Offices that grant 30 days extention on TV/VOA/Exempt

[MrMilk]

As time close in many are interested in getting these 30 days extra unless a miracle happens next Tuesday. 

 

People that have applied and received 30 days extension on Tourist/VOA/Exempt, WITHOUT ANY LETTERS ETC, please make a post here about which IO-office.

 

As a "tourist" you can stay/live/apply in any part of the country if I am correct?

[DrJack54]

16 minutes ago, MrMilk said:

As a "tourist" you can stay/live/apply in any part of the country if I am correct?

That is correct. Note you would need check into a hotel and have them do TM30.

They can give you receipt.

However some reports that the immigration officers are being more interested that your actually living at that location. 

[ubonjoe]

A extension of visa exempt or a tourist visa entry can be done at any office if you have a local address to put on the TM7 application form. A overnight stay at hotel would be enough to get a address and proof of it.

A 15 day visa on arrival (VOA) entry cannot be extended. Only 7 days to leave the country will be granted when a extension is applied for unless a person has a letter from their embassy.

[edwardandtubs]

5 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

A extension of visa exempt or a tourist visa entry can be done at any office if you have a local address to put on the TM7 application form. A overnight stay at hotel would be enough to get a address and proof of it.

A 15 day visa on arrival (VOA) entry cannot be extended. Only 7 days to leave the country will be granted when a extension is applied for unless a person has a letter from their embassy.

So what's with all the stories of people being told in Bangkok they need an embassy letter? I was also told this by several immigration offices by phone so went all the way to Ubon to get my tourist visa extended.

 

Also do we really need two separate threads discussing this identical issue?

 

 

[ubonjoe]

27 minutes ago, edwardandtubs said:

So what's with all the stories of people being told in Bangkok they need an embassy letter? I was also told this by several immigration offices by phone so went all the way to Ubon to get my tourist visa extended.

 

I was only replying to the OP's questions.

If you have not applied for a extension of your original visa exempt or tourist visa entry you should be able to get the extension at any office.

It think you have to go to a office with your passport to show them that you have not applied for the extension. Calling a office does not always get the correct info.

[edwardandtubs]

30 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

I was only replying to the OP's questions.

If you have not applied for a extension of your original visa exempt or tourist visa entry you should be able to get the extension at any office.

It think you have to go to a office with your passport to show them that you have not applied for the extension. Calling a office does not always get the correct info.

Maybe you should be able to but reports here and on Facebook suggest in Bangkok and other offices you can't. I haven't seen a single report of someone successfully extending a tourist visa in the normal way in Bangkok during this amnesty period.

[nemo38]

3 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

A extension of visa exempt or a tourist visa entry can be done at any office if you have a local address to put on the TM7 application form. A overnight stay at hotel would be enough to get a address and proof of it.

A 15 day visa on arrival (VOA) entry cannot be extended. Only 7 days to leave the country will be granted when a extension is applied for unless a person has a letter from their embassy.

 

I arrived on a UK passport with visa exemption for a 30 day stay.

 

I am in a condo until 23rd September, where the Chinese owner is back in China, so he can't get me a letter. 

 

Back at the start of the crisis I got a 30 day extension, which was pretty easy.

 

For the second one it looks like I need an embassy letter (touch and go, as I can only claim I want to avoid going back to the UK due to a covid outbreak). 

 

From what you are saying, if I get the Embassy letter, I only need to check into a hotel for a few days to get another 30 days visa extension. I read that you need to show 20 days lodging or they will only give you a 7 day extension. Somone on one of the facebook groups posted a letter from Pattaya IO today saying this.

[ubonjoe]

47 minutes ago, nemo38 said:

I am in a condo until 23rd September, where the Chinese owner is back in China, so he can't get me a letter. 

If they have a record of you doing a TM30 form for that address the may not want another one. The new rules (June 30) state it is only needed now if you change your registered address that immigration has.

