northernjohn

Didn't know it was closed. Maybe for false advertising. It had a sign that said best hamburger in town.

According to the Hamburger thread that is not true.

So, the current situation is : You go to the immigration on your own and they make it time consuming and difficult to get an extension, or you could go to the visa company, situated, conveniently, right next door to the immigration, pay extra money and get a visa extension quite easily .

So, the more problematic it become to get a visa extension, the more people whom go to get assistance from the Visa company situated right next door and the more money they make, the visa extension company , that is

I see you are new here so you may be excused. It is no more time consuming than it was at the Airport. At the Airport they had two officers handling it now they have one at the Airport and one at Promenada. If it is more time consuming that is because more people have moved to Chiang Mai. At the Airport people were told to come back tomorrow same as what is happening at the Promenada. The only negative difference now is you can not get your passport back as fast as you could at the airport.

All the whining you are hearing is about the same thing that was happening at the airport except some people have to go farther to get it. It is no more difficult to get than it has been for years with the exception because Chiang Mai is such a great place to live more people are coming here hence more people at immigration so the time factor comes into play. If the 3,000 baht the agent next door charges you there are other ones no where near there that you can pay 5,000 and 5,500 baht at. No body is twisting your arm to go next door. m

The marriage one can be iffy they do come up with some of the wall ideas.

But the normal one is the same. You are going to hear people crying about no more on line appointments. They will not mention that there was only 1 out of 5 getting it and you had to be lucky to get it. One poster said he had two computers going at 1 second after midnight on the first eligible day to get it and he could not get through on one of them. You can imagine what it would be like 50 people trying to get 10 spots at the same time on their computer.

What`s your take on the subject? How would you like to see this run in realistic terms?

My 2 bahts worth for the Promenada.

Increase the retirement extension slots to 30 a day that gives everyone a fighting chance.

People with incomplete paperwork not to be served and told to return when they have everything in order.

First timers, the very elderly and the people not sure of the requirements involved to be encouraged to use an agency for their own comfort and peace of mind.

No attacks on the agencies, people should have the options of going the fast track route of using an agency of their choice or enduring a long uncomfortable wait at the zoo.

Cease with 90 day reporting at the Promenada. Make a more efficient online 90 day report service and continue with the posting options that would free up officers for other immigration services.

Agree, the online service was never very efficient. It has to be all or nothing. Either make 30 slots available per working day with appointments for attending immigration eliminating the need for queue numbers altogether or nothing at all. The overflow to use an agency and the people not capable of making appointments online, again to use an agency, which means there would be winners and losers but it`s the only way I can see for solving the problem, because being realistic it is obvious that immigration don`t care and will not make efforts for our convenience.

Openly accusing immigration of corruption and cheating on Thai Visa is a bad idea, it will only make matters worse because there is government bureaucracy to be dealt with and has to have a diplomatic approach. I doubt my suggestions will ever become a reality, but we never know maybe one of them is looking in and may take note.

I think with the on line appointments they were getting 5 a day at the Promenada and 5 at the airport for a total of 25 at Promenada. Just a guess on the distribution. To be honest with you I think just one more at the extension desk with the power to sign the passports would solve the yearly extension.

Yes it would be nice if every one could make an appointment on line. But that would defiantly need them to control the amount of time they spend with each person. All so some sort of arrangement for a walk in. At first there would still be a lot of them. But after a while it would be well known. The other ones I have no idea how they are working or not working. I had to get a permission to reenter the country one time and it went so so. Was not there that long but that was before they had the microphone and the fellow would just come out side and holler kind of. Would be nice if they had the displays to show what number they are working on also.

I personally do not have a problem because my wife goes with me. But I am sure I am not the only one there with poor hearing. With out her I would always be looking at the Queue number on the desk.

So, the current situation is : You go to the immigration on your own and they make it time consuming and difficult to get an extension, or you could go to the visa company, situated, conveniently, right next door to the immigration, pay extra money and get a visa extension quite easily .

So, the more problematic it become to get a visa extension, the more people whom go to get assistance from the Visa company situated right next door and the more money they make, the visa extension company , that is

Except that the visa company you refer to is gone.

That visa company is still very much there

Really? I was at the Prom for dinner about a week ago and the office was cleaned out; all signs gone.

