Chiang Mai, Thai Immigration

[CMNightRider]

I showed up at the new Chiang Mai, Thai Immigration office to renew my one year visa.  I'm still not certain why we are required to do this every year.  The parking lot in front of immigrations entrance was packed with people standing in line to get a number so they could enter the already packed building.  I stood in line for about twenty minutes and barely moved a few feet.  

 

As I looked around, I had to wonder who on earth is the ringleader of this circus?  This is a brand new facility and is obviously too small to accommodate the foreigners who live in Chiang Mai, in spite of the recent exodus of westerners.  How could this be when these people already know the traffic numbers of foreigners required by law to report for yearly visa renewals, nonsensical 90 day reporting, TM30's, and other ridicules reasons they require foreigners to physically report daily to this facility.

 

I gave up waiting but as I was leaving this circus, I couldn't help notice several BMW's in the parking lot with immigrations logo on the doors and equipped with overhead emergency lights on the vehicle roof.  You have got to be kidding me, lol.  These people have the funds to purchase BMW's, and don't have the money to build an adequate immigration facility?  This facility has three floors with no elevator.  I guess Thai's have little to no regard for the elderly or handicapped.  After all, they are just foreigners.  

 

I had to park my vehicle across the street from immigration due to immigrations limited vehicle parking.  I guess not much thought was put into the parking lot capacity either.  As I attempted to walk across the street at the marked cross walk, I was reminded of pedestrians not having the right away in Thailand.  The westerner in front of me must not have known this yet.  He came within inches of being run over as the Thai driver pretended not to see him as he drove through the cross walk.

 

As I share my recent experience at Thai Immigration, I have an air cleaner sitting next to me running full bast.  The air quality in Chiang Mai, is extremely poor due to Thailands lack of enforcement of polluting the air we breath.  Instead of photographing foreigners who missed their 24 hour TM30 reporting requirement, surrounded by immigration officers who should be sitting at their desks processing the endless forms required by foreigners, maybe they could photograph air polluters instead.   

 

           

•  

[ChaiyaTH]

Tell me about it, promenade was much more pleasant. At least you could walk around the mall, have food and drinks etc.
To me it came as a shock, that a new building could be designed so poorly in almost every aspect.
I try to avoid going to immigration entirely now, just get new visa's instead, until moving out of TH one day in the near future.

Thailand seems to be going downhill with everything, a shame really. 

Edited January 14, 2020 by ChaiyaTH

[worgeordie]

3 minutes ago, CMNightRider said:

I gave up waiting but as I was leaving this circus,

So you are not bothering to extend your Visa, or are you going back tomorrow,

if so you will need to update your bank book again, I thought many Farangs were

leaving Thailand, by your report it does not seem so. good luck next time.

regards Worgeordie

[saengd]

It's a seasonal thing, there are plenty of times when there are no queues and the place seems very quiet, in April when I extend my visa that is certainly so, you seem to have picked an unfortunate time of the year.

[MeePeeMai]

It sounds like the ongoing effort to rid Thailand of long stay visitors is in full steam ahead mode (and not likely to slow down any time soon).

[CMNightRider]

13 minutes ago, worgeordie said:

So you are not bothering to extend your Visa, or are you going back tomorrow,

if so you will need to update your bank book again, I thought many Farangs were

leaving Thailand, by your report it does not seem so. good luck next time.

regards Worgeordie

I'll try another day and just update my bank book if I get a number. ????

[ChaiyaTH]

10 minutes ago, Gweiloman said:

I was so happy reading all the news here on TVF about expats leaving and no tourists arriving. Was thinking that immigration matters would be a breeze. 

It takes time to move away from Thailand too. Consider new country, visa for the wife, finishing school semesters, selling the house of finishing the lease.
I am pretty confident many people will be gone in a year more from now. More and more rentals on the Internet by the week too.

However, there are still newbies arriving here and they are OK for the first 1-2 years with their ED visa / tourist visa.

Edited January 14, 2020 by ChaiyaTH

[Gweiloman]

2 minutes ago, ChaiyaTH said:

It takes time to move away from Thailand too. Consider new country, visa for the wife, finishing school semesters, selling the house of finishing the lease.
I am pretty confident many people will be gone in a year more from now.
 

