CM Immigration Q&A (2018)

[cusanus]

1 hour ago, bloody tiger said:

Are procedures for yearly visa ext still much the same at the new CM imm as they were at Promenada and old CM imm prior to that? ie. get in early to get a ticket to get a queue number. Previously the initial ticket numbers would be handed out around 7:30 AM...still the same?

This may answer your question. Got there this morning at 7:30 for retirement extension, got queue R14. Sat by a fellow Rob who got there at 6:30 and had queue R13. It wasn't until about 9:00 before they got rolling on the extensions, desks 7 and 8. It was about 10:00 before they took Rob at desk 8 and me a few minutes later at desk 7. I was done about 10:30, about the same as Promenada except I showed up there about 6:30 the last few years. One might say things were more orderly, but the better chairs were offset by the unpleasant noise of the queue numbers being called on the speakers. I also believe one could have come much later and got business done. Queue R24 was being called as we were leaving. Also, front area parking is probably easier to find the earlier you go, but there were plenty of spaces there when we drove by about 1:30PM. What you don't have at the new building is a handy bank and coffee shop upstairs and shopping at Rimping and such afterwards. Of course, certificate of income letters are being phased out. They are supposedly good for six months from the end of December when most of the embassies quit issuing them, but 800,000 baht for three months in a Thai bank is safer. Don't forget to get the statement from the bank and copy the pages in your bank book and sign as you do your passport. That about sums it up, I think.   

[EricTh]

1 hour ago, bloody tiger said:

Are procedures for yearly visa ext still much the same at the new CM imm as they were at Promenada and old CM imm prior to that? ie. get in early to get a ticket to get a queue number. Previously the initial ticket numbers would be handed out around 7:30 AM...still the same?

No, the service has improved. Somebody have reported they came in at noon and got their visa in an hour or two.

 

The only service that hasn't improved is the residence cert.

[roo860]

Went in at 2pm today for 90dy report (couldn't get it to work online), was given ticket number 189, went to the desk, asked the lady IO what the next number was, she took my ticket and said "yours is next", l didn't have time to sit down. What a lovely lady she is, smiley happy face.

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

[sanemax]

Went to get a tourist visa extension done today , arrived at 3 PM and was out before 4 PM

The photo copying shop has moved across the road into the Spa , not a good idea to have so many people crossing that four lane road , as cars go fast along there , how long before the first accident ?

   There's also a small food hall at the rear of the Immigration office .

I did notice next door to the I.O that theres a plant quarantine immigration office , which seemed to be very un used .

   Would have been a good idea to knock that down and use the combined area for the new I.O.

[roo860]

Went to get a tourist visa extension done today , arrived at 3 PM and was out before 4 PM
The photo copying shop has moved across the road into the Spa , not a good idea to have so many people crossing that four lane road , as cars go fast along there , how long before the first accident ?
   There's also a small food hall at the rear of the Immigration office .
I did notice next door to the I.O that theres a plant quarantine immigration office , which seemed to be very un used .
   Would have been a good idea to knock that down and use the combined area for the new I.O.

Plants have the right to live.

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

[EricTh]

54 minutes ago, sanemax said:

 

The photo copying shop has moved across the road into the Spa , not a good idea to have so many people crossing that four lane road , as cars go fast along there , how long before the first accident ?

   

 

The senior immigration officer told me they are still trying to get approval for a photocopy shop inside the compound which is government land.

 

So there will be two choices in the future, one across the road and one inside the compound.

 

The shop across the road is Tian agency whose main job is to act as an agent and not photocopying. Anyway, their photocopying charge is tad expensive at 3 baht per copy where it used to be 2 baht per copy back at Promenada.

 

 

Edited January 11, 2019 by EricTh

[sanemax]

19 minutes ago, roo860 said:

Plants have the right to live.

As the airport plant quarantine offices seemed to be derelict , or not in use much , I thought that it would be better to make the I.O bigger incorporating the plant office  

[roo860]

 
The senior immigration officer told me they are still trying to get approval for a photocopy shop inside the compound which is government land.
 
