Current info. on extending tourist visa??

[june11]

Why did you "cut and paste" only the name of the "spokesman", and not the article?

[..]

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/search/page.arcview.php?clid=3&id=110697&usrsess=

 

Rehabilitation plans outlined

Published on Jan 5, 2005

 

The Social Development and Human Security Ministry has been assigned responsibility for providing temporary shelters and rebuilding homes for tsunami victims, government spokesman Jakrapob Penkair said yesterday.

 

?Construction will follow Her Majesty the Queen?s advice that each home reflect individual families? needs and that the homes form a community, to enable the victims to help each another,? he said.

 

Jakrapob said each home would cost about Bt100,000 to build.

 

At yesterday?s Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra praised officials and the public for their timely response to the unprecedented catastrophe in the six southern provinces.

 

He said the Cabinet approved three rehabilitation plans ? one each for the victims, the coastal environment and infrastructure.

 

Deputy Prime Minister Suwat Liptapanlop will be in charge of the victims; fellow deputy PM Chaturon Chaisang of environmental repair; and Interior Minister Bhokin Bhalakula of infrastructure reconstruction.

 

The spokesman said the government would fully reimburse both foreign and local victims for any medical costs incurred, as well as pay for tourists? airfare home if they could not afford it themselves.

 

The visa-extension fee of Bt1,900 shall be waived for foreigners who need to overstay because of the disaster.

 

?The prime minister has instructed relevant officials to ensure that valuables found on the bodies of dead foreigners are returned to their families,? he said.

 

The Labour Ministry will find jobs for displaced workers in the hotel and tourism industry, while the Interior Ministry will assist affected beach vendors and local fishermen, he said.

 

The Finance Ministry will map out financial-relief measures for businesses, he added.

 

Some 18 per cent of hotel rooms in Phuket and 10 per cent of the coral reef had been damaged by the tsunami, he said.

 

The Tourism and Sports Ministry will determine a plan for the reconstruction of tourist attractions, including measures to prevent overcharging, he said.

 

The Interior Ministry will waive this year?s property taxes for tsunami victims living along the Andaman coast.

 

Meanwhile, Bangkok Governor Apirak Kosayodhin dispatched a caravan of 80 construction workers and building supplies to assist in the southern reconstruction.

 

The fully equipped caravan was assigned to rebuild Ban Nam Khem in Phang Nga, the worst-hit fishing community.

 

Bangkok residents have donated Bt3.5 million to the city administration to carry out relief and recovery efforts along affected parts of the Andaman coast.

 

Reacting to the disaster, Apirak said he was pushing for Bangkok?s inclusion in a controlled zone for possible earthquakes.

 

The inclusion would enable him to enforce safety regulations designed for quakes, he said.

 

Presently, only Kanchanaburi and the northern provinces are designated quake-prone areas.

[Khun_Kong]

june11 said:

I know. And thats what I'm talking about. (And he did NOT provide a "quote"). His post sounds like bullshit or else he totally misinterpreted the "article"....I can imagine the immigration office waiving the fees for some people because of the tsunami, but "to encourage tourists to stay longer?"....yeah right.

 

Jeez, June- try getting up on the other side of the bed tomorrow!

 

Here's the "article" and in it you'll find the "quote".

 

If you bothered to do a search of this website instead of making sarcastic responses to the people who tried to help you, you would have found the original article here. Using "visa fee" as your search string would have turned up this article as the first listing of the search. Using "visa" by itself shows as the 7th thread in the search.

 

I'm sure you'll make the appropriate apologies.

 

"...yeah, right."

 

*******************************************

 

Weather bureau chief moved

 

Suparerk: Transfer not punishment

Agency probed for not giving tsunami alert

 

PREEYANAT PHANAYANGGOOR CHATRUDEE THEPARAT

 

Cabinet yesterday ordered the temporary transfer of Meteorological Department chief Suparerk Tansriratanawong for failing to issue a tsunami alert on Dec 26.

 

Mr Suparerk was to be shifted to assist work at the Prime Minister's Office for six months pending an investigation.

 

Government spokeman Jakrapob Penkair said Mr Suparerk would temporarily help a panel, headed by Smith Tumsaroch, assistant to the minister at the PM's Office and former meteorological chief, set up a tsunami early-warning system.

 

Mr Jakrapob said the transfer was not a punishment for the department's failure to warn of coming tidal waves, and Mr Suparerk may resume his position after six months if that is deemed appropriate.

 

No acting chief of the department has been appointed.

 

Mr Jakrapob said a disciplinary committee would not be set up to investigate Mr Suparek. However, a nine-member panel would be appointed to investigate and assess the overall performance of the Meteorological Department.

 

Mr Smith would likely head the panel and suggest solutions for the future.

 

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said Mr Suparerk was transferred to facilitate an inquiry into why his department failed to issue a tsunami alert which could have saved thousands of lives.

