My Crazy Thai Drivers License Saga

[heyx2rr]

I decided to get a Thai Drivers license since I may eventually end up getting a car and motorcycle here in the next year.   It turned out to be quite a crazy set of events, but in the end it all worked out Thai style, lol…

 

In order for a foreigner to get a license, you need to submit the following paperwork at your local Land Transportation office:

 

(1) Application form (indicating car, motorcycle, or both)

(2) Passport info - photocopy of the photo page, visa page, your last entry stamp, TM6 departure card. 

(3) Photocopy of home country drivers license (front and back)

(4) Health Certificate (available from local clinics or hospitals)

(5) Residence Certificate (confirming your local address)

 

For 1-3, no problem, I just printed them out at home.  For the Residence Certificate, you must submit paperwork at your local Immigration office, and then they send you the Certificate to the home address that you have indicated on your application form - this is supposed to take 1-2 weeks.

 

Since the Residence Certificate has the most lead time, I decided to do that first and then I'd get the Medical Certificate and with both of those in hand I could go to the Land Transport Office to get my license.

 

So off I go to the main Bangkok Immigration office.  I submit all my forms, and on the application I indicate that I want a license for both car and motorcycle.  The Immigration officer confirms that the form is filled out correctly, reviews my address and charges me for both car and motorcycle.  She gives me the tracking number for the official letter that will be sent out to me within 1-2 weeks.  Awesome, I leave confident that everything is in place for this first step to be completed quickly.

 

At this point Gif, my girlfriend, and I leave Bangkok and do some traveling around Thailand - exploring some new areas for us and visiting her family.  While we're away I check the tracking info, and I see a notice that the letter has been delivered.  At that point I know when we get back to Bangkok, I should be good to go for the next step….

 

Nope…  When we return to Bangkok the letter has not been delivered - not in my condo mailbox or at the condo office.  I check the tracking info again and to my surprise now additional information has been added saying that delivery was attempted, but there was no such person at the address and it is being held at the post office for two weeks, after which it will be sent back to the sender.

 

Ok, we're into the second week at this point, so Gif and I driver over to the Post Office where the tracking says the letter is being held.  She talks to the folks responsible for registered/tracked mail and they do a very cursory search and one of the gentlemen asks what address the letter was being sent to.  We tell him and he says, your letter isn't here, it's almost certainly at another post office, you have to go there.  No checking on any computer, just, not here go there. 

 

Off we go to the other Post office - about a 40 minute drive in Bangkok traffic.  We get there, and you guessed it, they said why did you come here, we checked the computer and your letter is back at the office that you came from.  At this point, Gif talks to a supervisor at the Post office we were sent to.  He calls the original post office, gets some one on the phone and reads them the riot act telling them to get their act together and to go find the letter.  They call him back and confirm that they do indeed have the letter.  He chastises them again for sending us to his Post Office and he gives is his phone number in case we have any further problems - super nice guy, he went above and beyond helping us out.  We drive back to the original Post Office we started from.

 

And…  They say why are you back here, your letter is not here.  Doh!  At this point I'm just shaking my head, but I know you can't show anger so I just take a step back and Gif calls up the supervisor at the other Post Office who gave us his number and she tells him what's going on.  He says let me talk to them, and he talks to the guys who told us to go away before.  After that they wander around aimlessly for a bit and then they actually look in the cabinet where they have letters on hold stored, and lo and behold there is the letter. Sigh…

 

It turns out that after talking to the local guys, the Supervisor that was helping us out called his counterpart at the original post office to let him know that his guys were incompetent and to find out what was going on. The new Supervisor comes down, and by that time I have the letter and he asks who was "helping" us out. The guy who told us to go to the other post office conveniently disappeared in the back after finally taking the effort to look for the letter.  I point to the other guy who didn’t even check the computer when we came in before, he shrugs as if to say not my fault, and say that the other guy who told us to go away was somewhere in the back.  The supervisor smiles, we smile (it's what you do), we thank the supervisor and start walking back to the car to head home.

 

At that point I look at the address on the letter.  It's got my name, but the address that it was sent to was somebody else's altogether.  No wonder it never made it to me at my actual condo address…  Sigh…   But at least I have the letter, which has two Residence Certificates in it, which I presume are one for the car and one for the motorcycle.

 

OK, complete madness, but at least I have the Certificates in hand, so all I need now is the Medical Certificate and I'm ready to head to the Land Transport office.  Gif and I walk down to a medical clinic just a few minutes down the road from our condo, and I pay 150 baht to get the required document.   To get the certificate, they take your blood pressure, note it on the form and ask you if you have had any major surgery.  Done.  No real medical tests required, basically just a bureaucratic step, but an easy one.

