Renewing a 5 year licence?

[ChomDo]

Has anyone renewed their 5 year drivers licence lately? Mine is expiring in March and I need to get it done soon. I'm just wondering is it as simple as going there with the old licence and you just pay for the next 5 year licence? Last time I renewed my first 1 year licence to this 5 year one, I remember it was pretty much that simple – if I remember correctly. But now with all the discrimination towards foreigners, who knows? Could anyone advise on this?

 

Thanks!

[Kwasaki]

6 minutes ago, ChomDo said:

Last time I renewed my first 1 year licence to this 5 year one, I remember it was pretty much that simple

Just the same, the thing at the moment is whether the DLT office is open. 

[Pilotman]

I am told that you can book online appointment and then go along as normal to the DLT, at least you can apparently do this at Pattaya DLT. Not sure about other areas. 

[connda]

I've been told by Lamphun DMV that no one will renewed until April 1st.
If your license expires, your good to March 31.

Now think about that?  Mine expires in mid March.  But you can't book an appointment for a renewal until April, and given the shear numbers of people in the same situation maybe until May?  June? 

Now.  You're driving illegally and without a license from March 31st onward, but no fault of your own because DMV isn't issuing licenses. 

I think both the cops and the insurance companies will love this one.
You can't get a renew appointment until May.  Pulled over at cop checkpoint.  "License expired - 500 THB!" 
Or you're in a accident.  Insurance company.  Your DL is expired.  We not pay.

Yeah.  At not fault of ours.  You're just screwed.

Edited January 19, 2021 by connda

[recom273]

My 5-year ticket runs to the end of March.

 

Im prepared to go and get a note from the witch doctor, and a certificate of residence. 
Guessing I need to do a vision and reaction test. 

 

Do we have to sit through the video again? (not that I ever did yet, they dont see, to worry about westerners down here)

[ChomDo]

48 minutes ago, recom273 said:

My 5-year ticket runs to the end of March.

 

Im prepared to go and get a note from the witch doctor, and a certificate of residence. 
Guessing I need to do a vision and reaction test. 

 

Do we have to sit through the video again? (not that I ever did yet, they dont see, to worry about westerners down here)

Ok so the others say it's just as before that we just go with the old licence and get it renewed just by paying the fee. You're mentioning some paperwork? I really hope they won't start asking for any documents other than the licence. At least for myself I'm now on an STV visa but that really should not matter since I've already had a 1+5 year Thai licences. So some of you actually did this recently and nothing was asked, right?

[recom273]

27 minutes ago, ChomDo said:

Ok so the others say it's just as before that we just go with the old licence and get it renewed just by paying the fee. You're mentioning some paperwork? I really hope they won't start asking for any documents other than the licence. At least for myself I'm now on an STV visa but that really should not matter since I've already had a 1+5 year Thai licences. So some of you actually did this recently and nothing was asked, right?

 

It depends on DLT of course, they are all different.

 

But I have never heard of anything being done without the CertRes or 100B doctors note (So.. are you feeling ok? Yup? Thats good news, 100B there you go!)

 

Things have also changed over the past 5 years, They do a 2 year "temporary licence" now, you can only get a 5 year if you have non-O visa.

 

I would love to hear that its a matter of rolling up with the old license, but I dont it is.

 

 

Edited January 19, 2021 by recom273

[ChomDo]

And how do I get a certificate of residence? That was never asked at the DLT before.

[KhaoNiaw]

11 minutes ago, ChomDo said:

And how do I get a certificate of residence? That was never asked at the DLT before.

It depends where you're doing it. The Bangchak office in Bangkok has always required work permit or certificate of residence. I think I've done 3 extensions there. Also always required in Samutprakan for years before that as well. If you have a work permit, you don't need a certificate of residence. I've never needed a medical certificate for 5-year renewals and wasn't asked for one at Bangchak in September.  

[ChomDo]

11 hours ago, KhaoNiaw said:

It depends where you're doing it. The Bangchak office in Bangkok has always required work permit or certificate of residence. I think I've done 3 extensions there. Also always required in Samutprakan for years before that as well. If you have a work permit, you don't need a certificate of residence. I've never needed a medical certificate for 5-year renewals and wasn't asked for one at Bangchak in September.  

Thanks but that didn't answer the question above. How do I get a certificate of residence? I'm on an STV visa. Like I said, I've never been asked for any documents like that when extending my licence so have they changed this lately (I've done my licence at DLT, area 3 Sukhumvit)? I think last time I extended to the 5 year licence I was on a tourist visa also. 

 

I'm just about to buy a new car so really need to figure this out so there won't be any surprises later. I can call the DLT but was sure someone here has the facts – if they even exist (I guess also depends on the officer's mood how easily they renew it). Now in this thread there are many types of opinions, so it's contradicting at the moment.

