Spare a thought for Thai Immigration staff

[Zidane]

There are some absolute horror stories coming from Thai Immigration Offices, at the moment.
People having to queue for 8 hours, hundreds waiting outside, Bangkok particularly bad, Udon office packed out every day now.
And what of the Immigration staff? Every day overworked not just dealing with elderly white farangs ,but also the likes of Chinese, Laotian's as well.
I would think that a fair number of these customers are sick. Because of this I would also think the chances of Immigration staff catching this virus as quite high.
Indonesia has now introduced an emergency visa permit, automatically in the system, for people whose visas have expired and cannot return home. There will be no overstay fines and no need to visit Immigration.
Will Thailand do the same? It would be nice to think they would do similar for the sake of people's health if nothing else.

[noosard]

Have they been made to work longer hours
They are only paper pushers
Think more about the medical staff on the front line

[Drunk Monkey]

There are some absolute horror stories coming from Thai Immigration Offices, at the moment.
People having to queue for 8 hours, hundreds waiting outside, Bangkok particularly bad, Udon office packed out every day now.
And what of the Immigration staff? Every day overworked not just dealing with elderly white farangs ,but also the likes of Chinese, Laotian's as well.
I would think that a fair number of these customers are sick. Because of this I would also think the chances of Immigration staff catching this virus as quite high.
Indonesia has now introduced an emergency visa permit, automatically in the system, for people whose visas have expired and cannot return home. There will be no overstay fines and no need to visit Immigration.
Will Thailand do the same? It would be nice to think they would do similar for the sake of people's health if nothing else.

Yes Immo officers are in the front line but so are many other government employees like the guys manning the check points and worst of all the hospital staff ... 44 doctors have died in Italy due to covid.

Immo should be a sensible easy fix by just waving visas and reporting during the state of Emergency we are now in and when this is current very bad situation eases those whose visas expired can make new from that date without any penalties.

DM

[Zidane]

Have they been made to work longer hours
They are only paper pushers
Think more about the medical staff on the front line

All the medical staff are heroes.
My post was about stopping the spread of the disease....hundreds of people, day after day, in a confined area... think about it.

[noosard]

lol
not really just a part of was
and I do my part by never being in that office anymore

[Khun Paul]

I agree with the impositions that are being put on Government staff, in some cases especially those of the Immigration who have to by nature of the job , spend time with each and every person and in some cases their families as well.
Considering that I believe the VAST majority of those seeking to attend Immigration, their records are now computerised then a blanket 30 day extension could be given and dealt with in the normal way 30days later . () day has been put on line , the only real problem is the Renewal of Visas but even that could have an automatic 30 day ext granted, to allow this VIRUS to hopefully subside .
The fact the Thai Government expects all Foreigners to deal with immigration shows to me just how low on the scale we are and also how low on the scale are the Government workers , all in the name of national security so I am led to believe. Which if one really thinks about it. No planes, probably No trains, possibly no boats, where the hell are we going to go anyway ….huh

[saint]

They could help themselves a little by stopping giving applicants the run a round .!!!!!
i was told to go home and someone else to retake my photos , as selfies are not accepted . Come back tomorrow .
Can you deal with the witness information today please . No come back tomorrow .
Realising this was a complete pain in the arse , i rush home with my witness . she took three new photos for us , stopped at the print shop to get printed and copies , got back to immigration an hour and a half later .
The look on their faces was priceless , and the only comment i got was that we had not taken our shoes of for the inside shots , to which my Mrs said more or less , so what .
Now i am lucky i live close to Udon , what if you do not .
Completely pointless exercise as far as i could see .

[anefarious1]

Going to Udon immigration on Monday for 1 year extension. Not looking forward to it!

[tutone]

Going to Udon immigration on Monday for 1 year extension. Not looking forward to it!

Would like to hear about your experience. Will be going next week myself.

[fdimike]

I believe Udon Immigration could save themselves and the rest of us a lot of headaches by simply instituting an online appointment system like what the Thai Embassy in Vientiane is using. It's very simple to use and works quite well. Immigration could limit the number of people coming to their office by type service requested, nationality (Lao or Westerner or ??) and any other category desired . This is not "rocket science" by any means. Of course that may just cut out visa service people - what a pity.

[jackspratt]

The majority of their clients seem to be SE Asian guest workers, mike.

How many of them do you reckon would have either access to, or the ability to utilise, an online appointment system?

[Earnest]

My post was about stopping the spread of the disease....hundreds of people, day after day, in a confined area... think about it.

Yeah, I get it - small office with lots of people.

It needs to be closed.

[fdimike]

I don't believe it would be a problem for anyone with just a little common sense to be able to book an appointment with immigration. They could easily do it with their "smart" phone or go to a internet shop. I don't have any stats but I believe the majority of the people going to immigration here in Udon are farangs.

[pal52]

I was at Udon Immigration this week and nearly all the people in the Que were from Laos.
Mostly Laos women with their Thai Husbands and children.

Out of 60 people there were only about 8 Farangs.

The Laos people were having to extend there Visas because if they went back to do a border crossing which would cost them nothing they would not be allowed back in without confirmation cert they were clear of the virus.

Instead they were having to pay for the extension which would probably cause hardship on their Thai husband & family

[FrazeeDK]

the bureaucracy is not known for its agility in amending or suspending rules. In this situation you would think a waiver of these fees is merited..

[747man]

the bureaucracy is not known for its agility in amending or suspending rules. In this situation you would think a waiver of these fees is merited..