“Last night the Australian Ambassador, Allan McKinnon, announced that the Australian Embassy and Consulate-General in Phuket will be issuing visa letters to Australians who require them,” Matthew Barclay, Australian Consul-General to Phuket, told The Phuket News today (July 17).
“While there has been no announcement on the future of the visa amnesty to date, we understand many people have gone to Immigration to extend their existing visas (or to convert their visas) ahead of the deadline. Many have been informed that they require a letter from their Embassy to do this,” he explained.
“It is our intent to ensure that we are not an obstacle in this process. As a result, we will be issuing letters (at no fee and via email) to those Australians who send their passport biodata page to Consular.Bangkok@dfat.gov.au. People should expect a reply within one to two working days,” he added.
As always, anyone with queries about their visa circumstances should direct these to Thai Immigration, Mr Barclay advised.
“We are in regular contact with Immigration authorities and we will ensure that when we have official news it is conveyed through our regular announcements on our Australia in Thailand Facebook page,” he added.
In his daily video address posted on the Australia in Thailand Facebook page, Ambassador McKinnon said plainly, “I know that many of you are focussed on the fact that the thai visa amnesty finishes on 31 July. We received well over 100 queries in the past few days about this issue
“I must stress that there has been no official announcement of what will happen after this date. My team is in regular contact with Thai Immigration and we have been told to wait for an announcement,” he said.
“That said I know many of you have already sought to extend your visas and in some cases Thai authorities have asked for a letter to facilitate this process. if you are asked for a letter, we can assist,” Amb McKinnon confirmed.
“I know previously we said that we would not sign these letters. That was at a time when we were trying to encourage everyone to leave Thailand, but now we can see that it is very hard to leave and we are happy to provide those letters.
“Should you require such a letter please email consular.bangkok@dfat.gov.au with a copy of the biodata page of your passport. The team here will email your letter within a couple of days.
“There is no fee for this service. The letter will be sent by email and no physical copies will be provided,” Ambassador McKinnon explained.