Can anyone explain why Immigration is so busy now?

[jacko45k]

4 hours ago, Orinoco said:

Maybe a few Chinese are trying to get real visa's

Haven't they stopped issuing them to Chinese in Phuket and they all have to come to Pattaya?

[bbi1]

Seems there are a sheetload of tourists in Thailand these days, judging by the insane number of people at Immigration. Thailand must be raking it in big time now as Immigration has never ever been this busy as it currently is this month.

[jacko45k]

4 minutes ago, bbi1 said:

Seems there are a sheetload of tourists in Thailand these days, judging by the insane number of people at Immigration. Thailand must be raking it in big time now as Immigration has never ever been this busy as it currently is this month.

I suspect they make more from the agents who you perhaps do not see many of.... 

 

[hotchilli]

5 hours ago, giddyup said:

I can never remember crowds like there are now pre Covid, and surely there aren't the same numbers of tourist here as before.

Russians extending their visas... just a guess?

[Orinoco]

24 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

Haven't they stopped issuing them to Chinese in Phuket and they all have to come to Pattaya?

I don't know. 

[Muhendis]

Buriram seems pretty busy too however most of the crowd are not tourists but are Cambodian workers.

[murraynz]

5 hours ago, Celsius said:

there are

Yes, I'm sure there are more tourists pattaya/ Jomtien,than there has been for many years. The beaches are certainly busier on weekends. Maybe people, like the Russians etc, are now staying longer. 

[murraynz]

2 hours ago, giddyup said:

But there's not more people. Tourists are still down 50% prior to Covid.

I doubt that that is correct.. 

[giddyup]

Just now, murraynz said:

I doubt that that is correct.. 

Well, the statistics say otherwise.

[stoner]

1 hour ago, ozimoron said:

There's no other plausible explanation. More people at Immigration translates to more people here in Thailand. My anecdotal observations in Pattaya bear this out. I've never seen so many tourists here (other than the Chinese tours who are yet to arrive) at any time including the 2 years before covid.

gotta agree.

 

in the last month i have been to patong and pattaya. both were rammed full of people. 

 

pattaya last weekend stayed on beach road and there were people on the beach until sunrise. lots of them. i was a little surprised.

 

patong was crazy full. so many people everywhere. any and all shops for the most part doing huge business. 

 

going to koh chang this week. was there a few months ago. will have a better idea....... but i bet its screaming full of people too. 

 

 

[Dart12]

don't know.  Living near central I don't feel like theres a huge amount of tourists compared to pre covid...

But I went in the morning on a thursday and the line was almost out of the lot.

I then phoned my agent and went home.  Not waiting 4 or 5 hours (or more if have to wait thru lunch too).

[skatewash]

4 hours ago, foreverlomsak said:

If I remember correctly, not sure seen here or the paper we can't mention, that Pucket has said that only extensions of stay and 90 day reports are being done there, for anything else go the Pattaya office. 

I believe that some *agents* have said that they recommend their clients go to Pattaya for "agent-assisted" extensions of stay.  Everyone else, including those who do things themselves can get applications processed at Phuket Immigration for extensions of stay as usual.  It's an agent problem, not an immigration problem.

[CharlieH]

Wonder if Agents rolling up with 20+ applications etc are causing a bottleneck ?

 

Just a thought.

[CH1961]

2 hours ago, ozimoron said:

It might be due to the Immigration vehicles I see driving around Pattaya with the camera box on the roof. I read that they have facial recognition cameras to detect over stayers. Can anybody confirm that's true or not? Asking for a friend, lol. Actually, if true, it's a good thing, especially lately.

Tell your friend, they even have a death-ray cannon installed. 

If his face is in the computer, he will be destroyed instantly. 

 

 

[Sydebolle]

Yes, pretty simple. Moving a visa from an old to a new passport took completion of a form, an set of photocopies (only one page, back page must stay empty) duly signed with blue inked bullpen, of the entire old passport as well as the new passport. Latter being completely empty yet copies were requested to no end. The entire ordeal took the entire morning for something other countries take 60 seconds. 
Other countries stamp the visa stamp of the old passport into the new passport and refer to "changed passport from old no. 12345 67890" ............. go figure! 
I dont mind, I have the time but I rarely saw something more inefficient than this ???? 

[champers]

7 hours ago, GypsyT said:

It was on news China has 226 million (!) who are traveling.....

And now they can to come here too.

 

"China saw 226 million domestic trips during the Lunar New Year holiday, state media reported, a 74% surge from last year after the government."

 

About 5 years ago less than 5% of Chinese had passports, so less than 70 million which is still an awful lot but nowhere near 226 million.

