Renewing my 5 year bike license in Chiang Rai.

[OneeyedJohn]

So my birthday is New Years Eve and I have 3 months to apply for a new license. I get my 2 copies of passport, 2 copies of my 90 day online report to prove my address, and photos passport size and small size, so I confidently set off to complete stage 1 in my local village by going to the health clinic for a medical certificate. I was refused, they said I had to go to hospital because of my eye, which was ridiculous.

I came home fuming and argued with my wife about how wrong this was, and how I was not prepared to go to hospital and get sucked into a bunch of tests that are completely unnecessary. That's not even mentioning the aggravation ,the cost and waste of time.

So even after my wifes brother in law, her best friends and her farang husband and her brother in law and his business partner in car sales all said I would need to go to hospital , I refused and got my wife on a Saturday morning to take me to the first clinic we saw on our way into town.

It wasn't very far and appeared to be full of pregnant women, nevertheless, we weren't refused and after a very short 10 - 15 minutes walked out with a medical certificate signed and stamped by a very pleasant male doctor who chatted to me for a few minutes.

They took my BP, weighed me and asked how tall I was.

100 baht later I walked out delighted.

Stage 2 is immigration and the residence letter. If they ask for money at first I will say can I have a 'bi sec rap ngern' which is thai for receipt, if that doesn't throw them I will just pay and move on to stage 3 - the DLT.

[KKr]

20 hours ago, OneeyedJohn said:

copies of my 90 day online report to prove my address,

90day report is not proof of address; a (yellow) tabian baan or residence certificate are.

 

upon renewal application, DLT will do basic eye test.

this includes color blindness and peripheral vision. 

In case of having issues in one eye, the peripheral test is likely to fail. 

Hence the advise to get an optomologist issued “fit for driving” certificate makes 100 % sense.

[statman78]

When I renewed my license in Chiang Rai last year I think immigration charged me 100 baht for the residency letter.

[Taccos]

IO Koh Samui just charged me with THB 500 for issuing a Certificate of Residence. I thought this was way overpriced but what can you do if you need to extend your DL?

 

[OneeyedJohn]

Well, 90 day report done online with my address displayed on it is proof of my address, what else can I provide, how about the bank statements from UK with my name and address in English on them. I don't know , I truly despair at the amount of beauocracy, paperwork, call it what you like, involved in doing the simplest things in Thailand. Why do we have to keep repeating everything we do every frigggin year?

[OneeyedJohn]

My wife tells me today there is a lot of Covid in the town of Chiang Rai, places like HomePro and Makro are having problems, so my going to Immigration and DLT tomorrow is worrying despite being vaccinated and having new good quality masks in a dazzling array of colours.

 

[marin]

1 hour ago, OneeyedJohn said:

My wife tells me today there is a lot of Covid in the town of Chiang Rai, places like HomePro and Makro are having problems, so my going to Immigration and DLT tomorrow is worrying despite being vaccinated and having new good quality masks in a dazzling array of colours.

 

I think you best not listen to your wife, or stop listening to village gossip. This comment is just silly.

[DJ54]

Before the keyboard warriors cut and paste This is Thailand’s not China... a little 

humor.. in China at drivers license bureau had to take eye test.... which is it could

go either way.. need glasses or not. 

 

The examiner asked do I want to license with glasses or without (through translator) 

i said without... So they commmenced the eye test.. aided by translator telling me the 

andwers... funny thing I was turned looking away from the eye chart... 

 

Ok that’s all for today’s  humor... tomorrow possibly touch base on November 1st opening...

 

Cheers

[Tropposurfer]

TIP: Leave the walking frame outside lol ????????

[statman78]

4 hours ago, marin said:

I think you best not listen to your wife, or stop listening to village gossip. This comment is just silly.

My wife has also heard about the infections at Home Pro in Chiang Rai.  She didn’t tell me if she heard anything about Makro. 

[OneeyedJohn]

I am fully vaccinated, unfortunately it doesn't protect me from posters coming up with inane comments.

 

What I said was in good faith and not something to invite ridicule.

[StevieAus]

18 hours ago, OneeyedJohn said:

Well, 90 day report done online with my address displayed on it is proof of my address, what else can I provide, how about the bank statements from UK with my name and address in English on them. I don't know , I truly despair at the amount of beauocracy, paperwork, call it what you like, involved in doing the simplest things in Thailand. Why do we have to keep repeating everything we do every frigggin year?

I learned many years ago that you either comply or don’t live here it’s that simple because they will not change.