 

Next step, let's get that license!  Not so fast…  A couple of days later I show up to the local Land Transport office in the morning ready to make it happen.  If you already have a valid license from your home country, you don’t have to take the standard written or driving tests, you just have to take a color recognition test, a depth perception test and a reaction time test.  I go to the information desk and show them my paperwork and explain that I am here to get a license.  There is one lady at the desk who speaks English and is very helpful.  She says that they are fully booked for today, but allows me to book an appointment for the next week.  She also reviews my paperwork and tells me to go to another window to get my Certificate of Residence date stamped since it has almost been a month since it was issued (and it's only valid for a month).  No problem, did that and she said you're good to go, come back next week for your scheduled appointment.  She was super helpful and I was confident that things would be smooth sailing from this point.

 

Not quite…  I show up and get my queue number and go to the counter to submit my paperwork, including the two Residence Certificates that started this whole process off.   He looks at everything and says, you have two Certificates that are identical, they are both for cars, you don’t have a motorcycle certificate.  What?!?  Yep, not only did they send the certificates to a completely random address, they didn’t send me the right forms.  Priceless…  The gentleman at the counter and his counterparts only speak a little English, so we try to communicate back and forth for a little bit.  He is helpful in organizing my paperwork into two stacks, one for the car and one for the motorcycle.  He tells me that you can do the Auto license today, but you'll have to go back to Immigration to get a Residence Certificate for a motorcycle.  He also says that I need to make a copy of my Medical Certificate and License application because the applications for auto and car are separate.  He tells me to go outside to the café where there is a copy service.  I go outside and see nothing and I come back in and ask for help at the information desk.  They tell me the same thing, so I go back out and find a small coffee shop.  I ask about copies there and they point me across the parking lot to a set of small shops.  Bingo - there it is, no problem, 1 baht per copy (about 3 cents).   I come back in with my copies, and the gentleman at the counter writes a note on my application and sends me over to go ahead with the process to get my car license, telling me that when I come back just show the new Residence Certificate and they will have everything on file to issue me a motorcycle license.

 

First step, color recognition, depth perception and reaction time tests.  There is a young European guy there who speaks Thai, and he is super helpful explaining to me what the tests are and what is expected (he's done them before, he's getting his existing license renewed).  For the color recognition test they have a red/yellow/green stoplight set up.  A gentleman will push buttons to light up different colors and you have to appropriately shout out Red!  Yellow!  Green!   Pretty funny.  Next there are two sticks that you can see in a window in a box like contraption.  You have two buttons to move one of the sticks back and forth and you have to align the two sticks within an inch or so of each other.  Ok, no problem.  And last, you sit in a chair with an accelerator and brake pedal in front of you.  You press down on the accelerator to light up a green light and then when a red light comes on above it you have to hit the brake quickly and within a minimum window of time.  No problem, done.

 

Next step, you listen to an hour long video in Thai with entertaining English subtitles about driving etiquette.

 

Final step, submit your paperwork which has been validated along the way, pay your fees and get your license.  When I submitted my paperwork to the lady who waved me over she reviewed it, including the note that the gentleman from the counter had put on my application.   I showed her my Texas drivers license and pointed out the codes for both car and motorcycle.  She told me to go make a copy of my Residence Certificate for my auto, which by this point had a couple fo stamps on it.  Since I already knew where the copy lady was, no problem, did that and came back.  She put all the forms for both auto and motorcycle in order, took my picture, and told me to wait for my license.

 

A couple minutes later she waves me back over and she hands me two different licenses, one for a car and one for a motorcycle.  Ha!  I thank her profusely and walk out.  She did whatever needed to be done so that I didn’t have to go back to Immigration - what a gal!   

 

Mission accomplished!  Whew!  I don't understand why there are two separate licenses here in Thailand, instead of just having codes on the license like we do in the US to designate all the vehicles that the license is good for, but at this point I'm just thankful to have my license(s) in hand, and grateful for Gif and the folks at the Post Office and Land Transport offices that helped me somehow make it through the process.  

 

Life is good…

[Kerryd]

So glad I went to Chachoengsao to do my license.

At Jomtien Immigration, you can get your residence certificate in 20 minutes (or less) for a small fee (I think it's 2 or 300 baht now). From other threads it seems that if you are going for 2 different licenses (car and motorcycle) they will (usually) accept a photocopy of the residence certificate. (Or Immigration will give you two separate ones.)