 

47 minutes ago, nemo38 said:

I read that you need to show 20 days lodging or they will only give you a 7 day extension. Somone on one of the facebook groups posted a letter from Pattaya IO today saying this.

When was that. I have seen no recent reports about it. Back in March when the embassy extensions were started before the amnesty was announced they wanted a lot of proof of your residence at some offices.

[nemo38]

1 minute ago, ubonjoe said:

If they have a record of you doing a TM30 form for that address the may not want another one. The new rules (June 30) state it is only needed now if you change your registered address that immigration has.

 

When was that. I have seen no recent report about it. Back in March when the embassy extensions were started before the amnesty was announced they wanted a lot of proof of your residence at some offices.

My TM30 is still at a hotel which closed back in April. I was one of the last guests. Then I went to Koh Chang for a couple of months, then Bangkok, now Pattaya.

 

From a facebook group today

 

[ubonjoe]

39 minutes ago, nemo38 said:

My TM30 is still at a hotel which closed back in April. I was one of the last guests. Then I went to Koh Chang for a couple of months, then Bangkok, now Pattaya.

I read your post as saying you had to of already stayed for 20 days before. It says after you apply.

 

[Peter Denis]

5 hours ago, edwardandtubs said:

Also do we really need two separate threads discussing this identical issue?

 

 

The post you linked to confirms that the following IOs now will handle your application for a 'regular' 30-days extension of stay, which you are eligible for when having entered Visa Exempt or on a Tourist Visa, when you didn't use that once-per-entry 30-day extension yet.

• Chiang Mai
• Samui
• Mae Hong Son (including Pai)
• Ubon Ratchathani

The 30-day extension of stay will be provided with start-date 27 Sept with a permission to stay till 26 October.

[trappedinasia]

3 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

I read your post as saying you had to of already stayed for 20 days before. It says after you apply.

 

Would you have to book a hotel for 20 days past Sept 26th to get the full extension? I don't know why someone would have a lease, a booking or own a home for a time period when they don't yet have a visa...

 

If you get only the 7 days, can that be extended as part of the same extension, or would it require a new appliction? 

[nemo38]

7 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

I read your post as saying you had to of already stayed for 20 days before. It says after you apply.

 

I should have been more clear.

 

I took the first step of applying for an embassy letter. My flimsy pretext is that I have asthma, which gets me a free flu jab each year, if I want one. I said under the circumstances I feel safer in Thailand rather than going to the UK where Covid cases are increasing. If the embassy don't give me the letter then I have to go back anyway.

 

I was hanging around waiting for a third country to open up where I have some business. But they pushed their opening back to October.

[ubonjoe]

41 minutes ago, trappedinasia said:

Would you have to book a hotel for 20 days past Sept 26th to get the full extension? I don't know why someone would have a lease, a booking or own a home for a time period when they don't yet have a visa...

Twenty days after you apply for the extension.

 

42 minutes ago, trappedinasia said:

If you get only the 7 days, can that be extended as part of the same extension, or would it require a new appliction? 

I think the 7 days is to leave the country after your application was denied.

[trappedinasia]

Is Pattaya IO the only one known to be requesting the 7-part list of documents above, for a 30-day covid extension with an embassy letter? I haven't seen that mentioned in any other thread. 

[ubonjoe]

22 minutes ago, trappedinasia said:

Is Pattaya IO the only one known to be requesting the 7-part list of documents above, for a 30-day covid extension with an embassy letter?

As far as I know they are the only office wanting everything that is on that list. One to 4 is about normal other than 2 copies of everything.

[Fibonaqi]

16 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

A extension of visa exempt or a tourist visa entry can be done at any office if you have a local address to put on the TM7 application form. A overnight stay at hotel would be enough to get a address and proof of it.

A 15 day visa on arrival (VOA) entry cannot be extended. Only 7 days to leave the country will be granted when a extension is applied for unless a person has a letter from their embassy.