Is it really such a huge issue renewing drivers licence every 5/6 years,  90 day reporting 4 minutes from leaving car to returning and now no documents.

Annual retirement extension a few hours.

When I think about the other things that are easier here I wouldn’t swap with living in Sydney again

At least here we have ‘t had the police fining people thousands of dollars for breaching Covid restrictions.

[NoshowJones]

1 hour ago, StevieAus said:

I learned many years ago that you either comply or don’t live here it’s that simple because they will not change.

Is it really such a huge issue renewing drivers licence every 5/6 years,  90 day reporting 4 minutes from leaving car to returning and now no documents.

Annual retirement extension a few hours.

When I think about the other things that are easier here I wouldn’t swap with living in Sydney again

At least here we have ‘t had the police fining people thousands of dollars for breaching Covid restrictions.

I was going to give you a Saddo emoj, but then you come from Australia, your last paragraph says a lot about that country.

[QPRFC]

On 10/10/2021 at 11:39 AM, statman78 said:

When I renewed my license in Chiang Rai last year I think immigration charged me 100 baht for the residency letter.

1,000 baht for next day or free if you are prepared to wait 6 weeks. 

I planned well and took the free option. 

[OneeyedJohn]

I think the above is talking through his rear end.

Nonetheless I have progressed to passing the online test and printing off the proof, I have a medical certificate, and have logged into the android queue app using my covid 13 digit number and clicked on the appropiate office, but it says sorry for the inconvenience.

So nothing else for it but to trip up to DLT tomorrow and see what they say.

 

The training video, even though some was in spoken English was completely cretinous.

Since when does wearing a helmet help prevent accidents, no it doesn't , it helps prevent injury.

Doh...

 

Edited October 12, 2021 by OneeyedJohn

[473geo]

On 10/11/2021 at 6:38 AM, StevieAus said:

I learned many years ago that you either comply or don’t live here it’s that simple because they will not change.

Is it really such a huge issue renewing drivers licence every 5/6 years,  90 day reporting 4 minutes from leaving car to returning and now no documents.

Annual retirement extension a few hours.

When I think about the other things that are easier here I wouldn’t swap with living in Sydney again

At least here we have ‘t had the police fining people thousands of dollars for breaching Covid restrictions.

I tend to agree, alternatively, who is better at understanding and dealing with Thai bureaucracy than Thai people.

Picked up my two year car licence today, chauffeur driven, set out at 7am, call at doctor's for certificate, back with license just after lunch. A big thanks to my wife and friends who arranged all

 

Just lucky I guess ????

[OneeyedJohn]

Nothing wrong with accepting help, my wife does the same with trying to help when I get angry with Thai beaurocracy.

[StevieAus]

On 10/11/2021 at 8:36 AM, possum1931 said:

I was going to give you a Saddo emoj, but then you come from Australia, your last paragraph says a lot about that country.

Totally agree why do you think I left and live here?

[StevieAus]

On 10/12/2021 at 2:47 PM, 473geo said:

I tend to agree, alternatively, who is better at understanding and dealing with Thai bureaucracy than Thai people.

Picked up my two year car licence today, chauffeur driven, set out at 7am, call at doctor's for certificate, back with license just after lunch. A big thanks to my wife and friends who arranged all

 

Just lucky I guess ????

I do the same and don’t have any issues the point I was making was just follow the rules even if you don’t like them it’s no big deal for me.

[OneeyedJohn]

OK, got my renewal license today, and none of the advice given in this thread which quite clearly says "Chiang Rai" was correct, so please close it moderators.

[seedy]

15 hours ago, OneeyedJohn said:

OK, got my renewal license today, and none of the advice given in this thread which quite clearly says "Chiang Rai" was correct, so please close it moderators.

555

[OneeyedJohn]

Dunno what Rule #1 is however here is the actual cost for my renewal:-

•           medical certificate 100 baht
•           Immigration residence letter 300 baht
•           medical certificate from eye doctor 500 baht
•           DLT license fee 255 baht
•           gift to my wife for helping me 10,000 baht

[seedy]

On 10/14/2021 at 5:42 PM, OneeyedJohn said:

 none of the advice given in this thread which quite clearly says "Chiang Rai" was correct

This is what I was replying to

[OneeyedJohn]

Funny ain't it, if I said something abusive to another poster then the moderators would be on it quicker than blow flies on hot cow poo poo, but a simple request to close a thread is just ignored.

 

 

Edited October 17, 2021 by OneeyedJohn