[hotandsticky]

6 hours ago, DPKANKAN said:

Did my 90 days at 8.33 this morning in and 8.36 out....done????????????????

 

 

Did mine the day before....30 seconds online.....didn't add to the increase in numbers in soi 5.

[hotandsticky]

3 hours ago, stoner said:

gotta agree.

 

in the last month i have been to patong and pattaya. both were rammed full of people. 

 

pattaya last weekend stayed on beach road and there were people on the beach until sunrise. lots of them. i was a little surprised.

 

patong was crazy full. so many people everywhere. any and all shops for the most part doing huge business. 

 

going to koh chang this week. was there a few months ago. will have a better idea....... but i bet its screaming full of people too. 

 

 

 

Just back from Koh Chang (previously went in February last year) and it is certainly busy in White Sands Beach and Kai Bae; so was Khao Lak and Ching Mai. 

 

Pattaya and Jomtien remain pretty rammed - as they have been since November.

[KhunBENQ]

4 hours ago, jacko45k said:

Haven't they stopped issuing them to Chinese in Phuket and they all have to come to Pattaya?

I remember reading this.

Hard to believe but with the recent massive corruption unveiled it might have been an ordre de mufti.

Maybe a number of the 80(?) officers under investigation are from Phuket?

One of the three suspicious generals was from Khon Kaen
 

 

[BananaStrong]

Imagine being kept away from Pattaya for even 1 hour???!?!?!?!?  Imagine a week!!! or a month!!! OMG, or a year!!!  Or many years!!!

 

EVERY male on the planet has dreamed of Pattaya during COVID.

 

Expect 60 million tourists next year, 100 million the year after...................retirement, doomed!!!!!!!!   lol

[thailand49]

6 hours ago, DPKANKAN said:

No! I went 'in' the Immigration office at 8.33 am

Did 90 days report.

I came 'out' at 8.36 am

That is in the Immigration office for 3 minutes and did not even need a ticket!

what location immigration response is assuming it was done at Jomtien. 

Which you are not allowed to go inside! 

Be specific! 

[San Fran Dan]

Open your eyes we are being Overrun 

[San Fran Dan]

9 hours ago, GypsyT said:

It was on news China has 226 million (!) who are traveling.....

And now they can to come here too.

 

"China saw 226 million domestic trips during the Lunar New Year holiday, state media reported, a 74% surge from last year after the government."

 

And they are not even that many here I heard after Feb7 

[San Fran Dan]

7 hours ago, DPKANKAN said:

Did my 90 days at 8.33 this morning in and 8.36 out....done????????????????

Online , why not 

[1happykamper]

5 hours ago, CharlieH said:

Wonder if Agents rolling up with 20+ applications etc are causing a bottleneck ?

 

Just a thought.

Yes. Last week in Jomtien... Agents were almost as many as direct clients... and they had stacks of passports 

[phetphet]

I went to Samui immigration last week and it was packed with mainly Russians. Mostly younger ones looking around or under 35 years old. Singles, couples and some families. All probably renewing or extending their visas.

 

Given the choice of Russia right now, with winter and Putin's war, or sunny Samui, I know where I would rather be.

Many seem to be here for the long haul, as many Russian children enrolled in the local international schools.

 

[TimeMachine]

Lots of improvements to be made. Government could afford it and a new larger location would be great for everyone.  And generally, a well run company can be spotted by how it handles a queue. The perfect marker. 

[Furioso]

To be fair the immigration office was pretty crowded when I got here in Aug. But yes, when I ride by on my motorbike nowadays it's like a 70's blockbuster movie. My neighbor said Pattaya was impossibly crowded before Covid, citing how the traffic on Sukumvit was a huge headache compared to now(he said this in Nov). I imagine the situation with long lines, snarling traffic, choking pollution, etc. is only going to get worse than pre-covid.

 

At some point it will reach it's nadir and then plummet again, maybe 3 years. I'll be around to see whatever happens happens. One thing for sure it's going to be a wild ride! 

[geisha]

12 hours ago, giddyup said:

It's a month since New Year and Xmas.

Chinese new Year also attracts Singaporeans , Malaysians , which are relatively good spending tourists in contrast to Chinese . Also a good few fromCambodia and Laos, they’re not all migrant workers. Quite a lot of rich ones .

[champers]

The scenes at Immigration are quite a contrast to how Covid vaccinations were organised.

I had 2 jabs at Central Festival on Beach Rd and a booster at Royal Garden Plaza. On all 3 occasions the process was completed in about an hour, 15 minutes of which was sitting in an area to ensure no bad reaction to the vaccine. The organisation was excellent, staff were polite, helpful, pleasant and completely professional.

My point is that there can be good organisation and service at Immigration with the planning and will to do so.