Suvarnabhumi Immigration Ensures 20-Min Wait or Less for Tourists

[UbonEagle]

As always, it’s hit and miss

recent experiences daytime arrivals thru very quick <10mins

mid morning departures lot slower more like 20-30mins, just give yourself plenty of time to spare and noise cancelling headphones on ????

[hotchilli]

25 minutes ago, circa02 said:

I very much doubt they have any KPIs or other visibility into staff performance though.

Monitoring staff performance... good heavens above.

[josephbloggs]

19 hours ago, Jumbo1968 said:

As I have numerous visas I put a paper clip indicating where my visa is, the first thing the IO does is take it out then starts looking at page after page in my passport ?

Because that's their job. Do you think an IO in any country should only look at the page yo want them to look at?

[bamnutsak]

They should add bonuses for working the airport. Shorten work hours for airport staff, and of course increase staff by 25%. Maintain a stand-by reserve (pay OT) of ~ 25 across 2 4-hour high-capacity shifts.

 

There have been rumblings for years that this position is undesirable (hard work, no opportunity for revenue enhancement, work commute or relo, making a mistake and letting the wrong person in) and thus difficult to staff.

 

Aligning work schedules with banked arrivals and departures also leads to challenges.

 

 

I'd like to see a target of 10 or 15 minutes.

 

 

Based on some anecdotal experiences, baggage claim may actually be the long straw these days? There is said to be due to some extensive x-ray/ search and RFID tagging (to alert the Customs Green Channel), before the bags hit the carousel on level 2.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jumbo1968]

1 hour ago, josephbloggs said:

Because that's their job. Do you think an IO in any country should only look at the page yo want them to look at?

I have a valid visa and re entry permit on that page, what else is there to see in my passport, only visas from other countries and expired visas for Thailand ?

[Sydebolle]

Remember the days when a flight from Rangoon to Bangkok would take 90 minutes and then you queued 120 minutes at Don Meuang International Airport some 30 years back?

Well, I am pleased to report that we're back in the queueing business again; regretfully those trumpeting 20 minutes waiting time are never seen when that avalanche of A380 etc. are all coming in at the same time. Somchai, challenged with any non-Thai language, flips slightly lost - through passport giving me the impression, that not all immigration officers really know what the hell he is doing. 

[circa02]

51 minutes ago, Jumbo1968 said:

I have a valid visa and re entry permit on that page, what else is there to see in my passport, only visas from other countries and expired visas for Thailand ?

How else will they practice their 1, 2, 3s out loud? Neung, thumb, Song, thumb, Sam, thumb...  It's like watching a grown adult in kindergarten every time I come through swampy,  compared to other regional countries the IQ drop is evident just a few hundred meters or so from the disembarking gates,  it's like they have a target to take at least 3 minutes per passenger, hey somchai count tourist visas from five years ago all you want, or the pages, that's the latest non-imm visa I open you up on and rest is immaterial so just a pointless task...  Quicker these dinosaurs are replaced with the Singapore system the better..

 

 

Edited September 20, 2023 by circa02

[ballpoint]

"Suvarnabhumi Immigration Ensures 20-Min Wait or Less for Tourists"

 

By diverting 90% of all flights to Don Muang.

[Hanuman2547]

I think it is an ambitious plan and a great goal to aim for.  In the 40 years that I have been coming and going from the Kingdom it has varied between 5 minutes (a rarity) to about 70 minutes.  I for one, hope that they can achieve this goal.  

[QPRFC]

I've flown into BKK twice this month and both times I waited over an hour queuing at Immigration entry. 

Then when at the both, the Thai processing is the slowest I've ever experienced in the world, with both fingerprints and a (digital) photo required. 

[josephbloggs]

2 hours ago, Jumbo1968 said:

I have a valid visa and re entry permit on that page, what else is there to see in my passport, only visas from other countries and expired visas for Thailand ?

Perhaps you have 20 back to back visa exempts? Lots of dodgy border crossings? Could be anything, and it is their job to check, same as anywhere else. A visa doesn't guarantee entry.

Edited September 20, 2023 by josephbloggs

[Jumbo1968]

29 minutes ago, josephbloggs said:

Perhaps you have 20 back to back visa exempts? Lots of dodgy border crossings? Could be anything, and it is their job to check, same as anywhere else. A visa doesn't guarantee entry.

I have a valid ‘Retirement Visa’ renewed in issued in August, I have a multi entry re entry permit, if I had anything dodgy the ‘Retirement Visa’ wouldn’t have been issued at Jomtien, they would have checked my passport for anything ‘dodgy’.

Whats in my previous pages in my Passport should be no concern of the I.O.

[josephbloggs]

28 minutes ago, Jumbo1968 said:

I have a valid ‘Retirement Visa’ renewed in issued in August, I have a multi entry re entry permit, if I had anything dodgy the ‘Retirement Visa’ wouldn’t have been issued at Jomtien, they would have checked my passport for anything ‘dodgy’.

Whats in my previous pages in my Passport should be no concern of the I.O.

So they should just take everyone’s word for it and not do their job. Why even show the visa? Why not just tell them you have one? Should be good enough, no need to check. 
 

Only on AN can you imagine someone moaning that an IO at the main point of entry briefly checks peoples’ passports. Wow. 

[impulse]

Repeating an earlier post, the last few times I've flown into BKK from China this year (6 times so far), the queue at arrivals immigration has been minimal.  Often no queue at all, and never more than 5-10 minutes.  Too fast, really because then I'm waiting on my luggage for a long time.

 

Hint for the departure immigration, which is quite a different story:  When you're in the snaky line, watch to see which officers are fast and which are sloooooow.  Looks like they're doing training on the departure side and some of the officers are calling for assistance on just about every passenger, while others are just stamping people out, bam, bam, bam. 

 

Choose the wrong queue to get in, and you may be waiting in that line for a long time, like I did yesterday.  Live and learn.

 

[thesetat2013]

On 9/19/2023 at 6:33 AM, treetops said:

The original article in The Daily News says 20 minutes (20 นาที) not 20 seconds (20 วินาที) which is still a stretch but much more believable.

Not really considering they are only adding 150 officials to 119 entry points..  not even 2 more per entry point. Could not make a difference when allied. 

[Kinok Farang]

On 9/18/2023 at 10:38 PM, richard_smith237 said:

Absolute tosh & they know it.

Excessive wait times have been an issue for years.

 

Last year there was a report that it was 90 seconds… great, if true.

That was the actual processing time per passport… again great if true !!! 
it’s closer to 3mins.

 

So, this 20 second wait time is rubbish. They mean they are targeting a 20 second processing time. 

 

All pretty irrelevant if they don’t have enough immigration booths open & the problems always exist when immigration don’t tie in their ‘manning’ with flight patterns.

 

They do their best,bless em.

[Kinok Farang]

On 9/20/2023 at 5:08 AM, QPRFC said:

I've flown into BKK twice this month and both times I waited over an hour queuing at Immigration entry. 

Then when at the both, the Thai processing is the slowest I've ever experienced in the world, with both fingerprints and a (digital) photo required. 

That's probably because you are a young whippersnapper.The rest of us old farts are eligible for fast track.