STV extension experience

[hidbehindthesofa]

Just a heads up to those who may be needing to gain the 90 day extension.  This is based on my experience at Jomtien this week.

 

Firstly - don't bother booking the 20 minute appointment slot on line.  It will be acknowledged and you will even get a reminder.  But it cuts no ice at the immigration office and you will still have to line up and wait outside along with everybody else.

 

My first afternoon was spent waiting to register my address - despite this having already been done by the landlord's agent (for which I had proof).  There then followed a lengthy debate regarding the exact numbering of the room within the condo - despite me having produced a copy of the tenancy agreement, the water bill and the electricity bill.  At the end of all these conversations (which were conducted in a calm and polite manner by my long-term Thai girlfriend whose name is also on the agreement) I was told that immigration was too busy to issue my extension today and to come back again the next day.

 

I duly turned up at 7.15 the following morning to wait my turn.

 

I was firstly told that my medical insurance did not cover covid.  I explained (calmly) that the same insurance document had been accepted in the Thai embassy in London and in Bangkok for the visa and Thailand pass and that I had £2m in cover which far exceeded the required $50,000.  This was further reiterated in Thai by my girlfriend.  As a result, my insurance document was scrutinised by two further immigration officers behind the counter.

 

I was then told I needed to prove that I had stayed in a quarantine hotel in Bangkok and had tested negative for covid.  Despite the fact that this was three months previous and hardly relevant now I did not comment as, fortunately, I still had a copy of the one night hotel booking and the copy of the same day hospital covid test result.

 

Despite having jumped through all the hoops and produced all the paperwork before 9.30 - I was once again told that I needed to come back the following day to collect my passport.  (On my first  visit day people were getting their passports back that same day  and in previous years my extension application had all been completed in less than half a day).

 

Fortunately, I now have my duly stamped passport back in my hands.

 

So just a word of warning to anybody else attempting a tourist visa extension - you need to leave yourself three days for return visits and make sure you have copies of every conceivable piece of paper to hand - even a one day hotel reservation and covid test from three months ago that you may well have binned in the meantime !

 

The office was busier than I had expected as there are so few tourists in town - but certainly not as busy as in previous years.  However, if everybody that is here is having to go back two or three times . . .