cormanr7

The system of an 'electronic' exit rather than an exit stamp seems to get more prevalent. I left Japan (Tokyo-Narita) last December and it had a similar system. On entry you get the old stay permit glued in your passport but on exit you have to scan your passport and look in a sort of large mirror. I think a similar system has already operated in Singapore for quite some time.

I left for Europe mid November. I have a stay permit based on retirement and a re-entry permit. They just checked if I had a non-Thai passport and directed me to the 'foreigner' e-gates of which there were quite a few. Through in two minutes, In fact there were virtually no IO's in sight and there was only one manned counter. No problems/questions on re-entering Thailand. If the system works properly, the data are in the computer. As a back-up I had kept my outbound boarding pass.

I arrived Suvanabhumi early October. As noted by others. most of the IO's are now female. There were two couples in front of me. The woman in the first couple (with a EU passport) had a peculiar stamp in her passport - a black circle with black horizontal bar with some text. The IO noticed this and called for a senior offical. He asked the guy if he had a similar stamp; negative. There was a long discussion with the woman. Apparently this was a 'souvenir stamp' which is not allowed in some countries. Finally they let them through. The couple right in front of me was from Brazil. The IO asked them for a yellow fever certificate. They were unable to show this and were sent back to the health officals (which you pass going from the gate towards immigration, just before you turn into the long corridor in front of the immigration booths). Don't know how this ended. And yes, quite a few people were questioned, and some were required to show some paper/screen shot (onward ticket?). I had a permit to stay based on retirement and a re-entry permit. No questions, just the usual comple fingerprint business. Finished in no time.

I did retirement extension (800k bank method) at CW early May. Only handed in TM.7, bank letter, copy of bankbook pages covering previous 13 months or so (plus cover page), copy of last TM.47 and hand-drawn map of apartment location. Nothing else asked. So in my case no 12-month bank statement or TM.30 were required. May depend on your situation or even the person handling your application.

Yes.

I did a 90-day mid July (note: rules may have been changed since!) after having been abroad which made it not possible (at least for me) to report on-line. No TM30 was asked. I had made an on-line appoitment; exactly at the scheduled time my number came up and was in/out in less than two minutes.

A few years ago this also happened to the SCB bank office downstairs in the B Building. It was suddenly closed and people were advised to go the office in the Big C Chaeng Wattana building. This only opens at 10.30 am. Of course you could go to another office but some have no clue about the bank letter (even if shown an example). Anyway an hour between document check and return of passport with signed extension seems typical (at least in my experience) for on-line appointments.

Talking about China Eastern? You are joking right, as of May 03, 2024 they had 623 planes, including 14 parked. This accoring to planespotters.net which is usually quite accurate, though slightly behind the actual numbers. They also have hundreds of aircraft on order including more than 100 COMAC C919 (very similar to the A320NEO).

Surreal experience today. Had booked on-line (can only be done 3-5 weeks ahead and fills up quickly) but arrived ca 2.5 hours before the appointed time. Place was largely deserted with banks closed. Collected a TM.7 with attached forms (where you confirm your address, acknowledge the terrible things that will happen to you if you overstay or work, etc) from the front desk and filled in the forms. Trip to one of the copy shops downstairs. Decided to take a gamble and went to the que desk, showed my on-line appointment. A very friendly lady said no need to wait 2h, gave me a que number and send me to counter L-27 for the 'document check'. Just as last year this took only about a minute, they just seem to check if the main items are there and that you have filled in everything. Wrote a counter number on my TM.7 (not the one for the on-line appointment) and there I was helped immediately by a rather cheerfull IO. Here it took only 15-20 mins to check the papers, make 500 or so signatures , take a pic and pay the fee. After another 10 min got my passport back with the signed extension. From arriving at the que desk to walking out took exactly 30 min but obviously this was a rather unusual day. Handed in were: -TM.7 (application form) with one pic. -Passport and copies of relevant pages -Bank letter (one day old, they confirmed it can be up to 7 calender days old but you need to update your passbook at the day of application) -Bankbook and copies of front page and transactions going back 13 months or so. -Hand drawn map of apartment location (yes they kept this and had me sign it) -Copy of last 90-day report (TM.47) -1,900 B Now usually the bankletter came with an additional balance sheet for the previous 3 months but this time it only covered the past month. The IO outlined the transactions over the previous 3 months in red on the copy of my bankbook. Note that depending on your circumstances (maybe hiring from a private landlord, having a large number of transactions in your bankbook which are sometimes 'pooled' , etc..) they may ask for additional papers.

Though not in April: what about May 1st?

Liitle follow up. Arrived CW Wednesday just before the lunch break, que for 90-day was at ca 140 with 60 (!) to go for my number. Required are your passport, filled TM.47 and (copy of) last approved TM.47 receipt. Not sure what they are doing but they type endlessly in their computer while most of the data should be there. Asked why on-line was rejected: 'You just entered the country'. I pointed out that I had left/entered the country several times during the past years without any problems with on-line reports. No comment. Asked what will happen after I leave the country for a home visit next month: 'Should be no problem on-line'. Well i guess we'll have to wait and see. Noted that quite a few people were send away, not sure why. Slightly off-topic: I used to walk from Laksi IT to the B building in the past. This time tried the Pink line Gov.Complex station. On the way to the B building I was just in time to grab the open electric trolley that starts/ends at the main acces route. On the way back I walked from B Building to the Gov. complex station via the main access road. Took only 15 min, much closer than Laksi (ca. 30 min). They are now building an elevated, covered walkway right from the station to the B building (not open yet).

