Immigration woes —- Again?

[FolkGuitar]

3 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

HA.  And not all of us need a Mommy to do it.......

 

Not all of us are so well loved.  :)

 

[roo860]

What a lovely thought!

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[jeffandgop]

2am. Arrived at CM IMM to process my retirement extension of stay. 6 chairs ahead of me with bits of paper on them indicating seat holders but they’re nowhere to be seen.

3am. More seat holders arrive. 2 guys add 5 more stools to the line. The seat holders in front of me no one has shown. So 14 stools in line and except for me no one else is actually here tho a few sitters are walking around elsewhere. 

4am. 16 stools lined up. Still no seat holders actually at their stools but some are outside where there is air flow and are laying down or sleeping on the stairs and grounds. 

5am. Some jerk came and started moving stools where people were not physically present. I was walking around and caught him taking my stool and started a second parallel que with my stool first. Imagine the arguments that would occur when those who arrived hours ago found they were behind later arrivals. His philosophy was if you weren’t sitting on your stool you weren’t in the que. I put a stop to that and told him to back to the end of the que that 20+ others had respectfully followed. 

6am. 40+ in retirement / student visa renewal que. Chased out another que jumper. A thai youth who placed a stool at the very front and tried to claim he thought that was the end of the que line.

7am. There’s a sign posted by IMM that seems read that they’ll process only 60 retirement AND student renewals total per day- 25 in the morning & 35 in the afternoon. There’s now 80+ people in the retirement/ student visa que.

8:05am. Que tickets being passed out. I got #8 (#3008) and am the first retiree. The 7 in front of me are student extensions. 

8:47am. First retirement/ student extension number called. IMM never prepared to serve anyone when they open for business at 8:30am. First person apparently short on some paperwork and left returning at 08:58. No next number served. First person finished at 09:00. Second number called at 09:00. Did not appear but I suspect since they were family with the first person they were processed together. 

9:00am. Next applicants  #3-5 were from the same family. Their forms were also not complete. Watched while they left to obtain whatever was missing and the officer’s desks sat empty. #5 didn’t finish until 09:16. 

9:25am. My number was called.  Done at 09:38 less waiting for return of my passport. Passport returned at 09:50. 

I asked the officer why they were limiting retirement/ student visa extensions to 60 per day. He replied that was an average and that number fluctuates based on that day’s processing time for applicants. I guess that meant the numbers could be marginally higher if everyone’s paperwork had no issues. But to me the explanation is not logical.

[Sp4wnY]

PICK YOUR ARRIVAL TIME:

 

Arriving at 2:00am.

High chance of getting a number. still have to wait until 10:00 to have everything finished. 8 hours total.

 

Arriving at 5:00am

High chance of getting a number. Estimated time 6 hours. 

If unlucky you will finish after the break time. Add another 2 hours.

 

Arriving at 6:00am

Average chance of getting a number. Wait 9 hours to have everything completed.

 

Arriving at 7:00am

Low chance of getting a number. Wait around 1 1/2 hours to find out! 

Got lucky? Wait total of 9 hours to have everything finished.

 

Arriving at 9:00am

Please come back after break time.

 

Arriving before 1:00pm

Slim chance of getting a number. Wait 4 hours to have everything finished.

 

 

Now 7am still gives you only a "maybe you can get a number". People will be forced to come at 6:00am. After that 6am will only give you a small chance of getting that precarious number. People will be forced to come at 5:00am. 

 

We are playing a game where no-one wins: The Immigration queue game. 

 

Additional Rules of the game for ed visa:

You are behind the girls from Hand To Hand Combat? (They will most certainly be infront you, no matter when you arrive). This will put you behind 10+ other people. 90% chance you won't come out before 3:00pm. BONUS: Immigration guy will tell you to come more early next time!

 

Edited May 16, 2018 by Sp4wnY

[Elkski]

As far as I'm concerned if your not actually in line you lose your que.  CM sounds terrible.  

