Foreigners in Thailand face fines and jail for overstaying as visa amnesty ends

[polpott]

12 hours ago, jacob29 said:

Well.. there were quite the hoops to jump through to extend legally via the embassy letter at Jomtien. Needing the landlord to provide scans of their ID, or even attend at immigration. No such hoops when extending via back channels. You tell me, who is the undesirable when you compare those two groups?

If I had any difficulty obtaining my visa at Jomtien (which I never have), I would give an agent 20k and say, "make it happen". For the life of me, I can't understand why these cash rich, free spending; tourists caught out by the ending of the amnesty don't do the same. If you have money in Thailand and are willing to spend it, life's a breeze.

[polpott]

12 hours ago, BritManToo said:

The ones having zero problems are the guys paying 25k+ bribes via agents.

Its not a bribe, its payment for services rendered. Whether the agent goes down the bribe route or not is irrelevant. You have done nothing illegal.

[checkered flag]

Over stay fines could be a budget windfall for the Thai budget. At 500 baht / day X xxx it could quickly add up. If they run out of rooms they could use a AQF hotel to house them at the guest's expense (already have security) and probably get a commission from the hotel.  Visa agents might be available to offer expensive solutions for a 30 day extension, but maybe already too late.

[jacob29]

10 hours ago, polpott said:

For the life of me, I can't understand why these cash rich, free spending; tourists caught out by the ending of the amnesty don't do the same. If you have money in Thailand and are willing to spend it, life's a breeze.

The short answer is, they are.

[Eindhoven]

On 9/24/2020 at 8:28 AM, checkered flag said:

The truth is hard to accept by those that think they are smarter and have everything figured out, until they fail. 

 

Are you still trying to defend your ridiculous comment of....

 

Quote

- Real tourists have a 10-20 day per year holiday, then they go back to work in their home countries.

?

 

Is that the truth that I find hard to accept? 

 

So the people whom I met on my travels who would work hard in their countries for six months and then travel to Thailand at the end of the season and party for six months were what?

We would meet again and again every year. Many people staying for at least six months. Usually on the islands down south.

But with your limited knowledge and experience, you espouse some lunatic theory about "real tourists".

Time to grow up my friend. There is more happening in this world than goes on in your head.

 

The only person here whom I see is unable to accept the truth, is you.

 

 

[metisdead]

Inflammatory posts and replies have been removed.

[Blumpie]

12 minutes ago, micmichd said:

So what? 

I was a backpacker and globetrotter once, maybe I lived off the land and others sometimes. And now I've come to pay back. That's what I worked for. 

But I like getting into your business and assuming the worst.  Why?  Because I have no life, am angry, and moved away from America where I was miserable to be miserable in Thailand.  ????  

[rott]

I find it hard to agree with Eindhoven, but he is spot on above. 

[Eindhoven]

1 hour ago, micmichd said:

So what? 

I was a backpacker and globetrotter once, maybe I lived off the land and others sometimes. And now I've come to pay back. That's what I worked for. 

This guy is in fact a globetrotter, and maybe a good fit for a global economy. Managers like it when they see experience overseas in a CV. 

Who are you to judge? 

 

Apart from anything else, I was referring to the people whom I met. Certainly not referring to backpackers....even though I did that too.

Once again the limited imagination of a certain poster strikes again.

 

These are people who owned nightclubs for instance, myself included. International DJs earning a minimum of 10k per gig and countless others. They weren't living a backpacker lifestyle nor living off the land. They were continuing their lifestyle. Six months in the sun in Europe and six months in the sun in Asia.

 

Not real tourists? These are the real tourists that Thailand wants.

 

 

[bangon04]

Not much is said about the people stuck outside Thailand for over 6 months who paid for and received valid visas, which in some cases are still valid but useless because they cannot be used. Guess they do not get much money back.......

[overherebc]

11 minutes ago, bangon04 said:

Not much is said about the people stuck outside Thailand for over 6 months who paid for and received valid visas, which in some cases are still valid but useless because they cannot be used. Guess they do not get much money back.......

And my wife who paid for a 6 month visa for UK. Flights cancelled etc and no usual UK visit this year. Yes we could maybe have got a flight to UK but think of the cost and hassle to get back to Thailand.

[checkered flag]

11 hours ago, Eindhoven said:

 

Apart from anything else, I was referring to the people whom I met. Certainly not referring to backpackers....even though I did that too.

Once again the limited imagination of a certain poster strikes again.

 

These are people who owned nightclubs for instance, myself included. International DJs earning a minimum of 10k per gig and countless others. They weren't living a backpacker lifestyle nor living off the land. They were continuing their lifestyle. Six months in the sun in Europe and six months in the sun in Asia.

 

Not real tourists? These are the real tourists that Thailand wants.

