Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests we are discussing E-Visas now being required in association with in-country extension. What are we talking about here? I thought of making this video after reading a recent comment on our channel. "Dear Ben, in addition, I just renewed my extension of stay at immigration and they asked for a copy of my E-Visa from 2021. Not sure why." Yeah, I'm not sure why either Sir.

Look, Immigration has discretion to request whatever they want. It looks to me like what they're creating is what I would call a Thai Visa pipeline.  Meaning they want folks to go through the E-visa portal to begin with; get a Visa - So let's say it is a 90-day Visa, whatever type of Visa; B Visa, O Marriage, O Retirement, O-A, O-A is actually issued with a one-year validity from the outset, but let's say it's an O Retirement, again 90-day Visa. You come through the E-Visa system, you come into Thailand, then after you have been here for a minute, less than 90 days, go ahead and request extension. So then they would want to see that E-Visa so that they can cross-check it in their own system. 

Now my personal opinion as probably many could ponder, why not just streamline the whole thing digitally? Well that's not the way it works because E-Visas are issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs abroad, while extensions are done under the auspices of the Ministry of Interior here in Thailand. It can never be easy; it's just the way it is. 

That said, it wouldn't shock me if we started seeing Immigration say, "hey I want to see a copy of your E-Visa you originally had when you are doing the extensions." I could also see them not caring about that because they can basically see if you have already extended and go back from there. Presumably this person has been legal in Thailand since 2021, so they have been extending all that time. I don't know why the original e-Visa would be pertinent, but perhaps there are new protocols happening within different Immigration Offices where they are requesting this now. That said, again other Offices may not be doing that so it may be a little bit and miss with regard to this. If you have a copy of your original e-Visa, put it someplace where you can keep it and where you can produce it whenever you need to frankly. If I was going in to do an extension knowing this stuff, just maybe go ahead and print out a copy of it, just have it just in case if they ask for it. If they don't, all the better. 

That being said, we will certainly be keeping folks updated on this channel as the situation evolves.