US visa appointments in Chiang Mai all cancelled

[Dogmatix]

A message on the US Embassy's website dated 11th July 2022 notifies US citizens that US citizen services at the consulate general in Chiang Mai have been cancelled until further notice.  https://th.usembassy.gov/message-for-u-s-citizens-in-northern-thailand/.   

 

Not mentioned on the notice is the fact that all US visa appointments at the consulate were also cancelled at short notice without giving applicants any priority to apply for replacement appointments in Bangkok, unless they qualify for the fast track service which means producing evidence of urgent business meetings in the US, a family funeral or emergency medical treatment required in the US. Even then there is no guarantee of a fast track appointment. Visa applicants have been invited to reapply for an appointment in Bangkok from scratch but find the first appointments are available only in June 2023.  The call centre staff are sympathetic but can do nothing to help, except suggest logging in to search for cancelled appointments miraculously popping up before the date of the scheduled trip.  Emails to the US Embassy on visa matters in my experience rarely, if ever, receive a reply after the initial automated reply giving a case number and assuring that a reply will be sent within 1-2 business days. 

 

The problem with logging in to the website hoping to pick up a cancellation is that, if you log in more than once a day the website's security will automatically block your account for 72 hours.  I am personally on my second 72 block watching the days tick by till the scheduled date of departure to the US. This security feature is apparently intended to thwart Thai visa agents who use dummy applications to block appointments which they offer to clients for big money.  However, given that the visa agents' businesses are by all accounts still thriving with prices for appointments going through the roof, it seems only to keep out individual applicants who don't know their way around the security. The website is also barely functionial requiring going round and round in circles answering the same questions over and over again and repeated identifications of planes, trains, automobiles etc, before ever reaching the disastrous appointments page. 

 

Cancelling hundreds of visa appointments with the excuse they are understaffed is utterly pathetic.  The state department has massive resources and can easily draft in extra staff, if needed.  They have thousands of retired consular officers with security clearances on HR's list of people available for temporary assignments.  Most would jump at the chance of a month or two in Chiang Mai. 

 

Above all effectively cancelling trips to the US of hundreds of Thais for no good reason is an act of gratuitous cruelty.  The failure to plan necessary staffing levles for the appointments made months ahead is a sign of gross management incompetence that would not be tolerated in a business. The visa appointments easily pay for themselves and make a profit in the form of visa fees and expenditures by Thai tourists in the US. 

[ChaiyaTH]

Meanwhile they are building this big building left from BKK hospital, been like a year now and I still not see them above the ground, guess they are digging some very deep hole there to hide from their actual purpose; serving their citizens. 

[Reposed]

3 hours ago, Dogmatix said:

Cancelling hundreds of visa appointments with the excuse they are understaffed is utterly pathetic.  The state department has massive resources and can easily draft in extra staff, if needed.

Yes, disgusting....

 

This is nothing to do with staff shortages, so that leads me to reasonably conclude they are lying. 

 

Something else is going on here....and I have a pretty good guess as to what it is.

[rumak]

9 minutes ago, Reposed said:

Yes, disgusting....

 

This is nothing to do with staff shortages, so that leads me to reasonably conclude they are lying. 

 

Something else is going on here....and I have a pretty good guess as to what it is.

Build Back Better !!    anyone who believes that one is ........oh, wait a second:    Already most everyone believes the repetative narrative (by those "trusted sources ") on what is happening over the last few years.

 

 

Edited July 13, 2022 by rumak

[rumak]

Just out of curiosity........... how can US  passport holders  renew expiring passports ?

[Dogmatix]

4 minutes ago, rumak said:

Just out of curiosity........... how can US  passport holders  renew expiring passports ?

Fly to Bangkok.

[Dogmatix]

24 minutes ago, Reposed said:

Yes, disgusting....

 

This is nothing to do with staff shortages, so that leads me to reasonably conclude they are lying. 

 

Something else is going on here....and I have a pretty good guess as to what it is.

I remember back in the late 80s they used to have Thai locally engaged staff working in the visa section at the Bangkok embassy and they had to fire them all due to corruption. But in this case, they have shut down the whole shooting match including US citizenship services.  Not sure what else the Chiang Mai consulate did. Perhaps they will close it down completely which would be a big mistake.  The UK tried that once but had to reopen in Chiang Mai a few years later.

Edited July 13, 2022 by Dogmatix

[Iamfalang]

2 hours ago, ChaiyaTH said:

Meanwhile they are building this big building left from BKK hospital, been like a year now and I still not see them above the ground, guess they are digging some very deep hole there to hide from their actual purpose; serving their citizens. 

Let me teach you the art of the CIA.

 

This building, if built, will serve its purpose.   Nothing more.

 

It's the 109 massage shops with 10987 cameras in every city that you should worry about.

 

and Doi Inthanon isn't even a real mountain.   NORAD times 10.   trust me, I wear a Gshock

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

30 minutes ago, rumak said:

Just out of curiosity........... how can US  passport holders  renew expiring passports ?

If the applicant resides in Thailand and it isn't a first-time adult passport, renewal can be done by mail:

 

https://th.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/passports/adult-passport-renew/#:~:text=Qualifying adult passport renewal applicants,only to U.S. Embassy Bangkok.

[jerrymahoney]

3:02 PM (1 hour ago) 15 JULY 2022 Effective immediately, the U.S. Consulate General in Chiang Mai has resumed all consular services.  If you are a U.S. citizen in northern Thailand in need of emergency assistance, please call the Chiang Mai American Citizens Services unit (053-107-700).    If you have an appointment for, or are seeking, routine services in Chiang Mai, please email [email protected]. For visa assistance and information, please email [email protected].    We apologize for any inconvenience the temporary suspension of services may have caused.

[rumak]

12 minutes ago, jerrymahoney said:

We apologize for any inconvenience the temporary suspension of services may have caused. 

[Pib]

On 7/13/2022 at 3:53 PM, rumak said:

Just out of curiosity........... how can US  passport holders  renew expiring passports ?

Renew by mail....info on the U.S. Embassy-Bangkok website....I renewed mine by mail a little over a month ago....took a total of 18 days total including coming and going mail.   

[bkk6060]

On 7/13/2022 at 12:07 PM, Dogmatix said:

sign of gross management incompetence that would not be tolerated in a business.

Yes, sadly that seems to  describe the U.S. government.