Foreigners stranded in Thailand due to COVID-19 can now stay until end of July

[Yewbzee]

13 minutes ago, Wongkitlo said:

They are very irregular unless you buy a business class ticket.. You pay your money and then they cancel because they prioritize those who pay more. I already have vouchers for cancelled tickets so don't really want more. Embassy flies out 30 a week. I spoke to someone yesterday who had been waiting since December. Last month I talked to Cathay Pacific. Their next available flight was in July. If you read an earlier post some Australians have gone to the UN court for action.

 

Are you seriously saying that since the outbreak say from January/March 2020 there are still folk "stranded" here, even from Oz, that have been trying to leave Thailand since March 2020? I don't buy it.

 

Maybe after taking advantage of the system for the best part of a year of their own free will they are now struggling to get back to Oz due to quarantine caps but that would definitely be a case of som nam nah.

[loong]

It amazes me just how many sad pathetic people hate the idea of people being able to legally extend their stay here. Why do they care? It doesn't do them any harm does it?

I am happy for the Thai people that have an income because of these stranded foreigners. It may only have a small impact, but it is better than nothing.

I am on a legitimate retirement extension, so I don't benefit from these covid extensions at all, but I am pleased for the people that do benefit.

Live and let live you sour-faced old (insert suitable word here)

[kokopelli]

For one, I am stranded here!  I am on a retirement extension and normally return home once a year for one or two months but now cannot.  I am not vaccinated and cannot return since no where to live.  Normally stay with friends but that is  currently not an option with Covid. And when/if I return home it is doubtful I can return to Thailand due to insurance conditions, etc.

So, now just wait it out until such time as things return to normal. Others I know are in the same situation. 

[Yewbzee]

5 minutes ago, loong said:

It amazes me just how many sad pathetic people hate the idea of people being able to legally extend their stay here. Why do they care? It doesn't do them any harm does it?

I am happy for the Thai people that have an income because of these stranded foreigners. It may only have a small impact, but it is better than nothing.

I am on a legitimate retirement extension, so I don't benefit from these covid extensions at all, but I am pleased for the people that do benefit.

Live and let live you sour-faced old (insert suitable word here)

 

???????? I can't speak for others but referring to my own "sour-faced old (insert suitable word here)" previous comment I have no issue with folk staying legally and totally agree with you it does benefit the economy even if only slightly.

 

It's the use of the word 'stranded' that I picked up on, anybody who wanted to leave since last March could have achieved that by now.

[RichardColeman]

1 hour ago, Daithi85 said:

Why would they  be leaving?? Plenty of visa options for people to stay here. 

The clue to that answer is in the story title isn't it - Foreigners 'stranded'

[Konini]

There are 39,000 Australians stranded abroad who want to return but haven't been able to yet, and just under 10,000 of those have been classified by the government as 'vunerable'  (I think that's code for either very ill or without money).  Around 40,000 have been able to return so far and not everybody has been on the list for the full year; people have had to wait until employment contracts or leases have finished because they are being enforced in many countries.  But some have been genuinely trying to get back for a year;  I know two, one who got back in January and one still trying from Thailand, I've lost count of the number of flights he's been bumped from - 7 that I know of and 2 of those not until he'd flown from Chiang Mai to Bangkok and turned up at the check-in desk at the airport before being given the good news.

 

Those numbers do not include people like us who are happy enough to sit it out wherever in the world we may be.  The 39,000 still on the list are people who have contacted the government to tell them they want to go home and are having difficulties doing so.  They really are stranded, and it's down to lack of organisation and will by the federal government.

