What are the recent updates on visa amnesty and reporting requirements in Thailand for expats?

Yes same for Australia but as it turns out it is much safer here than back at home anyway so that wasn't very good advice was it? Surely much smarter to let people stay in place rather than travel around internationally if there's such a high contagion risk? The advice was for tourists to return home, not for those with a reason to stay like work and family.

@Oliver *******

‘surely’ is hypothetical and the opposite of reality. If they are wealthy enough to afford Thai elite / ok. But surely you have noticed that despite their 1 MILLION BAHT investment.. they are not permitted to enter the country. Does that sound smart to you? It it does / ur an idiot. People clearly do not wish to go home. This is the reality of ‘freedom’. Maybe not part of whatever your nation is, but it’s how the world works. And if thai immigration itself does not offer clear options to exit amnesty, they are abetting the existence on agents and people are understandably nervous. But you should know all this already

@Todd ********

Thai immigration has made a lot of adjustments to allow people to extend or apply for new education or business visas in-country that could previously only be obtained at Thai embassies abroad. I agree 100% with you they could be clearer about the new rules but it can be done if the applicant uses some initiative to reach out to immigration and explain their situation. Thai immigration are amazingly flexible if you have a genuine case (I twice had long overstays forgiven pre-covid but obviously I had to spend some time there explaining everything and showing all the evidence). As for freedom here compared to other countries, I don't think many countries allow people who have overstayed visas to stay indefinitely without visas nor make it as easy to stay as literally paying $13k for a 5-year visa regardless of what country you come from or what you do.

@Oliver *******

No Ed visas are being issued. The ministry of education even wrote a letter to immigration 11 August requesting in-country issue but was not approved.

@J**

Ed visas certainly were being issued but it required a quite hefty special fee and/or agent.

@Ivan ***********

maybe they were a special Ed visa!

@J**

even some immigration offices are taking the "special fee" directly.

@Oli***

my home country (Ireland) extended everyone up to January 2021.

@Oli***

all countries have similar situations in place now to facilitate transitions during pandemic. And as it appears today - they have finally realized this. And there will be at least a 60 day extension for the thousands on amnesty. Anything less is a failure man

@Jonathan ********************

The bottom section. It’s confusing but the amnesty for 90 day report ended 31 August.

@Guilhem *****

u did well. Oliver doesn’t understand