New from US Embassy: "Official extension stamp" to change to long-term visa

[greggraham]

5 minutes ago, FarFlungFalang said:

Yes she said as much and having just checked that's what the stamp says she actually put a different stamp first which she voided but because she's so pretty and nice and is processing my application Ill forgive her this time and probably the next,I believe it will be sent off to be processed as indicated in the info graphic that was posted somewhere.I did clarify that the 30 day extension will begin on the 27th of September.

So you didn’t pay any money right? This is the stamp mentioned in the email from the US embassy they Joe and Peter said is wrong/impossible? 

[DrJack54]

The stamp is giving current valid "permission of stay". Many did not have that being in Thailand under amnesty. You were allowed to remain with no overstay.

Edited August 28, 2020 by DrJack54

[worldfun]

On 8/27/2020 at 3:46 PM, Daithi85 said:

I'm surprised visa agents havent penciled in a price for a 30 day extension with/without Embassy letter yet.

they're so busy with their lucrative volunteer/edvisa they not interesting in low bar 30 day ext 

[worldfun]

8 hours ago, NanLaew said:

Less to do with easy, simple or logical and more to do with impossible. The arrivals level is below the departures level with locked doors in between.

Really? I think impossible have more to do with the fact that visa exempt on arrival is suspended during covid. But If one actually had a valid visa sticker in the passport such as non o multi 90 days should be issued/honored bu IO not withstanding all the other prereq. such as ASQ booking, insurance etc! A curious case indeed ????

[FarFlungFalang]

22 minutes ago, greggraham said:

So you didn’t pay any money right? This is the stamp mentioned in the email from the US embassy they Joe and Peter said is wrong/impossible? 

The stamp cost 1900 for which i received a receipt (the wife allowed her the 100 baht for "food" so 2000 all up).I think the stamp mentioned in the email is to verify the permission of stay so as to facilitate further applications of permission of stay.I think the 1900 baht is the price for the 30 day extension beyond the 26th of September.I also signed a form to acknowledge the overstay penalties which would apply due to failing to comply with the permission to stay.

[worldfun]

1 hour ago, FarFlungFalang said:

I have been successful many times in my life at getting in for free by sneaking in the back including at  border crossing doing my border runs by crossing the road at Mukdahan after stamping out of Thailand and the stamping straight back in without crossing the bridge and entering Laos.You never ever know if you never ever go!Sometimes it works and sometimes not so far about 50% success rate.

I turns out I won't have to try such drastic measures as today I was successful at submitting an application for a 30 extension with embassy letter.Don't know if it was because of my new hair cut or my rugged hansom manliness or new orders from higher up (definitely this as I don't possess rugged hansom manliness).

Would be interesting how it goes if you tried this at present up at mukdahan or any other land border with a valid visa as 30 day stamp on arrival is no longer available ????
Saving the lao side visa & all associated border run travels is pretty cool but in my limited experience the IO have always questioned the missing non thai stamps & thus I always had to walk to the other side first ????

There was a very odd case of being rejected an exit stamp on the cambodian side as IO wanted me to spend overnight in the casinos first or at least half day (lunch) so as I already had my 'brunch' I ventured back in Thailand without stamps & came back to Cambodian IO in afternoon to get my stamp & then finally thai entry stamp with new 90 days!! wacky mess which clearly shows the ease we can pass borders but hoops to jump to get the legal stamps ????

Edited August 28, 2020 by worldfun

[FarFlungFalang]

7 minutes ago, worldfun said:

Would be interesting how it goes if you tried this at present up at mukdahan or any other land border with a valid visa as 30 day stamp on arrival is no longer available ????
Saving the lao side visa & all associated border run travels is pretty cool but in my limited experience the IO have always questioned the missing non thai stamps & thus I always had to walk to the other side first ????

There was a very odd case of being rejected an exit stamp on the cambodian side as IO wanted me to spend overnight in the casinos first or at least half day (lunch) so as I already had my 'brunch' I ventured back in Thailand without stamps & came back to Cambodian IO in afternoon to get my stamp & then finally thai entry stamp with new 90 days!! wacky mess which clearly shows the ease we can pass borders but hoops to jump to get the legal stamps ????

About 50% of the times I tried my cross the road technique the IO would tell me to get the Lao visa.The first time I tried to query the refusal didn't work out so well and I quickly learned just to say sorry and cross to Lao to get the stamp. 

[Peter Denis]

8 hours ago, Peter Denis said:

After letting the information in this thread sink in, I come to the conclusion that this must be a giant blooper by the US Embassy, misunderstanding what Immigration officials told them 'verbatim' and then issuing an official e-mail with how they understood it.

