TT100

Yeah, It was a very weird day even for dealing with a Thai immigration office. I might try an other office but I will talk with an agent first. Otherwise I will spend the rest of my holiday in Europe or Dubai instead.

No patience or time for this kind of monkey business anymore. The only good thing was to see how nice and helpful the rest of Thais always are. ???? Too bad the country is run down by clowns. 

Back story: Early 30s, from Scandinavia. I do have a few tourist visas and extensions from before but I have not been to Thailand in 1,5 year. I did not plan on staying more than 30-60 days and was just in Thailand to see some friends, so I decided I would entry Thailand on the visa exempt agreement and then extend it 30 days if I wanted to stay longer. I made sure before and asked if this was possible and was told it should work just fine by an agent.

So I took a taxi to the Immigration Office in Nonthaburi. I followed the dress code and had everyting with me besides the copies that I paid 2 THB for in the shop close to the Office building. 

OK so everything seemed smooth this far right? Right...

I step into the room but can't find a TM7 form anywhere. I then ask the only guy in uniform where I can find one. He looks confused even though this is one of the most common forms they have. At least he was helpful and eventually found one.

I fill in the form and step forward to the old man in yellow polo. He glanced through the passport and quickly mumbled something about online notification from the owner (TM30 i assumed).

I told him I'm living in a hotel and that they most likley already registered me. He had no way of knowing anything about my TM30 status since he did not use a computer himself. I realised that there where no point in arguing with him, so I went back to the hotel and talked to the staff to see if they could help me.

Back at the hotel the staff and boss where very helpful and they told me they always register there hotel guests and I should have already been in the system. I also got a written TM30 form by the boss of the hotel. So now I had a physical TM30 form, receipt and everything else needed.

I took a taxi back thinking there was no chance they could complain about anything. I had basically overdone everything they asked from me.

So back at the office for the second time of the day, I stepped forward to the old man in yellow polo. He mumbled  again and almost looked like he had a mini-breakdown, and caimed this was not enough. He needed onliiiiine notificaaaaaaaation. He told me to call the hotel for him and he talked to them in thai which I did. I handed him the phone and he talked to hotel staff and somehow failed to make himself understood in his own language.

So at this point he have been given a receipt, a physical TM30 form filled in by the boss of the hotel. And he had talked to the staff of the hotel himself in Thai.

I told him again, that the hotel boss had signed the form and that I was most likely already registered online. He eventually told a younger guy to look in the computer. The old man went into the closed office space and the young guy went to talk to him. The young guy shook his head a bit and the old man came out again.

"can't dooooooo, not registered in siiiiiisssssssteeeeeem"... And handed me my passport and that was that.

I'm pretty sure it was all lies and it seems unlikley I was not in the system at all given that I have lived in 3 hotels this trip and made sure to ask the staff to register me at two of them to avoid this problem. I was not fined for this crime, neither was the hotel. ????

I assume it may have to do with me being on the visa exemption or maybe some other random policy he had crafted on the lunch break. 

I had already decided that I would not go back to Thailand after this trip and this little experience made it so clear why. ????

Ok thanks!

Hey does anyone know what documents is needed for doing a tourist visa extension if I live in a hotel in Nonthaburi? Will I need to bring a receipt for the stay?

I tried calling them but the line seems to be busy and their website is "under construction"...