I have not applied for an extension yet for my visa exempt entry because it was not needed with the first visa amnesty announcement in April, can I get a 30-day extension in Bangkok without the embassy letter? I have a Bangkok local address and TM30 report done for me at the time. I heard reports here that others have been successful (in Chiang Mai).

[Caldera]

3 hours ago, Fibonaqi said:

I have not applied for an extension yet for my visa exempt entry because it was not needed with the first visa amnesty announcement in April, can I get a 30-day extension in Bangkok without the embassy letter? I have a Bangkok local address and TM30 report done for me at the time. I heard reports here that others have been successful (in Chiang Mai).

I haven't seen a single report of doing that successfully in Bangkok.

[Peter Denis]

4 hours ago, Fibonaqi said:

I have not applied for an extension yet for my visa exempt entry because it was not needed with the first visa amnesty announcement in April, can I get a 30-day extension in Bangkok without the embassy letter? I have a Bangkok local address and TM30 report done for me at the time. I heard reports here that others have been successful (in Chiang Mai).

When you are turned down at MTT for the 'regular' 30-day extension of stay your Visa Exempt entry entitles you to and which you haven't used yet (only one per entry), it would be a simple matter of applying at a more accommodating IO in another province < see my post #11 with confirmed reports of IOs that would do it >.  As a tourist you do not have a 'fixed residence' for Immigration purposes, so you can simply check in at a Hotel in that other province the night before and ask for a print-out of the TM-30 notification they will make of you staying there.  With that TM-30 and a filled-in TM-7 you can then apply at the local IO for that regular 30-day extension of stay (start date of that extension will be 27 September).

[notmyself]

I posted on another thread about a fella obtaining a 30 day extension (Samui) on a TR with no issue. The information is correct but it's one single instance I know of which is not a lot. I know a few others who will be doing it but not until early next week in the hope of a further amnesty whereby they can potentially keep the unused 30 day extension in their pocket for later use. 

[edwardandtubs]

13 hours ago, Peter Denis said:

When you are turned down at MTT for the 'regular' 30-day extension of stay your Visa Exempt entry entitles you to and which you haven't used yet (only one per entry), it would be a simple matter of applying at a more accommodating IO in another province < see my post #11 with confirmed reports of IOs that would do it >.  As a tourist you do not have a 'fixed residence' for Immigration purposes, so you can simply check in at a Hotel in that other province the night before and ask for a print-out of the TM-30 notification they will make of you staying there.  With that TM-30 and a filled-in TM-7 you can then apply at the local IO for that regular 30-day extension of stay (start date of that extension will be 27 September).

You don't need a printout of a TM30. If the hotel has done it, immigration will have it on their online system. I wasn't asked for it in Ubon and I can't see why any other immigration office would ask for it. Remember, if we are asking for a regular extension, we are supposed to be regular tourists and regular tourists don't wonder round with TM30 forms.

[Caldera]

1 hour ago, edwardandtubs said:

You don't need a printout of a TM30. If the hotel has done it, immigration will have it on their online system. I wasn't asked for it in Ubon and I can't see why any other immigration office would ask for it. Remember, if we are asking for a regular extension, we are supposed to be regular tourists and regular tourists don't wonder round with TM30 forms.

While logically true, this differed wildly between different immigration offices - already pre COVID-19. I'd expect the same now, so it's best to be prepared.

[edwardandtubs]

1 hour ago, Caldera said:

While logically true, this differed wildly between different immigration offices - already pre COVID-19. I'd expect the same now, so it's best to be prepared.

This was only for people living in a condo or house or something. I don't think people staying in a hotel have ever been asked for a TM30 printout and there are definitely no recent reports of it from anywhere. It can actually be quite difficult to explain to a hotel receptionist what you're looking for as it's not a normal request so I would say don't bother.

[Caldera]

7 hours ago, edwardandtubs said:

I don't think people staying in a hotel have ever been asked for a TM30 printout and there are definitely no recent reports of it from anywhere.