[recom273]

https://axleaddict.com/safety/Renewing-a-Thailand-Drivers-License

 

This seems to cover everything - if correct and up to date, it says that you need to watch the damn video. When I first got a 2 year, I got the wife to speak to them and while I pretended I couldn't speak Thai. They gave me a pack of road signs and told me to come back and take the test. Going from 1-5 year there was no need.

 

You get a certificate of residence from immigration.

 

No medical required .. 

 

Here is the page from DLT 

 

https://www.dlt.go.th/en/two-year-license/ (the site doesn't have an upto date SSL certificate so your web browser might complain that its a fake site)

 

You can see it states you need a non-immigrant visa.

 

But there are a few other untruths on that page. 

 

Im going down there tomorrow because I need to get a written request from DLT for my immigration to issue a certificate of residence and to confirm my visa. They work a little differently down here, other immigration you can just walk in with your rental agreement and a photo or two.

 

 

 

 

 

[ChomDo]

19 hours ago, recom273 said:

https://axleaddict.com/safety/Renewing-a-Thailand-Drivers-License

 

This seems to cover everything - if correct and up to date, it says that you need to watch the damn video. When I first got a 2 year, I got the wife to speak to them and while I pretended I couldn't speak Thai. They gave me a pack of road signs and told me to come back and take the test. Going from 1-5 year there was no need.

 

You get a certificate of residence from immigration.

 

No medical required .. 

 

Here is the page from DLT 

 

https://www.dlt.go.th/en/two-year-license/ (the site doesn't have an upto date SSL certificate so your web browser might complain that its a fake site)

 

You can see it states you need a non-immigrant visa.

 

But there are a few other untruths on that page. 

 

Im going down there tomorrow because I need to get a written request from DLT for my immigration to issue a certificate of residence and to confirm my visa. They work a little differently down here, other immigration you can just walk in with your rental agreement and a photo or two.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the info. Well for myself, I'm now on an STV visa. From what I remember, they might have required a non-immigrant visa for the very first Thai licence but hardly for the renewals each time? Well hope not. 

 

So I can just go to the immigration and ask for a certificate of residence? I mean when you're on a tourist visa, then you would get certified that you live in a certain address? I guess I can do this at the same time I extend my STV in March. But then again we really don't know that they want at the DLT. I think if you're lucky and get a nice officer they would probably just change it without much hassle.

 

Watching the video and having to do a theory test would be a nightmare – we all know there are hardly any traffic rules here, so a test like that could be tricky. I never had to do any theory or driving tests here when I got my first licence, because I had an EU licence with the required paperwork at the time.  

[recom273]

1 minute ago, ChomDo said:

Thanks for the info. Well for myself, I'm now on an STV visa. From what I remember, they might have required a non-immigrant visa for the very first Thai licence but hardly for the renewals each time? Well hope not. 

 

So I can just go to the immigration and ask for a certificate of residence? I mean when you're on a tourist visa, then you would get certified that you live in a certain address? I guess I can do this at the same time I extend my STV in March. But then again we really don't know that they want at the DLT. I think if you're lucky and get a nice officer they would probably just change it without much hassle.

 

Watching the video and having to do a theory test would be a nightmare – we all know there are hardly any traffic rules here, so a test like that could be tricky. I never had to do any theory or driving tests here when I got my first licence, because I had an EU licence with the required paperwork at the time.  

 You only need to do the theory if your license has expired for longer than a year.

 

it’s the video that is a waste of time for me.

 

I have never done anything with regards to transferring a vehicle or getting a license without a certificate of residence. When I went for 1 to 5 years, I had an recently expired one, which they accepted. 

 

You might also want to consider, a lot of things have changed due to COVID - some places you need to book an appointment rather than just squeeze in a waiting room and wait your turn. 

[ChomDo]

1 hour ago, recom273 said:

 You only need to do the theory if your license has expired for longer than a year.

 

it’s the video that is a waste of time for me.

 

I have never done anything with regards to transferring a vehicle or getting a license without a certificate of residence. When I went for 1 to 5 years, I had an recently expired one, which they accepted. 

 

You might also want to consider, a lot of things have changed due to COVID - some places you need to book an appointment rather than just squeeze in a waiting room and wait your turn. 

Sure, you're right. We can't know what to expect this time! Let me know if you get more info when visiting there or at any time. My licence is due in March but they're saying that it will be closed until end of March anyway as we already discussed here, so still have some time to figure it out I guess ????

[jaiyenyen]

You get the 'Proof of Address' from Immigration at Mueang Thong Thani. You fill in a form and they send the

P of A by post, to your home (About 2 weeks). If you are going to use a work permit to prove your address, make sure it has your address in it, the new ones don't.