Except that all this talk about leaving has been circulating for a long time. 
New country? Expert opinion on TVF is Vietnam, PI, Cambodia, Laos. Doesn’t take long to come to a decision. 
Visa for wife? The above mentioned countries are dead easy, according to informed sources on here. 
Selling the house? TVF experts don’t own, they rent. It’s been stated countless times on here. 
in a year from now? I hope so, before my next renewal in December 2020. 

[ChaiyaTH]

5 minutes ago, Gweiloman said:

Except that all this talk about leaving has been circulating for a long time. 
New country? Expert opinion on TVF is Vietnam, PI, Cambodia, Laos. Doesn’t take long to come to a decision. 
Visa for wife? The above mentioned countries are dead easy, according to informed sources on here. 
Selling the house? TVF experts don’t own, they rent. It’s been stated countless times on here. 
in a year from now? I hope so, before my next renewal in December 2020. 

I know more than 50 people who left already, that posts circulate doesn't mean nobody is actually taking action.
Most people I know never even been a member on this website, even the ones who still live here.
Also, not sure why you think people would be limited to SE Asia? Most I know left to Eastern Europe, South Europe, Mexico etc.

That aside, this site is getting much more quiet by the week if it comes to visa reports etc too.
 

Edited January 14, 2020 by ChaiyaTH

[worgeordie]

51 minutes ago, saengd said:

It's a seasonal thing, there are plenty of times when there are no queues and the place seems very quiet, in April when I extend my visa that is certainly so, you seem to have picked an unfortunate time of the year.

Yes I did mine near end of April last year, just over 1.5 Hours, from getting letter

from bank,arriving at immigration,getting the extension and out the door,thats

the quickest  I have ever done it, made a change from arriving at Promenade at

4.00 in the morning to get a ticket. just hope it's going to be the same this year .

regards worgeordie

[mike787]

1 hour ago, CMNightRider said:

I showed up at the new Chiang Mai, Thai Immigration office to renew my one year visa.  I'm still not certain why we are required to do this every year.  The parking lot in front of immigrations entrance was packed with people standing in line to get a number so they could enter the already packed building.  I stood in line for about twenty minutes and barely moved a few feet.  

 

As I looked around, I had to wonder who on earth is the ringleader of this circus?  This is a brand new facility and is obviously too small to accommodate the foreigners who live in Chiang Mai, in spite of the recent exodus of westerners.  How could this be when these people already know the traffic numbers of foreigners required by law to report for yearly visa renewals, nonsensical 90 day reporting, TM30's, and other ridicules reasons they require foreigners to physically report daily to this facility.

 

I gave up waiting but as I was leaving this circus, I couldn't help notice several BMW's in the parking lot with immigrations logo on the doors and equipped with overhead emergency lights on the vehicle roof.  You have got to be kidding me, lol.  These people have the funds to purchase BMW's, and don't have the money to build an adequate immigration facility?  This facility has three floors with no elevator.  I guess Thai's have little to no regard for the elderly or handicapped.  After all, they are just foreigners.  

 

I had to park my vehicle across the street from immigration due to immigrations limited vehicle parking.  I guess not much thought was put into the parking lot capacity either.  As I attempted to walk across the street at the marked cross walk, I was reminded of pedestrians not having the right away in Thailand.  The westerner in front of me must not have known this yet.  He came within inches of being run over as the Thai driver pretended not to see him as he drove through the cross walk.

 

As I share my recent experience at Thai Immigration, I have an air cleaner sitting next to me running full bast.  The air quality in Chiang Mai, is extremely poor due to Thailands lack of enforcement of polluting the air we breath.  Instead of photographing foreigners who missed their 24 hour TM30 reporting requirement, surrounded by immigration officers who should be sitting at their desks processing the endless forms required by foreigners, maybe they could photograph air polluters instead.  

1000% percent dead accurate!  After reading, i couldn't help but feel again the hopelessness of my 90 days and 1yearly efforts....all for what?   Is there no easier path?  This is just not working anymore.

