You and your Thai Wife of 20 years.

[Lifer]

Has anyone recently obtained their residency certification from Chiang Mai Immigration for 5 year drivers license renewal. If so, please tell me what document the immigration office requires. Lived in Chiang Mai for 13 years at the same place. Thank you in advance.

[willbartholomew]

Was just there last week. Surprisingly they had a list, in English, of the required documents.

- Completed "Application Form for Residence Certificate In Thailand" (no number on the form).

- Passport, copies of first page, visa pages, TM6 departure card.

- Copy of 1 of the following:

Rental Contract

House Registration

Letter from House Master

Not sure how much it is as I just went there to get the form and find out what is needed. I think it is 500 baht.

[mrclough]

Don't forget the 2 passport sized photos which are also required.

It is a very simple process and doesn't take that long either

[willbartholomew]

Sorry I left out the required photos. "mrclough" is correct, 2 photos are required along with the other things listed.

[gotlost]

Was just there last week. Surprisingly they had a list, in English, of the required documents.

- Completed "Application Form for Residence Certificate In Thailand" (no number on the form).

- Passport, copies of first page, visa pages, TM6 departure card.

- Copy of 1 of the following:

Rental Contract

House Registration

Letter from House Master

Not sure how much it is as I just went there to get the form and find out what is needed. I think it is 500 baht.

Rental contract needs the letter from Thai owner stating your facts and a copy of the owners Thai ID and signature. If you have a bill such as electric or UBC in your name with address this also will do.

Edited October 31, 2010 by gotlost

[fcgprg]

Was just there last week. Surprisingly they had a list, in English, of the required documents.

- Completed "Application Form for Residence Certificate In Thailand" (no number on the form).

- Passport, copies of first page, visa pages, TM6 departure card.

- Copy of 1 of the following:

Rental Contract

House Registration

Letter from House Master

Not sure how much it is as I just went there to get the form and find out what is needed. I think it is 500 baht.

Rental contract needs the letter from Thai owner stating your facts and a copy of the owners Thai ID and signature. If you have a bill such as electric or UBC in your name with address this also will do.

rental contract was enough i did not need the letter from the landlord or their ID .

[gotlost]

Was just there last week. Surprisingly they had a list, in English, of the required documents.

- Completed "Application Form for Residence Certificate In Thailand" (no number on the form).

- Passport, copies of first page, visa pages, TM6 departure card.

- Copy of 1 of the following:

Rental Contract

House Registration

Letter from House Master

Not sure how much it is as I just went there to get the form and find out what is needed. I think it is 500 baht.

Rental contract needs the letter from Thai owner stating your facts and a copy of the owners Thai ID and signature. If you have a bill such as electric or UBC in your name with address this also will do.

rental contract was enough i did not need the letter from the landlord or their ID .

Sometimes yes and sometimes no just depends on who you get.

[mrclough]

Was just there last week. Surprisingly they had a list, in English, of the required documents.

- Completed "Application Form for Residence Certificate In Thailand" (no number on the form).

- Passport, copies of first page, visa pages, TM6 departure card.

- Copy of 1 of the following:

Rental Contract

House Registration

Letter from House Master

Not sure how much it is as I just went there to get the form and find out what is needed. I think it is 500 baht.

Rental contract needs the letter from Thai owner stating your facts and a copy of the owners Thai ID and signature. If you have a bill such as electric or UBC in your name with address this also will do.

rental contract was enough i did not need the letter from the landlord or their ID .

Sometimes yes and sometimes no just depends on who you get.

I've had three in the last six months for getting the license and buying a couple of bikes and was never asked for more than rental agreement. It also is not noted in the list at immigration that this is required, you must have had an awkward one when you went lol

[gotlost]

I've had three in the last six months for getting the license and buying a couple of bikes and was never asked for more than rental agreement. It also is not noted in the list at immigration that this is required, you must have had an awkward one when you went lol

May of. I went ahead and got my yellow book, no more letters.

[Sansai Sam]

I did it two weeks ago and provided only the house paper...no contract and no letter from the landlord.