It was rare, but not unheard of. Chonburi Immigration made me fill in a TM30 form and put a TM30 receipt in my passport before processing a 30-day extension when I staid at a hotel last year. Different counters and they wouldn't give you a queue number for the extension counter without a TM30 receipt in your passport, no matter what may or may not have been filed online. I've never encountered that elsewhere.

[Peter Denis]

11 hours ago, edwardandtubs said:

You don't need a printout of a TM30. If the hotel has done it, immigration will have it on their online system. I wasn't asked for it in Ubon and I can't see why any other immigration office would ask for it. Remember, if we are asking for a regular extension, we are supposed to be regular tourists and regular tourists don't wonder round with TM30 forms.

I agree that it should not be necessary.  But that being said I have come across reports where IO DID request it, so better to come prepared than having to go back to your Hotel/Guesthouse for a TM-30 print-out.  By asking for it at your Hotel/Guesthouse you also make sure that they actually filed it (some smaller hotels/guesthouses refrain from doing it). 

[thaiman]

Does anyone have a copy to post here of a TM30 from a hotel?  How do you arrange getting this document from the hotel?

[Peter Denis]

32 minutes ago, thaiman said:

Does anyone have a copy to post here of a TM30 from a hotel?  How do you arrange getting this document from the hotel?

Every Hotel or Guesthouse is supposed to fill in a TM-30 when you - a foreigner - checks in at their premisses, and then notify the local IO within 24 hours of your arrival.

That's why most Hotels ask for your passport and also look for the TM-6 arrival/departure card, as that information needs to be filled-in on the TM-30 form.

As good as all Hotels/Guesthouses use the IO TM-30 website to file the TM-30 notification of your arrival there.  And it is just a matter of making a print-out of that notification or letting you take a photo of the screen, to have the evidence that they filed your TM-30.

Note: It is actually not even necessary to ask for that print-out, as IO will be able to check on the IO TM-30 website that you indeed are residing there.  But by asking for it, you ensure that the Hotel does not forget to do it.

And some IOs do not even require it for the regular 30-day extension of stay application, but better safe than sorry as it is little effort to get it,

[edwardandtubs]

58 minutes ago, Peter Denis said:

Every Hotel or Guesthouse is supposed to fill in a TM-30 when you - a foreigner - checks in at their premisses, and then notify the local IO within 24 hours of your arrival.

That's why most Hotels ask for your passport and also look for the TM-6 arrival/departure card, as that information needs to be filled-in on the TM-30 form.

As good as all Hotels/Guesthouses use the IO TM-30 website to file the TM-30 notification of your arrival there.  And it is just a matter of making a print-out of that notification or letting you take a photo of the screen, to have the evidence that they filed your TM-30.

Note: It is actually not even necessary to ask for that print-out, as IO will be able to check on the IO TM-30 website that you indeed are residing there.  But by asking for it, you ensure that the Hotel does not forget to do it.

And some IOs do not even require it for the regular 30-day extension of stay application, but better safe than sorry as it is little effort to get it,

It's a massive effort to get it if you're not fluent in Thai and the hotel receptionist speaks very limited English. I think the cheap provincial hotels don't know much about it but larger and better quality ones do.

 

I think the kind of immigration office that deliberately makes things difficult with the TM30 are going to be the ones who are also insisting on the embassy letter.

Edited September 19, 2020 by edwardandtubs

[MrMilk]

Would really appriciate some more reports, especially from Chiang Mai.

 

If no announcement Thuesday I just have to take the trip up there Wednesday.

That said, Chiang Mai is almost 1000 km from my home, so rather not return empty handed

[Caldera]

3 hours ago, MrMilk said:

Would really appriciate some more reports, especially from Chiang Mai.

 

If no announcement Thuesday I just have to take the trip up there Wednesday.

That said, Chiang Mai is almost 1000 km from my home, so rather not return empty handed

You're cutting it fine. Why wait for an announcement? There's a high likelihood that there won't be any further announcement.