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Chiang Mai Immigration


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I went to Chiang Mai Immigration today to renew my extention of stay (Retirement). I first went to my bank at Airport Plaza to get a letter regarding my bank balance so did not arrive at Immigration until 12.30pm. At 1pm after their lunch break i was told that the full allication of extention of stay applications had already been allocated for the day and that l should return the next day at 8am if it was to be processed tomorrow. Why do they not have more staff dealing with this type of application as they only seem to process about 50 applications a day. Not a happy bunny having to make a further trip to Immigration

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I got my extension done there today and was out in under 2 hours. The staff work quite hard at helping people who often do not have all the correct documents. Extensions such as Retirement extensions are not a rubber stamp process. I wonder how long they would take to get in your country. In Australia you would not get same day service. It would be nice if they could have more staff and a bigger office but I guess there are restraints on spending like in most countries.

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Well this is Thailand you would have the same trouble if you turned up at the English Embassy in the afternoon.:coffee1:

In terms of operational time procedure, one can not compare a Nations Embassy with a local immigration office, moreover, we are talking about a (retirement) visa renewal, not a visa application per se, which requires more paperwork and assorted documents, which does results in an increased time span.

However, I have been there many times for the same reason both at AM & PM and was never asked to come back the next day, perhaps on the day the OP went there they had a personnel shortage, normally they have several officers on the front room desks to prepare the files to be approved (visa-wise) by the senior officer in the back room, the average time span is 1.5 to 2 hrs approx, depending on your position in the waiting queue, which is of course more than acceptable.

In any event that is the way things are, the renewal takes place once a year, so it's not a big deal - relax ...

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It you had to travel from the other side of the province and thus have to spend an unplanned night away from home it might get the wife's attention and become a very big deal. :rolleyes:

That said 12:30 seems a bit late. Did poster have to use a bank that does not open until 11:00?

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It you had to travel from the other side of the province and thus have to spend an unplanned night away from home it might get the wife's attention and become a very big deal. :rolleyes:

That said 12:30 seems a bit late. Did poster have to use a bank that does not open until 11:00?

Went to Immigration today at 7.45 am and although there were a lot of people waiting l was finished by 10am. Not so bad service but by 10 am they were telling people to come back in the afternoon as all places allocated for the morning (about 25). Seems to be only one officer processing extention of stays (retirement). Could have been finished sooner but so many people turn up without all the necessary paperwork so you cannot blame Immigration for that. PS Airport Plaza does not open until 11am so could not get my bank letter before then. I could have gone to the bank the day before but its so close to Immigration l thought l could do it in one journey

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I hope the OP will take this as a learning lesson. Immigration opens at 8:30 AM and for this particular matter I have been there at 0730 AM to be the first in line so I would be out by 9:30 AM with my new extension of retirement. I would never consider trying this at 12:30PM. For a 90 day report in and out in 5 minutes any time of day. Go early. Chiang Mai Immigration I have found are nothing but pleasant and helpful.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just back from CM Immigration and was astounded in the changes that have occurred in the two years I have been in Australia. I overheard a customs officer, hard to see them as police anymore as they wear polo shirts, tell an irate customer in response to his bitch about coming back, was that the work force assigned to that office is allocated based on the number of people they have to deal with in each category. Visas get the most staff and extensions the least.

I thought there was only one desk under the sign for counter 7, the extension counter, but actually there are three or more. When my number was finally called, and it was number 206, the first served was 200, it was an hour and a half after I arrived. There were some customers who took a very long time as they didn't have the proper documentation. Also, the immigration office there now processes residency documents and 90 day reporting and those have been added to their work load as both of those issues used to be handled across the parking lot.

In the old days when we signed in on a book at the right window, they rarely processed more than 12 names in a morning, routinely cutting off signing up after 10:30am allowing them to get all their morning processing done by noon. Often their afternoons are involved in police training, sports events etc.

Yes, I was perturbed because the customer immediately before me seemed to take the longest. The form they gave me didn't seem right for my obtaining a non-immigrant O visa from a tourist visa and I checked with three or for staff members and was assured the form for long stay was correct.

