Thailand extends grace period for stranded foreigners

[Daithi85]

13 minutes ago, ehgnyc said:

I've already heard from Grace this morning. And you? She says this now gives me time to purchase one of her visas--at a discount

Who's grace?

[Bangkok Barry]

19 minutes ago, genericptr said:

there's a particular restaurant I like and they make it unbearable to eat at some days because they refuse to provide even a single fan. I can't of course asked them for this because it would be bad manors. The result? I don't go their on hot days and they lose business. All this over egos and 500 baht fan. ????????‍♂️

Off topic I know, but I'll continue it by telling of an English pub I was in, in Sukhumvit near Nana. A party of about 15 people came in, foreigners, and after sitting down to order food one asked politely if the music could be turned down a little as they couldn't hear themselves speak. The answer was no, so they got up and walked out. Fifteen customers lost. Customer service, Thai-style.

[ehgnyc]

Just now, Daithi85 said:

Who's grace?

Thai Visa--an agent.

[ThailandRyan]

2 minutes ago, ehgnyc said:

Thai Visa--an agent.

thought she was in jail.

[Bangkok Barry]

3 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

thought she was in jail.

It must have all been a misunderstanding when her place was raided, equipment seized and she was arrested. I'm sure she's an expert at finding ways around life's little inconveniences.

[john smith]

This should prove to be interesting and a wonderful opportunity for agents. If flights are available there is in theory no wriggle room. But " other issues" is a wide enough door to drive a horse complete with cart through.

[khunjeff]

1 hour ago, genericptr said:

This is a total slap in the face to people like me who left before the 26th after immigration made multiple threats. I even waited until the 24th, cutting it really short in my opinion.

 

What is their message here? People can stay another 30 days and then just keep extending at 60 days per time? That means they changed their mind about wanting us gone? This would have been helpful information BEFORE the amnesty expired and we were asked to go home.

 

My girlfriend called it from the start. She said they need the money and they won't send anyone home and keep extending. She even said I should listen to her because she's Thai and understands how Thai people think. Foolishly I listened to immigration and tried to keep legal and do what was required by law. Lesson learned I guess.

I don't think Immigration has ever really liked the idea of the amnesty, and was hoping it would end. In fairness, though, when they were telling people to get out, they were acting in good faith based on the information available to them at the time - they don't control the government's decisions, and they had no way of knowing that there would be a belated change of heart by the ministers. This whole circus certainly could have been handled better, but I think the biggest problem is the disconnect between the decision makers (the government) and the office implementing the decisions (Immigration).

[Misterwhisper]

17 hours ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

The Tourism Authority of Thailand expects foreign tourist numbers to plunge to 6.7 million this year from 39.8 million in 2019 before recovering to 20.5 million next year.

 

This compares with the central bank’s estimate for 9 million tourists in 2021.

And now take a wild guess which of these two estimate figures I am more inclined to believe, the TAT's or the central bank's?

[Russell17au]

So my 60 day extension that I got 3 weeks ago which is stamped to start on 27 Sept will now start on 1 Nov. BS hahahahahahaha

[ndreamer]

3 minutes ago, Russell17au said:

So my 60 day extension that I got 3 weeks ago which is stamped to start on 27 Sept will now start on 1 Nov. BS hahahahahahaha

How did you work that out ? 

[BritManToo]

11 minutes ago, khunjeff said:

but I think the biggest problem is the disconnect between the decision makers (the government) and the office implementing the decisions (Immigration).

The biggest problem is the desire for immigration officers to extort foreigners.

Without that desire, getting an extension inside the country would be easy.

But nitpicking at paperwork forces a lot of foreigners to pay 25k through an agent.

Edited September 29, 2020 by BritManToo

[Neeranam]

17 hours ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

After October, a new immigration regulation will allow foreigners to apply for 60-day extensions to remain in the country if they are unable to leave due to limited flights or other issues

Does this include those on a non-O extension? 