 

``When a quake measuring at 8.9-9.0 on the Richter scale struck Sumatra, it was widely known a tsunami could happen. But why weren't there any alerts? I really want to know the truth,'' Mr Thaksin said.

 

Cabinet yesterday also approved a package of assistance to the tsunami victims in the country, including 1,000 temporary housing units, one billion baht in aid for affected fishermen, and a 171-million-baht project to help workers who lost their jobs as a result of the disaster.

 

Sora-at Klinprathum, minister of social development and human security, said his ministry would be the centre to coordinate the various state agencies offering to help build temporary shelters for people made homeless by the tidal waves in Krabi, Phangnga, Phuket and Ranong provinces.

 

To date around 200 temporary houses have already been built. The army would be responsible for the construction of another 500 units. All of the 1,000 units would be finished within 10 days, Mr Sora-at said.

 

Homeless people in some areas were being sheltered in tents. A committee would be set up to deal with the problem of finding new homes for them, he said.

 

In principle, they could get a new house built for them at less than 100,000 baht a unit or choose to receive financial assistance to pay for a new house of their own choosing.

 

He said the prime minister wanted all assistance to reach the tsunami victims within two weeks from now.

 

The ministry also planned to help around 270 children who lost one or both of their parents. The ministry would look after them until their relatives came forward to pick them up. It would also give some financial assistance to the relatives who decided to take care of the children.

 

050105_new03 (11K) Meanwhile, Deputy Agriculture Minister Newin Chidchob said the total loss suffered by fishermen was estimated at one billion baht.

 

Around 3,400 fishing boats had been damaged. The Fisheries Department and the navy would help salvage them.

 

The ministry would pay around 95,000 baht each for damaged big boats and 30,000 baht for small ones. Owners of fish raised in floating baskets would receive 12,000 baht in compensation per basket.

 

The Labour Ministry also asked for 171 million baht to help local tsunami victims.

 

The Social Security Office agreed to provide 120 million baht from the Social Security Fund to assist 39 hospitals in the six affected provinces.

 

Mr Jakrapob said that in order to facilitate tourist arrivals, it was agreed that the visa fee of 1,900 baht each would be waived for tourists seeking to extend their stay in Thailand.

 

Rehabilitation projects would first be implemented in locations which sustained less damage such as the Patong and Kamala beaches, he said.

[turk182]

Easiest way 2 years ago was go over to the imigration offices

but go into one of the little row of shops opposite first.

As soon as they see you getting out of the taxi and your a farang they will guess what your here for and start calling you over anyway. Pay them 100b and let them fill out a form for you and take your photo. Trust me the form is a pain in the arse if they still use the same one, and 100b was a bargain.

They will tell you which desk to go to. Go in pay the extension fee and you should have the whole thing wrapped up in an hour. I initially tried to fill out the form myself got it wrong twice and spent an hour and a half getting pissed around in there, so go straight for the booth.

I did try to get it extended at the imigration office at the airport on arrivel on a previous trip, but they refuse to do it and actually tell you as its only a week or so to just come back and pay the fine.

What they dont tell you is that aside from being in deep shit if your caught on the street with an expired visa. When you do pay the fine the fact that you were in Thailand without a visa and the amount you were fined is written inside your passport in english. Hope all this is some help?

Even if your still going to be one day over? If things havent changed the first days overstay is free.

[mongatu]

I overstayed by one day recently. I had no problems at the airport when leaving, except the official who looked at my passport raised his eyebrows ever so slightly but said nothing. I was not charged any fine. Nothing was written in my passport, except the usual exit stamp.

 

As I understand it, the rule is if you overstay by only one day, the fine is waived. If you are over by 2 or more days, nothing is waived and you pay the daily fine starting from the first day of overstay. God help you if you don't make it to the airport though.

[Pescator]

june11 said:

Why did you "cut and paste" only the name of the "spokesman", and not the article?

 

june11 said:

Why did you "cut and paste" only the name of the "spokesman", and not the article?

 

Sigh.... if you really, really wanna know I had the article I was referring to on my HD in danish and unless I underestimate you - which I somewhat doubt since you weren`t able to do a simple search and find the article yourself - you wouldn`t be able to figure the meaning out anyway.

I didn`t offer you the service of supplying an URL as I wrongfully assumed you would be able to find it yourself especially since I pointed you towards the bkk post website where the article appeared 2 days prior to my post.

 

The "article" I was referring to was the one kindly supplied by Khun Khong.

 

Hua Nguu

[june11]

Yes, i didn't bother looking for the article because i knew either that it didn't exist, or the info. was wrong....The latter is true. The relevant sentence in that article is totally garbled and meaningless The correct info. is in the NATION article that someone else posted. I wrote in an earlier post that I would readily believe that fee exemptions would be made for tsunami victims...that's obvious; and i wrote that it would be ridiculous to believe that tourists in general are fee-exempt to encourage them to stay longer, as you wrote.