[Aussiepeter]

Hey Britmantoo, we left six years ago. I always used a married Non-O and just stamped out every 3 months, for 20 years, so I do not know what a PM 30 is. We owned the house I built in Saraphi - we sold it a million under what the lady of the house wanted, but we got out. It turned out I had throat cancer from the <deleted> called "fresh air" in CM, after breathing it for twenty years or so - (I don't smoke). Radiation therapy for months in Oz saved me. I got an email today from a friend who lives in Sansai, who when I asked about the air quality said "oh its pretty good out here in Sansai - we are away from the worst of it" ! You have just confirmed to me that he is living in denial, just like so many others. My Thai missus has permanent residency now in Oz and says "she is NEVER going back". She told our 9 y.o. daughter today, when we were at the beach, that "daddy saved your life getting us out of CM" and, she means it. I actually really pity those who either live in denial or, have no other options left because of family commitments or finances. After 23 years plus I will always remember my happy life in LOS but Thailand is, sadly now in my opinion, ruined. As someone posted today - "they don't want us expats in LOS any more". I just feel so much pity for all the poor Thai friends (and the odd farang that I liked too) that I left behind in CM, who will never, ever, escape the poisonous air. At least, the Thais don't have to jump through ever changing rules in order to stay !

[sammieuk1]

Everyone nearly gets run over on that 8 lane return journey to the photo copier when you have forgotten that one piece or vital stamp copy or other and that's before leaving the pavement????

[saengd]

47 minutes ago, ChaiyaTH said:

What about it being a fact? How can you still live in denial while it is 2020 by now?
Or are you one of those people who only considers the retirees with 800K in the bank / married ones with 400K? Those very few are almost hassle free indeed.

For eighteen years I've shown 800k in the bank and extending my visa has never been easier, what others do to make their life more difficult is down to them. For years we read on TVF that posters didn't want to deposit 800k in a Thai bank because the banks weren't safe and all bank tellers were crooks, at least those were the reasons they gave us at the time. Now immigration has tweaked the rules and that fear of Thai banks has come back to bite people, it was an irrational fear in the first place.

[saengd]

3 minutes ago, sammieuk1 said:

Everyone nearly gets run over on that 8 lane return journey to the photo copier when you have forgotten that one piece or vital stamp copy or other and that's before leaving the pavement????

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

[saengd]

43 minutes ago, mike787 said:

1000% percent dead accurate!  After reading, i couldn't help but feel again the hopelessness of my 90 days and 1yearly efforts....all for what?   Is there no easier path?  This is just not working anymore.

The easier path you seek is called an agent, it costs about 7k per year.

[statman78]

After reading about all of the issues people are having at certain immigration offices I’m glad I live in Chiang Rai. I did my annual retirement extension this morning in Mae Sai.  In and out in less than 1 hour.  I’ve been to the immigration offices in Mae Sai and Chiang Rai and never waited more than 5 minutes to be served.  The people working there are usually helpful and friendly.

[Lacessit]

6 minutes ago, saengd said:

The easier path you seek is called an agent, it costs about 7k per year.

Not really good value for money, because an agent has you doing most of the work in assembling all the documents.

I used to use an agent, would take about 30 minutes to get my retirement extension. After things got tightened up by Big Joke, I was 3 hours in Immigration.

Last November, I decided to do it myself, with guidance from Ubonjoe. Took me 4 hours. I figure I was paying myself 1500 baht/hr in what I was saving on the agent.

IMO a lot of the complaints about Immigration from posters arise from failing to prepare properly.

[Lacessit]

2 minutes ago, statman78 said:

After reading about all of the issues people are having at certain immigration offices I’m glad I live in Chiang Rai. I did my annual retirement extension this morning in Mae Sai.  In and out in less than 1 hour.  I’ve been to the immigration offices in Mae Sai and Chiang Rai and never waited more than 5 minutes to be served.  The people working there are usually helpful and friendly.

Nice to know, because I am moving from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai for various reasons, not least of which is CM air quality. Or absence of it.

[saengd]

11 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

Not really good value for money, because an agent has you doing most of the work in assembling all the documents.

I used to use an agent, would take about 30 minutes to get my retirement extension. After things got tightened up by Big Joke, I was 3 hours in Immigration.

Last November, I decided to do it myself, with guidance from Ubonjoe. Took me 4 hours. I figure I was paying myself 1500 baht/hr in what I was saving on the agent.

