Hat's off to Chiang Mai Immigration!

[metisdead]

A troll post and the replies have been removed. 

[tandor]

..must make you feel good getting one over them.

[Max69xl]

On 7/22/2020 at 10:28 AM, Pilotman said:

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. 

How can you complain about a 1 year extension taking 10 min or less? 

[Pilotman]

2 minutes ago, Max69xl said:

How can you complain about a 1 year extension taking 10 min or less? 

indeed so. 

[LeoCesar]

I´ve been to a few IO´s.

Some suck bt,

some are excellent.

Happy to see you had a good experience   

[Thingamabob]

Good to hear from so many satisfied IO customers. Add me to the list. For over 40 years I've never had a problem with Thai Immigration, never been near an agent and, up to now, at 78 years of age, have no intention of doing so. 

[warcy]

4 hours ago, Thingamabob said:

Good to hear from so many satisfied IO customers. Add me to the list. For over 40 years I've never had a problem with Thai Immigration, never been near an agent and, up to now, at 78 years of age, have no intention of doing so. 

May I know which method did you use? 800k or monthly transfer?

[The Theory]

Good days coming back !!! Wonderful. 
Then it is the time to move back to Chiang Mai. 

[Bill97]

Where oh where are all those people who were positive that things were only get worse fast?  There were threads full of them.

[soi3eddie]

On 7/23/2020 at 11:49 AM, 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...

Apparently using Blue Ink has something to do with photo copying... At least that's what I have been told.

[FolkGuitar]

8 hours ago, soi3eddie said:

Apparently using Blue Ink has something to do with photo copying... At least that's what I have been told.

Very true!  'Light blue' ink is often used for temporary mark-up of documents when they are to be copied and you don't want the markings to be seen. But that's a VERY light 'sky-blue' color pencil made especially for that application, and very different from the blue ink found in usual pens. You can see the difference here. No reason for requiring forms filled in with normal blue ink to be changed. They copy as well as black ink.

 

 

 

Edited July 26, 2020 by FolkGuitar

[prism]

Did my renewal back in June with an appointment. Process took about 15 minutes, quite a change from before. Tricky part is the new bank statement requirements. I printed a copy of instructions in Thai for the bank agent and that was a big help. Overall morale at immigration seems to be better, I even got a thank you from the IO. I also did my 90 day at the drive through after a 4 day holiday, immigration was crowded but they had personal directing traffic. Even then it took only about 15 minutes. It helps to have the form filled out before you enter the drive though. 

[Dante99]

Drive thru for 90 day seems to be working well with almost no waiting.

 

How about expanding it to take TM 30 updates too?  Get those 90 day people online or into the mail.

[soi3eddie]

3 hours ago, FolkGuitar said:

Very true!  'Light blue' ink is often used for temporary mark-up of documents when they are to be copied and you don't want the markings to be seen. But that's a VERY light 'sky-blue' color pencil made especially for that application, and very different from the blue ink found in usual pens. You can see the difference here. No reason for requiring forms filled in with normal blue ink to be changed. They copy as well as black ink.

 

 

 

I beleive they want it in Blue Ink to show that it's a real genuine signature rather than a photocopied one. Of course the fact it could be a colour photcopy seems lost on some Thai Immigration offices.

[moontang]

On 7/24/2020 at 11:03 AM, jonesthepost said:

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   

If using income method, but how many months do you show if the 800k is in it?

[jonesthepost]

5 hours ago, moontang said:

If using income method, but how many months do you show if the 800k is in it?

8000 Bank method and had a year's bank statement   

 

[FolkGuitar]

We were told that we need to photocopy every page in the bankbook that has transactions or updates. I only update that account book once a year, and never add or withdraw from it so there are only a few filled-in pages showing interest added or fees debited.

[Brightly]

I recently did my 1 yr. (with an agent) and I was in and out in less than 10 minutes.  90-day drive thru was moving swiftly.  Everyone I know who does online reporting says it’s currently working well.

 

No complaints!  
 

But then...I have NEVER had an issue with CM Immigration.  I’ve had a 4-5 star experience every time.

[BritManToo]

10 minutes ago, Brightly said:

But then...I have NEVER had an issue with CM Immigration.  I’ve had a 4-5 star experience every time.

But you're using an agent.

How about for us folk that think they should do their jobs for the pay the government gives them, and don't want to participate in corruption?

Edited July 29, 2020 by BritManToo

[JimGant]

24 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

But you're using an agent.

How about for us folk that think they should do their jobs for the pay the government gives them, and don't want to participate in corruption?

Well, I'm not sure how much, if any, corruption a facilitator agent is involved in -- I know I, and the IO, are just happy that all is in order, and we can move along in an orderly fashion.

Then, it comes down to, how much is your time worth, and can you afford to have a surrogate take over for you....

My time is certainly worth a lot, and I certainly can afford 3000bt for an agent to make my annual Imm trip painless and worry free.

That your time isn't worth much, or that you can't afford 3000bt is sad. But, if you're just trying to make some kind of protest against those of us who use agents -- why not head for Portland and join the crowd of wackos....?

[dingdongrb]

5 hours ago, JimGant said:

Well, I'm not sure how much, if any, corruption a facilitator agent is involved in -- I know I, and the IO, are just happy that all is in order, and we can move along in an orderly fashion.

Then, it comes down to, how much is your time worth, and can you afford to have a surrogate take over for you....

My time is certainly worth a lot, and I certainly can afford 3000bt for an agent to make my annual Imm trip painless and worry free.

