The Tourist Authority of Thailand has confirmed that a registration process is required if stranded Russian and Ukrainian visitors require a free 30 days extension of stay. Governor Yuthasak Supasorn said they should register with their respective embassy or consulate to be labeled in one of three groups: those wishing to return home, those with cash-flow issues and those in need of humanitarian assistance.
Russians were being told yesterday at Pattaya and Bangkok immigration offices to obtain a letter from their embassy before free extensions could be issued. The immigration hotline also said that many Russian and Ukrainian nationals still in Thailand, maybe 25,000, were expats with longstay visas or work permits who were not in the same dire straits as vacationers. The Thai Cabinet had already authorized the Ministry of Tourism and Sports to identify individuals in need.
The tourism association president in Phuket, Bhummikitti Ruktaengam, said that about half of those stranded were on the island of Phuket and that hotels had been requested to reduce prices and extend stays if necessary. He added that the biggest single problem was that Visa, Mastercard and American Express had stopped working for the stranded groups. However, some had been able to use China’s UnionPay if their account had been registered or was linked to the Russian Mir payment system.
There are believed to be far fewer Ukrainians – under one thousand – still in Thailand as many had heeded the advice of their embassies to return prior to the invasion. Most of those on tourist visas were already in Bangkok to be near their diplomatic post. Proposals are being considered to use cryptocurrency for payments at hotels and tourist businesses. Ukrainian nationals are unable to return as their country’s airspace is closed to passenger aircraft, whilst flights to and from Russia are very badly disrupted because of international sanctions and the grounding of planes because of the lack of spare parts.
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