IMO a lot of the complaints about Immigration from posters arise from failing to prepare properly.

The beauty of using an agent is that I only have to visit Immi. once each year, for five minutes at a pre-ordained time, that's it....no getting up and queuing at 6am, no having to fill out different forms because it was the wrong one, no going home to fetch an unmentioned document, no having to go out back and make yet more meaningless copies, no sitting and waiting for however long, no helping idiots reconcile a bank book to a bank letter....just five minutes to get my picture taken at a certain time. Those things are worth their weight in gold to me, cheap at twice the price.

[Gweiloman]

3 hours ago, mike787 said:

1000% percent dead accurate!  After reading, i couldn't help but feel again the hopelessness of my 90 days and 1yearly efforts....all for what?   Is there no easier path?  This is just not working anymore.

In all honesty, it’s only the annual extension of stay that’s a pain as you need to start queuing at about 7.30 am in order to be out before lunchtime. For 90day reporting, you can turn up anytime and it gets done quickly. For TM30, you go straight upstairs to the 3rd floor. 

[Gweiloman]

2 hours ago, saengd said:

The beauty of using an agent is that I only have to visit Immi. once each year, for five minutes at a pre-ordained time, that's it....no getting up and queuing at 6am, no having to fill out different forms because it was the wrong one, no going home to fetch an unmentioned document, no having to go out back and make yet more meaningless copies, no sitting and waiting for however long, no helping idiots reconcile a bank book to a bank letter....just five minutes to get my picture taken at a certain time. Those things are worth their weight in gold to me, cheap at twice the price.

Does anyone know if I can appoint my gf to do the 90day reporting on my behalf? If yes, then I also only ever need to go to immigration once a year for my extension renewal. My gf does my TM30 for me as it is. I will also get her to queue for me in the morning to collect the ticket. I can then stroll up much later, after a full breakfast. With the money that I save, I can take my dutiful gf for a lovely mookata dinner with tam pu plaa on the side. 

[CNXexpat]

When I renewed my visa 9 months ago at this place I arrived at 11 am and left at 2 pm. For my last 90 days report I needed 3 minutes in the office. I have no idea what happened today that there where so many people. Perhaps too many tourists wanted a visa extension.

[jackdd]

42 minutes ago, Gweiloman said:

Does anyone know if I can appoint my gf to do the 90day reporting on my behalf?

Wouldn't it be easier to do it online or by mail?

[Gweiloman]

4 minutes ago, jackdd said:

Wouldn't it be easier to do it online or by mail?

I’ve done it online before but changed passports recently so online is no go for first 90day report with new pp. Never explored the mail option. Does that require me to send my pp to immigration? If so, then it’s a no no for me. 

[Cheesekraft]

the facilities are sub par considering the potential 9 hour waits (my second-to-last visit); no photo facilities, no ATM, no water (left in the bottle)

Edited January 14, 2020 by Cheesekraft

[mike787]

2 hours ago, jackdd said:

Wouldn't it be easier to do it online or by mail?

YES!  But those options are not possible through out all of thailand.  It depends on the location.

[saengd]

4 hours ago, Gweiloman said:

Does anyone know if I can appoint my gf to do the 90day reporting on my behalf? If yes, then I also only ever need to go to immigration once a year for my extension renewal. My gf does my TM30 for me as it is. I will also get her to queue for me in the morning to collect the ticket. I can then stroll up much later, after a full breakfast. With the money that I save, I can take my dutiful gf for a lovely mookata dinner with tam pu plaa on the side. 

Yes you can do that, it's only the visa extension that requires you in all your glory to be there in the flesh.

[Dante99]

3 hours ago, mike787 said:

YES!  But those options are not possible through out all of thailand.  It depends on the location.

yes but this is the Chiang Mai forum about Chiang Mai not about throughout Thailand

[dingdongrb]

12 hours ago, worgeordie said:

So you are not bothering to extend your Visa, or are you going back tomorrow,

if so you will need to update your bank book again,

Why is that, my bankbook was not updated the same day I applied for my last extension but a few days prior, and was not an issue. The officer doing my extension interview merely asked me if I had taken any money out the past two days as well as reminding me that I must maintain 800k for the next 3 months.