But it is simply not credible that:

1 - Immigration ONLY talked with the US Embassy (already 3 days ago) and did not inform any of the other Embassies on this;

2 - Immigration will require everybody planning to apply for a 1-year extension of stay to come to their office before 11 September to get a 'stamp' that would allow this (and this without any announcement from their part);

3 - Immigration relying on foreign Embassies to inform their citizens without issuing ANY announcement by themselves (???!!!).

 

During the Amnesty we have become somewhat used to Immigration's caprices and their always late, unclear, ambiguous attempts at communicating the 'procedures'.  But the level of incompetence demonstrated if the above would be true, would transcend anything we experienced before.  So the only plausible explanation is a giant f##k-up by the US Embassy thinking they understood what Immigration told them and then feeling the need to already officially release that (mis)-info 'out of the blue'.

Note: But a positive point is of course the Embassy letter that can now be requested on-line on the US Embassy website although it is virtually useless as the onus is on the applicant to convince IO that he is unable to leave Thailand for valid reasons. 

I wrote the above because I simply couldn't believe Immigration would actually roll-out the scheme the US Embassy reported, WITHOUT any official notification from their part, and the ONLY communication being a US Embassy e-mail message to subscribers on Facebook.

However it looks like I was wrong.

But I stand by what I wrote > ... the level of incompetence (by Immigration) demonstrated if the above would be true, would transcend anything we experienced before.

 

[FlyingThai]

2 hours ago, greggraham said:

This is what the "free" stamp looks like:

 

Where do people get this stamp in Bangkok? CW or MTT?

[FarFlungFalang]

1 hour ago, DrJack54 said:

The stamp is giving current valid "permission of stay". Many did not have that being in Thailand under amnesty. You were allowed to remain with no overstay.

This stamp seems to remove the blockage caused by not have a valid permission of stay allowing further applications to be considered.

[greggraham]

9 minutes ago, FlyingThai said:

Where do people get this stamp in Bangkok? CW or MTT?

This one was from Hua Hin. 
 

“My husband and I also went into Hua Hin immigration today. They stamped our passport with a new visa stamp which will expire on the 26th of September. We paid no fee. We had all our paperwork prepared for an extra 30-day extension because once again our flights have been canceled. They told us to come back on the 26th of September (which is a Saturday and they are closed). In reading back on official statements by the immigration office, they state we must come in before 26th to apply for an extension.”

 

edit: someone else got one in Chaengwattana today. 

Edited August 28, 2020 by greggraham

[audaciousnomad]

5 minutes ago, FlyingThai said:

Where do people get this stamp in Bangkok? CW or MTT?

My guess would be CW, which is where you go for long-stay visas. I think it helps if you bring documents showing you are applying for a long-stay visa.

MTT is being used for Short-stay extension apps(VE, VOA, TR) and 90-day reports?

[Peter Denis]

1 hour ago, DrJack54 said:

The stamp is giving current valid "permission of stay". Many did not have that being in Thailand under amnesty. You were allowed to remain with no overstay.

 

7 minutes ago, FarFlungFalang said:

This stamp seems to remove the blockage caused by not have a valid permission of stay allowing further applications to be considered.

Indeed, it looks like this stamp will provide you with a 'valid' permission to stay from which you could then apply for a 1-year extension of stay.

But this begs the question: 'Why do all those with an expired permission to stay, now have to go to their local IO to get that stamp which will suddenly make their Amnesty permission to stay 'valid'?'

It would be much easier to simply announce that the permission to stay of all those stranded in Thailand will be valid till 26 September (end of the Amnesty) without the need of a stamp in their passport to confirm what actually has always been the case.

But of course that would be 'face loss' by Immigration and admitting that the countless which they turned away during the Amnesty because not having a 'valid' permission to stay and being on the Amnesty extension was a mistake.  No, a nice fat stamp in your passport will be needed, and I wonder whether it will indeed be 'free of charge' as the US Embassy e-mail mentioned, or whether Immigration would make use of the opportunity to charge a fee for correcting their own mistakes...

 

[Daithi85]

5 minutes ago, Peter Denis said:

 

Indeed, it looks like this stamp will provide you with a 'valid' permission to stay from which you could then apply for a 1-year extension of stay.

But this begs the question: 'Why do all those with an expired permission to stay, now have to go to their local IO to get that stamp which will suddenly make their Amnesty permission to stay 'valid'?'

It would be much easier to simply announce that the permission to stay of all those stranded in Thailand will be valid till 26 September (end of the Amnesty) without the need of a stamp in their passport to confirm what actually has always been the case.

But of course that would be 'face loss' by Immigration and admitting that the countless which they turned away during the Amnesty because not having a 'valid' permission to stay and being on the Amnesty extension was a mistake.  No, a nice fat stamp in your passport will be needed, and I wonder whether it will indeed be 'free of charge' as the US Embassy e-mail mentioned, or whether Immigration would make use of the opportunity to charge a fee for correcting their own mistakes...

