So I got this done today. Took the bulk of the day. Will summarize key points since others indicated it might be helpful.
Arrived Chaengwattana at 10:45am. Had to fill in a Covid screening form before being allowed to enter the building. You have to complete that form and show proof of a negative ATK test taken 72hrs before attempted entry or proof of vaccination before being allowed to enter.
When I arrived I was given queue number 86. The number being served was 26. So that would be 60 people in front of me. Hoo boy. Not sure when closing time is, but the cutoff time to get a queue number is 3:45pm.
The slip of paper that you get with your queue number on it has a QR code. You can scan that QR code to see the number of people remaining in line in front of you. I opened that QR link in a mobile browser and refreshed it throughout the day (you need to manually refresh to see the number change).
That last bullet point is important because it means you can leave the immigration area - or even the CW complex - and have some degree of timing certainty on when you need to return.
So I went to Central Chaengwattana. Arrived there at around 11:30am and had an early lunch. Then went to go sit at a cafe. Refreshed phone one every 30 minutes initially. Then every 15-20 once it got closer to my number. When there was 19 people remaining in front of me, I headed back to the immigration complex.
Which ended up being just in time since when I arrived back at the door, there were only 10 people left in front of me in the queue. And you still have to fill out the Covid screening paper to enter the building - except you might not have to if you show the guy handing out those papers your queue slip. I showed him mine and told him I was in a rush and he let me go through without completing the screening a second time.
By the time I arrived back in the immigration waiting room there were only 6 people left in front of me. The queue moved a lot faster after the lunch break than before it. Not sure if that's a consistent trend.
When I got called up, a nice immigration officer processed my documents and...told me that my TM 30 was incomplete. It's mandatory to get a Covid extension. Ah sh-t, right? A looooot of people were getting turned back due to TM 30. Make sure you have that sorted before heading to immigration.
The immigration officer told me that if I could get TM 30 updated by my landlord within 30 minutes, I could skip the queue and go back to him. Otherwise I would need a new number. It was 2:20pm at this point, so like four hours after I first arrived. No way was I going to go through that again.
Lucky for me, I rent a condo directly from the property management arm of a major developer. I contacted them by LINE and told them about the situation and the deadline. They were able to get TM 30 updated within the 30 minute window (just). Unless your property is professionally managed, I wouldn't count on that tho. Will reiterate - have TM 30 updated before arriving. Really I heard a lot of people getting rejected for that reason.
Anyway, I submitted my TM 30 document, signed the forms, paid and they took my passport. But apparently I also needed a photo of myself and a printed copy of my e-visa to submit, neither of which I had. Damn. I'm not usually this disorganized.
Got lucky again - immigration officer told me to just go downstairs, take the photo, print the doc, and then return and give it to him without waiting in line again. So I did just that.
Smooth sailing after that. Waited for them to return my passport (about 15 minutes) and then got right out of there and hailed a cab.
By the time I left it was between 3:30 and 3:45. So that would be 5 hours after I originally arrived. You could do it faster if you weren't an idiot like me and had TM30 and the photo/visa printout prepared. But not that much faster - would still probably be a four hour wait if you arrived at the same time as me today. Note that one of those hours was the mandatory lunch break wherein the queue doesn't move.
The waiting room and general area around immigration were super full every time I was in there. I feel bad for the folks who didn't know about the QR code tracking and just sat in the room the whole time. If you didn't know, well, now you know.
That concludes my summary and review of my CW experience. Turns out that you can renew your visa on the day it expires. Thanks again to everyone who gave me helpful advice here. Cheers.
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