 

14 days of compulsory quarantine in hotels since March last year and not enough spots in those hotels means airlines have strict limits on how many passengers they can take to Australia each week.  The airlines of course prioritise business class passengers because they aren't making enough money flying in with a handful of passengers due to the quotas in place.  The price of a one way flight London to Australia was $18,000 a couple of weeks ago, the more you pay the more chance you have of not being bumped from your flight, simply being business class doesn't mean you won't get bumped, just that you have less of a chance of being bumped and if you have mum, dad and a couple of kids who have been living abroad for an employment contract that's a fair sized deposit on buying a house (no discounts from the airlines for kids of course) just to get home.  Not many can afford that price, and the government aren't helping with repatriation flights because there is no room in quarantine.  Late last year it was widely reported that people were flying from BKK, KUL and SIN to Dubai and Qatar because they had a better chance of getting onto a flight to Australia (more connections to Aus from the middle east than from Asia).  Taking a six or seven hour flight in the wrong direction just to have a better chance.

 

I can see this from both sides.  I can't wait to get a flight back to UK so we can go and see our parents, and we can literally go out and buy a ticket today and go tomorrow as long as we were prepared to cop the quarantine coming back to Thailand, so no, we're not stranded (or wouldn't be if we wanted to get back) - what's the problem?  However, we migrated to Australia in the 1980s and that's where our business/income/legal affairs are.  While we really could do with going back as we do every year to take care of things, we've got very little chance of getting onto a flight even if we were prepared to pay the extortionate prices.  If our families were in Australia rather than UK and we wanted to get back, then yes, we would be stranded. 

 

We were in Melbourne last March and got back to Thailand a few days before the borders closed.  We knew it was coming and had the choice to stay there; we made the decision to come back and wait it out here because this is where we live now. 

 

Don't know if the Kiwi's have limits on numbers flying in, but getting a flight to Australia certainly isn't as easy as getting one to EU or US.  I really feel for those people who are genuinely stranded.  Their lives are totally upended and in some cases people are living on savings or the goodwill of family and friends to exist day to day.

[Wongkitlo]

2 hours ago, Docno said:

Supposedly, there are quite a number of Aussies stranded overseas, though I could not guess how many of them are in Thailand: 

Australian government hit with UN complaint over leaving stranded Aussies overseas (news.com.au)

I was trying to quote the article you cited and posted to you instead. I have erased it ????

Edited March 31, 2021 by Wongkitlo
Wrote to wrong poster

[Wongkitlo]

1 hour ago, Yewbzee said:

 

Are you seriously saying that since the outbreak say from January/March 2020 there are still folk "stranded" here, even from Oz, that have been trying to leave Thailand since March 2020? I don't buy it.

 

Maybe after taking advantage of the system for the best part of a year of their own free will they are now struggling to get back to Oz due to quarantine caps but that would definitely be a case of som nam nah.

We are in Thailand. The Thai Immigration has introduced a Covid Visa. Are you saying they have done this for no reason and anyone who uses it is 'taking advantage.' You may think people are taking advantage but it is  Thai Immigration who disagree with you. 

Don't really care if you don't buy it but it is a fact. If you are completely unaware of what is happening in the world it is not my place to bother enlightening you but I might as well. From Page 1 of this thread.

Australian government hit with UN complaint over leaving stranded Aussies overseas (news.com.au

[thepdru]

Wow, it was so difficult to guess !

????

Only the cheaters visa agencies selling a scam 45000 thb volunteer visa were saying that it won't be extended !

 

 

[brianthainess]

3 hours ago, nickmondo said:

how can anyone still be stuck here in Thailand?

they are here because they want to be, and they are testing the system to see how long they can stay here.

i hope they are being charged a good amount for this privilege

And made to make 80 copies of all pages in passport, photos of their room and or hotel lobby including a witness who can verifie their personal life, proof of income blah blah blah, just joking.

[ThLT]

3 hours ago, nickmondo said:

how can anyone still be stuck here in Thailand?

they are here because they want to be, and they are testing the system to see how long they can stay here.

i hope they are being charged a good amount for this privilege

 

No one is stranded, as in "critical emergency." Many have a home and belongings in Thailand. I'm currently trying to get a B visa to work, but borders are closed. I don't want to sell everything, find a new apartment in my home country, and have to start a new life.