[Snow Leopard]

15 minutes ago, khunjeff said:

I don't think Immigration has ever really liked the idea of the amnesty, and was hoping it would end. In fairness, though, when they were telling people to get out, they were acting in good faith based on the information available to them at the time - they don't control the government's decisions, and they had no way of knowing that there would be a belated change of heart by the ministers. This whole circus certainly could have been handled better, but I think the biggest problem is the disconnect between the decision makers (the government) and the office implementing the decisions (Immigration).

One is the organ grinder and one is the monkey. Or supposed to be. ???? The Immigration should not be issuing statements on behalf of their government or a minister. If they did this because they were told to then this is another matter. My feeling is that they took the law into their own hands. Too much power. 

[Pravda]

2 hours ago, genericptr said:

This is a total slap in the face to people like me who left before the 26th after immigration made multiple threats. I even waited until the 24th, cutting it really short in my opinion.

 

What is their message here? People can stay another 30 days and then just keep extending at 60 days per time? That means they changed their mind about wanting us gone? This would have been helpful information BEFORE the amnesty expired and we were asked to go home.

 

My girlfriend called it from the start. She said they need the money and they won't send anyone home and keep extending. She even said I should listen to her because she's Thai and understands how Thai people think. Foolishly I listened to immigration and tried to keep legal and do what was required by law. Lesson learned I guess.

 

Ya know I was wondering about you and was about to post on another thread if you stayed or left. 

 

I assumed you left, so I didn't want to rub it in with this amnesty Extension. 

 

Thanks for the update! 

[scoupeo]

16 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

Clumsy backpedaling and outrageous inconsistency is sending the message to anyone willing to change their luck that the roll of the dice will pay off. 

 

What happens next month - No one believes Amnesty will not be extended. How many people will get caught out for no other reason than the belief that Thailand will go back on their statements as they did last time and the time before that ?

 

 

This government have done nothing more than create confusion onto of further confusions. 

 

For effs Sake Thailand - Just announce a 6 month Amnesty and stop this juvenile back and forth.

 

 

I also suspect a lot of the childish inconsistency has a lot to do with different government bodies failing to communicate with the other and while Immigration were informed by the government that there would be no extensions permitted, they changed their mind at the last minute making immigration look like fools. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anybody just a little bit smart knew that amnesty would be extended !

But yes, maybe hard to find amond people here...

 

 

[trappedinasia]

30 minutes ago, john smith said:

This should prove to be interesting and a wonderful opportunity for agents. If flights are available there is in theory no wriggle room. But " other issues" is a wide enough door to drive a horse complete with cart through.

The door is so wide open, agents may not be needed. Just 1900 baht and some paperwork. This is what I thought was most likely going to happen: a short amesty extension during which people could apply for a new visa offered to people on amnesty.  

 

"Limited flights" would mean people who want to stay will wait until the end of October and hope flights are full or canceled. I expect them to offer a visa that people can start applying for soon. Proving flight problems etc at the beginning of October would be impossible, because there could be flights later in the month. I doubt they want an IO overflow two months in a row. 

 

They had to do something. Anybody with any understanding of the situation knew that. People shrieking for months about the "final amnesty" and arrests, deportations, and so on are just sad little trolls who should be muted. 

[Thomas J]

The chaos was something that was totally foreseeable.  Instead of the extensions being until October 31 they 30 day extension was from the date you applied.  That meant to wait until the last possible moment to apply.  Now consider all the people who went through the time and expense to go to their embassy to get a letter then the time, expense, and hassle of going to immigration for a 30 day extension that is now essentially worthless since if you did not apply you got the same amnesty until October 31.  

[Onrai]

17 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

Clumsy backpedaling and outrageous inconsistency is sending the message to anyone willing to change their luck that the roll of the dice will pay off. 

I wouldn’t characterized the Thai governments response as clumsy back pedaling. They are responding to what is happening in the world. Everyone thought Covid-19 would be under control by now. Reality has struck and there is a resurgence of cases through-out Europe. Burma, that was Covid free,  has reported new cases and the border is being patrolled for illegals entering the country. The recent repatriation flights have reported 22 news cases in quarantine. Optimism has turned to caution as bad news cascades on top of bad news. You ignore the news or re access your position given a new set of facts. 