Funny I was there last Tuesday to do my 90 day and they were still there. Even had there name on the door. The lady who is doing it was sitting out side at a table. I talked to her and she said they were waiting for furniture. The problem might be that they are not next door they are down a few doors.

So, the current situation is : You go to the immigration on your own and they make it time consuming and difficult to get an extension, or you could go to the visa company, situated, conveniently, right next door to the immigration, pay extra money and get a visa extension quite easily .

So, the more problematic it become to get a visa extension, the more people whom go to get assistance from the Visa company situated right next door and the more money they make, the visa extension company , that is

I see you are new here so you may be excused. It is no more time consuming than it was at the Airport. At the Airport they had two officers handling it now they have one at the Airport and one at Promenada. If it is more time consuming that is because more people have moved to Chiang Mai. At the Airport people were told to come back tomorrow same as what is happening at the Promenada. The only negative difference now is you can not get your passport back as fast as you could at the airport.

All the whining you are hearing is about the same thing that was happening at the airport except some people have to go farther to get it. It is no more difficult to get than it has been for years with the exception because Chiang Mai is such a great place to live more people are coming here hence more people at immigration so the time factor comes into play. If the 3,000 baht the agent next door charges you there are other ones no where near there that you can pay 5,000 and 5,500 baht at. No body is twisting your arm to go next door. m

The marriage one can be iffy they do come up with some of the wall ideas.

But the normal one is the same. You are going to hear people crying about no more on line appointments. They will not mention that there was only 1 out of 5 getting it and you had to be lucky to get it. One poster said he had two computers going at 1 second after midnight on the first eligible day to get it and he could not get through on one of them. You can imagine what it would be like 50 people trying to get 10 spots at the same time on their computer.

I for one think the on line queue appointment to 1 out of 5 was a spit in the eye to the expat population.

Quite simply they could allow more queue numbers when the 10 not in the queue system was eliminated.

This is all of course just rhetoric. In 1 out of 700 posts in the pinned topic there was only one who gave us an idea of how many they see in a day. We who have been here for a while realize the number can change from day to day. With my own eyes I saw them when they had two agents at the Airport announce for every one with a number over 17 to come back this afternoon and another time I was number 60 and they saw one more after me. The fellow told me they tried to get 50 a day and did real well that day because a lot of people had their paper work done correctly.

I have to admit I do not know if the on line appointment system was only for retirees or for other type Visa's that needed an extension. Was the married ones included in it?It would be nice if they could come up with an on line appointment system for all.

If you do not have your papers in order immediately send you to the back of the line do not waste their time on you. This of course I believe should not include first time applicants. Give them a chance to learn how to get it right. It doesn't take three girls to hand out queue numbers train two of them to check the paperwork first for you. They might not get the finer points such as the last one I did with the agent next door who did and pointed out I had missed a line to sign. But they will be able to see if you have the correct number of photo copies and that they are all signed. Also apparently now they are being critical of the size of the photo. The girl could have a little template to check that for you. I know when I did mine I used the same picture I had for the last two years and the agent trimmed it down a little. I know they said mine were all fine when I did my 90 day. They were not signed. I did that before I saw the agent the point is if I didn't know it would have been more time with the agent holding up the line behind me. Not a lot but when they are seeing that many people the time will add up.

My two cents worth. It of course goes with out saying that they need a person there at all times able to sign the passports. That way it could be one stop one time service.

I agree the people that do not have their paper work and documents in order should be sent away and told to return once their paper work is is order. I disagree that this should not include first time applicants.

The first timers should be encouraged to use an agency to assist them until they gain the knack of it and taught how to get it right next time, because it`s not the duty of immigration to be filling out forms and advise them what is needed from the queues. Reading these posts I was led to believe that most of the protests are coming from people like me that know how to fill in their forms and what to bring but are being pressurised into using agencies just to be able to grab a slot in the queue. By making longer time allowances for first timers that have little clues what is required, will again have the affect of slowing down the whole process and defeats the objective of immigration being able to process more applicants each working day. I cannot see any logic in that.