 

Some countries require a hotel quarantine, which can cost over $1400. Add $1000 for the plane ticket, and another $1000 for when you come back to Thailand—$3400 total. I'd rather give that $3400 to Thai people. 

 

It's good for the Thai economy (1900฿ for visas and 20,000฿+ monthly expenses)... and it's good for those who can't leave Thailand to get a visa—which basically is what the COVID extension is for.

[brianthainess]

They need every Baht they can get now, I wonder in the far future (when covid has subsided) They will remember, and ease visa restriction for genuine travelers. 

[Walker88]

56 minutes ago, nickmondo said:

how can anyone still be stuck here in Thailand?

they are here because they want to be, and they are testing the system to see how long they can stay here.

i hope they are being charged a good amount for this privilege

 

No one is 'testing the system' anymore than any other non-Thai person who is in country on a retirement visa, marriage, education, volunteer, work permit, whatever. As for being charged 'a good amount', it's 1900 baht for each extension; the amnesty was free.

 

The Thai government makes the rules, and people use those rules to stay in country. It's 100% legal and legit. That the amnesty/extensions are new, or related to the worldwide pandemic, doesn't make them any less legitimate than the previously existing rules, such as for retirement visas. The Thai Elite Visa is relatively new, vs retirement visas. Are Thai Elite holders 'testing the system'? People follow what rules the government makes, no more, no less. No one is being 'fooled' or taken advantage of, and no one is gaming the system.

 

It is what it is.

[mar zarych]

Can someone please explain the point of Thailand dragging everyone through all of those deadlines over the previous year ?

[pookondee]

10 minutes ago, brianthainess said:

They need every Baht they can get now, I wonder in the far future (when covid has subsided) They will remember, and ease visa restriction for genuine travelers. 

 

I'll wager they will be rolling out the red carpet for any tourists at all, when the country first opens up...

 

6 months later it will be back to

" you stay Thailand to long" mentality again

[NoshowJones]

3 hours ago, dogfish180 said:

Not if he's English ????????????

That means I can do it, I'm Scottish. ????

[jerolamo]

6 hours ago, Enzian said:

I'm not "stranded" in Thailand, it's just that my home state of CA still has almost 200 new dead every day and I'm over 80. Same with my favorite place, Italy; getting worse not better there.

"En 2019, il compte plus de 37 millions d'habitants¹ et est ainsi le 37^e pays du monde en ce qui concerne la population" (wikipedia source)

 

So 37 000 000 people living, divide by 200 death by day (but there is new born every day also that we don't look at) is about 185 000 days before no one in life... so it is about 185 000 / 365 days =506.8 years ! I think the COVID will still desapered and an other one virus will be there.

 

But... looks like it has already some death everyday before the COVID crisis too...

Ho God !

 

No, seriously, look (it is not from myself, i just read documentation, do it freely):

Canada demographic rates by year resume

 

But then you are true, seems like still again, old people die more than younger (and sure, due to COVID, much more, you are right to thinki that you are the age were the most can have a huge problem with any virus, no exception for COVID-19 or COVID-20 nor COVID-21):

mortality by age in 2015 in Canada

 

Also there, looks like something is happening (but start before the COVID-19), but what ?

death rate by year and by thousand of people

 

same same in Thailand:

death rate by year fby thousand of people (Thailand)

 

and just near Thailand here is the Laos (looks like nothing is happening wrong there):

death rate by year by thousand of people (Laos)

 

but not there:

death rate by year by thousand of people (Congo)  (But in Congo, a lot die just 2 years before the curve line due to Outou and Tutsi genocide in this place)

 

Here is in France de money paid for health care by government (add to this that 108 000 of bed has been removed from 2008, and 1/3 of the medical workers):

money use for health and care in France by year  (where the money is going ? same money used, but still thousand of bed out and removed medical workers...)

