COVID-19 visa extension experience

[Marvest]

This was my experience today (18 January 2022).  I am staying in Hua Hin so I went to the satellite immigration office in BluPort Mall.  I was met by the immigration 'screener' who asked what I wanted to do.  When I told him I wanted to apply for a 60-day visa extension based on COVID-19, he told me I would have to go to the main immigration office 8km outside of town.  

 

I had carefully prepared my documents with tips from this forum.  I was under the impression that consulate letters for 'confirmation and request for temporary stay' were no longer needed.  But that turned out NOT to be true in my case -- even if ticking the second box on the affidavit. Three immigration officers were involved, and all were in agreement.

 

This is what I had prepared in my application packet (listed in order preferred by my processing io):

 

Passport
TM7 - application for extension
- with 1 Passport photo
Copy of passport pages
- ID page
- visa on arrival page
- first and only visa extension page
- TM6
Letter for proof of residence (from Juristic office of the condominium where I am staying) *
COVID-19 Affidavit form (with second box ticked)
Proof of insurance **
Proof of vaccination **

 

* I did not initially have this document in my application packet, but I did have it with me in case.  The io immediately asked for it.

** These documents were taken out of my application packet and handed back to me.

 

I did not have a letter from my consulate, and they would not move forward without it.  Once I was able to give immigration the consulate letter, they approved and issued a 60-day visa extension in minutes with no other questions - after collecting BHT1900 of course.

 

Side note:  I also found out from this experience that the letter must be from the embassy of the country of your nationality.  A letter from the embassy of your country of residence (if different from your nationality) is not accepted.

[seff55]

Are you from Germany? The only folks that I know who are being asked for an Embassy letter are Germans and Vietnamese passport holders. I just got my 60 day covid extension today no questions asked but I'm holding a US passport..

[Marvest]

2 minutes ago, seff55 said:

Are you from Germany? The only folks that I know who are being asked for an Embassy letter are Germans and Vietnamese passport holders. I just got my 60 day covid extension today no questions asked but I'm holding a US passport..

I also hold a US passport.  My experience was at Hua Hin immigration office.

[seff55]

1 minute ago, Marvest said:

I also hold a US passport.  My experience was at Hua Hin immigration office.

hmm.. seems like folks near Hua Hin should take a trip to Bangkok or other office..

 

[audaciousnomad]

Those guys in Hua Hin are clueless. No other office in the entire Kingdom is asking for those since early 2021.

[anandra]

1 hour ago, audaciousnomad said:

Those guys in Hua Hin are clueless. No other office in the entire Kingdom is asking for those since early 2021.

Nonthaburi immigration requires a letter as well from all. If your embassy does not isssue it, they can sort it out for 2000 + 1500 baht.

[ChaiyaTH]

38 minutes ago, anandra said:

Nonthaburi immigration requires a letter as well from all. If your embassy does not isssue it, they can sort it out for 2000 + 1500 baht.

They saw a business niche in nonthaburi at least lol. 

[ChaiyaTH]

The nonsense one has to go trough obtaining a visa or extension for such short timeframes are just getting insane really. Happy i am on yearly and letting someone do all the paperwork and talking instead.

 

This always makes me think of the joy visiting Kuala Lumpur with 90 days on arrival free, and flying in and out once more to have 180 days hassle free before having to think harder.

Edited January 18, 2022 by ChaiyaTH

[ukrules]

2 hours ago, ChaiyaTH said:

The nonsense one has to go trough obtaining a visa or extension for such short timeframes are just getting insane really.

Yes, it looks to me like they're getting back to where they left off before the pandemic.

 

There must be some real pent up anger among those who work there after allowing people to stay so long.

 

Whatever they do, it always backfires on them in some way...I can't wait to see how this one turns out.

Edited January 18, 2022 by ukrules

[hav]

I hope it's ok to use this thread to share my experience at  BKK immigration (MTT counter K).
 

In and out in 1h. Overall, it was smooth. But it was also my first covid extension with the new passport.

 

I received the documents from the 'screener', then proceeded to see an immigration officer. There were 30-40 people in the room. Most were waiting for their passport. Only 7 were ahead of me in the queue.

No words were spoken by the immigration officer except 'photo' (meaning "take your mask off, i take a photo of you") and 'wait there' (to receive my passport with the 60 days covid extension). Another 30min went by and I received my passport back with 60 days added on top of the previous expiry date. 

 

No letter from embassy needed, no outbound flight ticket, no tm30.

 

But while I was filling out the documents, I heard the screener rejecting one guy. He couldn't even get the documents or get into the queue. He was sent away. Some were told by the SCREENER "you only get 7 days", "you only get 15 days", another one "you show flight ticket, why can you not leave thailand, when will you go, ..., you show proof of flight ticket...". I can't say anything about their visa status, # of previous extension and so on, though.

 

The grumpy, old immigration officer shouted at a farang woman because apparently she had an education visa before but couldn't speak more than 3-4 words of Thai. She asked her several questions why her Thai was basically non-existent but in the end she received 60 days. Other were also told 'this is your last time' when they picked up their passport with the 60 days in it. The usual fearmongering...

Edited January 19, 2022 by hav

[DrJack54]

4 minutes ago, hav said:

Other were also told 'this is your last time' when they picked up their passport with the 60 days in it. The usual fearmongering.

We call those megalomaniac immigration officers people on power trips. 

Basically clerks in uniform. Their office is their stage. 

[simon43]

41 minutes ago, hav said:

...

The grumpy, old immigration officer shouted at a farang woman because apparently she had an education visa before but couldn't speak more than 3-4 words of Thai. She asked her several questions why her Thai was basically non-existent but in the end she received 60 days...

I think that's fair enough.  If she is staying in Thailand on an ED visa for studying Thai, then she should be studying Thai...

 

I recall some 14 or so years ago when I had an ED visa in Phuket, that the immigration officer said to me in English "You have an ED visa. Now I will test your knowledge of Thai language".  I replied in Thai "That's fine, but you should speak to me in Chinese, because that's the language that I'm studying".

 

The IO decided not to test me ????

[Letseng]

19 hours ago, seff55 said:

Are you from Germany? The only folks that I know who are being asked for an Embassy letter are Germans and Vietnamese passport holders. I just got my 60 day covid extension today no questions asked but I'm holding a US passport..

But does e.g. German embassy issue such a letter? There is no reason why one can't return other than 100.000 infections today.