Thanks, will try Wednesday 1 pm.

A further question then: suppose you travel abroad frequently do you have to go in person every time???

Interesting. I came back from an oversas trip early Dec 2023, now have had my on-line report rejected for 'incorrect date of entry' a few days ago. Tried again today, same result. So will have to go to CW and probably face an interminable wait. What time were you there?

When arriving on an intl. flight on a non-Thai airline -which usually dock at the western side of the terminal), I often bypass the immigration at the western side and walk on to the eastern side which is usually quieter. I have never had problems with this. In fact, when it is very busy at the western side staff often waves passengers on to the eastern side. So I am a bit surprised that they refused to process you.

I think the requirement to show the boarding pass of your incoming flight on entry has been there for a long time, whether it was asked for (seems definetely the case at Suvanabhumi for the last few years and it is indicated in large letters above the immigration booths) is another matter. With the old TM.6 you had to fill in the flight number and they might not check it. But is it really so much trouble to keep it either in paper form or on your phone until you have passed immigration? People whine about everything here.

As far as I am aware, at CW there are only female IOs handling extension of stay so not really much choice!

Same for me.

No to both questions. The 100 Baht withdrawal is just to show that the account is still active on the day you are going for your extension (the cost of the bai rap rong is 200 B at SCB). The previous 3 months statement is not an official requirement as far as I am aware of but is automatically supplied by the SCB at Chaeng Wattana (in the Big C building). Possibly it might help convince IOs that you indeed had the required 800K though they should be able to see that from your bank book. Important to note that if you had a lot of transactions, updates in the bank book are sometimes 'pooled'. They don't like that as the amount may have dropped below 800K for some period which you might not see in the pooled statements.

I arrived a few weeks ago at 08.00 on a full Emirates flight. Long que for the west-side immigration, they send people with a non-Thai passport to the east-side immigration (the 'Thai airways side') and was thru in 10 min. Then a long walk to the baggage belt, which was the one on the extreme west side! I often go to the east side without prompting, at this time passengers from Thai Aw arrivals from Europe have gone and it always seems faster than the west side In general, even though lines often look horrific they tend to move quite fast and there are normally a lot of immigration booths in operation (they have recently also gotten a new look).

In my experience of the last two years-for what it is worth- processing of on-line report at CW takes 2-3 business days. Submitted one last Wednesday ca 7 am, was approved Friday ca 4 pm. In the past I have had problems with not filling in first name (as it was not marked with an asterisk) and not entering a room number if you are in an apartment or the like. Before I submit I do make a screenshot, handy if the 'memory function' does not work prpperly.

I my case this is 100 MB not 10 for a 24h package of 300 MB,.

A few weeks ago I flew AMS-BKK with EVA in Economy. I was lucky to have one of the older B777-300ER's with 3-3-3 seating (for some time they used the 787-10 on this route but it did not have premium economy). Service was fine, I noticed they now have a sheet with pics of the meal choices as you find for instance on Japanese airlines. However, there are only 3 flights/weeks and these are usually very full as many tour operators use EVA rather than KLM. EVA has recently introduced new flights to two European destinations (Milan and Munich) but these go non-stop from Taipei.

I have never been asked for a TM.30, I believe this is more likely with marriage extensions and/or if you have a house. In my case I have been at the same rented apartment for all my five or so extensions

Earlier this week went for extension of NON-O retirement at CW (800K+ bank method), had booked on-line. After getting bank statement and copies of various things (see below) I arrived about one hour before appointment time at the L-counters. Very busy, no seats. Stood in front of L1-32 (look for the tiny A4 poster) with my printed appointment clearly visible. One of the senior IO's walks over, looks at the print and says something to the IO (same lady as last year) at L1-32. The latter comes out, shouts 'on-line' and then beckons me to sit down. After minutely examining my paper work and conversing in Thai, she stamps the extension in my passport (always a relief to get to this point), makes a pic, collects 1,900 Baht and someone disappears with passport/bankbook to have it signed off by a senior person. Twenty min later got it back and walked out before the scheduled time of my appointment, took about 40 min in total. As last year, they appear to do only about 10 on-line appointments/day and some apparently had not turned up/were late. All in all went pretty well. Handed in were: -TM.7 with one pic ( if required can make some at the copy shop downstairs for 100B) -Passport plus copies of selected pages -Bankbook (updated the same morning and 100 B withdrawal) with copies of front page and last 13 months of transactions -Bank letter (which included a separate statement of previous 3 months) -Various forms you get when collecting a TM.7 at the front desk with all the horrible things that await you if you break the rules -Hand drawn map of apartment location - Last 90-day report (note: this is not on the official list of requirements but they will check it and print it out themselves if you do not have it)