**please Help** Father In Bkk/pattaya Hospital.

[DirkGently]

I am in need of some advice. My father has been taken ill whilst on holiday in Pattaya and was admitted to the Bangkok/Pattaya hospital.

He has been told by the doctor not to fly home until 17 days after his visa will expire. Today he went to immigration and they refused to give him an extension till that date. Of course the airline won't carry him before the date the doctors reccomend.

What can be done??

Is there an immigration dept at Bangkok/Pattaya hospital that will be more understanding?

He is unaware of the rules and does not know what to do. Your help would be greatly accepted.

Dirk.

[PhilHarries]

I don't know about the Bangkok - Pattaya but Bumrungrad hospital in Bangkok had a visa extension desk to handle such events. Is he in Thailand on a visa or a 30 day visa exempt stamp? That may make a difference.

Try asking at the hospital, they must have experience of this kind of thing.

Worst case scenario is he does a border run to Aranyaprathet / Poipet and gets another 30 day visa exempt stamp.

[naka]

I don't know about the Bangkok - Pattaya but Bumrungrad hospital in Bangkok had a visa extension desk to handle such events. Is he in Thailand on a visa or a 30 day visa exempt stamp? That may make a difference.

Try asking at the hospital, they must have experience of this kind of thing.

Worst case scenario is he does a border run to Aranyaprathet / Poipet and gets another 30 day visa exempt stamp.

BP Hospital also has an immigration desk.

Naka.

[deckx]

Worst case scenario is he does a border run to Aranyaprathet / Poipet and gets another 30 day visa exempt stamp.

thats worse than flying home ?? can he not just overstay and pay at the airport. ( as well as having a letter form the doc )

why did they refuse ??? I have actually met people who pretend they are sick to get an over-stay, maybe thats why

[DirkGently]

Thanks naka, thats good to know. I presume BP is the Bangkok/Pattaya hospital in Pattaya.

No idea why he has been refused. Just got the phone call.

The comment that got me was "i really expected them to help an old man."

He is concerned about the overstay because now they know where he is and might come knocking for some money.

He is on the normal 30 day on arrival visa. He just wants to extend it by about 17 days or so. There MUST be some extension for this type of thing.

[seagull]

Thanks naka, thats good to know. I presume BP is the Bangkok/Pattaya hospital in Pattaya.

No idea why he has been refused. Just got the phone call.

The comment that got me was "i really expected them to help an old man."

He is concerned about the overstay because now they know where he is and might come knocking for some money.

He is on the normal 30 day on arrival visa. He just wants to extend it by about 17 days or so. There MUST be some extension for this type of thing.

Regardless of which hospital your father is in, I do believed that there is a certain kind of extension of stay based on illness. Together with hospital/doctor certification, you should be able to extend your dad's stay in LOS for the purpose of medical treatment. Having said these, of course, as some posters has mentioned, certain hospital that can provide assistance with imm procedures w/regards to stay extensions based on medical grounds would lessen your worries to some extend. Good luck !

[ozzydom]

If he went to Immigration today, I take it he is no longer in hospital.

Does his illness involve something that can be aggravated by air travel.? the airlines would only know of any illness if he told them.

This is really a Visa question, maybe you should post it in that section,I,m sure Lopburi will be able to answer.

[lopburi3]

As pointed out there is not enough information. Did he obtain official paperwork from doctor/hospital? Air travel is not the same as land travel so he might well be able to make a border run for a new 30 day visa exempt entry for all we know. There is no more than a 7 day extension of stay available without official paperwork. If he overstays it will be 500 baht per day and the risk of arrest if out and about.

[DirkGently]

Thanks for all the time and effort guys!

It was a heart operation and he is certainly not well enough to do mini bus visa runs.

The airline had to be told as there is risk factors and flights had to be changed etc and of course this involves insurance companies, so it is best to be honest with them.

Following your advice I have told him to head back to the Bangkok/Pattaya hospital and try there.

As far as i know all paper work was in order, but he simply does not understand all the visa nonsense and the boys in brown are not the most helpful.

ill keep you posted.

[Tammi]

Unless the immigration's rules have changed you can most certainly get extensions on medical grounds - I've had lots of them! Speak with the International Dept at Bangkok Pattaya Hospital who should be taking care of this kind of problem. If you can't get it sortedout with them send me a private message and I will go the hosptal international dept and sort them out.

Once I even got an extension because the dog was sick and couldn't travel!

Edited April 23, 2008 by Tammi

[EmptyMind]

I am in need of some advice. My father has been taken ill whilst on holiday in Pattaya and was admitted to the Bangkok/Pattaya hospital.

He has been told by the doctor not to fly home until 17 days after his visa will expire. Today he went to immigration and they refused to give him an extension till that date. Of course the airline won't carry him before the date the doctors reccomend.

What can be done??