Went to the DLT. Handed over my paperwork. Woman at the desk checked the application, medical and residence certificates and all the photocopies. I sat in the waiting area for a few minutes, then she comes out and administers the 3 tests. No video session.
After that the paperwork went to the main counter. After a short wait I was called up to pay the fee, then sent downstairs to get my photo taken. A few minutes later I walked out with my new (still warm from the printer) license and was on my way. Took roughly an hour all told.

Went back to renew my license last January and it was almost the same (except I had to zip off to get a new Medical certificate). They had a different colour test and that time she tested about a dozen or so people in a group (including me) so it was a bit longer wait until I was called up to pay the fee then sent for the photo.
Still, probably wasn't much longer than an hour from start to finish.

Got a few years before I have to renew again and I'll probably go to the same place again unless something changes in the meantime. From what I've read about the process in Bangkok and Pattaya, driving to Changchoengsao and back is still quicker and easier than going to either of those other 2 places.

[bodga]

16 minutes ago, Kerryd said:

At Jomtien Immigration, you can get your residence certificate in 20 minutes

I  just waved  yellow  book  at them years  ago.

[malt25]

Must be wrong time of the month for Gif ! If not, you wouldn't have sooooooo much time on your hands to write a novel.

[heyx2rr]

59 minutes ago, Kerryd said:

So glad I went to Chachoengsao to do my license.

At Jomtien Immigration, you can get your residence certificate in 20 minutes (or less) for a small fee (I think it's 2 or 300 baht now). From other threads it seems that if you are going for 2 different licenses (car and motorcycle) they will (usually) accept a photocopy of the residence certificate. (Or Immigration will give you two separate ones.)

Went to the DLT. Handed over my paperwork. Woman at the desk checked the application, medical and residence certificates and all the photocopies. I sat in the waiting area for a few minutes, then she comes out and administers the 3 tests. No video session.
After that the paperwork went to the main counter. After a short wait I was called up to pay the fee, then sent downstairs to get my photo taken. A few minutes later I walked out with my new (still warm from the printer) license and was on my way. Took roughly an hour all told.

Went back to renew my license last January and it was almost the same (except I had to zip off to get a new Medical certificate). They had a different colour test and that time she tested about a dozen or so people in a group (including me) so it was a bit longer wait until I was called up to pay the fee then sent for the photo.
Still, probably wasn't much longer than an hour from start to finish.

Got a few years before I have to renew again and I'll probably go to the same place again unless something changes in the meantime. From what I've read about the process in Bangkok and Pattaya, driving to Changchoengsao and back is still quicker and easier than going to either of those other 2 places.

 

Wow, that's a much better outcome...  I will definitely consider Jomtien in the future when it's time for renewal.  Thanks for sharing this info on how streamlined the process is there.

 

[Kerryd]

16 minutes ago, heyx2rr said:

 

Wow, that's a much better outcome...  I will definitely consider Jomtien in the future when it's time for renewal.  Thanks for sharing this info on how streamlined the process is there.

 

Getting the Residence Certificate is easy. I just need photocopies of some utility bills (cable, electricity, internet for example). The fee they charge is for the "expedited" service. Supposedly, if you don't want to pay, they will do it for free (as they are supposed to) but it can take a week or two before they are ready.

But getting your driver's license in Pattaya seems to be a bit of a nightmare as they seem to be handing out appointment times that are weeks (or months) in the future.

The place I went to (Chachoengsao) is a bit out of the way but probably doesn't get anywhere near the traffic that Pattaya and Bangkok do on a daily basis.

I'd be surprised if the Immigration Office you went to didn't have an "expedited" process for Residence Certificates as well. I thought they were all doing it (quietly at least).

 

[sandyf]

1 hour ago, bodga said:

I  just waved  yellow  book  at them years  ago.

Doesn't work in every office.

[a10ams]

When I did it in 2007, it was all plain sailing until the 'test'. I was told about the options they have, the two levers to check distance perception, the dark box with the pinholes in it to check peripheral vision, the Ishihara colour blindness book, the actual driving test in the car, and if you're really unlucky all four.

 

It appeared to be a random choice on whatever the 'tester' decided, and to my horror the lady picked the Ishihara colour test book. At twelve years old in 1968 I failed a school medical on this and was told I could never be a pilot, a ship's captain or an electrician. I have absolutely no problems with colours on a day to day basis, only some pages of this book.

 

So she pulls out the book, but as luck would have it, she didn't speak a word of English, so my wife was doing the translating. I said to my missus, 'When I say a number in English, ignore it and tell her in Thai what you see'. Needless to say I passed with 'flying colours'.

