Monday, 30 March:

Today we went back again to Nonthaburi immigration early this morning. They open at 8:30 and we were more than hour early in order to be near the front of the line. We were not in the very front but pretty close.

You will remember from the post above that on last Thursday they gave us an “appointment” to come in today. (Not a specific time, just today.)

When we finally sat down to “interview” with the immigration officer, I found it all to be pretty “strange”. The immigration officers all seem to be trying to figure things out as they go along.

As I shared above, my 23 year old daughter is a USA citizen here in Thailand on a tourist visa. She arrive here from Singapore early February and received a 30 day visa at the airport. Then she extended for another 30 days.

With a letter from the USA Embassy in Bangkok with her name, passport # & DOB on it, she should have had everything she needs to get an extension. Right? Well, here is where it got “odd”.

I have gone in with my daughter each time simply to be a help and a support during this time. My wife and I have retirement visas that do not expire until July 2020. (We do not expect any problem, renewing them for another year.)

But the immigration officer wanted copies of MY passport / visa pages AND she said that she had to interview ME since my daughter is staying at our condo. She said that she had to approach my daughter’s visa extension. as if she were asking for a “non-o dependents” visa. Even though she is NOT going to get a “non-o dependents” visa. She is simply extending a tourist visa. Weird.

We went through a LONG process of signing pages and answering many questions that were noted by the immigration officer. The immigration officer even asked if I could produce a birth-certificate to prove that this is my daughter. I said, I might be able to find one somewhere but it may take some time. Then the immigration officer simply shrugged it off and said, “never mind”. Weird.

At one point I asked the immigration officer; "So, what if someone is here on a tourist visa requesting an extension but they are NOT staying with family? Suppose they are staying long term at a hotel? What would they have to do? The immigration officer said, "The owner of the hotel or the owner of the house they are staying in would have to come down here to immigration with them." Weird.

In the end, we paid 1,900 baht and they gave her a 20 day extension. They said that when we come back at the end of the 20 days, (April 19) they will then give her 10 more days. They said at that time we will not have to pay any more nor will we need any more forms or documentation. Just come in with passport.

Nonthaburi immigration opens at 8:30. We arrived there at just before 8:00. We had finished all of our "process" and left around 11:30.

The documentation they got from us today was:

1.

Copy of first page and every page of passport that has any visas on it. (Along with TM6, of course.) Every page signed by my daughter.

2.

Letter from USA embassy with name, passport # and DOB on it. (We received this letter via e-mail and made a hard copy.)

3.

TM 7 form with photo.

4.

STM 2 form

5.

Copy of latest TM30 from my landlord with daughter's name on it.

6.

Copy of MY rental agreement. (Our daughter is staying with my wife and I. But, my daughters name is NOT on the rental agreement.

7.

Map showing where we live.

8.

Several print-outs of pictures of my daughter. Standing outside of our house, and inside of the house in several different rooms.

9.

Signed copies of MY passport with visa pages.

10.

1,900 baht

I have lived in Thailand for more than 30 years and I speak fluent Thai. I have run into many strange things through the years as I have interacted with immigration. But THIS, ... this is just so odd.

None of it made any sense to me and the immigration officers all seemed like they also were not sure of what the actual procedures should be.

I am sure things are changing fast as Thailand immigration tries to figure out how to deal with this crazy situation. So, …

It is my understanding every immigration office is different and every immigration officer will likely have a different idea about the documents required.

OK, just attempting to give you some idea of what I experienced today. Hope this is helpful to some of you.

@Mi**

,

Nope. Just attempting to get a 30 day extension on a tourist visa. That’s it.

Let me clarify.

The above list are things that I showed to the immigration officer and some items that he said I needed to have.

So, from the list above (according to the immigration officer I talked to) you WILL need everything on that list EXCEPT ...

... Items #3 & #4 MIGHT not be necessary. MIGHT!! I had items #3 & #4 in my stack of documents but he didn't say if I did or did not have to have those two documents. That doesn't mean they are not necessary.

ALL of the other numbered items are needed FOR SURE. (According to the immigration officer I talked to this morning.)

The only documents that are in the "might need 'em / might not need 'em" category are #3 & #4.

OK, carry on.

I do not know if ALL of these documents that we had are absolutely necessary or not. Simply sharing what we showed to the immigration officer.

I thought the picture thing was "silly", yet he said we needed to have that also. Go figure.

No, we didn't ask this morning. But I would assume that normal overstay fines are in place. Not sure though. Things are changing every day. Anyone's guess.

BUT, it is my understanding that if she needs yet ANOTHER 30 days at the beginning of MAY and the coronavirus still has the boarders closed, THEN we can do this extension thing AGAIN. I could be wrong but that is what I think is the case.

My daughter's insurance letter says:

"Coverage to the Participant that is greater than 30,000 EUR (approx. $50,000 USD)

I don't know if the immigration officer paid attention to that amount or not. My GUESS is that it won't matter.

From the article:

"On Friday, Phuket Immigration confirmed to The Phuket News that by order from Bangkok all tourists can extend their stay by simply presenting themselves at the Immigration office, filing an application and paying B1,900."

So someone with a TOURIST visa CAN extend without the elusive letters for a consulate or embassy. Yes?

So even before the coronavirus it is possible to receive an extension on a tourist visa. So now because of the coronavirus they will grant tourist one extension which they could have gotten anyway??

So, ...

If you go to Singapore, you will be forced to quarantine for 14 days.

My daughter is here in Nonthaburi on a tourist visa.

I wonder if she could make a trip to Phuket, check into a hotel there for a day and then go get her visa extended there?

Maybe?