Lol, It took the Thai chamber of commerce to point out to them the stupidity of kicking out 150,000 people who spend money here when they would only be allowing 1200 people a month in under the current new plan. What imbeciles.

1 hour ago, STD Warehouse said:

Ohhh what a surprise! Not!

 

i told everyone they would extend, and I tell you know, they will extend it again after this extension, it’s so obvious.

The only reason why they are considering extending the amnesty is because of many people attending immigration offices all trying to get visa extensions , so, they would unlikely extend the amnesty again 

26 minutes ago, Yorkshire Tea said:

No need to extend the "amnesty".  Just tell everyone to get 30 day extensions for 1900 baht, no reasons needed, no letters etc.   All they are doing is pushing last week's rush to the end of October, coz no one is going to believe it's the last amnesty extension.  What a cluster#$%@...

Both the immigration official at MTT and US Embassy told me they had no idea what would happen after Sept 26 and now we know why. At MTT, I asked what to do when about re-extending when I come back to get my under consideration stamp changed on Oct 21, and they said they didn't know and wait for a new announcement. The new announcement was that I should not have bothered going in on Wednesday.

 

This happened both in April and now in September when I was a good boy and got the emergency extension before my validity to stay ended.. Next time I think I will wait till it is past due to get my emergency extension with embassy letter. Let's face is there is probably still well more than 100k foreigners here and there will continuously have this problem so they should just follow Malaysia's lead and extend us all until sometime next year and allow us to stay until the Asian borders open and we can get to where we need to be or use the MFA Consulates in other countries to get our visas and not have to deal with immigration corruption.

Sabai sabai

 

 

 

 

Take Chang and relax 

 

Top domestic news item March 26 2023:

 

'After the 24th Covid visa extension, and in appreciation of their contribution to the Thai economy, the remaining 10,000 tourists stranded since March 2020 will be granted Honorary Thai Citizenship by the Ministry of the Interior.'  

I'm not convinced, why did they issue a notice that monday would be acceptable to apply for a further extension of stay, due to the long queues? Why was this not reported yesterday (according to the source, Prayut approved it on Friday) and why aren't any of the mainstream media covering this? I'll be slightly annoyed, as i've wasted a perfectly good extension, but grateful that there seems to be movement on allowing people to stay. Perhaps this will lead to a longer term solution (IF it is true.)

 

On a side note, at least we'll all have something to fret and talk about now. I was wondering what would happen to TV without some amnesty gossip to muse over...

1 minute ago, 2530Ubon said:

I'm not convinced, why did they issue a notice that monday would be acceptable to apply for a further extension of stay, due to the long queues? Why was this not reported yesterday (according to the source, Prayut approved it on Friday) and why aren't any of the mainstream media covering this? I'll be slightly annoyed, as i've wasted a perfectly good extension, but grateful that there seems to be movement on allowing people to stay. Perhaps this will lead to a longer term solution (IF it is true.)

 

On a side note, at least we'll all have something to fret and talk about now. I was wondering what would happen to TV without some amnesty gossip to muse over...

CW sent everyone home Saturday morning. Why would they do that if amnesty wasn't extended? I think the reason it took so long is that the people running this country aren't very competent as the leaders elsewhere in the region (Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan spring quickly to mind). I doubt it will lead to a long term solution. They will just keep the pressure on us to bribe or leave.

23 minutes ago, vermin on arrival said:

Both the immigration official at MTT and US Embassy told me they had no idea what would happen after Sept 26 and now we know why. At MTT, I asked what to do when about re-extending when I come back to get my under consideration stamp changed on Oct 21, and they said they didn't know and wait for a new announcement. The new announcement was that I should not have bothered going in on Wednesday.

 

This happened both in April and now in September when I was a good boy and got the emergency extension before my validity to stay ended.. Next time I think I will wait till it is past due to get my emergency extension with embassy letter. Let's face is there is probably still well more than 100k foreigners here and there will continuously have this problem so they should just follow Malaysia's lead and extend us all until sometime next year and allow us to stay until the Asian borders open and we can get to where we need to be or use the MFA Consulates in other countries to get our visas and not have to deal with immigration corruption.