Is there an immigration dept at Bangkok/Pattaya hospital that will be more understanding?

He is unaware of the rules and does not know what to do. Your help would be greatly accepted.

Dirk.

Sounds to me like you need to go back to the hospital and get the correct paperwork if they are saying he is too unfit to fly home. I'm sure with the correct documents they wont force him to do a border run if he really is that unfit to travel.

The hospital must have seen this problem loads of times and would know what is needed.

[DirkGently]

Thanks a million guys. Your advice is great.

My father is a regular tourist that thinks that that the helpful staff in a 5* hotel is indicative of Thais in general. He was taken aback by the attitude of the immigration staff and hospital staff. Basically, get on with it.

Tomorrow he is going back to the hospital (now that I know that hospitals do this, thanks naka) and will try to get this mess sorted. As a resident here I know the hoops we have to jump through, but a 3 times a year tourist my father is new to it all. Hence, he does not want to run the gauntlet of overstay.

I know that WE all know how to deal with this, but most tourists don't.

Thanks for your help.

[DirkGently]

BTW, 390 views for a post that starts with 'HELP' is a good sign for this forum.

Good to see there is a 'community' here.

Thanks.

[wpcoe]

Reluctant to feel like a prophet of doom, but I seem to recall that even at the Immigrations desk in a hospital, an extension of stay has to be done BEFORE the permission to stay date has passed. After his 30-day permission to stay has passed, he will be considered on overstay. Has he passed his 30-day date yet?

[visarunner]

Reluctant to feel like a prophet of doom, but I seem to recall that even at the Immigrations desk in a hospital, an extension of stay has to be done BEFORE the permission to stay date has passed. After his 30-day permission to stay has passed, he will be considered on overstay. Has he passed his 30-day date yet?

He need a Doctor Certificate to start.

Even if he on overstay already, he will just pay the relevant days and can apply for a medical extension which cost another THB 1,900.-

Not sure about Pattaya , but if you apply in BKK Main Office you have to get a crossexamination by the Thai Immigration Doctor on duty. His decision is final.

[Tammi]

Reluctant to feel like a prophet of doom, but I seem to recall that even at the Immigrations desk in a hospital, an extension of stay has to be done BEFORE the permission to stay date has passed. After his 30-day permission to stay has passed, he will be considered on overstay. Has he passed his 30-day date yet?

He need a Doctor Certificate to start.

Even if he on overstay already, he will just pay the relevant days and can apply for a medical extension which cost another THB 1,900.-

Not sure about Pattaya , but if you apply in BKK Main Office you have to get a crossexamination by the Thai Immigration Doctor on duty. His decision is final.

It was my experience in Bangkok that I had many extensions and it was only after many of those that the Thai immigration asked to see my face.

The procedure was: Ask Client Relations at the hospital to get an extension; Client Relations presumably then got a cerificate from the doctor; Client Relations then collected the visa extension fee from me and got my signature on the necessary paperwork and took my passport; Client Relations took everything to Thai Immigration; Passport with visa and receipt was returned to me on same day.

Have no reason to believe that procedure is different at Bangkok Pattaya Hospital.

But your Dad is now an outpatient. He has to get a medical certificate from his doctor. He should take that to the International Dept at BPH and ask them to help fill in the paperwork - BPH must have necessary forms right there. If your Dad doesn't yet feel well enough to go to Immigration he should ask the International Dept. for help.

Edited April 24, 2008 by Tammi

[DirkGently]

All sorted! He went back to the visa department and was dealt with very well. As he had all the paperwork needed, they extended his visa by longer than was needed, just in case.

Thanks a million folks. It was a worrying situation that I had no real understanding of.

It should be a lesson to everyone that has poor health or is old. Make sure you have top notch insurance and make sure you know what to do, just in case.

It has not been the holiday that he hoped for, but at least he is all sorted.

Nice rally round.

[Maestro]

Happy to hear all went well with immigration. Best wishes to your father for a speedy and complete recovery.

--

Maestro

[DirkGently]

I'll pass that on. He was impressed when i told him how I found out so quickly.

D.

[farangtingtong]

I am in need of some advice. My father has been taken ill whilst on holiday in Pattaya and was admitted to the Bangkok/Pattaya hospital.

He has been told by the doctor not to fly home until 17 days after his visa will expire. Today he went to immigration and they refused to give him an extension till that date. Of course the airline won't carry him before the date the doctors reccomend.

What can be done??

Is there an immigration dept at Bangkok/Pattaya hospital that will be more understanding?

He is unaware of the rules and does not know what to do. Your help would be greatly accepted.

Dirk.

Ah, there you go.......your father went to the immigration instead of sending someone else. If he is able to go there by himself, he must be able to travel by plane too!! TiT.

Immigration never extends a stay with 17 days; with the correct paperwork, they will extend up to 15 days and than up to 7 days at a time.