Phuket Immigration - The Best In South

[RDN]

Phuket Immigration ‘best in South’

PHUKET: Pol Col Witawat Buranasompop, Superintendent of the Phuket Provincial Immigration Office (PPIO), today announced that his office has been chosen as the best immigration office in the south for its level of service and the improvements it has made.

The PPIO received the award from Immigration Division 3 on September 30, Col Witawat said, proudly adding that PPIO Deputy Superintendent Pol Lt Col Rungkiat Sonjance was selected as the best Royal Thai Police officer of the year for his skills in public relations.

Col Witawat said that the main reason for the PPIO winning the award was the efficiency of the “one-stop service” center at Chalong Pier and of the immigration office at Patong. Speaking about the long queues that have plagued the immigration desks at Phuket International Airport for months, Col Witawat said the problem of insufficient officers there had been resolved by the arrival of more officers.

He explained that the long delays were caused by passports that could not be processed electronically. “Passports from countries such as Bangladesh, India and Burma cannot be read by our passport-reader machines. The officers have to use keyboards instead, which takes longer,” he said.

Col Witawat added that many tourists from countries including Russia, Germany, China and South Korea spoke little English, which made it difficult to communicate with immigration officers. In response, the PPIO will now be equipped with sample forms of the TM61 entry form completed in those languages to be used as guides.

“Another problem is that more tourists now arrive at the airport between 1 am and 2 am. More than 400 people arrive at the same time, which causes delays. However, I have looked at this problem closely and this high season will be better,” he said.

Col Witawat added that while he remains Superintendent at the PPIO he will continue to improve immigration services. “Our officers serve tourists from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, Monday to Friday. We never close for lunch,” he said.

I'll agree with that! Nice office, nice people.

[axl]

Yes - very friendly, indeed

[BobAnderson]

I don't care for the (sometimes) one hour wait to go through immigration at the airport. That could use some improvement.

BUT, I did do a 30 day extension at the Patong office in August - very pleasant and helpful. I thought they were great!

[Felt 35]

immigration office at Patong.

Do they offer the same service as the one in Town?

[RDN]

immigration office at Patong.

Do they offer the same service as the one in Town?

I would assume so - but I'm fairly sure that they have shorter working hours and close for lunch (probably because they are not so busy). I went there once to get an "address certificate" in order to register my pick-up. No problems - good spoken English and very friendly.

Back to Phuket City immigration: today I went for another 90 day report - in and out in a minute. The guy knows me now, saw my previous notification slip in my passport and re-stamped it with a new date. No problems.

Edited October 21, 2004 by RDN

[BobAnderson]

I found the Phuket Town office less than helpful - about a year ago. I got the "I don't know what you are talking about" response to trying to extend my 30 day entry for about seven more days: a procedure that would have been almost automatic in Patong.

Thus, my great surprize and delight when the Patong office gave me 30 days (on a 60 day tourist visa) in August. They were super helpful. Personally, I'd never go to the P-Town office again. At least not if the issue is a simple tourist extension.

[visaq]

Can someone please tell me, where is "Patong".Looked it up on a World web map and found "Patong" in the Phillipines? Surely that's not the one noted in the article.Thanks

[Axel]

Can someone please tell me, where is "Patong".Looked it up on a World web map and found "Patong" in the Phillipines? Surely that's not the one noted in the article.Thanks

Try Phuket/Thailand or have a look here

http://www.phuket.com/phuket-maps/index.htm

[visaq]

Can someone please tell me, where is "Patong".Looked it up on a World web map and found "Patong" in the Phillipines? Surely that's not the one noted in the article.Thanks

Try Phuket/Thailand or have a look here

http://www.phuket.com/phuket-maps/index.htm

Thank you Axel. I now know another place to renew my visa. I have been under the false impression that one must cross the border (leave Thailand proper)in order to renew one's visa. Live and learn,many thanks.............Visaq

[RDN]

I found the Phuket Town office less than helpful - about a year ago.  I got the "I don't know what you are talking about" response to trying to extend my 30 day entry for about seven more days: a procedure that would have been almost automatic in Patong.

Thus, my great surprize and delight when the Patong office gave me 30 days (on a 60 day tourist visa) in August.  They were super helpful.  Personally, I'd never go to the P-Town office again.  At least not if the issue is a simple tourist extension.

Patong may be more "tourist" oriented and may know more about extending short term visas, but I just don't know. Sorry if you caught them on a bad day