Myself

Prepare all required paperwork, be polite, well dressed and nobody will be rude.

Which volonteers do you mean? There are two different groups at Phuket immigration. The original PIV (Phuket immigration volonteers) are only upstairs, dealing with business and marriage visa, but are also contact persons for all visa questions and difficult issues. They are very helpful and also try to find a solution in seemingly "hopeless" cases. My favourite there is the German lady called Carmen. For me it´s unbelievable to be always friendly and have a smile when dealing with a lot of morons who think they know everything better.

For the second group downstairs I agree. Often rude (mostly the women) especially the tini french lady with her barrack yard tone. They are all adviced not to give visa information but nevertheless they do it, and because they are not updated with new rules they often give wrong informations. So better ask upstairs.

And one example for the two different tones I witnessed. A young lady dressed in not much more than beach wear arrived at the office:

Carmen: "Hey girl, I see you have a body most women would die for, but unfortunately you are in a government building and you have to cover this beauty."

The french lady shouting: "DRESSCODE!! GO OUTSIDE!!"

Baba Wedding Phuket