I don`t care about the people that do not have enough money to pay agency fees or are ignorant of their requirements for retirement extensions, that`s their problem and the reason agencies exist to help these people. Why should I have to be lumbered with more expense and inconvenience just to accommodate the selfish people who refuse to use alternative methods and would rather play the ignorance game, holding up the process just to save a few thousand baht.

I guess you could call me a softie. I disagree with you and agree with you. I believe send them to get the proper copies and picture. But I don't agree to let them come right back. Send them to the back of the line. It might mean coming back tomorrow. Also I am sure that there are many repeat applicants that don't get it right. I also hear complaints about the people using the bank deposit. Most of them are because they don't realize the letter from the bank has to match the bank book. Having enough money on both is not good enough for the immigration. Makes no difference if you have over a million in both. They don't care. I also think there is only a short time limit between when you get the letter and when they will accept it. Don't know I use the guaranteed income myself.

We are on the same track.

People that make major errors with their paper work should be turned away and told to try again another time regardless of who they are. Then how they get their act together is their problem, it does not become our problem. There is tons of information online, on Thai Visa and they could even turn up a few weeks early at immigration and ask if not sure. And as I said, all else failing, they can use an agency. NO EXCUSES.

I am still a softie. That is because I really am computer challenged. I can do very little with it. Also My paper work sucks. But I did have enough sense to get a friend who is a whizz at paper work to help me and I made a copy of it. I left the date off of it to be filled in later. I could do the address except for the fact I had no idea of what a muang is.

I don't take any chances when I go in there I have a letter from my landlord and I carry the papers with all my income stated on them in addition to my letter from the consulate. Never been asked for them but if they do I am ready.

I am really glad I don't have the marriage one. I have heard of some pretty weird requests from them.

^^^^

And again,

You don't know the requirements for a marriage extension, as they want different stuff each year.

And don't print anywhere in advance, what different stuff they want.

Let me list some of the 'different stuff they have wanted .....

Last year,

...... wanted the bank letter to specify the exact amount in the account, before they didn't, "go to Airport Plaza and get a new letter, they know how we want it"

Year before,

....... want a copy of your Thai child's birth certificate, "What if I don't have a Thai child? we can see him here with you"

Ad infinitum

I see from eyecatcher, this year they want the misses name change form ..... my misses has one of those, they never wanted it before, guess this year I'm ahead of their game!

Maybe. I have heard of them wanting pictures of the couple sitting on the bed.

You are correct the marriage one does have some strange requests at times.

The only way I would ever use that is if my income fell.

Why would the bank not have given you the correct amount. I am sure they know that is required unless it was a new person doing it.

Do you even have to tell them you have children?

Lets face it.. Removing the online queue appointment booking is a total farce and a spit in the eye to the expat population trying to properly accommodate immigration's rules.

The statement that its 2 offices and cant work is just idiocy when you need to state which class your applying for on the system.

I for one think the on line queue appointment to 1 out of 5 was a spit in the eye to the expat population.

Quite simply they could allow more queue numbers when the 10 not in the queue system was eliminated.

This is all of course just rhetoric. In 1 out of 700 posts in the pinned topic there was only one who gave us an idea of how many they see in a day. We who have been here for a while realize the number can change from day to day. With my own eyes I saw them when they had two agents at the Airport announce for every one with a number over 17 to come back this afternoon and another time I was number 60 and they saw one more after me. The fellow told me they tried to get 50 a day and did real well that day because a lot of people had their paper work done correctly.

I have to admit I do not know if the on line appointment system was only for retirees or for other type Visa's that needed an extension. Was the married ones included in it?It would be nice if they could come up with an on line appointment system for all.

If you do not have your papers in order immediately send you to the back of the line do not waste their time on you. This of course I believe should not include first time applicants. Give them a chance to learn how to get it right. It doesn't take three girls to hand out queue numbers train two of them to check the paperwork first for you. They might not get the finer points such as the last one I did with the agent next door who did and pointed out I had missed a line to sign. But they will be able to see if you have the correct number of photo copies and that they are all signed. Also apparently now they are being critical of the size of the photo. The girl could have a little template to check that for you. I know when I did mine I used the same picture I had for the last two years and the agent trimmed it down a little. I know they said mine were all fine when I did my 90 day. They were not signed. I did that before I saw the agent the point is if I didn't know it would have been more time with the agent holding up the line behind me. Not a lot but when they are seeing that many people the time will add up.