[clokwise]

Went to do 90 day report yesterday. Arrived 1:10pm. Out of there at 3:30. I rarely do 90 days reports here but when I have it's always been super efficient and I'm in and out in 15 minutes. I assumed yesterday it would be the same. It was chaos. No student interns helping out anymore, only one staff at the 90 day desk processing reports (and a second officer next to her only processing fines).

 

One tremendously long reception queue for everyone outside, just to get a ticket #. 15 minutes wait later and they suddenly started handing out 90-day tickets randomly to whomever was in reach, I dashed out of the queue and pushed my way to the desk and got a number. My number was 30+ further along so I went off for shopping. Came back an hour later to see it's still only half way through. Hung around and watched. It seems whenever a 90 day report is late (and maybe other situations I'm not sure) the second officer must collect a fine and instead of calling and processing the next ticket, the first officer just sits and gossips until the second officer has completed writing out the fine in long hand and hands it back to her. When I was finally called, it took all of 3 or 4 minutes to process and I'm outta there.

 

So are they going to fill their big new immigration building with more staff, or is it just to house more seats for foreigners to wait. I really am beginning to doubt things will ever improve no matter what.

 

[amexpat]

5 minutes ago, clokwise said:

So are they going to fill their big new immigration building with more staff, or is it just to house more seats for foreigners to wait.

 

So why do you do 90 day reporting in person? 

[clokwise]

13 minutes ago, amexpat said:

 

So why do you do 90 day reporting in person? 

Like I said, it's an easy 15 minutes. ALWAYS has been, until yesterday. I also have other things to do at Prom, so I'm never going there just for the 90 day. I would spend the same amount of time going to the post office and back, but I can also relax knowing it's done and not lost in the post.

[amexpat]

I also relax knowing it's done and not lost in the post. Because I do it online.  In the old days I never had a problem with the post.

 

My annual renewal is due soon. I just hope the place isn't flooded with people doing 90 day reports. 

[roo860]

On 5/16/2018 at 10:48 AM, jeffandgop said:

2am. Arrived at CM IMM to process my retirement extension of stay. 6 chairs ahead of me with bits of paper on them indicating seat holders but they’re nowhere to be seen.

3am. More seat holders arrive. 2 guys add 5 more stools to the line. The seat holders in front of me no one has shown. So 14 stools in line and except for me no one else is actually here tho a few sitters are walking around elsewhere. 

4am. 16 stools lined up. Still no seat holders actually at their stools but some are outside where there is air flow and are laying down or sleeping on the stairs and grounds. 

5am. Some jerk came and started moving stools where people were not physically present. I was walking around and caught him taking my stool and started a second parallel que with my stool first. Imagine the arguments that would occur when those who arrived hours ago found they were behind later arrivals. His philosophy was if you weren’t sitting on your stool you weren’t in the que. I put a stop to that and told him to back to the end of the que that 20+ others had respectfully followed. 

6am. 40+ in retirement / student visa renewal que. Chased out another que jumper. A thai youth who placed a stool at the very front and tried to claim he thought that was the end of the que line.

7am. There’s a sign posted by IMM that seems read that they’ll process only 60 retirement AND student renewals total per day- 25 in the morning & 35 in the afternoon. There’s now 80+ people in the retirement/ student visa que.


8:05am. Que tickets being passed out. I got #8 (#3008) and am the first retiree. The 7 in front of me are student extensions. 

8:47am. First retirement/ student extension number called. IMM never prepared to serve anyone when they open for business at 8:30am. First person apparently short on some paperwork and left returning at 08:58. No next number served. First person finished at 09:00. Second number called at 09:00. Did not appear but I suspect since they were family with the first person they were processed together. 

9:00am. Next applicants  #3-5 were from the same family. Their forms were also not complete. Watched while they left to obtain whatever was missing and the officer’s desks sat empty. #5 didn’t finish until 09:16. 

9:25am. My number was called.  Done at 09:38 less waiting for return of my passport. Passport returned at 09:50. 

I asked the officer why they were limiting retirement/ student visa extensions to 60 per day. He replied that was an average and that number fluctuates based on that day’s processing time for applicants. I guess that meant the numbers could be marginally higher if everyone’s paperwork had no issues. But to me the explanation is not logical.

