5 year license renewal - Apec card.

[joblog]

Hi, 
I need to renew my 5 year driving (Thai) license soon. 
I currently have an Apec card (90 day stamps). 
Will I be able to obtain the DL on an Apec card ok?
Any experience on this?
Thank you. 

[clokwise]

About 8 years ago I had an APEC card - the DMV staff had no idea what that was. Ultimately, trying year after year, the staff would never give me a 5 year renewal. I'm pretty sure it had been discussed here back then that the APEC card doesn't actually give you the required visa to qualify for a 5 years license, so no surprise really.

 

More recently, I now have an Elite Card visa and a yellow book, the combination of which gave me 5 years renewal on my car license last year, and my motorcycle license this year - no questions asked. I think some people here had said you can't get 5 year license with an Elite visa, but maybe you can get a 5 year renewal? Perhaps someone else will chime in...

 

 

 

 

[krey]

5 hours ago, clokwise said:

About 8 years ago I had an APEC card - the DMV staff had no idea what that was. Ultimately, trying year after year, the staff would never give me a 5 year renewal. I'm pretty sure it had been discussed here back then that the APEC card doesn't actually give you the required visa to qualify for a 5 years license, so no surprise really.

 

More recently, I now have an Elite Card visa and a yellow book, the combination of which gave me 5 years renewal on my car license last year, and my motorcycle license this year - no questions asked. I think some people here had said you can't get 5 year license with an Elite visa, but maybe you can get a 5 year renewal? Perhaps someone else will chime in...

I got an 5 year license with elite initial one, no problems, well no problems after they figured out what the thai elite visa was, they had to call Elite visa at the time to verify, my friend also got a 5 year license using his student visa 1 year

5 hours ago, clokwise said:

 

 

 

 

 

[canthai55]

From Wiki -

Multiple short term entry for a maximum stay of between 59 days to 90 days

That is enuf to ensure that a 5 year DL is not issued.

[toolpush]

1 hour ago, krey said:

I got an 5 year license with elite initial one, no problems, well no problems after they figured out what the thai elite visa was, they had to call Elite visa at the time to verify, my friend also got a 5 year license using his student visa 1 year

 

That is funny. I just received an answer to an email I sent to Thailand Elite about this very topic. I have had several 5 year renewals to my Thai Driver's License using Non immigrant visas. I asked Thai Elite if I could get a 5 year renewal with my Elite Visa. They answered that No, I cannot since an Elite Visa is a tourist Visa. I had mentioned to them if not possible I would simply get a 90 days Non-O and renew my license. They told me that I cannot get a 5 year renewal with a single entry Non O either. In my dealings with Thailand Elite, I have come to find out they are nearly useless with any info or help with anything.

[krey]

3 hours ago, toolpush said:

That is funny. I just received an answer to an email I sent to Thailand Elite about this very topic. I have had several 5 year renewals to my Thai Driver's License using Non immigrant visas. I asked Thai Elite if I could get a 5 year renewal with my Elite Visa. They answered that No, I cannot since an Elite Visa is a tourist Visa. I had mentioned to them if not possible I would simply get a 90 days Non-O and renew my license. They told me that I cannot get a 5 year renewal with a single entry Non O either. In my dealings with Thailand Elite, I have come to find out they are nearly useless with any info or help with anything.

doesn't surprise me you got a no answer, seems from one person to the next you will get a different answer for most things in Thailand. Even in my own country deal with the same thing, but perhaps not as frequent