True, many of us invest lots of time and even money to do five trips to Chaengwattana a year:1x visa extension, 4x 90 days report. The latter is normally going very smooth, while visa renewal (retirement) often meets with an additional new requirement which is not on the outdated website. Yet things would feel much better if officers would give us the impression they want to help. Friendliness is generally not their thing. And while from 8:30 onwards ca 20 people are seated waiting, one officer receives applicants. Others are not ready, chat on mobiles, go away for a drink, do not seem to care. I would really do my visa renewal with joy if t they smiled once.

Smile and it will be returned. Have you looked around at all the glum farang faces? And have you every tried doing an immigration officers job? I always chat a little, ask how they are etc. Most will respond nicely. Time keeping is a relative activity in Thailand and most expats are well aware of that.

Compare Thai immigration with immigration staff in the US, UK, Europe etc. who are the most miserable unhelpful mob you could ever meet.

I would have to agree with the OP based on my retirement extension of stay about two weeks ago. While watching the 3 officers initially receiving/reviewing Long Term extensions all three didn't crack a smile regardless who was setting in front of their desk....they just seemed detached from the whole situation. And it did seem seem several other officers were more engaged in coming and going and making cell phone calls than anything else. And when it came my turn to set in front of the officer and even with me starting off with a smile and hello, the following 5-10 minutes at the desk was a pretty silent affair as the officer processed the paperwork and made two cell phone calls....then I referred over to the officer in the next cubicle for their review/final signoff of the documents....once again...this officer was very quite....no problem in processing my paperwork....it was just different this year compared to previous years where the officers were more talkative and would return a smile.

But I'm not really bitching, after my queue ticket was called, things went smooth and fast In fact, there were 5 queue numbers called before mine where no-one came forward...I was glad for this because with only three officers initially receiving/processing the paperwork they didn't appear to be keeping up with the number of customers coming in/wating....heck, my guesstimate was some of the long term customers may not even have got to see an officer on that day....things were moving slow in the morning at least due to the limited number of officers....this was around 9-10am in the morning. Oh well, at least I'm good for another year whether the officers wanted to talk a little or not...or crack a smile.

i donot care if they smile or care, as long as they are professional and do their jobs. Its got to be a crap job especially when they get some guy in who doesn't have his paper work together, or qualify and demands an extension of stay. I haven't seen it yet but would be willing to bet it has happened.

Edited September 23, 201114 yr by moe666