Last week in the Consular team #5

Let's start with a couple of Prevention visits the team made up country:

Phuket: Last week, Consul Paul Kaye and the Prevention team travelled to Phuket to pay a courtesy call on the new Governor and meet leads in the Provincial Police, Tourist Assistance Centre, Phuket Immigration, and Vachira Hospital. Amongst other things they discussed visa extensions, support for British Nationals stuck on boats in the area and the plans to reopen Phuket to tourists. Paul and the team also met members of the British business community to hear about their experiences of the crisis so far and the challenges ahead.

Prachuab Kirikhan: This week, representatives from the Consular team joined Tourist Assistance Centre colleagues from across Thailand in Cha-Am to talk about support and advice for foreign tourists and residents who have mental health issues. They shared experiences with TAC and the Galaya Institute and ran a workshop on support for those who need help and also on how officers managing cases with a mental health element can protect their own well-being.

While some of the team were working outside the office, in Bangkok we also provided help for 33 British nationals in emergency situations and 61 documentary services.  We conducted a prison visit and an emergency deployment. We’ve also been extremely busy issuing letters to support visa extension applications for people who cannot travel back to their countries of residence because the borders are closed, or the FCDO advises against all but essential travel.