 

The stamp is free of charge.

[DrJack54]

No one has mentioned recent 90 day report at MTT. 

I went and obtained my stamp with red notation. 

I have never done report before. Had my lease etc etc. 

Was amazed. I provided zero copies of and pp page or tm6 etc.

The io looked at my form and said.. "you live this condo"? I replied yes.

Same 5 mins later at B desk for residence certificate. No lease nothing. 

Seems imm just bringing stamps up to date.

BTW where are all the experts that stated that we all have valid permission of stay under amnesty. 

Then fall back comments such as "that depends on imm office". 

 

[overherebc]

So, what visa situation do have to have held for this to apply to you.

1 Amnesty extension on VOA?

2 Amnesty extension on 30 day tourist visa?

3 Amnesty extension on a 90 day entry on a married multi entry?

If '3' does the ME have to be still valid? or if the ME has passed use/enter by date is that different?

[vermin on arrival]

17 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

No one has mentioned recent 90 day report at MTT. 

I went and obtained my stamp with red notation. 

I have never done report before. Had my lease etc etc. 

Was amazed. I provided zero copies of and pp page or tm6 etc.

The io looked at my form and said.. "you live this condo"? I replied yes.

Same 5 mins later at B desk for residence certificate. No lease nothing. 

Seems imm just bringing stamps up to date.

BTW where are all the experts that stated that we all have valid permission of stay under amnesty. 

Then fall back comments such as "that depends on imm office". 

 

So VE in BKK will need to go MTT again with our embassy letters I assume

[DrJack54]

10 minutes ago, overherebc said:

So, what visa situation do have to have held for this to apply to you.

1 Amnesty extension on VOA?

2 Amnesty extension on 30 day tourist visa?

3 Amnesty extension on a 90 day entry on a married multi entry?

If '3' does the ME have to be still valid? or if the ME has passed use/enter by date is that different?

Only a guess but for #3 you would simply need financials to enable you to apply for extension to non o based on marriage.

The married guys currently using ME marriage to visit family could move to non o marriage then annual extension. 

Of course that has financials.

[DrJack54]

7 minutes ago, vermin on arrival said:

So VE in BKK will need to go MTT again with our embassy letters I assume

Vermin (I love that avatar). 

 

My guess is obtain the stamp as per this thread to enable you to apply for a non o (if you qualify) then followed by extension.

Not sure if CW or MTT. Check with folk that did it. Will be reports very soon

Edited August 28, 2020 by DrJack54

[audaciousnomad]

10 minutes ago, vermin on arrival said:

So VE in BKK will need to go MTT again with our embassy letters I assume

I assume the same. Don't forget, you get a queue number in advance now using their new online queue system.

https://www.immigration.go.th/en/?avada_portfolio=เปิดให้บริการจองคิวผ่า

 

Edited August 28, 2020 by audaciousnomad

[FarFlungFalang]

1 hour ago, Peter Denis said:

 

Indeed, it looks like this stamp will provide you with a 'valid' permission to stay from which you could then apply for a 1-year extension of stay.

But this begs the question: 'Why do all those with an expired permission to stay, now have to go to their local IO to get that stamp which will suddenly make their Amnesty permission to stay 'valid'?'

It would be much easier to simply announce that the permission to stay of all those stranded in Thailand will be valid till 26 September (end of the Amnesty) without the need of a stamp in their passport to confirm what actually has always been the case.

But of course that would be 'face loss' by Immigration and admitting that the countless which they turned away during the Amnesty because not having a 'valid' permission to stay and being on the Amnesty extension was a mistake.  No, a nice fat stamp in your passport will be needed, and I wonder whether it will indeed be 'free of charge' as the US Embassy e-mail mentioned, or whether Immigration would make use of the opportunity to charge a fee for correcting their own mistakes...

 

I think the amnesty just means you won't get fined for overstay but doesn't actually cancel the overstay itself hence the initial hint that overstay maybe back dated to your last valid permission of stay.The new stamp is like the dotting the i's and crossing the t's to be technically back on track in terms of permission to stay.As you suggest I think there's been some "argy bargy" going on behind the scenes.I think the initial stamp which gives permission to stay until the 26th of September maybe free but any subsequent extensions will come at a cost of 1900 baht as in my case.

[NanLaew]

21 hours ago, TonBrow said:

Sorry, I had only reached the second page of this thread when I wrote that. Then, I later saw people offer proof of the link on the U.S. embassy website. I stand corrected. It is really strange though that the U.S. embassy would use a Microsoft service form to collect this data. As a website developer, I would not expect this. It is not the norm.