Makes sense

8 minutes ago, vermin on arrival said:

CW sent everyone home Saturday morning. Why would they do that if amnesty wasn't extended? I think the reason it took so long is that the people running this country aren't very competent as the leaders elsewhere in the region (Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan spring quickly to mind). I doubt it will lead to a long term solution. They will just keep the pressure on us to bribe or leave.

Can anyone confirm being sent home from CW... or any IO office due to another announcement? Could be some classic clickbait

Should be a simple rule..amnesty until regular flights are allowed to land in Thailand. Right now..still many folks getting cancelled at the last minute. 

1 hour ago, Max69xl said:

If ฿1,900 is a lot of money in your world how can you afford daily expenses? 

Is making posts like that your way of compensating for your smallness in other areas Mr Max69xl?

 

Anyway it's not just about the money but the fact that I wasted a lot of time and I won't be able to use that extension again.

1 hour ago, Max69xl said:

If ฿1,900 is a lot of money in your world how can you afford daily expenses? 

If 1900 Baht is nothing to you, could you give me 1900 Baht ?

I will be going out for a beer tonight , I will PM you the bar and you can come and give me 1900 Baht, thanks

Have anybody think why day was 26 this month ! Don't say coz start 26! Reason "they have one <deleted> day " ! If you put your hand in sht even thai coverment members want wash that one!

1 hour ago, Yorkshire Tea said:

What a farce ????

 

Indeed, they totally lack any form of authority, they should stick to their guns and start fining or arresting people who don't make any effort to regularise their situation. As a matter of curiosity I checked with Swiss; flights to Zurich are near empty until the end of the month. For USD 650 anyone can get home. You can look for yourself on their website.

2 minutes ago, CorpusChristie said:

If 1900 Baht is nothing to you, could you give me 1900 Baht ?

I will be going out for a beer tonight , I will PM you the bar and you can come and give me 1900 Baht, thanks

Cheers i join lol, best beer is free beer ! 

2 hours ago, JacksSmirkingRevenge said:

https://bangkokherald.com/thailand/thailand-visa-amnesty-gets-last-minute-extension-to-oct-31-sources/

 

 

They were right about the previous extension in July.  

This whole story is based on what two visa agents have said , and nothing official 

Almost expected this to happen. Indonesia and Vietnam have previously extended their amnesties literally in the last minute for similar reasons. 

 

Let's wait to see what happens on Monday, but obviously this had to happen. As much as the conspiracy theorists wanted to be proven right on this one, but the government simply doesn't have the resources to round up 150,000 foreigners nor the political will. It would be a PR disaster of unprecedented proportions. Malaysia already received flak for conducting it's own illegal immigrant round up under the cover of covid a few months back, which Al-Jazeera reported on and subsequently was sued for defamation. 

2 hours ago, Eindhoven said:

 

Are you suitably embarrassed by your blunder? 

Did your pharmacy run out of your prescription again? Nothing official has been made, there is no “blunder” and it would make zero sense to extend the amnesty only 4 days at the last minute. Use your brain.

 

2 hours ago, anchadian said:

I would suggest you change that to 35 days and remove the wow.

Official announcement where? Did you even read the article?

 

 

 

32 minutes ago, 2530Ubon said:

Can anyone confirm being sent home from CW... or any IO office due to another announcement? Could be some classic clickbait

There was a post somewhere that MTT was a ghost town today.

5 minutes ago, CorpusChristie said:

This whole story is based on what two visa agents have said , and nothing official 

 

and an exodus from the biggest immigration office in Thailand thereafter.