[moetownblues]

Can a farang actually get a thai drivers licence without being a permanent resident ie retirement visa

[Sansai Sam]

Sure..I've had one for 10 years. I just renewed for another five years. If you have a work permit it's no problem. You can also get one with a retirement visa.

[gotlost]

Can a farang actually get a thai drivers licence without being a permanent resident ie retirement visa

If you have at least a tourist visa 60/30 you have a chance. If you can your Letter of Residency from Immigration 500 baht or your consulate this should do. It has been known but not to often a thirty day on arrival has pulled it off. It just depends on the person you deal with.

[sarahsbloke]

In July

I took rental contract, copy of owners House book (signed by owner), copy of owners ID card (signed by owner), reciept for that months rent. Passport, two photos, completed form. 500bht.

I handed over photocopies of everything, they didn't ask for a letter.

[moetownblues]

Can a farang actually get a thai drivers licence without being a permanent resident ie retirement visa

If you have at least a tourist visa 60/30 you have a chance. If you can your Letter of Residency from Immigration 500 baht or your consulate this should do. It has been known but not to often a thirty day on arrival has pulled it off. It just depends on the person you deal with.

I Have been using a 1 yr mutiple entry visa for nearly 5 yrs due to get another in January. Been basically living here for 5 yrs

[gotlost]

Can a farang actually get a thai drivers licence without being a permanent resident ie retirement visa

If you have at least a tourist visa 60/30 you have a chance. If you can your Letter of Residency from Immigration 500 baht or your consulate this should do. It has been known but not to often a thirty day on arrival has pulled it off. It just depends on the person you deal with.

I Have been using a 1 yr mutiple entry visa for nearly 5 yrs due to get another in January. Been basically living here for 5 yrs

Give a try. I say yes but no guarantee. Get the certificate of residency and you should be home. But before you do you may want to go down to the LTD up stairs window 2 and ask. LTD is on your left on the HangDong Road going south just before Big C. They do speak english.

[NancyL]

I'm here on a O-A retirement visa and really glad I got a CM drivers license. My U.S. license was about to expire and I knew that I could get one in CM without any testing provided I had a valid one from somewhere else in the world. That got me moving. The process of getting the license was fairly easy and detailed in other threads on this forum. The drivers license looks really cute with the pandas in the lower right corner. It's nicely laminated and has your home address on the reverse side in Thai. Thai officials treat it like some sort of I.D. card. You get discounts at the zoo, parks, etc and it makes it easy to prove your age for the senior discount at the Airport Plaza cinema. Plus, it can be presented to rent a car in a foreign country. I've heard of U.S. nationals using their Thai DL to rent cars in the U.S. after their U.S. DL was expired.

Notice how I never mentioned anything about using it as a driving license in CM. I have no intention of ever driving here.

[mcgriffith]

Yup, I used it at LAX to rent a vehicle from a major national chain.

Asked the rep if he wanted to see my passport; he told me no, just my current valid driver license (from Thailand) would be fine.

Works for me.

[uptheos]

Yup, I used it at LAX to rent a vehicle from a major national chain.

Asked the rep if he wanted to see my passport; he told me no, just my current valid driver license (from Thailand) would be fine.

Works for me.

Don't you have a US driving licence, or were you experimenting?

[mcgriffith]

I had a current US driver license at that time, so yes you could say I was experimenting. But I never had to show that, or my passport.

However, that US one is expired now.

If you have the real deal Thai 5 year (not the old paper with a glued on photo, laminated by Somchai at the kiosk)- the modern mag strip one....that is good pretty much anywhere in the world.

[uptheos]

I had a current US driver license at that time, so yes you could say I was experimenting. But I never had to show that, or my passport.

However, that US one is expired now.

If you have the real deal Thai 5 year (not the old paper with a glued on photo, laminated by Somchai at the kiosk)- the modern mag strip one....that is good pretty much anywhere in the world.

Thanks Mr Mc that's good to know, renewed my multi coloured 5 year licence today.