That your time isn't worth much, or that you can't afford 3000bt is sad. But, if you're just trying to make some kind of protest against those of us who use agents -- why not head for Portland and join the crowd of wackos....?

 Approx $100 USD to have someone help me fill out an easy to fill form and perhaps save me a few hours of getting out of the house?

 

I'm not lazy and having something to do in my retirement days is fine by me.... agent = no thanks...

 

Not so sure I'd call it corruption but I'm willing to bet that with using an agent there's definitely a brown envelope that gets passed under the table (in many cases).

[BritManToo]

9 minutes ago, dingdongrb said:

Approx $100 USD to have someone help me fill out an easy to fill form and perhaps save me a few hours of getting out of the house?

25,000bht is the normal price for a retirement VISA agent in Chiang Mai.

That's nearer $1,000 than $100.

[worgeordie]

On 7/26/2020 at 8:58 AM, Dante99 said:

Drive thru for 90 day seems to be working well with almost no waiting.

 

How about expanding it to take TM 30 updates too?  Get those 90 day people online or into the mail.

The TM30 reports have been abandoned, if you return to the same abode.

regards worgeordie

[FolkGuitar]

2 hours ago, BritManToo said:

25,000bht is the normal price for a retirement VISA agent in Chiang Mai.

That's nearer $1,000 than $100.

Assist ThaiVisa charges 7,000 baht for a Retirement Visa extension plus 4 Ninety-Day reports.

Hardly 25,000 baht.  We used Assist ThaiVisa for the first couple of renewals, then realized just how simple it all is.

 

That said, we stopped using a visa agent when Imm moved to Promenada. All we needed was a line sitter for 300 baht.  There is only one form to fill out for a Retirement Visa extension, and all it asks for is name, address, passport number, landing card number, and your nationality. Takes all of 5 minutes to fill out. I go to the bank the day before and spend 100 baht to get a copy of the bank letter proving my bank statement. It takes my wife about 5 minutes to photo-copy the relevant pages of passport and bankbook, and one or two other papers.

The we go to Immigration.  We have our papers checked by the volunteers who tell us everything is fine, go inside and get a number. This last time the number was 3.  We handed in our papers, never said a word to the Imm Officer who never said a word to us. A few minutes later she called us up to have or pictures taken. A few minutes after that, she handed us back our passports. From the time we left home till we returned home was less than 2 hours, with the only words spoken to use by the Imm Officer was 'Have a nice day!'

 

To be clear, coming into the Kingdom without one, and getting a Non-O visa does cost about 20,000 baht, but that takes an entire sheaf of forms, documents, affidavits, police checks, etc., etc. NOT something easy for a newcomer to arrange on his own.

Renewals, on the other hand, are a piece of cake.

 

There is very little reason that a visa agent would need to provide a little brown envelope. They don't get expedited service. They wait like everyone else. You can see them with their customers, sitting and waiting. What they really do for most of their customers is provide peace of mind, and for many, that is worth the 7,000 baht, knowing nothing will go wrong.

Edited July 29, 2020 by FolkGuitar

[dingdongrb]

2 hours ago, BritManToo said:

25,000bht is the normal price for a retirement VISA agent in Chiang Mai.

That's nearer $1,000 than $100.

What? I've got a friend that has been using an agent for years and it costs him 9k THB....

[Trujillo]

Again, I submitted my online 90-day during this past holiday and got the approval last night. 

 

Unless you are already going to immigration for other matters, I can't imagine wasting the time and energy to go there to file in person. 

[Dante99]

11 hours ago, FolkGuitar said:

Assist ThaiVisa charges 7,000 baht for a Retirement Visa extension plus 4 Ninety-Day reports.

Best Friend Visa is 4900 Baht not including the 90 day reports which are not worth much.

 

11 hours ago, FolkGuitar said:

They don't get expedited service. They wait like everyone else. You can see them with their customers, sitting and waiting.

Not sure on that one.  I have seen agent and customer go straight to photo after a brief hello at the window, no waiting for queue number to come up, it seemed that the agent had submitted papers before customer arrived so it was all ready to go.  Might be different systems for different agents.

 

Yes after getting extension I have seen agent and customer waiting for ReEntry Permit processing.

 

Cheers.

[Fromas]

Any agent recommendations for converting to ED visa in country? Asking for a friend.

Send me a private message.

[JimGant]

2 hours ago, Dante99 said:

Best Friend Visa is 4900 Baht not including the 90 day reports which are not worth much.

 

Not sure on that one.  I have seen agent and customer go straight to photo after a brief hello at the window, no waiting for queue number to come up, it seemed that the agent had submitted papers before customer arrived so it was all ready to go.  Might be different systems for different agents..

Best Friends fee is 3000 for the extension -- the extra 1900 is the gov't's fee. If you want a re-entry permit, single or multiple, the Best Friends fee is 500. These fees haven't changed in several years.

 

Yes, Best Friends submits your paperwork to Immigration the day before you have to actually go to Immigration. Thus, on second day, you and the agent get chauffeured to the front door, head for the special counter spot to pick up your passport and take a photo. Ten minutes, tops.

[dingdongrb]

7 hours ago, JimGant said:

Yes, Best Friends submits your paperwork to Immigration the day before you have to actually go to Immigration. Thus, on second day, you and the agent get chauffeured to the front door, head for the special counter spot to pick up your passport and take a photo. Ten minutes, tops.

But a normal person cannot do that so to me that is special treatment and I am willing to bet that the IO is being handily compensated with a brown envelope.

Edited July 30, 2020 by dingdongrb