Thailand To Offer Foreigners Grace Period For Visa Extensions

Today, Immigration Bureau Commissioner Sompong Chingduong told Reuters that they would allow foreigners a grace period until 26 September, in order to apply for visa extensions.

This means that visas won’t automatically be extended after 31 July, as many foreigners had been hoping for.

Anyone that doesn’t apply for a visa extension and that is still in the country after the cut-off date will be considered to be on overstay. Overstays can result in being banned from returning to Thailand.

So all foreigners that are currently ‘stuck’ in Thailand will need to go to their local immigration office to apply for visa extensions.

I assume that some may only be granted short extensions, so would likely then have to leave the country.

I would suggest applying as soon as possible and making arrangements to leave before it’s too late.

Obviously, this will affect different groups of foreigners in different ways, so all will need to check about their individual situations.