 

I like to look at numbers and compare to try to have my own opinion. I like also to speak with people in activity and from all social level to have an idea of what's going on...

 

You guys from Canada are lucky to have a so nice country without so much high density of population and huge forests areas. Wish you the best, and sure, 80 years old is a huge age any virus can be strong badly you should take care more than other, also, felicitations, big respect you go so far, man, my aunt was going up to 95 years old (she die 3 years ago, she told me the Christmas before she die that, ok, she has seen a lot of about the humanity, she did all good and honestly, never stole, never kill, never submit to anyone at anytime, war or not, no regret, and that there is a one day to start for everybody, and one day to end... she was happy to go so far and win her dignity, looks like she knew it was last year for here, she was ready to go in peace, very strong woman) and in very good condition.

Take care of you Grandpa, you have some more years to go, stay strong.

[jerolamo]

1 hour ago, mar zarych said:

Can someone please explain the point of Thailand dragging everyone through all of those deadlines over the previous year ?

i think no one is in the secrets of Gods there. Also, many thing can change in a week if not a single day... so...

all is about surrounded own opinions. You can also freely doing yours.

[QPRFC]

The Covid-19 stranded tourist visa extenstions are free in Vietnam....in actual fact you don't need a visa extension if you arrived after 1 March 2020.

So no agents, no time spent at the immigration office....it's so well organised here!

[tingtong]

12 hours ago, gt162 said:

 

Yes. Better then nothing. At least Thai Immigration gets 1900 baht per extension every 2 months and Thais gets foreign money coming in to support the economy.

 

Bhat is weakening and tourism industry is suffering badly. It's all about the money. 

 

Tourism suffering, agree.

 

But fail to see that weakening baht ( "bhat")

[aboctok]

6 hours ago, riverhigh said:

Was at Jomtien immigration yesterday to do my 90 day report (online 90 day reporting system down again) and to my surprise there was a large line up in the afternoon. I guess now I know why. Agree, very stressful for those who are legitimately stranded here. I felt the stress and tension in the air just lining up in the heat.  The immigration office was packed and a great incubator for covid19.  Not a positive experience, the separating of the 90 day reporters from the pack and leaving them outside had been abandoned.   As to Thaivisa posters who think this will be last time the  covid19 stranded forreigners will have their visas extended, I think you are being overly optimistic. Opening the borders in July, dream on. Letting lose a horde of vacinnated foreigners on an unvacccinated Thai population is unthinkable. Jus my opinion.

What do you mean, "legitimately stranded"? Didn't you read the posts by the authoritative geniuses who declare that "to be honest," there are no foreigners stranded in Thailand anymore? Feeling forced to stay (though you may actually dislike it) by personal circumstances doesn't count—you can only use the word "stranded" if the factors causing the stranding can be seen to affect large numbers of people and thus are approved by the authoritative geniuses. If it's just your personal circumstances making it difficult for you to leave, that really means you just WANT to stay longer; you can't claim stranded status. Don't claim to be a stranded foreigner when stranded foreigners are (have been deemed to be) extinct.

[mvdf]

Oh my word, an extension is graciously and very kindly granted by this good Kingdom's government to host stranded foreigners and here they are again, long-nosed keyboard warriors complaining nonstop, endlessly, stubbornly, audaciously, shamelessly, instead of very humbly and gratefully accepting this extension.

 

[Konini]

26 minutes ago, aboctok said:

 If it's just your personal circumstances making it difficult for you to leave, that really means you just WANT to stay longer; you can't claim stranded status. Don't claim to be a stranded foreigner when stranded foreigners are (have been deemed to be) extinct.

Try to book a flight to Australia.  If you can afford it - I saw a one way ticket for $11,000 earlier this year. 