So there will be two choices in the future, one across the road and one inside the compound.
 
The shop across the road is Tian agency whose main job is to act as an agent and not photocopying. Anyway, their photocopying charge is tad expensive at 30 cents per copy where it used to be 20 cents per copy back at Promenada.
 
 

What's that in baht?

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

[roo860]

As the airport plant quarantine offices seemed to be derelict , or not in use much , I thought that it would be better to make the I.O bigger incorporating the plant office  

The Day of the Triffids.

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

[EricTh]

5 minutes ago, roo860 said:

What's that in baht?

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

 

Sorry. What i meant for 3 baht per copy...

[roo860]

 
Sorry. What i meant for 3 baht per copy...

Come on Eric, your budget will cover that!!!!!!!!

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

[roo860]

 
Sorry. What i meant for 3 baht per copy...

If you cross the road, go through the entrance, on your left is a copy place, I was there on Friday, 2bt a copy.

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

[EricTh]

2 hours ago, roo860 said:

If you cross the road, go through the entrance, on your left is a copy place, I was there on Friday, 2bt a copy.

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

 

I only saw one shop 'across the road' that day which is Tian, and they charge 3 baht per copy.

 

I couldn't see any other shops around.

[SiamAndy]

3 hours ago, roo860 said:

If you cross the road, go through the entrance, on your left is a copy place, I was there on Friday, 2bt a copy.

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

 

56 minutes ago, EricTh said:

 

I only saw one shop 'across the road' that day which is Tian, and they charge 3 baht per copy.

 

I couldn't see any other shops around.

They are one and the same, there is only that one shop.

[NancyL]

It's very normal for an international airport to have some place where incoming plant materials are inspected.  This is how they keep foreign pests from getting established in their area.  

 

We had a nursery/greenhouse business in the U.S. and sometimes imported plants, so it became a familiar routine for me to go to the U.S.D.A. facility at the Detroit Metro airport to claim nursery stock we'd bought. 

 

One time they found some stock was infested with golden slugs in the soil around the roots -- not native to Michigan and the U.S.D.A. wanted to destroy the shipment.  Since they were plant varieties we really wanted to use as stock plants for propagation, we had quite the negotiation, involving pest control professors at Michigan State University about how the problem could be treated so that we could keep the plants.  It involved driving to Ohio to purchase a pesticide that couldn't be sold in Michigan, so there had to be several meetings to decide if it was OK for us to use it in Michigan. 

 

The plants quarantine facility at the Chiang Mai airport is under an gov't department that isn't going to respond to pressure from the Immigration dept to give up their building.

[Dante99]

2 minutes ago, NancyL said:

It's very normal for an international airport to have some place where incoming plant materials are inspected.  This is how they keep foreign pests from getting established in their area.  

 

We had a nursery/greenhouse business in the U.S. and sometimes imported plants, so it became a familiar routine for me to go to the U.S.D.A. facility at the Detroit Metro airport to claim nursery stock we'd bought. 

 

One time they found some stock was infested with golden slugs in the soil around the roots -- not native to Michigan and the U.S.D.A. wanted to destroy the shipment.  Since they were plant varieties we really wanted to use as stock plants for propagation, we had quite the negotiation, involving pest control professors at Michigan State University about how the problem could be treated so that we could keep the plants.  It involved driving to Ohio to purchase a pesticide that couldn't be sold in Michigan, so there had to be several meetings to decide if it was OK for us to use it in Michigan. 

 

The plants quarantine facility at the Chiang Mai airport is under an gov't department that isn't going to respond to pressure from the Immigration dept to give up their building.

Yeh but do copies cost 2 or 3 baht?

[EricTh]

3 hours ago, SiamAndy said:

 

They are one and the same, there is only that one shop.

I was quoted 3 baht when I went there to do some photocopy.

[scottiejohn]

5 hours ago, Dante99 said:

Yeh but do copies cost 2 or 3 baht?

As you can see I am Scottish!

