Closure of Royal Thai Consulate in Penang ‘no cause for alarm’

[snoop1130]

Closure of Royal Thai Consulate in Penang ‘no cause for alarm’

The Phuket News

 

The notice clearly states that the Royal Thai Consulate in Penang will close April 2 ‘until further notice’. Image: Royal Thai Consulate in Penang

 

PHUKET:-- An official notice announcing that the Royal Thai Consluate in Penang will close next Monday (April 2) “until further notice” is no cause for alarm, an official at the consulate explained to The Phuket News today (Mar 28).

 

The notice was posted on the Royal Thai Consulate’s Facebook page early this afternoon.

 

“The consulate is closing for a few days just so staff can move to our new building opposite the current main building,” an official who declined to be named told The Phuket News this afternoon.

 

Full Story: https://www.thephuketnews.com/closure-of-royal-thai-consulate-in-penang-no-cause-for-alarm-66546.php#1Ymkp2hiX60K9yBz.97

 

-- © Copyright Phuket News 2018-3-28

[Thian]

2 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

The notice was posted on the Royal Thai Consulate’s Facebook page early this afternoon.

 

Is it also announced on their website? Not everybody uses fayboo you know?

[ubonjoe]

Moved from the other visa forum to here.

Only closed next week after reading the article. They state 4 to 5 days for the move to a new building at same location,

IMO very short notice for people that have planned trips to Penang.

[ubonjoe]

1 hour ago, Thian said:

Is it also announced on their website?

Not at this time.

[Thian]

52 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

Not at this time.

That's what i thought.

 

I've been travelling to their consulate many times to find out that the info on the website is wrong...wrong opening hours, wrong paperwork needed and so on...

 

I also met several farang in Penang who went there for the consulate only...if it's suddenly closed they have big issues..

[BuckBee]

No idea why these consulates have websites as information NEVER up to date, all paperwork decades old too :-/

going mess up few peoples travel plans, no idea why penang popular as awful service, yangon is a nice trip, viaduct railway on it's own makes it worthwhile at least once .

[OJAS]

15 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

Only closed next week after reading the article. They state 4 to 5 days for the move to a new building at same location,

Unlikely to reopen before Monday 23rd April at the earliest in view of Songkran, I would have thought.

[ubonjoe]

36 minutes ago, OJAS said:

Unlikely to reopen before Monday 23rd April at the earliest in view of Songkran, I would have thought.

Why would they be closed that long for Songkran. The official holidays are the 12th to 16th. Their calendar only shows the 13th to the 16th.

[ubonjoe]

17 hours ago, Thian said:

Is it also announced on their website? Not everybody uses fayboo you know?

Posted today on their website as an announcement. Same notice as shown in the article. http://www.thaiembassy.org/penang/contents/files/news-20180329-104408-096368.pdf

[Thian]

1 hour ago, ubonjoe said:

Posted today on their website as an announcement. Same notice as shown in the article. http://www.thaiembassy.org/penang/contents/files/news-20180329-104408-096368.pdf

Well that means bad luck for the farang who already bought a ticket/hotelroom to Penang to visit them.

[ericthai]

8 hours ago, Thian said:

Well that means bad luck for the farang who already bought a ticket/hotelroom to Penang to visit them.

Are you always trying to find a problem?

 

 

[Thian]

22 minutes ago, ericthai said:

Are you always trying to find a problem?

 

 

Yes, i have spoken to several farang in Penang who came their for the thai consulate..and they bought their tickets/hotelrooms a few weeks in advance....i bet there are similar farangs in Penang now who have to problems because of this.

 

Why? Am i not allowed to write about that? Should i call the taxi for swampy now?

[OJAS]

10 minutes ago, ericthai said:

Are you always trying to find a problem?

If you could have been bothered to take the trouble to learn, mark and inwardly digest the notice in the OP, you would hopefully have been able to deduce that the Consulate, in their infinite wisdom, had only chosen to give 5 days advance notice (incluing a weekend) of their forthcoming closure. I therefore look forward to your sharing on here in considerable detail for the benefit of humble mortals like @Thian and myself, who clearly are sadly lacking in your no doubt considerable powers of wisdom, as to why this closure will not, in your humblest of opinions, present any problems for those who were planning on travelling from LOS to Penang next week in order to avail themselves of the Consulate's services.

[OJAS]

9 minutes ago, Thian said:

Why? Am i not allowed to write about that? Should i call the taxi for swampy now?

And no doubt, according to @ericthai, there should be no need for you to book your hotel in Penang or even your flight there until you were en route to BKK in a taxi!

[Thian]

4 minutes ago, OJAS said:

If you could have been bothered to take the trouble to learn, mark and inwardly digest the notice in the OP, you would hopefully have been able to deduce that the Consulate, in their infinite wisdom, had only chosen to give 5 days advance notice (incluing a weekend) of their forthcoming closure. I therefore look forward to your sharing on here in considerable detail for the benefit of humble mortals like @Thian and myself, who clearly are sadly lacking in your no doubt considerable powers of wisdom, as to why this closure will not, in your humblest of opinions, present any problems for those who were planning on travelling from LOS to Penang next week in order to avail themselves of the Consulate's services.

Some folks here have become thaier than thai...they even put the word thai before or after their name.

 

If he can't understand the problems many of us have with getting visa's in time he sure isn't the sharpes tool in the box....

I also buy tickets many weeks in advance when i have to do a visarun...i even bring my wife and or friends and  book hotelrooms for many days in row...

 

Which embassy would do things like this??? 5 days in advance and even don't put it on their website 

 

 

[ericthai]

4 minutes ago, Thian said:

Yes, i have spoken to several farang in Penang who came their for the thai consulate..and they bought their tickets/hotelrooms a few weeks in advance....i bet there are similar farangs in Penang now who have to problems because of this.