 

But wait; there's more!  There is a quota system with limited spots in compulsory 14 day hotel quarantine, only a couple of thousand people a week are being accepted.  39,000 stranded.  Really stranded.  Official government figures, so it's probably more.  39,000 people have registered with the government to say they want to go home but can't.  Can't get a flight because airlines can only take a couple of thousand people a week.  This will all change now because there's currently a cluster in Queensland and anyone crossing state borders from there will have to go into quarantine hotels, meaning people who are booked to fly in from overseas will be bumped because the quota for airlines will go down to compensate for the Queenslanders travelling interstate.

 

Not everywhere is Kansas.  Anyone can jump on a plane and go to their home country unless they are Australian, don't think any other country in the world is doing it so strictly.  These people really are stranded.  Retirees, probably not, but how many working people - engineers, educators, scientists, health professionals etc were living and working abroad, some with families accompanying them, all caught out and unable to get home because the government is not  organised enough to have sufficient quarantine places available for those wanting to go home. 

 

There are 39,000 people officially stranded.  If their employment contract finished in whatever country they are in, they will be out of work and not earning any money - overseas governments are not giving welfare benefits to non-citizens (Australia isn't either, there are some heartbreaking stories from people trying to survive) but at least their work visas have been extended IF they are able to find work.  All countries are extending their visas to stay, but I don't think many are extending working visas. 

 

I really don't know how those people are coping.

 

 

[Hoppyone]

6 hours ago, Wongkitlo said:

You tried to go to Australia lately?

They better check price of air fares to Australia first,then get the shock of how many Australians are allowed back in each day,the Eddie the experts or the keyboard warriors should do some homework on the subject before making unfounded comments,then don’t forget the $3,000(70,000 baht)cost for quarantine 

Edited March 31, 2021 by Hoppyone
Not finished

[Caldera]

It's funny that quite some posters get all excited about who is genuinely still stranded, while Thai immigration seems to be a lot less concerned than our busy bodies here, so long as an applicant signs an affidavit and pays the requisite FEE.

[pookondee]

48 minutes ago, Caldera said:

It's funny that quite some posters get all excited about who is genuinely still stranded, while Thai immigration seems to be a lot less concerned than our busy bodies here, so long as an applicant signs an affidavit and pays the requisite FEE.

 

Umm,

Maybe its those same posters who used to bang on about  "living in Thailand illegally",

in regards to those few folks who were staying long term on B2B tourist visas?

 

Naturally they are turning on these very bad "stranded" people who are getting an easy visa ride because of Covid,

while they themselves still have to jump through all the marriage and retirement extension hoops.

 

That would be the same guys who like to tell everyone they should pay 500k for an elite visa, if they are under 50y.o or not married and want to stay in Thailand.

[Blumpie]

7 hours ago, Caldera said:

It's funny that quite some posters get all excited about who is genuinely still stranded, while Thai immigration seems to be a lot less concerned than our busy bodies here, so long as an applicant signs an affidavit and pays the requisite FEE.

I wouldn't pay attention to angry old men who made a big mistake, in their minds, at moving to Thailand and now have to face the consequences of their actions.  

[starky]

On 3/31/2021 at 5:00 AM, Fex Bluse said:

 

This reads as a very insensitive. Thai government still worried about insignificant nonsense like this as their economy crumbles and the global virus waves continue in much of the world. Very bad look for them. Very small-minded. 

Yes letting people extend their visas instead of deporting them for overstay which they are well in their rights to do and then allowing those extensions to roll over multiple times allowing people to stay here legally and officially.  Terribly small minded.

[starky]

12 hours ago, Hoppyone said:

They better check price of air fares to Australia first,then get the shock of how many Australians are allowed back in each day,the Eddie the experts or the keyboard warriors should do some homework on the subject before making unfounded comments,then don’t forget the $3,000(70,000 baht)cost for quarantine 

That just means it's cheaper to stay here mate doesn't mean your stranded at all. Perth is difficult but plenty of flights to the east coast. And there are economy fares available. I have come and gone from Australia to Thailand twice in the past 6 months. Your inability to pay for something doesn't make you stranded. How ever do you manage to live overseas if you consider 3k a substantial amount of money? 