1 hour ago, CorpusChristie said:

The only reason why they are considering extending the amnesty is because of many people attending immigration offices all trying to get visa extensions , so, they would unlikely extend the amnesty again 

I wouldn't count on it either, but something tells me that come Oct 31, the situation will be little different to now - perhaps there will be a few more flights, perhaps the quarantine on incoming arrivals will be reduced down to 10 days (as has been reported on) and perhaps more categories of foreigners will be allowed to return, but by that date, I suspect 100,000 foreigners out of the 150,000 will still be here and/or unable to get an extension in time (due to limited queue numbers, issues with documents, not meeting eligibility requirements) thus necessitating another 1-2 month extension.

 

In the end we will probably see some sort of extension until Dec 31 or whenever the situation normalizes. 

1 hour ago, vermin on arrival said:

Both the immigration official at MTT and US Embassy told me they had no idea what would happen after Sept 26 and now we know why. At MTT, I asked what to do when about re-extending when I come back to get my under consideration stamp changed on Oct 21, and they said they didn't know and wait for a new announcement. The new announcement was that I should not have bothered going in on Wednesday.

 

This happened both in April and now in September when I was a good boy and got the emergency extension before my validity to stay ended.. Next time I think I will wait till it is past due to get my emergency extension with embassy letter. Let's face is there is probably still well more than 100k foreigners here and there will continuously have this problem so they should just follow Malaysia's lead and extend us all until sometime next year and allow us to stay until the Asian borders open and we can get to where we need to be or use the MFA Consulates in other countries to get our visas and not have to deal with immigration corruption.

Looks like that's what will happen. 

 

Same thing occurred in Indonesia and Vietnam. Both have extended their amnesties, Vietnam provisionally until Sep 30 and Indonesia until Oct 5, but with limited flights those dates will come and go and there will be another one month extension at least. 

 

I suspect what might happen is that you go back for your stamp and get a Oct 31 stamp instead of Oct 26, and then you wait and see for the next extension.

 

Those that want to spend longer here without all this uncertainty should just use agents to get a 12-15 month extension. 

If approved on Monday this would be great news for many.

It would allow agents to help them move onto long term visas directly again, and not have to charge rush fees.

 

If this does get approved this time around I advise starting early!

 

In response to the OP's question: If you plan on staying in Thailand you will have to close your under consideration stamp (EVEN IF AMNESTY IS EXTENDED).

Hang on a minute, don't these things have to go through cabinet approval? I thought section 44 went out when 'democracy' came in.

2 minutes ago, 2530Ubon said:

Hang on a minute, don't these things have to go through cabinet approval? I thought section 44 went out when 'democracy' came in.

How long does it take to reach a decision on something like this? I'd say 5 minutes. There is no time to deliberate. It just has to be rubber stamped and approved. Should have been done 2 weeks ago, because everyone could see this coming. 

1 minute ago, 2530Ubon said:

Hang on a minute, don't these things have to go through cabinet approval? I thought section 44 went out when 'democracy' came in.

I guess it'll be discussed on Tuesday...

14 hours ago, ThaiVisaCentre said:

and not have to charge rush fees.

 

What are they?

 

33 minutes ago, edwardandtubs said:

Is making posts like that your way of compensating for your smallness in other areas Mr Max69xl?

 

Anyway it's not just about the money but the fact that I wasted a lot of time and I won't be able to use that extension again.

I was under the impression that there are “unlimited” tourist visa extensions every 30 days until the borders are open or until further announcement.. you didn’t waste anything because you can go and get another one every month, I thought?

1 minute ago, HandsomeTallFarang said:

I was under the impression that there are “unlimited” tourist visa extensions every 30 days until the borders are open or until further announcement.. you didn’t waste anything because you can go and get another one every month, I thought?

Evidently that was an immigration official talking out his butt since both the US embassy and MTT told me there was no directive for what would happen after Sept 26.

2 minutes ago, vermin on arrival said:

Evidently that was an immigration official talking out his butt since both the US embassy and MTT told me there was no directive for what would happen after Sept 26.

No, there was an email with the word “unlimited extentions” which implied you could just keep renewing until they start allowing tourists in the old way and border runs were back to normal. If that’s the case then I can’t complain.