 

 

Sounds like illegal workers to me. Did they get work permits and proper visas or just winging it with hope they aren't caught? Who in their right mind would pay an international DJ that kind of money? I give you some more panuchos.

[micmichd]

12 hours ago, Eindhoven said:

 

Apart from anything else, I was referring to the people whom I met. Certainly not referring to backpackers....even though I did that too.

Once again the limited imagination of a certain poster strikes again.

 

These are people who owned nightclubs for instance, myself included. International DJs earning a minimum of 10k per gig and countless others. They weren't living a backpacker lifestyle nor living off the land. They were continuing their lifestyle. Six months in the sun in Europe and six months in the sun in Asia.

 

Not real tourists? These are the real tourists that Thailand wants.

 

 

You mean they shared their assets and their lifestyle with Thais people to the benefit of Thailand? 

Then I'm glad I turned my lifestyle down in Germany so it's not hard for me to share my monthly pension money now with Thais. Guess THAT is the kind of people that Thailand wants. 

And no, I'm not a tourist. I live here. 

[checkered flag]

14 hours ago, Eindhoven said:

 

Are you still trying to defend your ridiculous comment of....

 

?

 

Is that the truth that I find hard to accept? 

 

So the people whom I met on my travels who would work hard in their countries for six months and then travel to Thailand at the end of the season and party for six months were what?

We would meet again and again every year. Many people staying for at least six months. Usually on the islands down south.

But with your limited knowledge and experience, you espouse some lunatic theory about "real tourists".

Time to grow up my friend. There is more happening in this world than goes on in your head.

 

The only person here whom I see is unable to accept the truth, is you.

 

 

So they aren't travelers at all but migrant workers. Hope they comply with all the Thai labor laws. That said I don't think there are many 10,000K/night gigs in Thailand during the past 6 months. Probably no where else either.

[micmichd]

15 hours ago, jacob29 said:

The short answer is, they are.

What I don't understand is that those Farangs waited for the amnesty to end. When they all saw the reapplication of Thai visa and immigration laws would be coming. 

You're here on Thaivisa. You have experts here like ubonjoe. Why did you never understand what he wrote and apply it to your personal situation? 

[jomtienisgood]

1 hour ago, checkered flag said:

So they aren't travelers at all but migrant workers. Hope they comply with all the Thai labor laws. That said I don't think there are many 10,000K/night gigs in Thailand during the past 6 months. Probably no where else either.

10.000K = 10,000 000 = ten million Thb / night ????????? 

[checkered flag]

3 minutes ago, jomtienisgood said:

10.000K = 10,000 000 = ten million Thb / night ????????? 

You're right. I pulled a Biden on that. Drop the K and it should be OK. My point is that paying migrant workers 10K/night to be a DJ seems a bit delusional IMO. In fact I doubt if any night clubs in Pattaya or Phuket are still open. 

[ninjabkk]

On 9/25/2020 at 6:51 AM, polpott said:

Its not a bribe, its payment for services rendered. Whether the agent goes down the bribe route or not is irrelevant. You have done nothing illegal.

I'm also in Pattaya, 

when will you ask agents to get visa? is it ok on 28th? 

[polpott]

13 minutes ago, ninjabkk said:

I'm also in Pattaya, 

when will you ask agents to get visa? is it ok on 28th? 

I don't need to, my retirement extension isn't due until Christmas. For you, it may be already too late. Get yourself to an agent ASAP. The one at the side of the door into immigration would be your best chance, although not the cheapest.

[Eindhoven]

4 hours ago, checkered flag said:

You're right. I pulled a Biden on that. Drop the K and it should be OK. My point is that paying migrant workers 10K/night to be a DJ seems a bit delusional IMO. In fact I doubt if any night clubs in Pattaya or Phuket are still open. 

 

Are you being deliberately obtuse or is it really the limit of your knowledge? They earn a minimum of £10k per night during the season. Then they go to Asia to follow the sun and relax. They don't need to work in Asia for a pittance.

Similarly nightclubs. When you have a capacity of thousands and are charging 30€ just to get in, at the end of the season you aren't thinking about working....and paying a popular DJ £10k is nothing.

You really appear to have no idea...

 

 

[Eindhoven]

6 hours ago, micmichd said:

You mean they shared their assets and their lifestyle with Thais people to the benefit of Thailand? 

Then I'm glad I turned my lifestyle down in Germany so it's not hard for me to share my monthly pension money now with Thais. Guess THAT is the kind of people that Thailand wants. 

And no, I'm not a tourist. I live here. 

 

Most certainly. 

I personally brought six to nine months of 45,000 baht per month to my accommodation provider alone. No drinking, smoking or partying with local girls, but I was still spending 100k baht per month.