My two cents worth. It of course goes with out saying that they need a person there at all times able to sign the passports. That way it could be one stop one time service.

I agree the people that do not have their paper work and documents in order should be sent away and told to return once their paper work is is order. I disagree that this should not include first time applicants.

The first timers should be encouraged to use an agency to assist them until they gain the knack of it and taught how to get it right next time, because it`s not the duty of immigration to be filling out forms and advise them what is needed from the queues. Reading these posts I was led to believe that most of the protests are coming from people like me that know how to fill in their forms and what to bring but are being pressurised into using agencies just to be able to grab a slot in the queue. By making longer time allowances for first timers that have little clues what is required, will again have the affect of slowing down the whole process and defeats the objective of immigration being able to process more applicants each working day. I cannot see any logic in that.

I don`t care about the people that do not have enough money to pay agency fees or are ignorant of their requirements for retirement extensions, that`s their problem and the reason agencies exist to help these people. Why should I have to be lumbered with more expense and inconvenience just to accommodate the selfish people who refuse to use alternative methods and would rather play the ignorance game, holding up the process just to save a few thousand baht.

I guess you could call me a softie. I disagree with you and agree with you. I believe send them to get the proper copies and picture. But I don't agree to let them come right back. Send them to the back of the line. It might mean coming back tomorrow. Also I am sure that there are many repeat applicants that don't get it right. I also hear complaints about the people using the bank deposit. Most of them are because they don't realize the letter from the bank has to match the bank book. Having enough money on both is not good enough for the immigration. Makes no difference if you have over a million in both. They don't care. I also think there is only a short time limit between when you get the letter and when they will accept it. Don't know I use the guaranteed income myself.

Lets face it.. Removing the online queue appointment booking is a total farce and a spit in the eye to the expat population trying to properly accommodate immigration's rules.

The statement that its 2 offices and cant work is just idiocy when you need to state which class your applying for on the system.

I for one think the on line queue appointment to 1 out of 5 was a spit in the eye to the expat population.

Quite simply they could allow more queue numbers when the 10 not in the queue system was eliminated.

This is all of course just rhetoric. In 1 out of 700 posts in the pinned topic there was only one who gave us an idea of how many they see in a day. We who have been here for a while realize the number can change from day to day. With my own eyes I saw them when they had two agents at the Airport announce for every one with a number over 17 to come back this afternoon and another time I was number 60 and they saw one more after me. The fellow told me they tried to get 50 a day and did real well that day because a lot of people had their paper work done correctly.

I have to admit I do not know if the on line appointment system was only for retirees or for other type Visa's that needed an extension. Was the married ones included in it?It would be nice if they could come up with an on line appointment system for all.

If you do not have your papers in order immediately send you to the back of the line do not waste their time on you. This of course I believe should not include first time applicants. Give them a chance to learn how to get it right. It doesn't take three girls to hand out queue numbers train two of them to check the paperwork first for you. They might not get the finer points such as the last one I did with the agent next door who did and pointed out I had missed a line to sign. But they will be able to see if you have the correct number of photo copies and that they are all signed. Also apparently now they are being critical of the size of the photo. The girl could have a little template to check that for you. I know when I did mine I used the same picture I had for the last two years and the agent trimmed it down a little. I know they said mine were all fine when I did my 90 day. They were not signed. I did that before I saw the agent the point is if I didn't know it would have been more time with the agent holding up the line behind me. Not a lot but when they are seeing that many people the time will add up.

My two cents worth. It of course goes with out saying that they need a person there at all times able to sign the passports. That way it could be one stop one time service.

Merlin 2002

Please take a little time to read this.

http://www.nokaviation.com/ppl_trg/rules.htm

Though they are called rules They are actually law and if you feel pilots are breaking these rules you are perfectly within your rights to report these inconsiderate pilots to the relevant authorities.These rules are for safety of those on the ground.

Hope you can come to some resolve with these guys.

Why report them when it is easier to complain on Thai Visa?

They look like a lot of fun. Just not the kind of fun I would take up.

Maybe an ultra light.

A little confused here other than putting more vehicles on the road what is there to gain.

