Chonburi Immigration Today

[Wongkitlo]

Chonburi Immigration very busy today. Avoid if possible

[bkk6060]

I did my 90 day there is a change from last time.

They take your passport inside, give you a number, and have you wait outside under the tented area with chairs.

But, they came out about 5 minutes later with maybe 15 numbers and passports calling out the numbers and giving you your passport with the new 90 day form attached.

The inside was not that crowded when I was there but lots of people outside.

 

 

[Guderian]

Has anybody done a retirement extension in the last week?

I'm wondering if they still have the same system as in the last two years where they only issue 50 tickets for the morning session and 50 for the afternoon?

Or is it quieter and they'll just process whoever turns up?

[Wongkitlo]

11 minutes ago, bkk6060 said:

I did my 90 day there is a change from last time.

They take your passport inside, give you a number, and have you wait outside under the tented area with chairs.

But, they came out about 5 minutes later with maybe 15 numbers and passports calling out the numbers and giving you your passport with the new 90 day form attached.

The inside was not that crowded when I was there but lots of people outside.

 

 

They were sending away tourist visa extensions till after 1pm. Quite a few people inside.

[Halfaboy]

38 minutes ago, Guderian said:

Has anybody done a retirement extension in the last week?

I'm wondering if they still have the same system as in the last two years where they only issue 50 tickets for the morning session and 50 for the afternoon?

Or is it quieter and they'll just process whoever turns up?

 

Did mine about two weeks ago (including the next day's re-entry permit. Both times they were almost waiting for me.

Same a few days later for reporting change of address.

[Oldie]

58 minutes ago, bkk6060 said:

I did my 90 day there is a change from last time.

They take your passport inside, give you a number, and have you wait outside under the tented area with chairs.

But, they came out about 5 minutes later with maybe 15 numbers and passports calling out the numbers and giving you your passport with the new 90 day form attached.

The inside was not that crowded when I was there but lots of people outside.

 

 

Perhaps increased Covid precautions again. 

[scubascuba3]

I was there a couple weeks ago, not a spare seat and loads standing

[champers]

28 minutes ago, Oldie said:

Perhaps increased Covid precautions again. 

Yes. My condo complex in Naklua is being disinfected today to combat Covid 19.

I sense the government is very nervous about a second wave. They have lost control of the borders, people are ignoring social distancing and there has been a proliferation of potential super spreader events with many more to come over New Year. A general complacency has set in accross the populace and it is not easy to shake that off without resorting to draconian measures.

[Kerryd]

2 hours ago, Wongkitlo said:

Chonburi Immigration very busy today. Avoid if possible

Was yesterday the holiday or did it end on Sunday ? 
Usually the first day after a long weekend is a bad time to go, especially first thing in the morning or first thing in the afternoon.


I've never seen them limit the number of Extensions they do in a day. At least not in the last 9 years I've been doing them (at Jomtien). Then again, I'm usually there very early and gone again within an hour at most (or within 10 minutes if I'm one of the first in line for that desk). I usually go on a Tues/Wed if possible unless the Monday is a holiday. Then I'd go on the Wed/Thur instead.

I did my last 90 Day a couple weeks ago and they were still using the same procedure in the morning where they collect the passports from the "90 Day" people and take them inside for processing while the passport owners sat outside.
From what I can tell (from other posters) - it seems that once the morning "rush" is over, they go back to the normal routine of issuing queue numbers to anyone else that needs to do a 90 Day report.

People with other business would start forming a line on the ramp entrance just after 8 even though they aren't letting anyone inside until 08:30 these days (unlike before when they would start letting people inside around 8 but the IOs wouldn't start until 08:30).

I noted that they were calling out numbers that I think were for people who'd made appointments using the "Que" app. Those numbers were being called in before they started letting the people waiting in line to enter.

And, of course, there will be those who pretend they don't know the system and try to sneak in through the exit door rather than wait in line. You know who you are. These days you don't get away with it as easy as they have someone posted at the door (usually) to stop people like you from doing that.

That mesh screen on the door keeps you from seeing inside but they can see outside perfectly.

It gives everyone else a chuckle though. They've watched you walk up, look at the line on the left, then pretend that you are special and can go straight in, only to be stopped and told to go wait in line like everyone else.

[keithsimmonds]

1 hour ago, Guderian said:

Has anybody done a retirement extension in the last week?

I'm wondering if they still have the same system as in the last two years where they only issue 50 tickets for the morning session and 50 for the afternoon?

Or is it quieter and they'll just process whoever turns up?

Did mine yesterday very busy...got in at 10.30ish (delayed at Bkk Bank) ticket number 53 it was on 35 got seen at 11.47...back in the next hour or so to pick up passport.

[Guderian]

4 minutes ago, keithsimmonds said:

Did mine yesterday very busy...got in at 10.30ish (delayed at Bkk Bank) ticket number 53 it was on 35 got seen at 11.47...back in the next hour or so to pick up passport.

