Patong Immigration: our experience yesterday

[TTSIssues]

Just wanted to share our experience of Patong Immigration yesterday. My wife wanted to get a 30 day extension to her visa exempt entry, so thought it best to get it before Songkran. Immigration opens at 10am so we went down at 09:30 to get in the queue. We were first in line, standing in the hot sun. A couple turned up with two babies and were quickly ushered inside to keep the babies out of the sun. Plenty of other people arrived after us so there was a fair crowd of us by quarter to ten. At 9:55 the doors opened, 90 day reportees were called in first, then us next. We had downloaded TM7 and printed it out so it was all ready to go, two photos and B1,900 and a quick stamp and we were out by 09:58

 

what a wonderful experience, so thought I would share it on here. Maybe things are getting more efficient these days ????

[Maestro]

Were no copies of specific pages of the passport needed, eg the ID page and the page with the arrival stamp?

[glegolo]

quote

Just wanted to share our experience of Patong Immigration yesterday. My wife wanted to get a 30 day extension to her visa exempt entry.

what a wonderful experience, so thought I would share it on here. Maybe things are getting more efficient these days

unquote

 

Or maybe you were just extremely lucky??

 

glegolo

[Olmate]

Hardly a difficult exercise to begin with

[lamyai3]

34 minutes ago, Olmate said:

Hardly a difficult exercise to begin with

Yep, all it signifies is that it's low season. 

[TTSIssues]

7 hours ago, Maestro said:

Were no copies of specific pages of the passport needed, eg the ID page and the page with the arrival stamp?

Yes, we took copies with us of ID page and stamp page, I should have mentioned. 

[TTSIssues]

1 hour ago, lamyai3 said:

Yep, all it signifies is that it's low season. 

Aren’t you guys little bundles of joy - credit where credit is due, when we did this last time it took much longer. Far better experience this time.

[jacko45k]

10 hours ago, TTSIssues said:

what a wonderful experience, so thought I would share it on here. Maybe things are getting more efficient these days

They just wanted to get the workload cleared so that they can leave early for their holiday. Take a look April 17th and see how things go!

[Olmate]

41 minutes ago, TTSIssues said:

Aren’t you guys little bundles of joy - credit where credit is due, when we did this last time it took much longer. Far better experience this time.

Agreed, Patong is a good office, hardly rocket science to do that extension, try retirement next time

[Patong2]

47 minutes ago, TTSIssues said:

Aren’t you guys little bundles of joy - credit where credit is due, when we did this last time it took much longer. Far better experience this time.

We also had an excellent experience with Patong Immigration in October last year.

In and out quicker than a ST with a Bangla LB

It has been getting a lot better than it was a few years ago.

and they deserve credit for it. It does help if you are organised and have copies etc with you

 

Will try them out again in June

 

 

[OJAS]

11 hours ago, TTSIssues said:

At 9:55 the doors opened

I was under the impression that immigration offices opened their doors at 8:30 - or at least were supposed to!

[Olmate]

2 minutes ago, OJAS said:

I was under the impression that immigration offices opened their doors at 8:30 - or at least were supposed to!

Patong 10 /12 then 1/3

[Peterw42]

OP, was there any requirement to show a TM30 reciept ? Or you are at a hotel perhaps ?

The process often is easy as a tourist staying at a hotel etc. More involved when long-stay.

 

I have picked up one thing from the OP, borrow a baby for a couple of hours, lol

[ubonjoe]

11 minutes ago, OJAS said:

I was under the impression that immigration offices opened their doors at 8:30 - or at least were supposed to!

Patong is not a normal immigration office. It is a sub office of the main Phuket office that only offers limited service and has shorter hours.

[TTSIssues]

5 hours ago, Peterw42 said:

OP, was there any requirement to show a TM30 reciept ? Or you are at a hotel perhaps ?

The process often is easy as a tourist staying at a hotel etc. More involved when long-stay.

 

I have picked up one thing from the OP, borrow a baby for a couple of hours, lol

Yes, she was staying at our condo, I had the juristic office register her when she arrived, as is required.

[NoshowJones]

11 hours ago, glegolo said:

quote

Just wanted to share our experience of Patong Immigration yesterday. My wife wanted to get a 30 day extension to her visa exempt entry.

what a wonderful experience, so thought I would share it on here. Maybe things are getting more efficient these days

unquote

 

Or maybe you were just extremely lucky??

 

glegolo

I would go for that last sentence.

[toenail]

The office workers at Jomtien run a top notch immigration office 

[jesimps]

"what a wonderful experience, so thought I would share it on here. Maybe things are getting more efficient these days"

 

Shows the state of things here when we think we're getting the VIP package when TI treat us in a normal, civilised way. Anyway, glad you didn't have to struggle.

[JackThompson]

2 hours ago, toenail said:

The office workers at Jomtien run a top notch immigration office 

... unless you need a Non-O Stamp or a Marriage-based extension, in which case its a nightmare. 

And for retired folks using the money in the bank method, that office now offers a free extra visit 90 days after your get the extension, just to show your bank book again.  Joy, joy.

[zaZa9]

I wont use Patong anymore since the young man there refused to hand me my "Proof of Residence Certificate " unless I handed him 1000 baht.

But good news from Phuket Town regrading having to see Immigration within 24 hrs of seeing Immigration at the airport when you flew back in.

The good news is that one can simply show their passport at the PT  IO  "Drive-Thru Office" , state that you still live at the same residence  and see them enter that in their computer , and drive away again.

Less than a year ago , I had to do lots  of paperwork  for the same exercise .

I know this is slightly irrelevant to the Op ... apologies .. just excited  to share news of diminished paperwork !

[Olmate]

6 minutes ago, zaZa9 said:

I wont use Patong anymore since the young man there refused to hand me my "Proof of Residence Certificate " unless I handed him 1000 baht.

But good news from Phuket Town regrading having to see Immigration within 24 hrs of seeing Immigration at the airport when you flew back in.

The good news is that one can simply show their passport at the PT  IO  "Drive-Thru Office" , state that you still live at the same residence  and see them enter that in their computer , and drive away again.

Less than a year ago , I had to do lots  of paperwork  for the same exercise .

I know this is slightly irrelevant to the Op ... apologies .. just excited  to share news of diminished paperwork !

Refused?What did u do then?

[jacko45k]

14 hours ago, zaZa9 said:

I wont use Patong anymore since the young man there refused to hand me my "Proof of Residence Certificate " unless I handed him 1000 baht.

This sounds very blatant.