists here(the nation news)or the requirment for embassy letter might be dropped.

28 minutes ago, Phillip9 said:

If you haven't heard yet, the US embassy is already issuing letter now.

On what grounds? I have a ticket and I'm able bodied. Many of us simply don't want to go back now, especially in the US where the virus is causing so much damage.

8 minutes ago, Daithi85 said:

Or wait a little longer for things to change again,there's now discussions going on to make a longer term visa for tourists here(the nation news)or the requirment for embassy letter might be dropped.

LOL....IO trying to scramble and figure out some new revenue streams they can scheme onto us!

8 minutes ago, genericptr said:

On what grounds? I have a ticket and I'm able bodied. Many of us simply don't want to go back now, especially in the US where the virus is causing so much damage.

Only one country as an example. AU government has limit of 4k repats per week. International airlines have stated it will take 6 months to repatriate 100k Au currently outside of Australia. Think Qutar stop flights to AU (not sure)

Any comments from Oz guys welcome.

BTW Au gov just announced no Au citizens can exit Au till Dec 16. 

4 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

Only one country as an example. AU government has limit of 4k repats per week. International airlines have stated it will take 6 months to repatriate 100k Au currently outside of Australia. Think Qutar stop flights to AU (not sure)

 

I've heard this also so AU citizens should probably be getting letters. Most of us don't have those flight restrictions however so the embassies have no valid grounds to issue letters.

1 hour ago, JackThompson said:

  

We had no issue with paying "list price" for extensions.  The problem was/is not being able to get one w/o another 35K Baht or more "extra w/ no receipt"  and taking part in a crime - to spite qualifying "by the book" for the extension for which we were applying.

Indeed. And the letter thing is the same unnecessary business without saying it (not so good because Thailand lose money from those getting the letter, annoying Embassies and immigration...). And it's corruption.

 

Why the gouvernement and immigration can not be happy with a simple fix :

2K per month. No requirement. Official. Period. Everybody happy.

 

2 minutes ago, genericptr said:

I've heard this also so AU citizens should probably be getting letters. Most of us don't have those flight restrictions however so the embassies have no valid grounds to issue letters.

IMHO every country in the world should have stated....your currently in our country you can stay.

Most spreads of covid have been down to folk returning to own country.