I have just spent 4 hours renewing my 1-year licence for a 5-year licence.

I was told, by the officer in charge, that the law had been changed and now falangs could only get a 1-year replacement licence and not 5 years.

I had to get a confirmation of residence paper from immigration, no problem but the girl and then the boss of the licensing dept. both said that the law had changed.

Well plenty of bu##sh## and talk of checking It on the Internet and he backed down and issued me with a 5 year licence.

I don’t think he was after ‘‘tea money’’ because he showed my wife a paper with a paragraph that was underlined in red, ok it was written in Thai but my wife thought it said what he was saying.

Has anyone else come across this change?

And yes I have the correct 'o' class immigrant visa.

This has been mentioned before but does not seem to be the general rule, maybe someone is 'interpreting' the law in their own way.

What is important is that you must have held a Thai licence for MORE than 1 year to get the 5 year licence. The answer is to wait for you 1 year to actually expire, then apply for the new one.

Where did you apply Edd?

A mate of mine got his renewed in Pattaya the other day... 5 years, no prompem.

This has been mentioned before but does not seem to be the general rule, maybe someone is 'interpreting' the law in their own way.

What is important is that you must have held a Thai licence for MORE than 1 year to get the 5 year licence. The answer is to wait for you 1 year to actually expire, then apply for the new one. 

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I think that you are correct, it seems that in general the smaller offices do not understand all the rules relating to FALANGS.

I did wait untill my 1 year licence had expired but it still seemed to give them problems. My local office is in a small amphur near Udornthani.

thanks for the input.

This has been mentioned before but does not seem to be the general rule, maybe someone is 'interpreting' the law in their own way.

What is important is that you must have held a Thai licence for MORE than 1 year to get the 5 year licence. The answer is to wait for you 1 year to actually expire, then apply for the new one. 

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I had my Thai license for LESS than one year (by 2 weeks) and got my 5 year no problem here in BKK. If consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds, there must be a lot of big minds in the Thai bureaucracy.

I renewed my (expired) 1yr licence for a 5yr one here in Bangkok last month; no problems.

I renewed my (expired) 1yr licence for a 5yr one here in Bangkok last month; no problems.

My Thai driving licence was issued in Bangkok in 1974, without an expiration date. Do I have to get a new licence if I ever should want to drive in Thailand again, or is that old licence still valid?

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Maestro

“I think the surest sign of intelligent life in the Universe is the fact that none of it has tried to contact us.” _ Calvin & Hobbes, comic strip.

If it is red paper with photo stuck on front and a six digit number on the back I suspect it is a lifetime licence. They are not issued anymore but should be valid until you expire AFAIK.

If it is red paper with photo stuck on front and a six digit number on the back I suspect it is a lifetime licence.  They are not issued anymore but should be valid until you expire AFAIK.

Thank you, that’s exactly what it is. I look a bit different from that photo today and the moustache is gone, but I’ll hold on to it. It is a little battered but with care it should hold up for another 30 years.

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Maestro

“What ought to be done to the man who invented the celebrating of anniversaries? Mere killing would be too light.” _ Mark Twain