 

'Sleeping on the stairs ', reminds me of people sleeping rough in London, what a sight.

Sent from my SM-G920F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

 

Edited May 22, 2018 by metisdead
Please do not modify someone else's post in your quoted reply, either with font or color changes or wording.

[Sparkles]

Co incidence ? My 90 day mail in, which I have been doing successfully for over a decade in CM,this time took 12 working days (received today)

 

 EMS in 21 baht,       3 baht back.   Usually its a max 4 working days

 

I was going to get onto it tomorrow,still a few days up my sleeve, and was dreading going to Prom to find out what had happened to so maybe ,just maybe, staff number are down. Could they be at the new location setting up ? Seems a long shot but as posted the other day construction seems to have been completed.

 

Lot of unanswered questions Imm going back near the airport.....parking? increase in staff numbers ? or a shambles ?

[KhunFred]

The counterintuitive mode suggests that since the accepted way is to show up at 8 in the morning, that showing up at 1 pm is far better. It has worked for me.

[jeffandgop]

And last week it did not. All available que slots were taken up by 9am. Coming in the afternoon would’ve been a waste of time, as mine was when I had arrived at 9:30. 

[jeffandgop]

My original report today (see #053) did not make clear that only after IMM was handing out que ##’s was it made known that the 6 seats qued up in front of me during the night were actually commandeered by 2 Thai seat sitters covering for 7 paid applicants. Which explains why I never really saw what I expected to be 6 seat sitters. I agree one person one seat. Next time I just may sit in front of those chairs that don’t have a person there for hours on end. 

Edited May 16, 2018 by jeffandgop

[NancyL]

22 hours ago, prism said:

Last time I had to deal with the California DMV, I had made an appointment online beforehand. I was done in under an hour including taking the written test. Wish CM immigration had an  online appointment system  

CM Imm used to have an online appointment system for one year extensions -- marriage and retirement.  While it was far from perfect, at least it was something.  They conveniently shut it down when they moved to Promenada because for a time they still did marriage extensions at the old office and retirement extensions at the new office and they said they couldn't break it into two separate queue systems.

 

That was one excuse given for shutting it down.  Another was that there were too many complaints about it.  Yeah, complaints like there were enough appointment slots and agents were using it to book appointments for their clients.

 

So rather than "fix" the problems, it was easier just to shut it down, according to Immigration logic.

[NancyL]

1 hour ago, NancyL said:

CM Imm used to have an online appointment system for one year extensions -- marriage and retirement.  While it was far from perfect, at least it was something.  They conveniently shut it down when they moved to Promenada because for a time they still did marriage extensions at the old office and retirement extensions at the new office and they said they couldn't break it into two separate queue systems.

 

That was one excuse given for shutting it down.  Another was that there were too many complaints about it.  Yeah, complaints like there were enough appointment slots and agents were using it to book appointments for their clients.

 

So rather than "fix" the problems, it was easier just to shut it down, according to Immigration logic.

Oops, should be "complaints like there weren't enough appointment slots

[XGM]

On 5/10/2018 at 11:03 PM, Mansell said:

I would guess the reason there is such a long slow wait in Chiang Mai is because there are supposedly 10,000 farangs living in that city.

And there are over 300,000 foreigners living in Bangkok. And none of them have to get anyone to queue for them at the wee hours of the night. We usually arrived around 9am, (never ever before opening time), and always managed to leave before 2pm, sometimes before 12:00.

[metisdead]

Off topic posts about dealing with California DMV have been removed. 

[sletraveler]

On 5/10/2018 at 8:18 AM, sirmud63 said:

yep, bout 200-400 thb . 

but smart people use an agent .

Wow thats a good deal. I offered the wife’s cousin 500 to get there at midnight.    All in the family at least. 

[EricTh]

19 hours ago, XGM said:

And there are over 300,000 foreigners living in Bangkok. And none of them have to get anyone to queue for them at the wee hours of the night. We usually arrived around 9am, (never ever before opening time), and always managed to leave before 2pm, sometimes before 12:00.