 

Is there any chance of just rolling up around 2:00 PM and getting a queue number for the extension? The whole morning rush of getting to the bank and then getting back to Immigration, queuing for a number and then queuing for the extension is a bit OTT. I don't mind getting the bank letter after a civilised breakfast in the morning, and then doing the extension in the PM, but it's too much trying to do it all at once. Besides, how can I fit in a cup of tea and a bun for elevensies with all this rushing about and queuing, lol?

[keithsimmonds]

4 minutes ago, Guderian said:

 

Is there any chance of just rolling up around 2:00 PM and getting a queue number for the extension? The whole morning rush of getting to the bank and then getting back to Immigration, queuing for a number and then queuing for the extension is a bit OTT. I don't mind getting the bank letter after a civilised breakfast in the morning, and then doing the extension in the PM, but it's too much trying to do it all at once. Besides, how can I fit in a cup of tea and a bun for elevensies with all this rushing about and queuing, lol?

I don,t see why not....only 2 other people were after me yesterday....whether they stopped issuing tickets or further tickets were issued for an afternoon session..i don,t know. Try it i am sure but not positive that your Bank letter would still be good for the following day?

[Guderian]

17 minutes ago, keithsimmonds said:

I don,t see why not....only 2 other people were after me yesterday....whether they stopped issuing tickets or further tickets were issued for an afternoon session..i don,t know. Try it i am sure but not positive that your Bank letter would still be good for the following day?

 

No problems with the bank letter, I think it's valid for three days after its issued under Jomtien Immigration rules. (I know some other offices don't feel the same way.) From December 2007 until December 2017, I always used to wander along to SCB at the bottom of Soi 5 in Jomtien, get the letter, wander back up to Immigration, get a ticket, and then anything from 10 minutes to an hour later I'd be processed. The SCB branch closed a few years ago so I now have to go all the way down to Wat Bun, or to the branch where my accounts are held on Pattaya Beach Road by Walking Street, or maybe the one on Thepprasit by the Buffalo Market. Then in 2018 I turned up at Immigration around 2:00 PM and the girl on the reception desk just laughed in my face. Come back tomorrow, 7:30 AM. I ended up getting there around 9:30 and got a ticket for the afternoon session, there were signs up saying only 50 tickets in the morning and 50 in the afternoon.

 

So last year I went to SCB at Soi Wat Bun early in the morning, but they were every busy and it was just after 10:00 when I arrived at Immigration. Again, all the tickets for the day's session, morning and afternoon, had already been handed out so I was told to come back tomorrow. There were even more signs telling you the quota system for retirement extensions. Basically, it was more or less physically impossible to get the bank letter, travel back to Immigration, park, and join the queue for a number all on the same morning as the numbers were all gone by 9:30 or so.

 

I don;t know if an inordinate number of expats renew their extensions in December and that's why they imposed the quota system, or if it was just to keep the number of people in the office manageable with the hordes of tourists around. Of course, there are no tourists this year, so I thought it would be a lot quieter and they might have gone back to their old laisser-faire ways.

[Kerryd]

I always get my bank letter the day before. (As in, I get the letter on a Monday and am at Jomtien thing the next morning.)
I think the "3 day rule" at Jomtien is just meant for those who get their letter on a Friday and show up 1st thing Monday morning. I think if you get the letter on a Monday and show up at Immigration 3 days later, they may not accept it.

("may" - they might let it slide but don't be shocked if they don't. They get a lot of people in their trying to bend the rules as much as possible in the hopes that Immigration won't notice or will feel sorry for them. Doesn't work (normally) but people will try anyways.)

I guess they try to limit the number of Extensions each day to give them time to process all of them by the end of the working day. Otherwise they'd end up falling behind further and further everyday.

I always go in early to try and avoid the lines. Now I know that it also means avoiding a possible limitation. Would suck to show up later and find out your #51 because you decided to stop for a "quick" beer on the way and now have to try again the next day.

[TacoKhun]

i often pass by it in the morning monday-tuesday super busy, wednesday-thursday nobody

[kdrayong]

7 hours ago, Kerryd said:

I noted that they were calling out numbers that I think were for people who'd made appointments using the "Que" app. Those numbers were being called in before they started letting the people waiting in line to enter.

 

Could you kindly post a link to the "Que" app?

[kinyara]

I wondered where everyone was today. 

[Kerryd]

9 hours ago, kdrayong said:

 

Could you kindly post a link to the "Que" app?

https://www.queq.me/queq---no-more-queue-line.html

Or search for "QueQ" on whatever App store you use on your phone.



Note the appointment numbers are not the same as the queue numbers you get from the front desk, so you have to listen for them when they call them out on the PA system.

[Kerryd]

Note: I haven't used the app myself. I did download it and test it a bit when it first came out (more so I could answer questions about it that other TV members asked). I ended up sending a few emails to the people who made the app noting some issues and suggestions.

