Are there still long queues at Immigration?

[scotsdude]

That's why I didn't bother doing the TM30 this time.... Didn't want to risk failing 6 day test.... 

[Henryford]

On 1/11/2022 at 8:49 AM, bbko said:

For 90 day reporting at Pattaya's IO, just stop at the desk on your right as you enter the parking lot with your passport and paperwork, you'll be given a ticket and told to return to the same desk the next business day after 10 am to pick it up.

No you don't. I did this last week, waited in the car park and got my passport back after about 20 minutes.

[The Hammer2021]

On 1/11/2022 at 9:36 AM, JustAnotherHun said:

I was coming with a non-O from Germany because my 1-year ext. had run out when I was abroad.

Last week for the first time ever in all those years I used an agent just to avoid the crazy queues. I never thougt I would do that, but the 10k for a 1-year multiple entry now seems a good investment to me.

It is indeed. Its cuts down on the amount people at the office  and reduces queuing for the rest of us.

[aussiexpat]

5 hours ago, scotsdude said:

That's why I didn't bother doing the TM30 this time.... Didn't want to risk failing 6 day test.... 

Hope you don't need to go to immigration for any other reason as it's a 1600 baht fine for not doing TM30 within 3 days of arrival.

 

As I spent 45 minutes waiting in the TM30 room I was surprised at how many they were fining. One guy had booked into a hotel for last 2 nights as he hadn't filed a tm30 but she looked on the computer and said he didn't have a tm30 before that since 27 Dec so fined him anyway....

 

Edited January 18, 2022 by aussiexpat

[rott]

On 1/11/2022 at 9:23 AM, JustAnotherHun said:

Really? So even for the 90 days you need two visits now? ????

No you just have to wait. If you're lucky you could get a seat (I did) and get out in less than 30 mins (lucky again I was 20).

As was said best to avoid Mondays and be happy it's only a 90 day. 

[scotsdude]

13 hours ago, aussiexpat said:

Hope you don't need to go to immigration for any other reason as it's a 1600 baht fine for not doing TM30 within 3 days of arrival.

 

As I spent 45 minutes waiting in the TM30 room I was surprised at how many they were fining. One guy had booked into a hotel for last 2 nights as he hadn't filed a tm30 but she looked on the computer and said he didn't have a tm30 before that since 27 Dec so fined him anyway....

 

No... I entered on a Non-O and will be staying for 55 days only.... If I had to extend a visa exemption or renew my driving licence then it would've been a different matter.... Before covid hit I was entering Thailand six times a year for 11 years under the exemption scheme and never applied for the TM30 unless I was renewing my driving licence.....

[aussiexpat]

Just now, scotsdude said:

No... I entered on a Non-O and will be staying for 55 days only.... If I had to extend a visa exemption or renew my driving licence then it would've been a different matter.... Before covid hit I was entering Thailand six times a year for 11 years under the exemption scheme and never applied for the TM30 unless I was renewing my driving licence.....

If you don't need immigration during your visit there is no need to do a TM30. Just shows how stupid this rule is as I can stay my 30 days without filing it, but if I want the 30 day extension I'm fined 1600 baht if I didn't do it lol

[scotsdude]

10 minutes ago, aussiexpat said:

If you don't need immigration during your visit there is no need to do a TM30. Just shows how stupid this rule is as I can stay my 30 days without filing it, but if I want the 30 day extension I'm fined 1600 baht if I didn't do it lol

That's why if I knew I needed it during my stay I would get one within 24 hours of arrival, so I wouldn't get fined...

[bangkokstick]

Just try to wonder if those people working there suddenly became smart ?

Of course the reply is negative, so of course long queues !

 

 

[Dasekel]

There are huge crowds seemingly everyday. I went at 09:20 today to get a certificate of residence, but the crowd waiting outside was too big for me to stomach.

 

 

 

Edited January 20, 2022 by Dasekel

[wadman]

On 1/17/2022 at 4:12 PM, HexTree said:

You can just go to the right-hand side. I queued for hours with my own 'under consideration' stamp, only to be told to go back out and head to that desk.

I did that on Wednesday, and it is indeed true.  If you have your "under consideration" stamp already, no need to join the long line.  They do require you to accompany your passport with a photocopy of the photo page, and the "under consideration" stamp page now.

 

I was at the immigration office at:

 

Wednesday 8:45 am - line was enormously long, didn't quite spill out onto the street but it was close.

 

Thursday 9:45 am - line was enormously long again

 

Thursday 2:35 pm - very short line, only 7 people in the line outside.  Inside it was packed.  Risk is, if you get there late in the day, even if you make it inside, the front desk guy might tell you "no more number, come back tomolo"

 

[SidJames]

On 1/18/2022 at 3:07 AM, wadman said:

Thank you for the info.  That is one thing in Thailand that absolutely baffles me: in situations with long lines, there are no clear signs posted as that what each line is for.  Same thing with the Covid vaccine lines at Central Festival mall.

I did the same at the Dept of Transport, I got there at silly o'clock & there was a queue of 100's of people, my heart sank as I joined the rear only for a good Thai samaritan to tell me after a few mins that "farangs stand over there".

There were 8 people in that queue & I nearly kissed the man.

I have no idea what the original queue was for.

[JayClay]

20 hours ago, Dasekel said:

There are huge crowds seemingly everyday

Every decision they ever make in order to try and reduce crowds only serves to kick the can further down the road and make crowds even longer.

 

I went there this week to renew my extension which runs out on 27. I queued for 3 hours and when I finally got to the front desk they scribbled "24th 8.30" on my paper and told me to come back, and that I wouldn't have to queue again.

