Hat's off to Chiang Mai Immigration!

[FolkGuitar]

We did our one-year renewals this morning, a month and a half late. Not too worried thanks to the visa amnesty. Same for our 90-day report.

We arrived at 8:00am, (motorcycle parking is now across the street at the spa,) went through some medical screening and got a number. We then went to the outdoor Immigration volunteer who checked our papers. My wife had to re-do her application form because she wrote it in black ink. They want blue this year. We glued on our photos, mine large with a white background, my wife's small with a blue background. No one said a word about them.  We were given a few more papers to fill out regarding over-stay penalties.  We went inside and had the Imm officer behind the window check all the papers again, and was given a number: 3    15 minutes later, our number was called.

We left at 9:15 with our passports stamped for another year, back dated to the 29th of June for some bizarre reason (our were due on June 15th.) We were pleasantly surprised to discover they also did our 90-day report at the same time, which was also overdue. We were planning to do it afterwards.

Arrive at 8:00, leave by 9:15.  I can live comfortably with that sort of bureaucracy.

Just who is it that says Thailand is trying to get rid of its foreigners? They sure are making it easier and easier to stay!

Thanks, Thailand!

[Pilotman]

Jomtein is the same.  I never have any complaints about their attitude or speed and efficiency of the service.  Certainly no sign that they don't want us here. 

[Gonzo the Face]

Had a very similar experience last week.... Visa renewal and 90 day report.   Knew there was an amnesty til the 31st. Didn't want to wait til the last minute to avoid the then I'm sure huge crowd.  

When I got there expecting maybe the Immigration Office closed or maybe one or two people there, was shocked to see a couple hundred people all over under and around the office. 

Got inside, got a number, and not 30 minutes later was with an officer who did the visa work, and 90 day report all at one sitting.   Hour to hour and a half and out the door.  Great job immigration staff ! ! !

[jonwilly]

I did mine in CM, due 11th July. I use a Visa Agent, at my age well worth letting someone else do the heavy lifting.

I spent 5 mins with the Immigration Official seemed a pure civilian, much different from years back when you had to see a Police Major.

 

john

[dingdongrb]

I did mine last week.

 

Scheduled an appointment online. In and out in less than 30 minutes.

 

I filled the form out in black which I have been doing using the exact same pen for the past 10 years. They mentioned something about blue ink and I showed them my pen I have been using, told them I have always used that pen, and they said, 'okay, no problem'.

 

I think I would had been even perhaps 10 minutes quicker but the officer they placed me with needed a little time to finish some paperwork on the one she was currently processing.

 

Easy peasy and the smoothest ever so far.

[EricTh]

@FolkGuitar

 

I thought that you would be labelled as 'visa expired' because your visa has expired on the day that you renewed it and you have to apply non-O visa all over again. Any other year would not work.

 

I am surprised that they didn't backdate to June 15 instead. Is it because we are allowed to have a 14 day expiry window before our visa is considered expired?

 

[worgeordie]

Let's hope it continues,it improved a lot when Big Joke shook them all up,

then when he vanished into the sunset,it slowly reverted back to what it used to

be,with people having to use agents* again, I did my extension in May,it was quick and easy

and people reporting now getting it done quickly,without hassle.

I even did 90 day reporting online, approved the same day,before  I could not do it because

I had a new passport,had to mail it in, I just hope the improvements last...........

 

regards worgeordie    *I would never use one,maybe now others don't need to either.

 

 

[FolkGuitar]

18 minutes ago, EricTh said:

@FolkGuitar

 

I thought that you would be labelled as 'visa expired' because your visa has expired on the day that you renewed it and you have to apply non-O visa all over again. Any other year would not work.

 

I am surprised that they didn't backdate to June 15 instead. Is it because we are allowed to have a 14 day expiry window before our visa is considered expired?

 

Nothing 'expired' thanks to the visa amnesty, which now, by the way, extends into September. I got a bit worried when we were asked to fill out the papers about overstay penalties, but I guess that was just a formality. No one said a word. No one asked us why we waited. They just did the paperwork while we sat.

 

As far as back-dating... I'm VERY surprised. My insurance agent told me that they would, and needed me to contact him to adjust my health insurance dating. They DID back-date it, but to the 29th rather than the 5th. Why 24 days? No idea!

[EricTh]

1 minute ago, FolkGuitar said:

Nothing 'expired' thanks to the visa amnesty, which now, by the way, extends into September. I got a bit worried when we were asked to fill out the papers about overstay penalties, but I guess that was just a formality. No one said a word. No one asked us why we waited. They just did the paperwork while we sat.

 

As far as back-dating... I'm VERY surprised. My insurance agent told me that they would, and needed me to contact him to adjust my health insurance dating. They DID back-date it, but to the 29th rather than the 5th. Why 24 days? No idea!

