Foreigners can apply for visa extensions after July 31
published : 18 Jul 2020 at 10:17
writer: Gary Boyle
ORIGINAL SOURCE/WRITER: Wassayos Ngamkham
Foreign visitors still stranded in the kingdom by the Covid-19 pandemic will be allowed to apply for an extended short stay after their visas expire on July 31, the Immigration Bureau chief said on Friday.
Foreign tourists who are unable to leave Thailand would be given a grace period from Aug 1 to Sept 26 to apply to stay for a specified period, said the bureau. However, if they do not obtain extensions and are still in the country after Sept 26, they would face legal action and be blacklisted.
Foreigners should contact the bureau as soon as possible to prepare for their next steps as the Sept 26 deadline approached.
Foreign visitors must submit necessary documents when seeking to renew short-term visas, which will be granted for 30 days.
"If they are unable to return because there are no flights or due to lockdown measures in their countries, they must submit proof. The granting of a short-stay visa will be made on a case-by-case basis," an immigration official said during a visit to Phuket, a province with a high number of stranded foreigners.
He estimated that between 300,000 and 400,000 foreigners were stranded in the kingdom due to the lockdown.
The government earlier automatically extended their visas until July 31, but they must still inform authorities where they are staying.
Learn from listening
Vocabulary
- blacklist (verb): to put the name of a person, a company, a product or a country on a blacklist (a list of the names of people, companies, products or countries that an organization or a government considers unacceptable and that must be avoided) - ใส่ในบัญชีรายชื่อของคนที่ทำไม่ดี
- documents (noun): papers or sets of papers with written or printed information, especially of an official type - เอกสาร
- extension: something that is added to make something longer, bigger, etc. - การยืดออก, การยืดขยาย, การเพิ่ม
- grace period (noun): an extra period of time before something must be done; an extra period of time someone is given before they have to make a payment, and are penalized if they are not - ระยะผ่อนผัน
- Immigration Bureau: the government agency dealing with people entering and leaving the country and those who want to live there - สำนักงานตรวจคนเข้าเมือง
- necessary (adj.): essential, needful, something that you must do or have - จำเป็น, ซึ่งเลี่ยงไม่ได้, ซึ่งเป็นที่ต้องการ, สำคัญ
- proof: information, documents, etc. that show that something is true - การพิสูจน์
- stranded: left somewhere with no way of going anywhere else - ปล่อยเกาะ ถูกทิ้งไว้
- Keywords
- foreigners
- apply
- bureau
- stranded