First thing the staff member told me when I sat down was I had the wrong form. Upon reflection I realized I had asked for a long stay visa based retirement and maybe the word extension crept in. The correct wording before I can fault the staff for the wrong form was "Change of Visa" Exactly the same form as the visa extension form except for the title at the top. Anyway, I quickly filled out the form as the officer processed by papers.

Incidentally since I get my US Government pension through the Australian Central Bank in Australia though the US Treasury direct deposit scheme, I modified the form from the US Consulate to read AUD rather than USD. Both of the staff at the Consulate brought up this change on the form and raised the issue that it might not be accepted at immigration. No worries, the officer never even mentioned it and since I would be lying if I said the pension was received in US Dollars as the form calls for, I felt justified in being truthful. I am sure immigration deals with many Aussies with AUD denominated pensions.

Return in two days to give them time to check their computers to see if I have raised any red flags and then I will have "changed my visa" from tourist to non-immO and then to extension for one year in 90 days. By the way I have done this process three times so even experienced hands get it wrong on occasion and many customers are going through it for the first time, no wonder there are delays.

Footnote: For lopburi3 and others who posted on the need for a visa vs. 30 day on arrival for returning long stayers, the first question the Quantas counter person asked me when I handed her my passport, was did I have a continuation ticket as none appeared on my ticket in her computer. Oh how glad I was I went to the trouble of getting a visa. Thank you lopburi3 and the others, I really didn't need a refusal for boarding experience since the trip took an additional 4 hours sitting on the runway at Rayong airport because we couldn't land because of rain in BKK.

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Return in two days to give them time to check their computers to see if I have raised any red flags and then I will have "changed my visa" from tourist to non-imm O and then to extension for one year in 90 days.

Another confirmation that conversions to Non Imm visas, for the purpose of retirement extension, can be done in CM. However, per previous report(s), conversions for the purpose of marriage extension require a trip to Bangkok.

Too bad you can't get your one-year extension when you return in two days, as you appear to have all the requirements for such already met. Is this for sure, or just a surmise on your part?

Incidentally since I get my US Government pension through the Australian Central Bank in Australia though the US Treasury direct deposit scheme, I modified the form from the US Consulate to read AUD

I guess this is just in case Immigration wants to verify your stated income... But, since this is a US Gov't pension, certainly you have the beginning of the paper trail, which would be in US dollars, and could also be presented to Immigration, if needed....?

Oh, welcome back!

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I have nothing but praise for Chiang mai Immigration. They were very professional helpful when I extended my tourist visa. I arrived about 9:30 in the morning and out by 10:15 the girl who does the copying knows her forms and how many copies you need.

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JimGant thanks for the kind words. You put your finger right on my motivation, I really wanted to state my "income stream" in AUD because I have interest income in OZ that puts me over the threshold so I didn't need a bank letter and who knows what would have happened if I had put the US pension in dollars and the interest in AUD.

I did go in armed with the actual AUD deposit in my account in OZ showing the source of the deposit as well as an online bank account detail showing the interest income just in case.

Thanks for the tip about an immediate try for an extension of my non-immO for a year on the day I get that visa as the beginning of October is more convenient for my long term travel plans than New Years otherwise if they do the post date thing, ie. my tourist visa expires on Oct 25 so they start the non-imm-O on that date, then start the extension 90 days after that thus starting my one year in late January. That is the way they did it last time, I don't know if it is to save me permitted days in Thailand or a desire to put off dealing with the next document until all my time is exhausted on the existing one? I have various reports on post dated start dates.

I would think the officer who has just approved the non-immO based on the same grounds as the extension would be reducing review time if he did both at once but what makes sense to us doesn't necessarily make sense to immigration officers faced with many challenges from temporary visitors who are not as "above board" as we are. I will advise when it happens.

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I have lived in Thailand for more than 6 years and in Chiang Mai for more than 4 years.

Chiang Mai immigration is probably one of the top immigration offices in Thailand. They have free wifi, a coffee shop, a restaurant (Thai style) and a copy center. They built walls and added air conditioning. Their bathrooms are fairly clean and the people there are very polite and extremely efficient.

I think they have bent over backwards to provide its customers with some of the highest quality service anywhere in Thailand. They should be a model for the rest of the country.

People who live in Chiang Mai are very lucky to have an immigration office that has an active customer relationship management program that actually listens to the needs of its customers.

I am very satisfied with how they conduct their business.

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