[ChomDo]

26 minutes ago, jaiyenyen said:

You get the 'Proof of Address' from Immigration at Mueang Thong Thani. You fill in a form and they send the

P of A by post, to your home (About 2 weeks). If you are going to use a work permit to prove your address, make sure it has your address in it, the new ones don't.

Great thanks. Actually now that I think of it I might have got one of those years ago. Any idea if there would be trouble renewing my current 5 year licence with an STV visa? I don't believe the type of visa mattered before when extending but hope it hasn't changed.

[jaiyenyen]

18 minutes ago, ChomDo said:

Great thanks. Actually now that I think of it I might have got one of those years ago. Any idea if there would be trouble renewing my current 5 year licence with an STV visa? I don't believe the type of visa mattered before when extending but hope it hasn't changed.

I don't think an old work permit would work. It would need a current stamp in it. Sorry, but I don't know about the STV visa.

[sanuk711]

Like most things in Thailand---every office can be different. Yellow book means you don't have to have P.O.R. etc. I renewed small sub office in Udon last month. they were doing only 30 a day                          -- 15-- A.M /P.M because the video room wasn't big enough with social distancing. Everything else seemed the same.

[ChomDo]

34 minutes ago, jaiyenyen said:

I don't think an old work permit would work. It would need a current stamp in it. Sorry, but I don't know about the STV visa.

Thanks! We can try to keep the work permit thing out of this thread since hardly anyone has one of those. My feeling is that the very first time I got my licence here I might have been on an Non-ED visa and the 5 year renewal pretty sure I was on a 60 day TR visa. Well until now we're all just guessing and I guess the truth will only come out once I really go there to renew. If they won't renew it with an STV visa then I guess I have to either drive with the expired licence for this year or have my EU licence with the additional International licence paper with me at all times (that should be legal but the cops might fine you just if they don't like it right?).  

[Yellowtail]

41 minutes ago, ChomDo said:

Thanks! We can try to keep the work permit thing out of this thread since hardly anyone has one of those. My feeling is that the very first time I got my licence here I might have been on an Non-ED visa and the 5 year renewal pretty sure I was on a 60 day TR visa. Well until now we're all just guessing and I guess the truth will only come out once I really go there to renew. If they won't renew it with an STV visa then I guess I have to either drive with the expired licence for this year or have my EU licence with the additional International licence paper with me at all times (that should be legal but the cops might fine you just if they don't like it right?).  

 

The expired license should not an issue is less than a year.

 

Not sure about visa types, but I was refused because I had less than 30 days left.

[recom273]

23 hours ago, ChomDo said:

Sure, you're right. We can't know what to expect this time! Let me know if you get more info when visiting there or at any time. My licence is due in March but they're saying that it will be closed until end of March anyway as we already discussed here, so still have some time to figure it out I guess ????

::headache:: I just went to my local DLT and had a row with the clerk within minutes. In the past I have always had to get DLT to request a confirmation of address and visa status, this is not the case now. She took my passport, didn’t bother to read but started asking questions that are none of her business, bear no relation to license application and demanding a work permit.  
 

For Thai people now, they do elearning, but we cannot do this because we don’t have an ID card. I’m sitting with the wife who is renewing her 5 year license. It’s a matter of watching a 60 min video and then some BS questions. Then going to the DLT with a number that says you have passed.

 

They also asked for a health certificate for my wife, although this may vary from office.

 

I called DLT hotline and they said, get a certificate of residence and go back to the local DLT as procedure varies from office to office. They wouldn’t say anything else.

 

The new Thai video is a joke, Some guy waffling about the reasons why Thailand is no.2 in the road death chart, because some people don’t learn in an authorized school ?? I thought it was because no one looks or cares when they drive. It looks like there are only 3 questions.

 

What do westerners have to do? Who knows, I will find out in the next couple of weeks, any other time the local office gave me a pass as they didn’t have a English video.

[recom273]

So the missus took the elearning video, she just left it on the side playing for 2 hours, there were 3 multiple choice questions at the end - she got 1 correct out of 3. 
 

She was informed of her pass result! and there was a QR code that she screenshotted, and went to the DLTsmart app to book an appointment - 25th March.

 

The app told her to bring a her ID card, screenshot from video website which contains a QR code .. no mention of health check from doctor, but the pedantic woman specifically told me I needed one. 

 

 

[Yellowtail]

7 minutes ago, recom273 said:

So the missus took the elearning video, she just left it on the side playing for 2 hours, there were 3 multiple choice questions at the end - she got 1 correct out of 3. 
 

She was informed of her pass result! and there was a QR code that she screenshotted, and went to the DLTsmart app to book an appointment - 25th March.