 

The new traffic light option is a piece of cake.

[Bender Rodriguez]

pattaya seems a nice place for doing things like that... here have to travel 40 min taxi to go to my devil immigration

 

I live near Suvi, but having an IO there, that would be LOGICAL, right, in or next to the main aiport of the country (and province), but no, the IO is at the SEA PORT of samut prakan with no atm, no friendly people, long faces and no empathy

[richard_smith237]

A very ‘Thai’ experience indeed.... 

 

Simplicity made complex !!! it sometimes works the other way round when I’m expecting something to be complex and it works out to be extremely simple !.

[khunken]

5 hours ago, Kerryd said:

Getting the Residence Certificate is easy. I just need photocopies of some utility bills (cable, electricity, internet for example). The fee they charge is for the "expedited" service. Supposedly, if you don't want to pay, they will do it for free (as they are supposed to) but it can take a week or two before they are ready.

But getting your driver's license in Pattaya seems to be a bit of a nightmare as they seem to be handing out appointment times that are weeks (or months) in the future.

The place I went to (Chachoengsao) is a bit out of the way but probably doesn't get anywhere near the traffic that Pattaya and Bangkok do on a daily basis.

I'd be surprised if the Immigration Office you went to didn't have an "expedited" process for Residence Certificates as well. I thought they were all doing it (quietly at least).

 

Hope you don't mind me asking a question.

 

I live in Bangkok and need to renew my 5-year licences very soon. Going to MTT from where I live is just as difficult as going to Chachongsao.

 

Are you saying that a residence certificate & the licences can be obtained in a different province to that where you live? I'm assuming that you don't live in Chachongsao.

[richard_smith237]

1 minute ago, khunken said:

Hope you don't mind me asking a question.

 

I live in Bangkok and need to renew my 5-year licences very soon. Going to MTT from where I live is just as difficult as going to Chachongsao.

 

Are you saying that a residence certificate & the licences can be obtained in a different province to that where you live? I'm assuming that you don't live in Chachongsao.

There are 3 DLT’s in Bkk

(Mo Chit, Taling Chan & Sukhumvit 99/1)

 

 

[khunken]

6 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

There are 3 DLT’s in Bkk

(Mo Chit, Taling Chan & Sukhumvit 99/1)

 

 

I'm aware of that Richard & the nearest one has a 2-month waiting list. First though, I need a resident certificate and BKK ones are only at MTT.

[PatOngo]

On 9/2/2020 at 12:21 PM, heyx2rr said:

I don't understand

Don't even try!

[Kerryd]

1 hour ago, khunken said:

Hope you don't mind me asking a question.

 

I live in Bangkok and need to renew my 5-year licences very soon. Going to MTT from where I live is just as difficult as going to Chachongsao.

 

Are you saying that a residence certificate & the licences can be obtained in a different province to that where you live? I'm assuming that you don't live in Chachongsao.

I don't know what the official rules are about that.
For the first licence, I had help from a "friend of a friend". Not sure what went on but I saw that the address on the back of the license wasn't mine for some reason.

When I went to the same office to renew it (a little over a year later), I was doing it on my own. I had the regular Residence Certificate from Jomtien and the Chachoengsao office processed it (and put my proper address on the new license) without question (or any extra "fee").

So the Residence Certificate was issued in the province I live in (Chon Buri) but the license renewal was done in a different province, despite the home address being different.

Thinking about it, it probably isn't as uncommon as you'd think. Most Thais are officially "resident" in their home province (as in, recorded in the blue book of their home in their home village, where they are also supposed to go to vote whenever there's and election). They may actually spend most of the year working elsewhere though.
So a lot of them probably do the same thing (get licenses renewed in a different province) as it would be a major problem for them to have to travel to wherever they are technically registered as living in to do something like an hour long license renewal.
 

[brianthainess]

On 9/2/2020 at 11:21 AM, heyx2rr said:

Next there are two sticks that you can see in a window in a box like contraption.  You have two buttons to move one of the sticks back and forth and you have to align the two sticks within an inch or so of each other. 

I used an different office out of the city (Trat)  this year, as they told me they accept yellow book, those two sticks didn't work by electric., mechanical, more like a pair of thin reins that you just pull on the right one towards you and stop pulling when in the correct position, it was all i could do to contain my laughter.

Edited September 3, 2020 by brianthainess

[KhaoYai]

On 9/2/2020 at 5:21 AM, heyx2rr said:

In order for a foreigner to get a license, you need to submit the following paperwork at your local Land Transportation office:

 

(1) Application form (indicating car, motorcycle, or both)

(2) Passport info - photocopy of the photo page, visa page, your last entry stamp, TM6 departure card. 

