Renew extension

[Suzy]

Went to CW today for annual extension of stay - SEVEN hours from start to finish. What happened to the hype about speeding up the service.???

 

Sent from my CLT-L29 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

 

 

[Justin Side]

You got the result you wanted.

Whats the problem?

One day a year!

Edited December 17, 2018 by Justin Side

[TerraplaneGuy]

What caused the delay?  Please provide some details like what time you arrived, whether they raised any issues re your documents, etc.  I've done many extensions of stay at CW and it never took more than about 2 hours.   I've also usually done a multiple-re-entry permit and filed my 90 day report, all on the same morning and always out by lunch time with all 3 processes complete.  So your experience surprises me a bit ....

[Pib]

I've done around 8 annual retirement extensions of stay at CW.  I have always been done...got the extension...out the door before their lunch hour starting at noon.  This years extension took about two hours.  But I'm always there when their doors open at 8:30am.  Show up later and you could very well be in for an afternoon finish. 

[DrJack54]

4 minutes ago, Pib said:

I've done around 8 annual retirement extensions of stay at CW.  I have always been done...got the extension...out the door before their lunch hour starting at noon.  This years extension took about two hours.  But I'm always there when their doors open at 8:30am.  Show up later and you could very well be in for an afternoon finish. 

I have done 7. Arrive about 9 with all forms etc done and ready. Walk straight past the people collecting forms etc. Into que for ticket, with my TM7 ready for inspection. NEVER been out before lunch. 

Your blessed. 

[Pib]

11 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

I have done 7. Arrive about 9 with all forms etc done and ready. Walk straight past the people collecting forms etc. Into que for ticket, with my TM7 ready for inspection. NEVER been out before lunch. 

Your blessed. 

Arrive at 9am is your whole problem.  You arrive after hundreds of people have arrived before you....setting in line with queue numbers ahead of you.  When you arrive at 9am, you are able to walk right into immigration and immediately get a queue number...practically no line for a queue ticket....but that late arrival will cost you additional hours.   Then you go to the appropriate section which is already full of people who walked into the doors at their 0830 opening time.

 

If you never been at CW at 0830 you've never seen the hundreds of people waiting in line for their doors to open at 0830...those hundreds of people have a queue number ahead of you when you arrive at 9am.

 

Now do I arrive real early in the morning to stand inline for an hour or more?  No.  I arrive between 0800 to 0830 and I do not stand in the immigration l.....o.......n.......g line waiting for their doors to open, Instead, I go stand at the bank doors which also open at 0830 so I can get my Bt800K in the bank letter started... the bank says it will done in 15 to 30 minutes.  At about 8:40am I walk-up to immigration and the long, long line of people has dissipated.  I get a queue number within a minutes, walk back down to my bank and wait for the letter to be finished....get the letter....and the go back to immigration at around 9am and set down in the long term visa/extension section---however, I already have a queue ticket issued about 15 minutes earlier.   Oh, what 15 to 30 minutes can be mean related to queue ticket issues time.  

 

Always by noon...usually by around 10 to 11am....I'm done....got my extension...out the door.  This year/2018, in late Aug I was done at 9:58am....last year/2017 I was done at 11:13am, and year before that/2016 I was done at 10am.  By done, I mean extension approved, passport in hand, walking out of immigration to go home.  Right after each annual renewal I write down a trip report of how the annual extension went which includes time arrived, time done, etc.

 

Arriving 30 minutes or more after opening time for a long term extension approval is a sure method not to finish before noon...have a long day at CW.

 

 

[Suzy]

On 12/20/2018 at 9:30 PM, TerraplaneGuy said:

What caused the delay?  Please provide some details like what time you arrived, whether they raised any issues re your documents, etc.  I've done many extensions of stay at CW and it never took more than about 2 hours.   I've also usually done a multiple-re-entry permit and filed my 90 day report, all on the same morning and always out by lunch time with all 3 processes complete.  So your experience surprises me a bit ....

Arrived 09.30, got bank letter immediately. Upstairs Get ticket, in the lower hundreds. By lunchtime with four counters working got to number 45. Lunch break. Interviewed at 4.00 p.m.  with all documents in order and received visa at 5.10 p.m. From morning to late afternoon there were no free seats for any counter. Nearly 80 and standing around for 7 hours was no help. Yes, I got what I wanted but I could have done without aching back and limbs at the end of the day.

[phkauf]

I went yesterday. Got there at 7:45am was #295 in line to get in the door. Less than #40 for the retirement visa section (they handle other stuff as well). Saw the first officer (basic doc check) around 10, took 30 mins for the second officer (the one who does the work) because the group in front of me was all f'd up and then two agents jumped the line, another final check by the Supervisor and I was done at 11:45. Ran to make copies and got back in time to submit forms for re-entry and the Christmas Miracle happened, I got it back just before the lunch break.

[samtam]

20 minutes ago, phkauf said:

I went yesterday. Got there at 7:45am was #295 in line to get in the door. Less than #40 for the retirement visa section (they handle other stuff as well). Saw the first officer (basic doc check) around 10, took 30 mins for the second officer (the one who does the work) because the group in front of me was all f'd up and then two agents jumped the line, another final check by the Supervisor and I was done at 11:45. Ran to make copies and got back in time to submit forms for re-entry and the Christmas Miracle happened, I got it back just before the lunch break.

So all in all your Extension Renewal was 4 hours? Then presumably you had another 2 hours for the Re-entry, after the 1 hour lunch break, making it 7 hours, plus time getting to and from CW? My experience is usually about 7 hours including the 1 hour lunch break, plus travel to and from. It's not an undiluted experience of joy, but I'm resigned to a day devoted to this exercise, so my blood pressure doesn't usually go off the charts.

 

BTW, was there any talk about the possibility of insurance required for "long term visas"?

[phkauf]

6 hours ago, samtam said:

So all in all your Extension Renewal was 4 hours? Then presumably you had another 2 hours for the Re-entry, after the 1 hour lunch break, making it 7 hours, plus time getting to and from CW? My experience is usually about 7 hours including the 1 hour lunch break, plus travel to and from. It's not an undiluted experience of joy, but I'm resigned to a day devoted to this exercise, so my blood pressure doesn't usually go off the charts.

 

BTW, was there any talk about the possibility of insurance required for "long term visas"?

I was completely finished by noon. The re-entry stamp took less than 5 minutes start to finish (The True Christmas Miracle, not the Jesus thing).

No mention of Insurance requirement, but I didn't ask. They did mention they are "working" on something for income reporting given that I used an Embassy Letter. 

[samtam]

On 12/26/2018 at 8:29 PM, phkauf said:

I was completely finished by noon. The re-entry stamp took less than 5 minutes start to finish (The True Christmas Miracle, not the Jesus thing).

No mention of Insurance requirement, but I didn't ask. They did mention they are "working" on something for income reporting given that I used an Embassy Letter. 

That is truly amazing, and I suppose you wouldn't have commented upon it if you'd had to wait for the afternoon session. Lucky you!