Do they drive around like a tuck tuck or songthaew looking for riders? If you have to call them can you not call other companies. Are they going to be cheaper than say a 30 baht songthaew ride. Do you have to negotiate prices with them or are they like the ones at the air port and the air port Mall.

Speaking only for myself almost every place I go I can get a tuck tuck for 100 baht or less. What is their bottom line fare going to be. For example we pay 150 baht occasionally for a Taxi at the airport Mall when we have done a lot of shopping. Never a question asked. I think it is just 140 baht but I have lately been just giving them 150 baht when use them. I am in the Night Bazaar area

Just seems to me that to make a real difference there would have to be an awful lot of them at a cheap price.

there was a thread on the General forum about the closing down at 12:00. Apparently much to some peoples need to feel persecuted there are other provinces with the law being enforced.

Really ?? Exactly where ??

Closest would be Udon Thani or Khon Khen but even there its usually around 1 and the larger clubs left alone a bit after the bars.

I don't remember it was in the General forum. The name I believe was are we being persecuted. It asked about Bar closing times and immigration.

And people wonder why students emerge from the Thai education system so woefully uneducated about the history of their own country and how it has been governed in past decades, including the various major events that have influenced both. Obviously better to focus on the special role of Thainess and the central position Thailand has in the history of the world .

if I applied this guy's same 50-years past rule for the history of the U.S., we wouldn't be teaching about: the U.S. civil rights movement, the Vietnam war, Nixon's scandal and resignation, the Iran hostage crisis, the Arab oil embargo, the World Trade Center attacks, Bush's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the "war" on terrorism, etc etc. After all, why would any students need to learn about any of those silly kinds of things.

Agreed 50 years is ridicules. As for the way it is taught in the United States it does not mention the killing of millions of Native Americans to steal their land. It does not mention the invasion of Vietnam or the number of landmines planted in Laos for no good reason.

I don't know what the English teach but I doubt very much that it teaches about their attempt at raping any country they could conquer. And on it goes in any country.

I am all for rewriting the history books to include the facts in all countries but nothing in them about things that are still going on. The time period would be different for each country

While it is clear that the history book should be revised, but he is a bit over the top when talking about recent events, ...

As a historian, he believes that stories or events appropriate for academic discussion should have occurred more than 50 years ago

so no Thanom staging a coup against his own government and making himself supreme leader, no 14 October 1973 uprising, ... no 1976 Thammasat massacre, ... no 1992 military junta general promising to not become PM, and then becoming PM, ...

Guess it just needs to end with Field Marshal Sarit and his amazing military corruption ....

or not...

Agreed it is a ridicules time frame. In my opinion it should end with the first election of Thaksin. That drama is still being played out.

the [uS] ambassador. If he wishes to know anything related to Thailand; does this sound some what familiar of an ex priminister asked to go to the EU parliarment to provide information relating to Thailand?

Meanwhile a group calling itself the Federation Monitoring the Thai State yesterday filed a police petition calling on the authorities to investigate whether Davies has committed lese majeste. if he is a diplomat wouldn't he just be given a slap on the wrist ?

Well with all due respect The Ambassador should know some thing about Thailand when he assumed the job.

Any one out side of the bar crowd knows you don't tell Thai's what to do if you have no authority over them.

The man is obviously incompetent for the job of Ambassador. Maybe lower down in the service learning how

to be diplomatic and when to say nothing.

Reminds me of when the States told the Palestine to have an election so they did and then the States wouldn't recognize the winner.

Yes they can not charge him he has diplomatic immunity. Even though to this point he has shown a complete

lack of knowledge about being diplomatic as well as knowledge about Thailand.

Does any one think the states will invade Thailand. It wouldn't be the first country they invaded with no

valid reason other than to make a ton of money off of the arms suppliers and former business partners.

Of course they have restrictions. It is regulated. But not on some miserable sods whim.

what country has a miserable sod saying when to close. Here in Thailand we have laws that say when to close. Care to name the country with no laws just a miserable sod making the decisions.

Thai bashing in a sneaky way again I see.

I am bashing an individual. There are no such restrictions in other Thai cities. Stop with the irrelevant bleating.