Who gives a S**t if it costs 2 or 3 Baht.

[NancyL]

The copy shop in the basement of Kad Suan Kaew charges just 1 baht a copy.  Get yourself organized in advance to save big baht!

[cusanus]

5 hours ago, NancyL said:

The copy shop in the basement of Kad Suan Kaew charges just 1 baht a copy.  Get yourself organized in advance to save big baht!

Or buy yourself a good ink jet printer, I highly recommend the Canon G2000, networkable, hi quality, full color, have had mine for about two years, prints tons of great color prints and documents as well as passports and TM7s, TM47s, whatever... My wife has run through several reams of paper from her computer in the other room and we've had to refill the ink only a little while back. For four years prior to that I had a cheaper Canon with the ink wells on the outside, lots of messy problems, but this G2000 has never dried out or required a lick of maintenance. Passports and other docs I often spruce up with Photoshop and store in PDF files. 

[amexpat]

6 hours ago, scottiejohn said:

As you can see I am Scottish!

Who gives a S**t if it costs 2 or 3 Baht.

Absolutely!  But I was surprised, though not mortified, that they "sell" Thai Immigration forms. 

[SiamAndy]

6 hours ago, NancyL said:

The copy shop in the basement of Kad Suan Kaew charges just 1 baht a copy.  Get yourself organized in advance to save big baht!

The guy that runs that shop is a nice guy too.

[opalred]

great to see /quick turn-round for 90day

posted Monday 11am at maerim 

back in my house box/ 10am Thursday

what will the wingers and moaners say to that?

[CMNightRider]

I see a lot of comments about where to go to get copies made to turn into immigration.  Have any of you people ever wondered what on earth CM Immigration does with all these important copies?  They must be important or why else do these people want them.

 

Try to imagine all the foreigners that are required to report to immigration daily and the reams of paper work that immigration collects during the course of just one day not to mention yearly.  I find it mind boggling.  Are they trying to eradicate trees, lol.  Immigration would have to have several warehouses just to store the countless paper copies they collect yearly.

 

   

[sqwakvfr]

“Have any of you people ever wondered what on earth CM Immigration does with all these important copies?  They must be important or why else do these people want them.”

 

I think the paper stored by the Thai Government will be made into paper shopping bags once all plastic bags are banned.  

[cusanus]

20 hours ago, CMNightRider said:

I see a lot of comments about where to go to get copies made to turn into immigration.  Have any of you people ever wondered what on earth CM Immigration does with all these important copies?  They must be important or why else do these people want them...  Are they trying to eradicate trees, lol.  Immigration would have to have several warehouses just to store the countless paper copies they collect yearly.

That is a funny thought, have wondered about that myself. My guess is that they keep them for set periods and support a recycling business on the side. Would be very surprised if plastic bags are banned, even though nearly every evening you can smell the poisonous fumes of burning plastic in our neighborhood and the sea life is choking. I try to turn down a bag when I don't need one, but usually everything is bagged once and then again needlessly. 

Edited January 14, 2019 by cusanus

[chingmai331]

Recycle?  Maybe the Immig chief and his family own the paper mill !!

[scottiejohn]

On 1/13/2019 at 12:09 PM, sqwakvfr said:

“Have any of you people ever wondered what on earth CM Immigration does with all these important copies?  They must be important or why else do these people want them.”

 

I think the paper stored by the Thai Government will be made into paper shopping bags once all plastic bags are banned.  

They use some of it as scrap paper for making notes etc.  There have been numerous  reports on TV of people receiving a note(s) from the IO with the passport and/or other personal details of another person on the reverse.  Data protection laws are unheard of at IM, or anywhere else in Thailand for that matter.

[yuiop]

Is the TM 30 registration needed to extend a tourist visa (30 days extention) at Chiang Mai Immigration?

 

Thanks.

[CMMCB]

5 hours ago, yuiop said:

Is the TM 30 registration needed to extend a tourist visa (30 days extention) at Chiang Mai Immigration?

 

Thanks.

I think the best answer we can give is... probably.