 

Why? Am i not allowed to write about that? Should i call the taxi for swampy now?

I Didn't say your not allowed to say anything. I was making a comment that at first you complained that is was on FB only, but you never checked the website, just complained it was on FB and not the web. Then you re informed it is on the website and now your not happy about that.

 

I do agree that this is a very late notice, I'm sure they knew when they were moving weeks ago, to wait to last minute is post a notice is stupid, but we all should know how Thailand does things by now.   

 

 

[ericthai]

2 minutes ago, OJAS said:

And no doubt, according to @ericthai, there should be no need for you to book your hotel or even your flight to Penang until you were en route to BKK in a taxi!

wow, calm down I was trying to be sarcastic, guess I wont try that again!

[OJAS]

Just now, ericthai said:

I was trying to be sarcastic

Snap!

[Thian]

20 minutes ago, ericthai said:

I Didn't say your not allowed to say anything. I was making a comment that at first you complained that is was on FB only, but you never checked the website, just complained it was on FB and not the web. Then you re informed it is on the website and now your not happy about that.

 

I do agree that this is a very late notice, I'm sure they knew when they were moving weeks ago, to wait to last minute is post a notice is stupid, but we all should know how Thailand does things by now.   

 

 

Because i have bad experiences with thai consulate websites, they are always full of errors.

 

And read that penang consulate website right now...28 march they put the message on it that the consulate will be closed from 2 april until further notice 

 

They even don't have the decency to tell when it's open again....but if we overstay for one day we have to pay a fine and even can get a red stamp in the  passport if that happens often.

[OJAS]

2 minutes ago, Thian said:

They even don't have the decency to tell when it's open again....but if we overstay for one day we have to pay a fine and even can get a red stamp in the  passport if that happens often.

On a serious note, are you now faced with very real problems on the visa front as a result of this unexpected closure? If you are, are you now contemplating a trip next week to Vientiane or Savannakhet instead?

[ericthai]

1 minute ago, Thian said:

Because i have bad experiences with thai consulate websites, they are always full of errors.

 

And read that penang consulate website right now...28 march they put the message on it that the consulate will be closed from 2 april until further notice 

 

They even don't have the decency to tell when it's open again....but if we overstay for one day we have to pay a fine and even can get a red stamp in the  passport if that happens often.

I understand completely!  But, come one now, anyone living in Thailand for any period of time knows that none of the Thai consultants or embassies follow the rules and each enforces the rules as they see fit. Communication from any govt office to the public is terrible. 

[Thian]

6 minutes ago, OJAS said:

On a serious note, are you now faced with very real problems on the visa front as a result of this unexpected closure? If you are, are you now contemplating a trip next week to Vientiane or Savannakhet instead?

No not at all, i'm just astonished about the unprofessional approach of that consulate...i've never been to that one myself but considered it since it's a direct flight to penang which is a nice place to stay for a while.

 

But i'm 100% sure that many other farang are in big trouble because of this, and many don't even know that the consulate will be closed from 2 april....they think all is fine and have a ticket in their pocket and will find a closed door next week.

I don't do visaruns at the very last moment anymore, learned my lessons already the hard way.

[Thian]

10 minutes ago, ericthai said:

Communication from any govt office to the public is terrible. 

Not from my own government, and if they do so they will get loads of complaints....maybe that's why i come from one of the most developed countries of the world?

[ericthai]

21 hours ago, Thian said:

Not from my own government, and if they do so they will get loads of complaints....maybe that's why i come from one of the most developed countries of the world?

we are talking about Thailand.

[Thian]

1 hour ago, ericthai said:

we are talking about Thailand.

No mate, you started about any govt office...i know ones who use communicationmanagers.

 

  22 hours ago, ericthai said:

Communication from any govt office to the public is terrible.

[ericthai]

2 minutes ago, Thian said:

No mate, you started about any govt office...i know ones who use communicationmanagers.

 

  22 hours ago, ericthai said:

Communication from any govt office to the public is terrible.

We are talking about Thailand!.  We are in a Thai forum talking about a Thai consultant about getting a Thai visa!  I said nothing about the UK government! 

 

When I say  "any govt office" I'm saying that it doesn't matter if it's Thai immigration, Thai labor department, etc 

 

  

 

[KiChakayan]

On 3/29/2018 at 10:15 PM, Thian said:

Yes, i have spoken to several farang in Penang who came their for the thai consulate..and they bought their tickets/hotelrooms a few weeks in advance....i bet there are similar farangs in Penang now who have to problems because of this.

 

Why? Am i not allowed to write about that? Should i call the taxi for swampy now?

But I dare think that they didn't close ALL Thai consulates in Malaysia; KL would still be open I suppose?

[Thian]

1 hour ago, KiChakayan said:

But I dare think that they didn't close ALL Thai consulates in Malaysia; KL would still be open I suppose?

I guess so, but that's not around the corner and pretty useless for ones who flew to Penang.

[OJAS]

6 hours ago, KiChakayan said:

But I dare think that they didn't close ALL Thai consulates in Malaysia; KL would still be open I suppose?

 

5 hours ago, Thian said:

I guess so, but that's not around the corner and pretty useless for ones who flew to Penang.

Plus the fact that getting a visa out of the KL Embassy is like getting blood out of a stone, as I recall from reports on here.

[JackThompson]

21 hours ago, OJAS said:

Plus the fact that getting a visa out of the KL Embassy is like getting blood out of a stone, as I recall from reports on here.

That used to be the case, though it is reported as better, now.  The lack of agent-service is the primary downside.  Whether they will issue a TR visa still depends on how many/frequent/long Thai entries/stays they see in your passport - but that is similar to Penang, these days.