[sallecc]

1 hour ago, khunjeff said:

I don't think Immigration has ever really liked the idea of the amnesty, and was hoping it would end. In fairness, though, when they were telling people to get out, they were acting in good faith based on the information available to them at the time - they don't control the government's decisions, and they had no way of knowing that there would be a belated change of heart by the ministers. This whole circus certainly could have been handled better, but I think the biggest problem is the disconnect between the decision makers (the government) and the office implementing the decisions (Immigration).

I'm sure they knew it was coming, and all those warnings and threats were used just to extort more money for overpriced Volunteer & ED visas (I got one myself, agent told me that most of the cash goes into I/O dude's pocket)... I already wrote in another thread (named "7 days stamp..." or something) that last Friday Phuket I/O guy clearly told me that "new amnesty extension is coming" (I went there to for my parents who couldn't get embassy letter, and there was at least 200+ foreigners there applying 30 days extension), I thought he was talking nonsense, but they knew it all along...

[Box fighter]

What about all the foreigners who followed the immigration law and paid the 1900 baht until the 16 th October will these people be reimbursed 

[ryandb]

Well done to the guys who held their nerve and got this, I paid for a years ed visa but I'm not mad at people who benefit from this especially the Thai landlords, restaurant owners etc. 

 

A nice clear message would be good when this is announced would be good but by the sounds getting people to qualify for the 60 day extensions sounds vague as what constitutes low amount of flights? Watch embassies say no to letter requests for 3 weeks then decide to issue them at the end causing issues at the IOs again.

[Benitostacos]

3 minutes ago, Box fighter said:

What about all the foreigners who followed the immigration law and paid the 1900 baht until the 16 th October will these people be reimbursed 

No, but some IO said we were "good people", LOL.

[fak119]

18 hours ago, shady86 said:

Does that mean 90day reporting deadline is also extended?

What is wrong with the 9o day reporting? Can you not do it?

[vermin on arrival]

17 hours ago, CorpusChristie said:

Posters were giving advice of what to do about the visa situation, dont let it upset you and dont take it personally .

  

Some were. Many were/are trolling and expressing genuine feelings of antipathy and superiority. It was shameful.

[vermin on arrival]

17 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Repeated 60 day extensions for anyone that wants them seems a good idea.

The end of agents and immigration corruption, and an increased income for the government.

 

Almost too good to be true!

A shame they waited until a couple of my pals were extorted for 50k 'Volunteer extensions'.

Glad I held firm and only got hit for the 1900 baht even though it was extremely stressful. Disgraceful behavior by the Thai authorities

[sandhurstmolonski]

If it were me , I'd still be pretty concerned , does it mean you must leave 31 st Oct  ? You sure can't guarantee , so I'd be probably booking a ticket , even if I didn't want to leave as you can't just wait until 30 th Oct , lot of pressure to be under .

[BobinBKK]

19 hours ago, RandolphGB said:

What happened to the ‘mass arrests’ that the police threatened for anyone still here after 26? Looks like it was a bluff.

Maybe it was a plot to get an extra 1,900 baht from everyone? I'm not sure...

[PETERTHEEATER]

18 hours ago, GeorgeCross said:

finally a happy ending worth writing home about!

 

 

the end!

 

What I see is the back end of a horse from which (along with it's  bovine equivalent) much disinformation issues.......

[vermin on arrival]

13 hours ago, EricTh said:

If they are not cheap charlies, they would have extended long ago instead of waiting for an amnesty announcement on the last day. 

 

 

It's because we understand the value of our money and know it will be needed elsewhere. It's my 1900 baht and it stays in my pocket for something I value. Unnecessary visa extensions are not valued. Everyone who feels otherwise feel free to send me 1900 baht. If you don't, you are a cheap charlie. If 500-1,000 of you do it will cover my losses due to the covid border closures.

[pubba]

16 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Don't tell 'em anything, just pretend you're a bit stupid if they ask.

Works for me and all the other slightly demented old white guys at immigration.

I printed out my letter (in colour) from Aussie embassy from back in July and they barely glanced at it.