Changing Address On Back Of Thai Drivers License

[NancyL]

Hubby and I are soon changing our rental residence within the city. We both have 5 year Thai drivers licenses. (Actually, we don't drive, but our U.S. licenses were set to expire and we want to continue to have a valid license somewhere in case we want to rent a car.) Some may not know this, but the residential address of the license holder is on the back of the license, in Thai. It's come in handy at stores when we're arranging for deliveries. We just show the staff the back of the license and they can write down our address for the delivery.

If we go out to the driver's license office on Hang Dong Road and ask them to change the address, will they require a certificate of residency from Immigration, like they do when you renew your license? The Cert of Residency is 500 baht and we just might keep the old address on our licenses rather than paying 1000 baht for us both to get corrected licenses.

Yeah, yeah, I know that if we had a blue book, yellow book or whatever color book it is, we wouldn't ever need to pay 500 baht for a cert of residency, but that's not possible in our rental situation. The best we have is a letter from the condo manager stating we live there and a copy of the rental agreement.

So, has anyone gotten the address changed on their license after a residential move? Was a Cert of Residency required?

[mcgriffith]

Nancy, I'm pretty certain that a residence certificate will be required.

Anytime DLT does anything with a drivers license (renew, replace a lost/stolen, name or address change) they want to a see a new res cert.

How I know is, in May my wallet was stolen (I had my 5 yr Thai motorsai license in the wallet).

As I also have a 5 yr Thai auto license, at first I thought to not bother replacing the motorsai one.

One day I happened to be in the neighborhood of DLT, so I stopped in.

Explained what I wanted to the lady at window 25.

She walked off, and returned in a minute with a full printout with all my data- both licenses, my residence adddress, etc.

I concurrently was requesting an address change- I had moved from one apartment, to another, in the same building. Only address change was #xxxx to #yyyy. Everything else identical.

She told me I had to get a residence certificate.

So I took another tack. I said I didn't want to change the address, just replace my stolen license with a duplicate. The printout was right there in front of us, clearly showing I had 2 valid licenses, one for auto, one for motorsai, both valid until my birthday in 2013.

Nope, she said. We do not issue any license in this department, under any parameters, without a new residence certificate.

So I guess that's your answer.....

[cnx355]

I made a change of address last year an YES they required a certificate from Immigration. ..... I have 2 driver licences ( car & motorcycle ).

I requested only one certificate and LTO used a photocopy from the second one as I did both at the same time.

Normally Immigration want to get twice the money and and "give" you ( sell at 500 B each under the table no receipt as officially they are free) two certificates.

When I was in Pattaya it was 300 B each and most Immigration Office it is free.

[steveolevi]

I was in Transportation office last week to change my drivers license from the old, flimsy pink 5 year card to a new Smartcard. They require copies of Visa and Passport as well as residency cert from either immigration or embassy. No way around it.

[Firelily]

work permit can be used instead of residency certificate.

[sfokevin]

work permit can be used instead of residency certificate.

Nancy has been known to sing in bars... But I don't think she has a work permit

[NancyL]

work permit can be used instead of residency certificate.

Nancy has been known to sing in bars... But I don't think she has a work permit

Oh dear, I've never sung in a bar in Thailand. Maybe a bit of karoroke at private parties, but never in a public bar. Let's not start rumors. The real musicians wouldn't want me joining the ranks of western musicians arrested for working without a WP!

It's looking like we're just going to muddle along with our old address on the back of our drivers licenses. Not worth spending 500 baht for a cert of residency (plus the cost of a new license, probably) Haven't really used it for much more than arranging deliveries and I can just carry a business card with the address of our new residence written in the Thai language.

Edited October 30, 2011 by NancyL

[ludditeman]

It's looking like we're just going to muddle along with our old address on the back of our drivers licenses. Not worth spending 500 baht for a cert of residency (plus the cost of a new license, probably) Haven't really used it for much more than arranging deliveries and I can just carry a business card with the address of our new residence written in the Thai language.

You've spend so much time, money and effort on learning to speak, read and write Thai, that I sort of surprised you can't just write your address down for them at the time.