Thai Driver's License Renewal

[BobbyL]

Morning,

 

Just got home from a lovely trip to the Department of Land at Mo Chit to renew my 2 year Thai DL to a 5 year one. Got there at 7:45am with all the documents I had on my original trip there two years ago. I had my passport, work permit, medical certificate, expired Thai license, UK license and all relevant photocopies that they request. 

 

However, as I go to collect my queue number the woman said I don't have a proof of address in Thailand. With my average Thai and her average English she said I should have a letter from the British Embassy showing my address. She then showed me an example which I never had for my initial two year licence. I always thought those Affirmations from the British Embassy were for people that were perhaps here on Tourist visas or Ed visas and not living here full time with a permanent address in Thailand. 

 

Anyway, I have had a quick Google and most of the things seem to be a few years out of date. One thread I found from 2017 said with a Work Permit you don't need to show a proof of address, however that didn't work today.

 

Has anyone got any recent info on this? Do I need to go to the British Embassy and pay them handsomely for their 'outstanding' service for a piece of paper with an address in Thailand on it? 

 

Wouldn't it be nice to have a simple system to renew it ????. 

 

Thanks. 

[BestB]

No need to go to embassy , can get residence certificate from immigration

 

old WP should be sufficient , new ones are not as no address.

 

if you have old WP, go back again and try to deal with another staff member , clearly this one clueless 

Edited February 20, 2020 by BestB

[BobbyL]

9 minutes ago, BestB said:

No need to go to embassy , can get residence certificate from immigration

 

old WP should be sufficient , new ones are not as no address.

 

if you have old WP, go back again and try to deal with another staff member , clearly this one clueless 

From Chaeng Watthana? How do you get it there, it is in the same area as all the visa stuff? 

 

My Work Permit is renewed from August 2019 so there is no address in there it seems. Only my employer's address. 

[richard_smith237]

Apparently the new Work Permit format does not contain the address of the holder - thus, it cannot be used as proof of address.

 

If you have been in Thailand for 90 days and have filed a 90 day report you ‘should’ be able to get a letter of Residence from your local Immigration office (i.e. in Bangkok, Chaengwattana Immigration division 1).

 

As BestB has suggested, if you have a copy of your old WP (which contains your address) try using that (they may not look at the dates, if they do and rejected it then the option above [letter of residence from Immigration] is the next step).

 

I hate using the British Embassy for Affirmation of Address letters, their notary charges are an absolute rip off. I now have the Yellow House Book and Pink ID card so I no longer have to get the Affirmation letters from the Embassy whenever needed).

 

 

 

 

 

 

[richard_smith237]

5 minutes ago, BobbyL said:

From Chaeng Watthana? How do you get it there, it is in the same area as all the visa stuff? 

 

My Work Permit is renewed from August 2019 so there is no address in there it seems. Only my employer's address. 

Google Immigration Division 1 (google Maps), it has plenty of parking so you can just drive there. 

 

 

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Immigration+Division+1/@13.8803237,100.5623521,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x30e283d7744e7d7d:0xd494f7106ed37a65!8m2!3d13.8803185!4d100.5645461

 

 

[BobbyL]

3 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

Apparently the new Work Permit format does not contain the address of the holder - thus, it cannot be used as proof of address.

 

If you have been in Thailand for 90 days and have filed a 90 day report you ‘should’ be able to get a letter of Residence from your local Immigration office (i.e. in Bangkok, Chaengwattana Immigration division 1).

 

As BestB has suggested, if you have a copy of your old WP (which contains your address) try using that (they may not look at the dates, if they do and rejected it then the option above [letter of residence from Immigration] is the next step).

 

I hate using the British Embassy for Affirmation of Address letters, their notary charges are an absolute rip off. I now have the Yellow House Book and Pink ID card so I no longer have to get the Affirmation letters from the Embassy whenever needed).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers for the info. I will probably have to try and do that at Easter when I am next off work. Driving with an expired license for the next few months ????. 

 

Do you happen to know if there will be any issues when I try to obtain the letter of residence with regards to us living in a house that is in my wife's name? Will I need to take her ID and house documents as well possibly?