Big Buddha statue in Phuket. File photoPATTAYA (Thailand), Mar 12The Russians, stuck in Thailand due to the cancellation of return flights, began to have serious problems with visas: in Pattaya alone, dozens of people have already lost their legal status of stay after the expiration of visas and 30-day stamps, a RIA Novosti correspondent who attended a meeting of the public crisis tourist assistance center, which was formed by Russians living and working in Thailand. Assistance coordinators working in Pattaya itself and in Bangkok gathered in Pattaya, and a group of coordinators from Phuket, where the largest number of Russians are now, joined the meeting virtually.» and several more people had their visas ending on March 1, we turned to the Russian Embassy with a request to give us letters to the immigration police in order to extend their visas on these letters, but then they could not help us, at that moment the immigration police accepted such letters only on the island of Phuket , where they were issued by the Russian Consulate General,» she told the participants of the meeting Russian woman Maria (name has been replaced), who is in Pattaya with her family. «There are a lot of Russians in Phuket, and therefore the immigration police there went towards the Consulate General and tourists, starting to extend visas and visa-free stamps for 30 days using these letters, even before how this order was extended to other tourist areas. There are relatively few of us in Pattaya compared to Phuket, but today there are more than 40 people among us who have lost their legal status, and by Monday there will be more than 200 of us,» she explained.
The restriction on flights from the Rostov airport was extended until March 20According to the Russian woman, everyone who applied to the Pattaya immigration police in early March was stamped with a 7-day extension of stay in their passports with a requirement to leave the country after they expired. «With this stamp, letters from the embassies that we received in Pattaya a little later turned out to be useless anyway, because, as the police explained to us, after such a stamp, a visa or a visa-free stamp is no longer extended by law.The Pattaya Immigration Police and the embassy are trying to solve this problem, but so far solutions No. At the same time, for many, 7 days have already expired, and they have turned into «illegal immigrants», from whom they take a fine of 500 baht for each day over a visa or stamp (about 2,000 rubles at the current exchange rate), or they can even be sent to an immigration prison «, — said Maria, adding that those who decided to wait and not put a seven-day stamp in the hope that the authorities would solve this problem, began to «earn illegal experience» immediately, from the moment the visa or visa-free stamp expires. For those who received a seven-day stamp on March 1 — 7, «illegal existence» occurs from March 8 to March 14. Having counted the number of applications on visa issues in Pattaya, the coordinators came to a figure of about 200 people. The number of «illegal immigrants» is also growing in Phuket, but more often for a different reason, Kamilla Medyarova, coordinator, told the meeting via video link. the first days, but now another problem has arisen. To extend the legal stay in Thailand, you need a document confirming the address of the temporary residence of a foreigner. While people lived in hotels on their vouchers, the hotel did it, and it was possible to extend with registration at the hotel, «she said .But for those who are stuck in Thailand due to the lack of return flights, their stay in package hotels has already ended or is ending, and there is no money to live in a hotel further, continued the assistance coordinator and member of the board of the Union of Russian Compatriots of Thailand. 
Experts spoke about the main problem of Russian tourists in Thailand «Plastic cards do not work. People stay with friends and acquaintances or in cheap guesthouses, or turn to us for help with accommodation. We help, or rather, at our request, help the Russians living here, our «Volunteers. The Orthodox Church helps. But to confirm the address of residence, for example, if people were settled in a house or apartment rented by someone from the Russians, it does not work quickly, it is necessary to persuade the owners, such a letter of confirmation will not be accepted from the tenant,» Medyarova shared .According to her, all this takes time, and the days go by, and the “illegal status” is getting closer and closer to Phuket for many. stay from the consulate general, because there is no letter confirming the address of temporary residence, and such letters are now accepted by the immigration police only from owners of houses, apartments or hotels,» the coordinator said. Currently, the issue of extending the legal stay in Thailand for those who have already found themselves in the status of «illegal immigrants» has not yet been resolved. This is a requirement of the law, and so far the Thai authorities have not issued any special orders for the extraordinary situation that has developed among the Russians, Vladimir Sosnov, Consul General of Russia in Phuket, told RIA Novosti. a fine for illegal stay in the country over the period of visas and permits. This is so far the only legal way to solve the problem,» the Consul General added. There are now two groups of Russians «stuck» in the country in Thailand: those who, for various reasons, remained in the country after 2020 , when more than 10 thousand tourists were delivered to the Russian Federation by export flights of Russian airlines from Thailand, and those who cannot return to Russia now due to the cancellation of return flights. The first all this time used the so-called «covid extension»: by decision of the country's authorities foreigners who were unable to leave Thailand due to restrictions imposed in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic, immigration Ongoing police extended visas and visa-free stamps «for covid» every two months. Due to the improvement of the epidemiological situation and the resumption of largely international passenger air traffic, the «covid» extension was last allowed until March 2022, and it will be the last one. For those Russians whose visas and permits expired in the first days of March, this meant the impossibility of further extension and the inevitable «seven-day stamp».The Russians stuck in Thailand do not yet know how they will get home. The second are tourists who arrived in Thailand in the last weeks and days before the start of the special operation in Ukraine and the imposition of sanctions against Russia, as a result of which the return flights of Russian airlines were canceled. The first were in the category of «illegal immigrants «stuck» who have been in Thailand since 2020 have moved, however, judging by the statistics collected by volunteers, now tourists who arrived in February — March of this year have also begun to fall into this category en masse. The Thailand Tourism Authority (TAT) announced on Last week, a group of concerned departments submitted a broad package of assistance to the citizens of Russia and Ukraine «stuck» in Thailand due to current events, which includes the solution of visa issues, for consideration by the Thai Cabinet of Ministers. Nevertheless, last Tuesday at the weekly meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers, this proposal was not considered. assistance: firstly, assistance in the area of visa status, secondly, assistance with accommodation and meals while waiting for the return flight, and thirdly, in the event of such a request from Russia, assistance in organizing export flights by Thai airlines,» he said. the agency’s interlocutor. “As for the citizens of Ukraine, the problem here is different: they still, in fact, have nowhere to return, so the question is more about assistance with visa issues, it’s too early to think about export flights to Ukraine,” he added. According to him. , it is still difficult to predict what decisions will be taken by the government. «But everyone understands that stranded tourists now need help,» the agency's interlocutor said. banks
