Retirement Extension, Processing Changes?

[Thanyaburi Mac]

Following from an American friend who's been doing this at Suan Plu since 1997.  Doesn't sound very pleasant!

Mac

I did my annual Retirement extension at the Immigration Dept. at Suan Plu yesterday. It ain't what it used to be! The large room where I have gone for the past couple of years is now the venue for ALL visa extensions. Okay, my first mistake was going there at 1100. I wanted to coordinate the trip with my weekly downtown foray without too much dead time in between. What dead time in between?

My queue ticket was stamped with 1105 time and showing 24 people in the queue ahead of me. NOT ONE non-business extension ticket number was called between 1105 and the "NON-Lunch" break at noon. The "NON-lunch" break lasted until 1300. Wish I had had enough balls to take a picture of all of the desks in the office being vacant!

During the period of 1105 to 1200 there were numerous brokers placing passports and applications on the desks that were reserved for non-business extensions and through whatever signal the broker would pick up the passport and application and move it to the supervisor's desk for signature then again at whatever signal would go pick up the passport and return it to their client. I watched one Indian do this FIVE times in the one hour that no one was called. And there were also Thai/Chinese brokers doing the same thing plus travel agents/brokers with stacks of passports.

Something is not right with a system that allows this. But I would not make an official complaint in my name for fear of becoming blacklisted and never getting another extension.

Discussing this situation with the dinosaurs at The(deleted) later there were a couple of reports of queue numbers being issued right up until closing and the staff just shutting down with no remarks to those in the queue. Just leaving them sitting there! Are we digressing from the good advances that have been made over the past years?

My number was finally called at 1320, two hours and twenty minutes after I got there. I maintained my patience and did not complain or even make any remarks about the piss poor system. Ten minutes later I had my one year extension approved and stamped. BTW I was advised that I would NOT need the medical certificate nor any bank information next year. Just a letter from the U.S. Embassy! Wonder what this is all about.

Then off to get the new re-entry permit which took all of 6 minutes.

Got to The (deleted) and commiserated with some that I know...one with very high contacts in the Thai Government who suggested that aggravated silence was my best course of action. And next year show up at 0800!!

Okay, I could change to a new location but then my records and my grandfather (B200,000) would undoubtedly not follow and I would be starting from scratch, meaning the requirement to have B800,000 in the bank.

TIT

[lopburi3]

This procedure has been in place since at least July of last year. There is a longer wait for some - but for others is seemed to be shorter. They do not close the office during lunch but most people are gone - but I found that to be the case every year - but now it seems they try to finish up with those being processed and then stand down until after lunch. In July last year I arrived at about the same time and it was over a 3 hour wait but actual process was very fast.