Bashers of the miserable sods must repent! No sod regardless of degree of misery is fair game to those who bash! (sic le)

there was a thread on the General forum about the closing down at 12:00. Apparently much to some peoples need to feel persecuted there are other provinces with the law being enforced.

pay the extra ... get it done hassle free ... no stress ..... seems the choice to me .

My guess is that everyone who uses an Agent has been through a similar first time or even second time experience as me, so the more Agent trips you see now reflects on the numbers of unhappy customers.

unless you have had a bad experience then no one goes to an agent the first time, as me....i just didnt believe all the stories I read.

It's obvious that CM Immigration is purposely making the experience bad so that farangs will pay to make things easier. G4T is so convenient, surprise surprise & can do an extension anytime. 500 THB for what should be a free timely resident certificate. A year ago I thought it was extreme administrative incompetence. How wrong I was. It's all on purpose.

G4T doesn't do married extensions that is done at the airport office A completely different show. As eyecatcher said the agents just go in and out there. Far easier to do the simple retirement one if you have the money in the bank or the guaranteed income.

IUD has actually risen in popularity in recent years.

I'm considering getting one inserted too. Can you post your experiences/fees associated once you get it done? I've read that it's usually between 4000-6000 baht in Thailand but I'm more interested in quality of care. I'd rather someone who knows what they're doing implants me.

I'll probably head to the CMU hospital as I assume they deal with contraception more than most hospitals.

I think the first thing you should do is consider the doctor. A good doctor will tell you what hospital to go to. If indeed you need to go to one. Check on the pinned list for doctors. and go from there.

You were in immigration for 6 1/2 hours to renew a marriage extension? You feel that is quick good service? I think it is terrible service.

Ever year for my retirement renewal I drive from Lomsak to Pitsanulok get renewal drive back and that takes 6 1/2 hours. Immigration time about 1/2 hour.

i leave the house after breakfast and home for lunch and drive 300 kilometers.

I live next to the Mae Wong national park in Khampaeng Phet province and have to drive to Nakhon Sawan, 125km away to renew my extension.

I get there around 10 am after a 1 hour 45 minute drive and I am usually finished with a retirement extension inside the hour. If I went straight home again it would be a 4 1/2 hour turn around but I normally have lunch and a poke around N/S and make a day out of it.

For a 90 day report the longest has been about 15 minutes when the place was full and the shortest was just over 1 minute.

All the front office staff are ladies, most of whom speak English and are farang friendly. They rarely wear uniforms and medals just ordinary clothes and in the school holidays there are usually 2 or 3 children there as well.

Your experience in immigration are not the same as mine but I like you make a day of it. It is much more enjoyable that way. did my 90 day the other day had a nice Italian meal and saw a good movie as well as a little shopping at Rimping.

I don't have to go near as far as you but it is still a chance to do some thing else for a day.

Thought I add my experience going for my retirement extension on 2 december. I arrived at 5 am, when there were 7 seats occupied, the first 3 by agents (or at least their bags) and the remainder with people representing themselves. Had a nice chat with some of the other people who came early, complaining about the need to get up this early as us foreigners are wont to do. The queue started to fill up seriously around 7 am and by 8:30 when the female immigration stepped out to start checking paperwork and handing out queue cards I counted 33 people in the queue. This would indicate that it should be safe to come around 6:30-7:00 and still get served, except during weeks with a lot of holidays (like next week).

I was expecting to receive queue number 9 when the lady told me that I needed to bring my Thai wife to sign a letter an also bring a recent copy of my marriage certificate. Apparently the first time you change from Non-O visa to a retirement visa that is a requirement. It takes a lot of time to get a new copy of my marriage registration and a bit expensive as it has to come from Europe (I cannot get it on-line), then it needs to be certified to be a true copy by the embassy in Bangkok and get translated into Thai. I was told last year that I would have to submit a new certificate every year to extend my marriage visa and that was the main reason for me to switch over to a retirement visa (that and the fact you can get the retirement extension the same day). It was the first time I heard about this requirement, so either I am a lousy reader of various threads on the subject (very likely) or switching visa is not often done and this isn't frequently mentioned.