 

The app told her to bring a her ID card, screenshot from video website which contains a QR code .. no mention of health check from doctor, but the pedantic woman specifically told me I needed one. 

 

 

 

I did the online thing but I only remember it being 45 minutes of so.

[recom273]

1 hour ago, Yellowtail said:

 

I did the online thing but I only remember it being 45 minutes of so.

How did you do it,? do you have a thai ID? Was it in Thai?

 

The funny thing, when we first logged in we got a 60 min video, but we logged off the page and came back and got a 2 hour job. We couldn’t get back to that short video again. 

[ChomDo]

5 hours ago, recom273 said:

::headache:: I just went to my local DLT and had a row with the clerk within minutes. In the past I have always had to get DLT to request a confirmation of address and visa status, this is not the case now. She took my passport, didn’t bother to read but started asking questions that are none of her business, bear no relation to license application and demanding a work permit.  
 

For Thai people now, they do elearning, but we cannot do this because we don’t have an ID card. I’m sitting with the wife who is renewing her 5 year license. It’s a matter of watching a 60 min video and then some BS questions. Then going to the DLT with a number that says you have passed.

 

They also asked for a health certificate for my wife, although this may vary from office.

 

I called DLT hotline and they said, get a certificate of residence and go back to the local DLT as procedure varies from office to office. They wouldn’t say anything else.

 

The new Thai video is a joke, Some guy waffling about the reasons why Thailand is no.2 in the road death chart, because some people don’t learn in an authorized school ?? I thought it was because no one looks or cares when they drive. It looks like there are only 3 questions.

 

What do westerners have to do? Who knows, I will find out in the next couple of weeks, any other time the local office gave me a pass as they didn’t have a English video.

Wow sounds like a big headache to get the licence renewed then. I really thought it was as simple as just paying the few hundred fee and getting the new one. That's how it was for me last time (at Bangkok area 3 DLT). Quite contradicting that you had this mess and others here have said that it's just as simple as I had thought. I always find it funny that some officers at the DLT think you must have a work permit for everything. If that was the case, hardly any foreigners would have driving licences here!

 

Anyway, when you called they told you that actually you just need the certificate of residence and that's it. But still all this hassle and videos with tests, what a load of nonsense haha. 

 

Well let's see how the rest of it goes and you can tell more then!

[Yellowtail]

1 hour ago, recom273 said:

How did you do it,? do you have a thai ID? Was it in Thai?

 

The funny thing, when we first logged in we got a 60 min video, but we logged off the page and came back and got a 2 hour job. We couldn’t get back to that short video again. 

 

You (or in my case my wife) have to load the app and register, then print out the barcode  

[recom273]

4 hours ago, Yellowtail said:

 

You (or in my case my wife) have to load the app and register, then print out the barcode  

Yup, she did. Just saying, the length of the video was different from the first time she logged on. 
 

The question was, how did you manage to do the Thai test, it wouldn’t let me enter my passport, do you have a Thai ID number? 
 

When we called the helpline, they said it was not possible, Thais only.

Edited January 22, 2021 by recom273

[KhaoNiaw]

8 hours ago, recom273 said:

So the missus took the elearning video, she just left it on the side playing for 2 hours, there were 3 multiple choice questions at the end - she got 1 correct out of 3. 
 

She was informed of her pass result! and there was a QR code that she screenshotted, and went to the DLTsmart app to book an appointment - 25th March.

 

The app told her to bring a her ID card, screenshot from video website which contains a QR code .. no mention of health check from doctor, but the pedantic woman specifically told me I needed one. 

I did the video online by putting in my tax number. The multiple choice questions popped at random moments during the video, not at the end, when I did it. Got my result etc. but they wouldn't accept it from a foreigner (this was the Sukhumvit, Bangchak office). So I just had to sit through the video for 45 minutes, which was in Thai with bloody awful English subtitles (not the same as the online video for Thais). 

[Yellowtail]

9 hours ago, recom273 said:

Yup, she did. Just saying, the length of the video was different from the first time she logged on. 
 

The question was, how did you manage to do the Thai test, it wouldn’t let me enter my passport, do you have a Thai ID number? 
 

When we called the helpline, they said it was not possible, Thais only.

 

Pink ID number. My wife asked mw the questions and I answered them.

[ChomDo]

After hearing all this, I'm not sure if I should even bother with it right now. I mean the whole process is on stand by anyway until at least end of March due to the general restrictions. So next question is what's the general time limit for renewing and expired licence? I mean there was talk about some time that you can still drive with an expired licence. Mine is expiring in March so I was wondering how many months could I keep using my current licence without trouble if stopped? Probably an impossible question to answer and foreigners can be fined at any time anyway, but just want to get some idea about how ok is it to do so?