  And unless you live in Thailand there is a requirement for you to return home. 

  Glad you mentioned the 70k baht for quarantine though as so many on here think that Thailand is grafting by having ASQ hotels available for as little as 45k baht. Puts things in perspective doesn't it. And here you get to choose your comfort level as far as quarantine goes. 

Edited March 31, 2021 by starky

[starky]

17 hours ago, Konini said:

There are 39,000 Australians stranded abroad who want to return but haven't been able to yet, and just under 10,000 of those have been classified by the government as 'vunerable'  (I think that's code for either very ill or without money).  Around 40,000 have been able to return so far and not everybody has been on the list for the full year; people have had to wait until employment contracts or leases have finished because they are being enforced in many countries.  But some have been genuinely trying to get back for a year;  I know two, one who got back in January and one still trying from Thailand, I've lost count of the number of flights he's been bumped from - 7 that I know of and 2 of those not until he'd flown from Chiang Mai to Bangkok and turned up at the check-in desk at the airport before being given the good news.

 

Those numbers do not include people like us who are happy enough to sit it out wherever in the world we may be.  The 39,000 still on the list are people who have contacted the government to tell them they want to go home and are having difficulties doing so.  They really are stranded, and it's down to lack of organisation and will by the federal government.

 

14 days of compulsory quarantine in hotels since March last year and not enough spots in those hotels means airlines have strict limits on how many passengers they can take to Australia each week.  The airlines of course prioritise business class passengers because they aren't making enough money flying in with a handful of passengers due to the quotas in place.  The price of a one way flight London to Australia was $18,000 a couple of weeks ago, the more you pay the more chance you have of not being bumped from your flight, simply being business class doesn't mean you won't get bumped, just that you have less of a chance of being bumped and if you have mum, dad and a couple of kids who have been living abroad for an employment contract that's a fair sized deposit on buying a house (no discounts from the airlines for kids of course) just to get home.  Not many can afford that price, and the government aren't helping with repatriation flights because there is no room in quarantine.  Late last year it was widely reported that people were flying from BKK, KUL and SIN to Dubai and Qatar because they had a better chance of getting onto a flight to Australia (more connections to Aus from the middle east than from Asia).  Taking a six or seven hour flight in the wrong direction just to have a better chance.

 

I can see this from both sides.  I can't wait to get a flight back to UK so we can go and see our parents, and we can literally go out and buy a ticket today and go tomorrow as long as we were prepared to cop the quarantine coming back to Thailand, so no, we're not stranded (or wouldn't be if we wanted to get back) - what's the problem?  However, we migrated to Australia in the 1980s and that's where our business/income/legal affairs are.  While we really could do with going back as we do every year to take care of things, we've got very little chance of getting onto a flight even if we were prepared to pay the extortionate prices.  If our families were in Australia rather than UK and we wanted to get back, then yes, we would be stranded. 

 

We were in Melbourne last March and got back to Thailand a few days before the borders closed.  We knew it was coming and had the choice to stay there; we made the decision to come back and wait it out here because this is where we live now. 

 

Don't know if the Kiwi's have limits on numbers flying in, but getting a flight to Australia certainly isn't as easy as getting one to EU or US.  I really feel for those people who are genuinely stranded.  Their lives are totally upended and in some cases people are living on savings or the goodwill of family and friends to exist day to day.

No there is 39k Australians overseas that don't want to pony up for airfares, sit in quarantine for 2 weeks, pony up for quarantine or a combination of all 3. The vast majority do not want to do quarantine. I personally have travelled to and from Thailand to Australia twice in the last 6 months also been to Malaysia done a tonne of quarantine but never had one flight cancelled nor have I been bumped or had any other difficulties regarding travel. So I take the idea that all these people are legitimately "stranded" with a rather large grain of salt. Particularly in regards to SEA.  Cheers.

Edited March 31, 2021 by starky