 

I'm certain that I *will* have to queue, there'll be a queue specifically for me and the other people that "don't have to queue".  And 24th is the last day before the current covid extension deadline so no doubt the place will be rammed. I'll probably have to queue to even get in so that I can join the queue for people who don't have to queue.

[JayClay]

On 1/21/2022 at 7:37 AM, JayClay said:

I'm certain that I *will* have to queue, there'll be a queue specifically for me and the other people that "don't have to queue"

Yea I was right. I was waiting for 2 hours today in the "don't need to queue" queue. And what's more they then took my passport and told me to come back tomorrow.

 

All in all, once the 2 "under consideration" trips have been completed, I'll have had to come to the immigration office 5 times for a 2 month extension.

 

It's not really any wonder that there's such long queues....

[Guderian]

If you think it's bad now, it's literally going to be Hades queuing out there once the hot season arrives.

[aussiexpat]

Why is it so busy when there are supposedly minimal tourists here? Is it all the Covid extensions?

 

In 2019 when there were supposedly 40 million visitors my TM30 or extension experience was in and out in 30-45 minutes. My TM30 this time took nearly 3 hours

[JayClay]

1 hour ago, aussiexpat said:

Why is it so busy when there are supposedly minimal tourists here? Is it all the Covid extensions?

Well as they're taking at a minimum 4, and sometimes 5 visits to sort out, one can assume that it has something to do with it, yes.

 

But the problem is deeper than that. The tactics that they are employing are designed for situation s where either:

 

* the current increase in demand is only expected to be temporary and therefore they will be able to get back on top of things as things die down, or

 

*There's a temporary shortage of staff/new staff in training and the increased manpower in the future will be able to deal with the backlogs they are creating for themselves.

 

If neither of these situations are true, and I suspect they aren't, then all they are doing is snowballing the workload, creating more and more work, bigger and bigger backlogs. Who knows where it could end up.

 

 

[Wongkitlo]

Very busy today so they have an extra long lunch.  12.45 and still closed for lunch since 11.30.

[Ralf001]

7 minutes ago, Wongkitlo said:

Very busy today so they have an extra long lunch.  12.45 and still closed for lunch since 11.30.

They actually cut their lunch break  short 15 mins if they returned to work at 12.45.

[toofarnorth]

Did my 90 day yesterday at Maesai , in and out in 5 mins.

[david555]

On 1/18/2022 at 12:45 PM, Henryford said:

No you don't. I did this last week, waited in the car park and got my passport back after about 20 minutes.

Same for me ,but on 12 January , drop passport at that outside desk , have a seat ???? and in a half hour later they brought my passport with the 90 day slip ...., excellent service , not forced to suffer in that long que or come back  because those covid extension masses ...????

[david555]

I guess this que lines go get longer and longer from now ,  as a part of the arrivals by the programs  shall not return from where they came and use the covid extensions to stay longer in Thailand as a smart way..... 

It seems the new " border run" replacement system ????

[Leaver]

22 hours ago, JayClay said:

then all they are doing is snowballing the workload, creating more and more work, bigger and bigger backlogs. Who knows where it could end up.

 

It all designed to push expats in the direction of agents.  

[giddyup]

1 minute ago, Leaver said:

 

It all designed to push expats in the direction of agents.  

What a lovely little earner it would be if all expats had to use an agent.

[Leaver]

1 minute ago, giddyup said:

What a lovely little earner it would be if all expats had to use an agent.

 

It already is lucrative for them.  

 

They turn a blind eye to those without 800k or 65k per month, but the only way they can get more business for themselves is by "encouraging" those expats that are following the rules by making the process so uncomfortable for them that they will simply give up and go through an agent, even more so if their deadline is near, which is why I suspect people re being told to come back a third and fourth time.  

 

[jacko45k]

13 hours ago, giddyup said:

What a lovely little earner it would be if all expats had to use an agent.

Like Chiang Mai was at a time..... 

I still suspect that is what happens here in Pattaya.....

[roger101]

As I live in Pattaya and only 5 minutes from Immigration I have never thought about doing 90 day online. The one thing I have is plenty of time.

So on Monday afternoon I went to Immigration. About 2 o'clock.  I always go in the afternoon as I have always found it less crowded. I was surprised at the amount of people, so I didn't bather. Went back yesterday at 3.15, much less crowded. gave her my passport got a ticket and sat down.  15 minutes later got my passport back.

 

What really suprizes me is the number of people. In all the years I have been here I have never seen it so busy ( apart when people were getting extensions because they couldn't go home).

[PoorSucker]

Need to do a TM28 on Monday, is there a specific que for that? 

[bbko]

7 hours ago, PoorSucker said:

Need to do a TM28 on Monday, is there a specific que for that? 

Change of address? If you already have a TM28 printed out, show it to the guy working the front door and see if he let's you bypass the long  line and enter the small office on the left. Nothing wrong with giving it a try.

Note: Smaller lines and less chaos in the afternoon.

[LiamB80]

The line today was massive, all the way out to the soi. Another hundred or so behind me. When I took this photo I’m posting. I finally got all the way up to the counter after a few hours , everything is in order and they told me to come back on Feb 3rd the day my stamp ends. When I go back on the 3rd I’ll only be able to turn my passport in, they’ll then tell me to come back on another day to pick it up. People are on edge in the line and a few people were trying to cut the que. I can’t believe this is the system they are using. I also overheard a few different people say they are already on overstay as the lines have been too long and they weren’t able to get their extension on time. I think the Thai govt is purposely making it as miserable as possible for people in hopes they just say screw it and leave and pay an overstay fines the airport.