Why would immigration ask you to fill up an overstay form if there is an amnesty?

 

Could they have put a black mark in your record in their computer?

 

[weary]

I believe that 'overstay' form is the general 'I am aware of the fact that there are overstay penalties' form that seems to go with each application since earlier this year.

[NancyL]

I did our 90 day reports online on Monday afternoon.  They were approved within an hour.  I know the local office processes them.  I figured they weren't busy at CM Immigration, but based on Gonzo's report, it seems like they're staying busy.

[amexpat]

8 hours ago, jonwilly said:

I did mine in CM, due 11th July. I use a Visa Agent, at my age well worth letting someone else do the heavy lifting.

I spent 5 mins with the Immigration Official seemed a pure civilian, much different from years back when you had to see a Police Major.

 

john

Heavy lifting?  

[jonwilly]

9 hours ago, amexpat said:

Heavy lifting?  

Paperwork, I just provide one live body to see immigration official.

 

john

[Greenside]

Just a thought about ink colour:  I am guessing that it's only the signing that they require the specific colour for these days.  I always fill in the forms on the computer and print them out in black ink and have never had a problem to date.

[FolkGuitar]

2 hours ago, Greenside said:

Just a thought about ink colour:  I am guessing that it's only the signing that they require the specific colour for these days.  I always fill in the forms on the computer and print them out in black ink and have never had a problem to date.

 

My wife never had a problem before either, Greenside. She has a favorite pen that she's used for years. But this year... or this Immigration agent... decided she needed to redo her entire application form, not just a signature.

 

I was quite surprised as so often I've been told 'only use black ink' on various documents that I've filled out. My 'favorite' pen happens to be blue ink, so I've always been aware of this sort of thing. I never heard word one from Thai officials before. Very odd...

[dingdongrb]

1 hour ago, FolkGuitar said:

 

My wife never had a problem before either, Greenside. She has a favorite pen that she's used for years. But this year... or this Immigration agent... decided she needed to redo her entire application form, not just a signature.

 

I was quite surprised as so often I've been told 'only use black ink' on various documents that I've filled out. My 'favorite' pen happens to be blue ink, so I've always been aware of this sort of thing. I never heard word one from Thai officials before. Very odd...

Yepper, same here, as I said I've used the same black pen for nearly 10 years and it's never been a question until just earlier this month when I renewed my extension.

 

If they are being critical on this they need to identify that on the list of requirements (or the form). It's just like the photo, is it supposed to be a white background or a blue one?

 

I truly think it irritates them when everything is being submitted correctly and they just want to agonize us by nit-picking at anything they can think of.

[Trujillo]

I'm not sure that the "new rapid response" from immigration is due to anything other than nearly all the tourists are gone (along with various others who flew the "coup" when the leaving was good. The problem has always been too many people wanting different things all in a scrum. 

Will immigration take this time to rethink how to streamline the operation, now that they have plenty of breathing space? Hahahah...that was rhetorical. ????

 

I also think, from my understanding, that certain times of the year are better than others. I'm up at the end of January and that seems to be notoriously busy, for some reason. 

 

The 90-days' report can be done online, as usual, so there is no reason to waste time going there for that or missing it. 

[dingdongrb]

1 hour ago, Trujillo said:

Will immigration take this time to rethink how to streamline the operation, now that they have plenty of breathing space? Hahahah...that was rhetorical. ????

 

 

I think they have already made some process improvements over the past several months. I hope that they continue as it seems to work. But as you pointed out there is less folks due to COVID.

 

Improvements (in my opinion):

1) Added the 90 day reporting drive thru

2) Started up the online appointment process

3) Having folks out front checking for all the proper paperwork before you can enter the building

 

I think #3 is a big help as I cannot recall the number of times I have been held up in queue while someone in front is filling out a form or fixing the one they tried to fill out.

[FolkGuitar]

2 hours ago, Trujillo said:

I'm not sure that the "new rapid response" from immigration is due to anything other than nearly all the tourists are gone (along with various others who flew the "coup" when the leaving was good. The problem has always been too many people wanting different things all in a scrum. 

Will immigration take this time to rethink how to streamline the operation, now that they have plenty of breathing space? Hahahah...that was rhetorical. ????

 

 

Our rapid service had only a little bit to do with fewer farangs. The place was pretty busy.

But thinking about the time we handed our paperwork over to the Immigration Officer until the time we received our stamped passports back... THAT was five times faster than ever! I remember being number 2 or 3 at Promenada (thanks to having line sitters,) seeing the Imm Officer within 15 minutes of opening, yet not getting our passports back until 11:30 or 12:00.  Now we saw the Officer at 8:30 and left with our passports at 9:15. That had nothing to do with fewer farangs.
We all remember surly Imm Officers making people jump through hoops. Now you don't even deal with them except to hand your paperwork through a small window, sit back down in the gallery, then receive your passport 20-30 minutes later through the same window. The Officer even said, as she handed back our passports, "Have a nice day!"
No... Things have definitely changed for the better.