That's something new. I thought the case for Bangkok would be far worse than Chiang Mai.

 

It seems there is either hanky-panky or pure inefficiency in Chiang Mai.

 

I remember I had to queue up at 6 am in the morning and the next guy was a very elderly man who had to sit on the floor.

Edited May 22, 2018 by EricTh

[EricTh]

On 5/16/2018 at 10:48 AM, jeffandgop said:

5am. Some jerk came and started moving stools where people were not physically present. I was walking around and caught him taking my stool and started a second parallel que with my stool first.

 

Yes, I met one of these jerks that day. I told him off and he said if there's nobody sitting on it, he can steal/take the stool. He just came there and took somebody stool.

 

I can understand if people go away for more than 15 minutes, but what if he just went to the toilet?

 

If you are away for more than half an hour, it means something is wrong.

Edited May 22, 2018 by EricTh

[bkk6060]

6 minutes ago, EricTh said:

That's something new. I thought the case for Bangkok would be far worse than Chiang Mai.

 

It seems there is either hanky-panky or pure inefficiency in Chiang Mai.

 

I remember I had to queue up at 6 am in the morning and the next guy was a very elderly man who had to sit on the floor.

So what is your point?

Maybe next time go later or bring a cheap folding chair to sit on.....

[brommers]

No you don't need to queue at 6am it is now 4 am! And I got a number that should have been processed around 1:30 pm but because there was only one "officer" instead of two I waited for almost 3 more hours followed by 40 minutes waiting for the new Great Panjandrum to sign a piece of paper!

 

It seems this new guy has read the Theresa May book on how to make life unpleasant for immigrants and had taken the process back to when Nancy L was frothing at the mouth on a regular basis.

 

So if you are doing a visa extension take tranquillisers, a good book and an inflatable rubber ring to sit on.

[scottiejohn]

3 minutes ago, brommers said:

So if you are doing a visa extension take tranquillisers, a good book and an inflatable rubber ring to sit on.

Or stay at home for most of the year apart from 15 minutes of one day at either the old or new zoo and use an agent.  Oh Bliss!

 

PS;  Don't waste your time with all the "rip Off/Conspiracy theories clap trap replies/flames.  It has been this way since before 2000.  Live with it.

[Samuel Smith]

29 minutes ago, scottiejohn said:

It has been this way since before 2000.  

ROFLMAO ?

[sletraveler]

I went to Promenada tonight at 8.  There was a line sitter from Chiang Rai with 17 in his que and a farang from a school with 9 and my sitter (1).  So 12 hours before the hellhole is even open 28% of the que is already gone.  They said this all came about April 17 when all the Ques were combined and I would guess staffing reduced.  If you have a Thai wife then you go to the family room and no problem you get serviced without a que.    Maybe this is going to develop into a scam similar to what they were doing with the residency permits where the only reasonable way to get one was to pay 1000 bt to have it expedited.

 

[EricTh]

4 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

So what is your point?

Maybe next time go later or bring a cheap folding chair to sit on.....

My point is that unless you notice that the chair hasn't been sit on for more than half an hour or even 15 minutes, one shouldn't take it because it's considered stealing but some people has no scruples.

 

After all, people get restless on the same spot sitting for hours, one has to go stretch for 5 to 10 minutes or just walk around.

 

Buying a cheap folding chair yourself would also be good because there isn't enough for everyone there.

[jeffandgop]

What it "meant" when I went last Wed (16May see post #1874) was that only 2 of the first 6 stools were actually occupied by 2 "seat sitters" at 2 AM who ALSO set up the other 4 stools given up to 2 families of 7 persons who arrived at 7:30AM.

[Dante99]

One person one queue spot one immigration ticket.  If you are not in the queue you are not in it and loose your space.  Anything else is unmanagable bull shit.

[naboo]

Immigration could solve all this by issuing queue tickets for the next day when they run out. I wonder what could stop them from doing this.