(3) Photocopy of home country drivers license (front and back)

(4) Health Certificate (available from local clinics or hospitals)

(5) Residence Certificate (confirming your local address)

 

For 1-3, no problem, I just printed them out at home.  For the Residence Certificate, you must submit paperwork at your local Immigration office, and then they send you the Certificate to the home address that you have indicated on your application form - this is supposed to take 1-2 weeks.

With respect, you write as if this is for all offices - its not. Just one example of a difference on No. 5 - at Pak Chong DLT you go to Korat Immigration, take some evidence such as a lease, ask for a confirmation of address telling them what its for and they will give you the letter there and then.

[Coremouse]

Reminds me when I got my license, I was too poor to afford apply DL(~$1000+) in China and driving without license since middle school... so actually took entire test and got my first DL here.

 

The DLT website has full questions/answers list for written test, use google translate and memorize and passed with ease.

 

Drove my beater Corolla to driving test at Mochit, to my horror I need to plug in a testing device into 12v socket, which on my car is not working. Quickly spliced a wire from ignition switch socket, luckily it worked through the test. Driving test itself was very easy, drive straight - roadside parking and watch traffic signal - reverse parking. The most difficult is roadside parking needs to be really close to the curb I think less than 10 inches to qualify, which I take twice.

[kingq]

On 9/3/2020 at 6:40 AM, Kerryd said:

So glad I went to Chachoengsao to do my license.

At Jomtien Immigration, you can get your residence certificate in 20 minutes (or less) for a small fee (I think it's 2 or 300 baht now). From other threads it seems that if you are going for 2 different licenses (car and motorcycle) they will (usually) accept a photocopy of the residence certificate. (Or Immigration will give you two separate ones.)

Went to the DLT. Handed over my paperwork. Woman at the desk checked the application, medical and residence certificates and all the photocopies. I sat in the waiting area for a few minutes, then she comes out and administers the 3 tests. No video session.
After that the paperwork went to the main counter. After a short wait I was called up to pay the fee, then sent downstairs to get my photo taken. A few minutes later I walked out with my new (still warm from the printer) license and was on my way. Took roughly an hour all told.

Went back to renew my license last January and it was almost the same (except I had to zip off to get a new Medical certificate). They had a different colour test and that time she tested about a dozen or so people in a group (including me) so it was a bit longer wait until I was called up to pay the fee then sent for the photo.
Still, probably wasn't much longer than an hour from start to finish.

Got a few years before I have to renew again and I'll probably go to the same place again unless something changes in the meantime. From what I've read about the process in Bangkok and Pattaya, driving to Changchoengsao and back is still quicker and easier than going to either of those other 2 places.

Can you provide more information on where this office in Chachoengsao is located please? Google Map? GPS Coordinates? Thank you.

[Kerryd]

13 minutes ago, kingq said:

Can you provide more information on where this office in Chachoengsao is located please? Google Map? GPS Coordinates? Thank you.

Can do.
Depending which route you take, it's between 124-131 kms from the PTT station in North Pattaya where the Highway 7 on/off ramp is.

https://www.google.co.th/maps/dir/PTT/Province+Transportation+Office+Major+Phanom+Sarakham,+หมู่+4+176,+Muang+Kao,+Phanom+Sarakham+District,+Chachoengsao+24120/@13.3893647,100.9497392,9.92z/data=!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x0:0x6df1647e3cd9c4a3!2m2!1d100.9044285!2d12.9453967!1m5!1m1!1s0x311d1e131281eb51:0xf71d7c0dd8554b5!2m2!1d101.3349281!2d13.7367304!3e0?hl=en

[kingq]

On 9/6/2020 at 1:02 PM, Kerryd said:

Can do.
Depending which route you take, it's between 124-131 kms from the PTT station in North Pattaya where the Highway 7 on/off ramp is.

https://www.google.co.th/maps/dir/PTT/Province+Transportation+Office+Major+Phanom+Sarakham,+หมู่+4+176,+Muang+Kao,+Phanom+Sarakham+District,+Chachoengsao+24120/@13.3893647,100.9497392,9.92z/data=!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x0:0x6df1647e3cd9c4a3!2m2!1d100.9044285!2d12.9453967!1m5!1m1!1s0x311d1e131281eb51:0xf71d7c0dd8554b5!2m2!1d101.3349281!2d13.7367304!3e0?hl=en

Thank you sir.