[jonesthepost]

I went tuesday fill in the form in black ink no problem but was asked for a year bank statement which I had. So is  year bank statement now required by all for non O retirement extension   

[NancyL]

13 hours ago, FolkGuitar said:

 

Our rapid service had only a little bit to do with fewer farangs. The place was pretty busy.

But thinking about the time we handed our paperwork over to the Immigration Officer until the time we received our stamped passports back... THAT was five times faster than ever! I remember being number 2 or 3 at Promenada (thanks to having line sitters,) seeing the Imm Officer within 15 minutes of opening, yet not getting our passports back until 11:30 or 12:00.  Now we saw the Officer at 8:30 and left with our passports at 9:15. That had nothing to do with fewer farangs.
We all remember surly Imm Officers making people jump through hoops. Now you don't even deal with them except to hand your paperwork through a small window, sit back down in the gallery, then receive your passport 20-30 minutes later through the same window. The Officer even said, as she handed back our passports, "Have a nice day!"
No... Things have definitely changed for the better.

One of the problems with Promenada is that for most of the time of their operation, they didn't have anyone on site able to give final approval after the initial Imm. Officer processed the retirement extension application.  Twice a day they'd run all the passports and applications back to the office near the airport for final approval.  

[Marcous]

I went there today to cancel my ED visa and to do my 90 day report. Neither of which was really necessary but wanted to make sure all was in order and it was a nice day. Got there about 2pm, was directed to the decontamination 'booth' and given a yellow sticker. 

 

Inside there were about 30 people but only one person in the que in front of me.  Long story short, ended up going to information, asked about 90 day reporting, he didn't seem to give two hoots if I did it or not. He just asked what I intended to do, I said go back to the UK or maybe Vietnam if I can.  So I did the 90 day report anyway, just walked around to the drivethrough window, no one else there. Got it done in about one minute by a very friendly girl.

 

All in all one of the breeziest encounters I've ever had with immigration. 

[Thailand]

10 hours ago, Marcous said:

I went there today to cancel my ED visa and to do my 90 day report. Neither of which was really necessary but wanted to make sure all was in order and it was a nice day. Got there about 2pm, was directed to the decontamination 'booth' and given a yellow sticker. 

 

Inside there were about 30 people but only one person in the que in front of me.  Long story short, ended up going to information, asked about 90 day reporting, he didn't seem to give two hoots if I did it or not. He just asked what I intended to do, I said go back to the UK or maybe Vietnam if I can.  So I did the 90 day report anyway, just walked around to the drivethrough window, no one else there. Got it done in about one minute by a very friendly girl.

 

All in all one of the breeziest encounters I've ever had with immigration. 

Thanks,good to hear drive through still available at airport immigration. 

[Bender Rodriguez]

no black ink ? what about people who print all info ?

[ProbPossConf]

Most, if not all, fillable TM forms can be downloaded and saved as a PDF document.  Then when before you fill in the fields, change the default black text color of the font to blue.

[Stevemercer]

The last few times I have done my extension they have insisted I use blue ink. I assume this is so they can easily tell the original from the copies.

 

They bamboozled me this year because they didn't accept my 'copy' (black and white) of the original, but got me to also fill out the copy as an original in blues ink. So there are two originals, hopefully both the same.

 

I used to work in the public sector where a golden rule is that there can only ever be one original of a document. I guess in Thailand such rules do not apply.

[Kurtf]

Now that they opened an immigration office in Promenada again I was able to do my 90 day reporting in less than 5 minutes. I'm sure that will change once more farangs find out about the Promenada office is backin operation.

[hlj]

I was also at the Chiang Mai Immigration office in June to renew my marriage visa and 90 day report. I went through a temperature test then under a tent and sit for 5 minutes while my paperwork was checked. Then went to the entry where I had to sign some papers which stated about overstay. Went inside it was nearly empty. They also checked my paperwork at information. When my number was called they did my renewal in about 20 minutes. Then went on side of building for 90 day report which took less than 5 minutes. At that time we were told the 90 day reporting would be handled at Promenade starting in September. Spent about 45 minutes doing both my renewal and 90 day report. Excellent experience with Chiang Mai Immigrations. 

[Almer]

On 7/23/2020 at 5:44 AM, jonwilly said:

Paperwork, I just provide one live body to see immigration official.

 

john

555

[PETERTHEEATER]

On 7/22/2020 at 6:17 AM, dingdongrb said:

which I have been doing using the exact same pen for the past 10 years

Nice one McGregor........????