I know of at least to national government agencies (not Thai) that are now using microsoft forms online for Covid-19 related business like travel registration for individuals.

[IraqRon]

15 hours ago, FarFlungFalang said:

It seems like it might be possible now.I think an embassy letter definitely would also help.I do believe they are now willing to try and help to legitimise those that are eligible.

I certainly hope so, as I am in the same fix and have been told by IO that I must leave the country by the 26th

[FarFlungFalang]

38 minutes ago, IraqRon said:

I certainly hope so, as I am in the same fix and have been told by IO that I must leave the country by the 26th

I was told the same thing numerous times so if you keep at it and can get an embassy letter and enough supporting documents and do the necessary neat appearance and be as polite as possible I think they might end up giving in.I was going to ask them to call Bangkok office to check if things had changed but they did that themselves.Good luck. 

[ubonjoe]

12 hours ago, FarFlungFalang said:

I think the amnesty just means you won't get fined for overstay but doesn't actually cancel the overstay itself hence the initial hint that overstay maybe back dated to your last valid permission of stay.

The ministerial notice clearly states that the permits to stay have been extended under it. Just a bunch of false rumors about the overstay being backdated.

[vandeventer]

So,do I need this free stamp in my passport with a non imm o visa that expires

in December 2020.

[DrJack54]

2 minutes ago, vandeventer said:

So,do I need this free stamp in my passport with a non imm o visa that expires

in December 2020.

You mean your extension until Dec 2020.

You will simply apply for next extension prior to your current permission of stay stamp ends.

No need for stamp.

[Peter Denis]

1 hour ago, IraqRon said:

I certainly hope so, as I am in the same fix and have been told by IO that I must leave the country by the 26th

 

18 minutes ago, FarFlungFalang said:

I was told the same thing numerous times so if you keep at it and can get an embassy letter and enough supporting documents and do the necessary neat appearance and be as polite as possible I think they might end up giving in.I was going to ask them to call Bangkok office to check if things had changed but they did that themselves.Good luck. 

Hi @FarFlungFalang and @IraqRon,

If the information provided by the US Embassy is indeed correct (till now there has not been ANY official Immigration announcement about this),  there is NO NEED for an Embassy letter to get the 'Free Stamp' at your local IO.  That Free Stamp seems to regularize your Amnesty extension and 'magically' transform it in a valid permission to stay till 26 September.

Based on that valid permission to stay you would then be able to apply for a long-term stay Visa (or 1-year extension of stay, even though that is not explicitly mentioned in the US Embassy e-mail).

 

In post #138 < see attached below > @greggraham posted a picture of how that Free Stamp looks, so it looks like this has been silently rolled-out already to IOs and that it is just a matter of requesting it. 

Note: I have refrained from commenting in this post about the absolute lack of communication from Immigration re this important issue.

 

[Peter Denis]

11 minutes ago, vandeventer said:

So,do I need this free stamp in my passport with a non imm o visa that expires

in December 2020.

You would only need it if your local IO is not willing to handle your application for an extension of stay (be it short-term or long-term) because of you not being on a 'valid' permission to stay and presently on an Amnesty extension.

It seems that this silently rolled out procedure will now allow those in that situation to get their applications for an extension of stay approved.

>> Reports of those getting that Free Stamp and then using it to apply for an extension of stay from the 'valid' permission to stay it provides, would be very welcome as there is NO official Immigration Announcement confirming this procedure.

[FarFlungFalang]

1 hour ago, Peter Denis said:

Hi @FarFlungFalang and @IraqRon,

If the information provided by the US Embassy is indeed correct (till now there has not been ANY official Immigration announcement about this),  there is NO NEED for an Embassy letter to get the 'Free Stamp' at your local IO.  That Free Stamp seems to regularize your Amnesty extension and 'magically' transform it in a valid permission to stay till 26 September.

Based on that valid permission to stay you would then be able to apply for a long-term stay Visa (or 1-year extension of stay, even though that is not explicitly mentioned in the US Embassy e-mail).

Hi Peter,I agree that to get the free stamp you might not need the embassy letter and I can't say if it actually helped in my case or not which is slightly different as I was applying for a special 30 day extension suggested by ubonjoe but I suspect it did help as they said "oh embassy letter" and was included in the duplicate file of about 20 documents each.My stamp definitely is an "under consideration" stamp as distinct from a pure permission to stay until 26th Sept.I suspect there will be many variants in the way this will be implemented from the pleasant helpful assistance I received to the outright refusal others may experience.I find it very helpful not to carry my expectations into the immigration office with me as it creates unhelpful tensions in my dealings with the imm officers who are often severely restricted in what they can do or say.It's a mine field and many a trap for the unwary.