Chaing Mai Marriage Extension

[totally thaied up]

I just completed this year's extension.

 

Was a few small changes that put a lot of people out in the morning when getting a number (and it took me two days to get a number this year as I came shortly after 8pm on the first day, and we had no numbers left). When I showed up at 6:30am, everyone was sitting on the right side of the foyer in line on the chairs (about 20 people). This year there were a lot of people after asking around doing a Marriage Extension. Nearly everyone showed on up WITHOUT there the wife with them (apart from me and a couple of others as I was warned by  agent to bring her with me). When the time came to get numbers, they got everyone to line up along the edge of the counter on the right side, and you needed to have your passport, your documents in order and YOU BOTH (the husband and wife) NEEDED TO BE PRESENT before they would give you a ticket. Many people were turned away after being told that their partner/wife/husband needed to be with them.

 

I got my number (I was using an agent) but I still had a six-hour wait, and people later on got turned away for the day. The man in front of me took one hour with his wife to do the extension as it was all wrong and slowed the process right down. I took no longer then 20 minutes for me, and the Immigration Officer was very pleasant. I was told that I may have to show 400K in my bank in a month's time, so I was advised not to draw upon those savings. I was told there was a massive influx over the last month of marriage extensions now getting done. In fact, a few of my friends have gotten married recently, and others that have been on retirement extensions have now decided to change to the marriage extension, so I should have seen this coming.

 

Just be prepared for a very long day if you do not get one of the earlier numbers and make sure you show up with your wife/partner or you will be turned away as other I saw.

Edited June 21, 2019 by totally thaied up

[GeorgeCross]

i thought chiang mai was now the peak of efficiency now and no more 4/6am queueing?

 

reverting back to the bad old days?

 

 

[totally thaied up]

1 minute ago, GeorgeCross said:

i thought chiang mai was now the peak of efficiency now and no more 4/6am queueing?

 

reverting back to the bad old days?

The line was nowhere near the line of the old days but they are giving out only 20 or so marriage extensions a day. Maybe other days are better then some. I do not know.