Anyway, I was turned away but decided to return home, pick up my wife and copies of last years' marriage certificate. On my return after some discussion with the girls outside and pointing out that I couldn't possibly get a new copy of the marriage certificate before my visa expires in 9 days time they told me to have a talk with the retirement officer inside. After my wife's charm offensive she relented and told us to come back at 15:30 to get processed without a queue number.

While waiting from 14:30 onwards I noticed that 2 staff were processing retirement extensions taking 15-20 minutes for each application, they didn't seem to be over-stretched walking around, going out for a while, basically waiting for when they told the next 2 applicants to be present. I got to talk with the last 2 people in the queue that morning who had received number 30. So that day including me at least 32 people were served, probably more as I counted 33 including me. There even was another guy that just walked in around 15:00 and got processed without a queue card number. It seemed a quiet day, except for the tourist visa extensions that also had an incredible long queue in the morning. If one has all the paperwork in order it shouldn't take more than 10 minutes to process everything, meaning that with 2 staff they could easily do double than 30 a day if necessary, or process everyone by 12:00...

Individual staff are normally very nice and polite, except for the guy that was manning the re-entry desk that day. Management and planning obviously is a mess, not to speak about the silly 90-day reporting or the unavailability of longer extension periods, foreign retirees clearly are not a priority for Thai politics. In the end I got my retirement extension, still a bit surprised by that, though I have to provide them with an updated marriage certificate for which I have mobilized my elderly sister back in Europe. No need for GT4, didn't even notice if their 'office' was open.

I wasn't going to post any more as no one had any relevant information on how many were getting the extensions in a day.

Thank you very much for the information and experience you had. You are the first person in over 700 shares to give an idea of how many people were getting their extensions in a day. We know they will give out a lot of queue numbers but how many they serve has been a mystery. Thank you once again I now have a ball park answer. I know it will change day to day. But I have an idea.

Loving this tread. I am going to try the cinamon on my breakfast tip.

I have a huge favor does anyone here have access to the prices of the blood sugar test strips? I had planned a trip to Thailand and was just diagnosed type 1 three weeks ago. I'm shuffling to get everything in order and it would be super helpful if I knew how much blood test strips cost over there.

I'm not loyal to a certain brand just whatever is cheapest or whatever information people have available. Also, does anyone know an affordable place to purchase online without insurance?

Thanks in advance!

Welcome to Thailand. I have type 2 diabetes and can not say enough about it's benefits. I use the cinnamon bought in the shakers found in all the super market spice departments. I can not say if the affect on type 1 will be the same. Google it. Been awhile but if I recall Google treated both type 1 and 2 the same.

I would like to relate to you an experience of my sister. She has diabetes type 1. She was diagnosed with it over 20 years ago. She has been very lax in watching her diet. She would check her blood sugar regularly then disregard it to a degree. She now at the age of 60 has Alzheimer. Doctors can not say for sure but they believe her disregard for a stricter discipline with her diet has a part in it.

Or an intelligent consumer, perhaps.

Ya a web site that is half baked and drivers that are clueless. I take that to mean they either screw up the order or can't find your accommodations.

Let me at them.

I will stick with Cheap Charlie.

I sure as heck would never use an asterisk. Sh-t I don't like to post cuss words. I see you are relatively new to Thai Visa. People here may be a s-rca-tic lot but by and by they are more civilized with their languish t-an whe-e you have previously been posting.

Edit

S_me of us dont spell that good either.

nice try john - you are truly a knight in *ble armor!

t_ank you

Doesn't sound like competition to me unless you are a Cheap Charlie.

I sure as heck would never use an asterisk. Sh-t I don't like to post cuss words. I see you are relatively new to Thai Visa. People here may be a s-rca-tic lot but by and by they are more civilized with their languish t-an whe-e you have previously been posting.

Edit

S_me of us dont spell that good either.

Amazing how people can get so upset at losing the crap that is BBC "News".

But anyway, you can watch it on Filmon.com and stream it to your TV with an HDMI cable or a Chromecast.

So they are still in business. The English version of Fox news.

I will have to watch them to see if they are good or not. I am sure they will have some bias but how far it goes is another question.

Got to laugh at these youngsters. Can't watch on the computer. I have a 21inch monitor. I can remember when the very best you could get was a 19 inch Television and occasionally have to adjust the vertical or horizontal.