Imagine the people who were partying every day and how much they would spend.

 

It's not about whether you spend 40k or 100k. It's just about countering the Troll like nonsense of "real tourists have 10 to 20 days of holiday.....".

 

 

 

 

[Jai Dee]

Enough of the off-topic petty bickering.

 

Please keep the discussion on-topic.

[NanLaew]

6 hours ago, micmichd said:

What I don't understand is that those Farangs waited for the amnesty to end. When they all saw the reapplication of Thai visa and immigration laws would be coming. 

You're here on Thaivisa. You have experts here like ubonjoe. Why did you never understand what he wrote and apply it to your personal situation? 

In an effort to stop this same question being asked again, here's my take on the two main reasons that some foreigners in some locations left it till the end.

 

A ) The hope that the amnesty could be extended.

 

B ) The evidence that some Immigration offices were not honoring their own directive that any temporary post-amnesty extensions would come into effect from the day after the amnesty ended.

 

It is simplistic to think that the above is just an effort to stay here as long as possible. One can argue indolent youth, sloth and procrastination till the cows come home but a very real and more difficult situation prevails in most of these people's homelands. Yes, this isn't Thailand's problem per se but they still see it as a problem inasmuch that they have requested that foreign embassies do their bit to help and issue letters required by Thai immigration to support these ad-hoc extensions.

 

It's is basically the long, roughly 8-week 'grace' period offered by Immigration in late July that the cabinet declined to implement now being shoehorned into 7, 14 or 30 days, depending on what an immigration officer decides to issue on a case-by-case basis.

 

FWIW, Udon Thani immigration office posted notices last Friday that they too would be open for business today to clear their huge backlog. This isn't due to loads of itinerant backpackers and lazy retirees hedging their bets on an amnesty extension. It's allegedly because Nong Khai Immigration (another province) decided that thousands of their Laotian diaspora need to have their extensions processed and issued in Udon Thani.

Edited September 26, 2020 by NanLaew

[checkered flag]

6 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

In an effort to stop this same question being asked again, here's my take on the two main reasons that some foreigners in some locations left it till the end.

 

A ) The hope that the amnesty could be extended.

 

B ) The evidence that some Immigration offices were not honoring their own directive that any temporary post-amnesty extensions would come into effect from the day after the amnesty ended.

 

It is simplistic to think that the above is just an effort to stay here as long as possible. One can argue indolent youth, sloth and procrastination till the cows come home but a very real and more difficult situation prevails in most of these people's homelands. Yes, this isn't Thailand's problem per se but they still see it as a problem inasmuch that they have requested that foreign embassies do their bit to help and issue letters required by Thai immigration to support these ad-hoc extensions.

 

It's is basically the long, roughly 8-week 'grace' period offered by Immigration in late July that the cabinet declined to implement now being shoehorned into 7, 14 or 30 days, depending on what an immigration officer decides to issue on a case-by-case basis.

It's nothing to do with others. Some people screw up and don't get it done. They are 100% responsible.

[NanLaew]

1 minute ago, checkered flag said:

It's nothing to do with others.

Did I suggest it was?

 

2 minutes ago, checkered flag said:

Some people screw up and don't get it done.

I covered the procrastinators already, no?

 

2 minutes ago, checkered flag said:

They are 100% responsible.

Everyone is 100% responsible for their own situation and the resolution of it.

 

Have I missed something telling in the previous 31 pages?

[Eindhoven]

12 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

Did I suggest it was?

 

I covered the procrastinators already, no?

 

Everyone is 100% responsible for their own situation and the resolution of it.

 

Have I missed something telling in the previous 31 pages?

 

checkered flag/Mattzon...twins separated at birth?

[checkered flag]

1 hour ago, NanLaew said:

Did I suggest it was?

 

I covered the procrastinators already, no?

 

Everyone is 100% responsible for their own situation and the resolution of it.

 

Have I missed something telling in the previous 31 pages?

Yes, you offered a lot of excuses but not personal responsibility. The 31 pages are mostly NanLaew and Eindhoven.

Edited September 26, 2020 by checkered flag

[micmichd]

4 hours ago, ninjabkk said:

I'm also in Pattaya, 

when will you ask agents to get visa? is it ok on 28th? 

Depends on when your visa and your latest extension of stay (date for next report) expires. 

Better check before Monday, or ask a visa agent if you can't find the right date. If both dates are not yet due then you don't need to care about the amnesty. 

[checkered flag]

It's after 5 PM on Sept 26th. I think the final bell has rung. Those in line might or might not get served.

[micmichd]

4 hours ago, ninjabkk said:

I'm also in Pattaya, 

when will you ask agents to get visa? is it ok on 28th? 

I can tell you a good visa agent in Pattaya via pm. 

Or ask ubonjoe.