Thousands of Russians due to the massive cancellation of flights and the closure of state borders can not fly from Thailand. At the same time, they had problems with the extension of the visa, which allows them to legally remain in the kingdom. According to local law, a tourist can stay in the country for free for 30 days. For many, these visas have expired or are expiring in the coming week. Tourists applied to the migration office of Thailand, but there the visa term is increased by only seven days, and for a 30-day extension, a letter from the Russian embassy is required with the corresponding application.
“Many of us turned to the Russian Embassy in Thailand with a request to provide such a petition, but were refused, motivated by the fact that the borders of the Russian Federation are open and there are no restrictions on the entry of Russian citizens into the Russian Federation,” the tourist’s collective letter addressed to the Foreign Minister says RF and RF Ambassador to Thailand. The text of the document is at the disposal of RT.
Leaving Thailand is now almost impossible. Since March 26, the kingdom authorities have officially closed the borders, now it is possible to leave the country only in cases of justified necessity.
“Every day I look for tickets from Thailand to Russia, but they simply aren’t there,” said Russian Cyril Golikov, who now lives on the island of Phuket with his wife. In this case, the validity of the visa for spouses expires on April 2.
“Even if they send a special flight for us, we need to wait for him here for a while. Since we do not want to extend visas, we will have to pay a fine for violating the migration regime - approximately 500 Thai baht for one day of delay (1.2 thousand rubles). And if the Thai police decide to detain or arrest me for breaking the law? I’m a law-abiding person and I don’t want to go against the local authorities, ”the Russian says.
“We decided to wait”
The authors of the appeal to the Foreign Minister and the Russian ambassador emphasized that some Russians want to wait out the global outbreak of coronavirus without leaving for Russia.
“We draw your attention to the fact that many of us require the legalization of a stay in Thailand, and not return to the Russian Federation. Many of us live legally and permanently in Thailand with our families and do not need to return to the Russian Federation just because it has now become impossible to extend our visa, ”the Russians explained in a letter.
Andrei and Alena (names changed) this year planned to return to Moscow in March - they have been wintering in Asia for five years in a row. Under the circumstances, the couple decided to stay in Thailand.
“We are afraid that on the way to the airport and waiting for the flight, the wife and our 10-month-old baby may catch any disease, so we decided to wait in Thailand until everything calms down. Our visa expires on April 15, and we very much hope that the Russian embassy will be able to agree with the Thai authorities on the extension of visas or on the abolition of fines for its expiration, ”Andrei said in an interview with RT.
Russian tourists organized a collection of signatures for a petition calling on the Russian authorities to assist fellow citizens in extending visas. Its author, Russian Anastasia Zagrebina, who is in the kingdom with her six-year-old son, explained that many families do not want to put themselves or their children at risk of getting coronavirus when they return to the Russian Federation and plan to wait out the pandemic in Thailand.
The Russian Embassy in Thailand said they knew about the problem, and admitted that thousands of Russians had encountered it in the kingdom. They explained that issuing applications for an extension of visas for 30 days is contrary to the position of the Thai authorities, which in a pandemic have tightened the migration regime.
“Our work on the legal extension of the stay of our citizens is not consistent with Thai policies and is contrary to measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus. The authorities of the kingdom announced that they will very closely monitor the migration regime, ”the representative of the embassy said in an interview with RT.
The embassy assured that they were working on a solution to this problem, but did not rule out that it would not be possible to agree with the Thai authorities. Russian diplomats collect data on fellow citizens in case of organized evacuation.
At the same time, Russian tourists claim that embassies of other countries in Thailand issue the necessary official letters to their citizens so that they can extend their visas for 30 days.
“So, citizens of Kazakhstan and Ukraine have the opportunity to freely extend visas and stamps ... Embassies of Britain, Germany, Poland issue letters to their citizens to help extend the visa without leaving Thailand,” the letter says.
On March 26, the government issued a series of instructions following a meeting of the coordinating council to combat the spread of coronavirus. In accordance with these instructions, the Russian Foreign Ministry is obliged to help Russian citizens abroad “in organizing their residence and extending the validity of documents” on the basis of which they are located in the host country.