I haven't tested it since then as one of the issues I raised was that it wasn't possible to cancel an appointment after it was made and I didn't want to make a bunch of false appointments while trying to test the app further. (The appointments are linked to you and your phone number of course.) 

However, it does seem to be working OK (looking at it now on my phone).

Note: Immigration comes under the "Bank / Service category" (as this app is used for more than just Immigration). Once you open that, there'll be a screen of TRUE options and the Immigration option is right below them.

It seems they did fix the calendar issue I contacted them about as well.(Originally it would only let you make an appointment "at this instance", meaning the next open slot even if that was only 2 minutes from the time you opened the app.)

Now you can book an appointment 8 days in advance (but it's up to you to figure out what days are weekends or holidays it seems).

Also note that this feature isn't available at every Immigration office it seems (as it has to link to whatever software Immigration uses to schedule appointments and make those automated announcements and not all Immigration offices are set up the same way it seems).

The app will select the nearest Immigration office to your location. It's not possible to book an appointment at a different office unless you are closer to that office than any other.

[jacko45k]

18 hours ago, Guderian said:

Or is it quieter and they'll just process whoever turns up?

Just did mine in the last 2 weeks and it was just turn up. Arrived at about 10am, in and out. Never saw the mileage of turning up at or before opening time, but do avoid Mondays and near holidays. 

[Guderian]

I was in SCB on Beach Road by Walking Street at 9:00 this morning. Are the staff idiots? Every time I go there I have to explain to them that the date and amount in the passbook must be the same as the date and the amount in the letter, or Immigration will tell you to clear off and sort it out. I stuck 1,000 Baht into the account amid much clucking among the female staff about how the letter would show the amount from the day before. It didn't, of course, and in the end I left with what I needed, but I must be the only expat in Pattaya that uses this branch as they seem utterly clueless about Immigration's requirements for the letter.

 

Then it was on to Immigration, which with the road works seems harder to get to than the monasteries on Mt. Athos these days. I was there by 10:00 and it wasn't too busy. I got #27 and they were processing #24 so I was out of there by 10:30. Told, as usual, to return after 2:00 tomorrow to pick up the passport, all easy and painless, thank you very much. It's kind of stressful as you really don't want to be refused an extension of stay at the moment and have to return home, especially when your home is one of the worst-affected places in Europe for the virus (South Wales in my case, which is a disaster area, or even more so than usual).

 

It also shows how many people on long stay visas must have chosen to return home earlier in the year and got stuck there, as the last two years they have allocated all 100 tickets before 10:00, while this year they were only a quarter of the way through the daily ration. I think there's a pretty good chance, especially midweek, that you could just turn up after their lunch break and still get a ticket for that afternoon.

[luckyluke]

23 minutes ago, Guderian said:

Told, as usual, to return after 2:00 tomorrow to pick up the passport,

 

So, that haven' t change.

 

Remember many years ago in Pattaya, at once.

 

Then in Jomtien, morning application = afternoon pick up.

[Guderian]

5 hours ago, luckyluke said:

 

So, that haven' t change.

 

Remember many years ago in Pattaya, at once.

 

Then in Jomtien, morning application = afternoon pick up.

 

I don't know what they do with it overnight, but Monty Python had a sketch with a bunch of bureaucrats sitting in an office spreading jam on paperwork and eating it. Maybe it's something like that, lol.

[Kerryd]

12 hours ago, Guderian said:

 

I don't know what they do with it overnight, but Monty Python had a sketch with a bunch of bureaucrats sitting in an office spreading jam on paperwork and eating it. Maybe it's something like that, lol.

I wondered about that as well. After all, when the guy/girl checks all your paperwork, takes your passport and gives you the numbered ticket, it's basically done. All that has to happen after that is for someone to put the stamp in the passport, write in the date and sign it.

I imagine that someone runs your name and passport through a database before they do that though. Still, one IO should be able to do that and stamp/date/sign your new extension in about the same amount of time it takes the guy/girl to check all your paperwork (and get you to sign all those additional forms).

Can't see why your application is done by 08:40 in the morning but you can't get your passport back until after 14:00 the next day. Especially now when, theoretically, they should have more time as there shouldn't be as many people showing up there everyday.
(Though sometimes it seems there's just as many as there was before the covid crisis.)

[ivor bigun]

Did our marriage visa yesterday ,got bank letter in about 20 mins ,drove to Immigration ,almost deserted ,the usual woman checked all our paperwork ,passed it to the young girl on the left ,15 minutes later had a stamp in my passport to come back in a month ,told the crew would visit soon ,was out in half an hour at the most , somebody must be in a good mood with me.

i walked out in a daze, what just happened?????

[dodgybros]

Did my 90 day report at Jomtien yesterday around 9:30 am, in and out in under 5 minutes.