Pattaya’s New Immigration Office Up And Running

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Immigration making things easier for us falangs

Easier for them and us. Who minds? having the data in the com putern also will mean they will be checking it with various databases(!) if they want you or WANT you...

Gee, it was my understanding that visas could not be extended. When I was at Immigration at Suan Plu the day before yesterday the Immigration officer to whom I spoke made it quite clear that Immigration does not have the authority to extend visas. Once a visa expires, that's it, no more. If you want another visa you have to leave the country and apply for a new one.

The only thing that Immigration can extend is the date to which you are permitted to stay.

Or, has Immigration changed their policy since last Wednesday?

ITS a language problem.

Visum cannot be extended, stay can...

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This is not April 1st?? who can believe that?

In first it could be better to take care the pharangs from the North, 5 times (5 months) last year to get my 1 year visa which 12-5 = 7 months, + to pay the work permit 5 times... if you don't want to loose your number, and "the cherry on the cake" (french), most of us must go every three months to signe one paper as we did'nt change our address, so, difficult to think that this "dream" will be come a reality!!!

Same her in the south (phuket).

BUT while this mess is ongoing in Phuket you donot have to tell them where you are...

More annoying to me is the 800 baht or so you get charged for a 1 month workpermit extension and after 5 months they dareto ask 3000 for a year less 5 months...

They sticvk 4000 baht in their pockets they arent entitles to. I tried accountant to ask for 3 monts twice as thats also 1bout 1600 baht saving half. She agrees I am right BUT^

[Maestro]

…Land and buildings were donated at a new location and the move to new premises took effect from December 6…

…the service has a 30 million baht budget provided mostly by the private sector… Solar cells are being used under the government energy saving policy and a Japanese company has supplied a 1 million baht budget for this…

I didn’t realise there was so much donated money involved. Nice to see that people care.

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Maestro

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Marshall,

Thank you for cutting short all this blah-blah. I have an other advise for all the Falang here: If you have a proboem and you are decent, just talk it over with your Immigration Officer. O.K. Be decently dressed. That doesn't mean, you need a bussiness suite. Just show up clean and try to explain politely your problem. I think in the most places they just will try to help you. Just my opnion.

Solved most of my problems...

Most farangs havent a clue that taking their obvious bargirl girlfriend or so to immigration is NOT a help.

In my own case head local office was rude to her, she complained to familly....

Last time I was in a hurry to make new passport, photo looked terrible... Tshirt was Winny the Poo (oops) thanks to Tsunamy zapping a load of cloths... FIRST time in many years they wanted to see me. They didnt ask anything when this wellshaved farang with shoes, no sandals, and decent government style dress (to be correct a real safari shirt) and a spare new photo showed up...

Labour office refused same photo, didnt like the bear on my Tshirt..

[keithbooth]

I thought they moved out of Pattaya to Jomtien last month.

Is this another location?

Soi 5. I was just there in December. Take Thepprasit road to the end turn left and follow around to beach road.....keep going to soi 5.

I'm not very familiar with that area, it maybe in Jomtien beach area, but I don't think it's in Jomtien municipality as that begins south of Chayapruk road.

beachbunny

New Immigration Office:

When going down the coast or Beach road in Jomtien, make a left at the big JOMTIEN SIGN-it is green in color. Go up the street and you will see it on the right hand side.

CORRECTION- Turn left on the sign that says JOMTIEN THANI. Also it is off the coast along the beach of JOMTIEN, not Beach Road

[ZZZ]

The new immigration office is great but it would help if they moved all the signs around 2nd road and soi 8 pointing to the location of the old office to the new location.

[Moonhunteruk]

morning all. Can someone tell me what sort of time limit the immigration need when extending my visa for another year.

My visa runs out on the 30th April along with my work permit what time period should i allow for them to renew??

any help would be appreciated

Mike

[Paul & Maneerat]

This is the kind of news and spirit of cooperation we have been waiting for for years. I'm amazed still to be reading negative responses from farangs. Somebody should give the Immigration Department a big thank you, for listening to our immigration issues and giving us an excellent solution.

[Noel]

I thought they moved out of Pattaya to Jomtien last month.

Is this another location?

Soi 5. I was just there in December. Take Thepprasit road to the end turn left and follow around to beach road.....keep going to soi 5.

I'm not very familiar with that area, it maybe in Jomtien beach area, but I don't think it's in Jomtien municipality as that begins south of Chayapruk road.

beachbunny

New Immigration Office:

When going down the coast or Beach road in Jomtien, make a left at the big JOMTIEN SIGN-it is green in color. Go up the street and you will see it on the right hand side.

CORRECTION- Turn left on the sign that says JOMTIEN THANI. Also it is off the coast along the beach of JOMTIEN, not Beach Road

Perhaps my report posted the day after the new office opened may help:

I went to the new Immigration Office on Soi 5 in Jomtien today.

Coming from Jomtien Beach Road, the two storey building is situated all the way along on the right, some 200 yards from the end of the Soi.

It has a reasonably sized courtyard for parking, but predictably the majority of space is taken up by staff vehicles. The raised flagpole stuck in the middle makes it interesting for manoeuvring around the haphazardly parked vehicles, but parking is currently not an issue as there is plenty of space to park in Soi 5.

On the left as you enter the compound, there is a row of one storey shops. The first one takes up two units and is a café: one of the units is decked out with tables and chairs, the other used as a kitchen.

At the end of the row and nearest the entrance is a unit that provides copying and photo services.

You can only get a minimum of two photos made at a cost of 100 Baht for the pair. I jokingly but negatively commented to the hard-faced woman who clearly manages the place on the price, to which her reply was that they now had ‘digital’ and ‘same-same before anyway’. Photocopies are 3 baht per page.

The units in between are in the process of being outfitted for whatever.

The opening hours of the Immigration Office are the same as in Soi 8, i.e. from 8.30am to 4.30 pm.

I asked the officer ‘interviewing’ me as to whether 90 Day reporting could be done on-line. Her reply was: “I hope so.” I tried to get more of a definitive answer from her, but she would say no more on the subject probably because saying ‘I don’t know’ seldom comes easily to Thai in authority.

Given that my visa extension was at her mercy, I chose not to push it and took it to mean ‘presently not the case’.

According to Khun Somsak, the portly affected officer who normally wears white and is in charge of Retirement Extensions (I could not help but spot the calendar on his desk with the December ‘model’ being a posing bloke dressed in a feathered white tutu of sorts), it seems that on Wednesdays all the staff participate in some sort of athletic pursuit. That explained the fact that everyone was wearing matching track suits and me calling him by his name without him wearing a name badge was not the reason for him sweating.

When I asked ‘Khun Pu’ (her spelling) if she enjoyed keeping fit, her scowl suggested that this was a compulsory activity.

For those planning to get to the office by Bahtbus, motocy taxi etc or using their own transport from the Pattaya direction, the optimum access would be the first Soi on the left as you make the sharp right-hand turn at the Hanuman statue down to the beach on Thappraya Road. The Immigration Office is probably about a five minute walk from the main road.

Soi 5 is the first Soi on the right past the Area Revenue building.

[bangsaen bob]

OK, how about some more info, like the website address. I'm on my 3rd month trying to get another one year extention with all the proper paperwork. I'll believe it when I see it.

[frankthetank]

You all do realise, of course, that the website will be in Thai!!

[TRD LOVER]

VISAS... ONLINE??? NOT IN CHIANGMAI.. getting a visa here is easy if you pay under the table..

but to be 100% legal.. it is a nightmare of paperwork... and signing your name a million times and carrying that company stamp everywhere you go is nuts.. is there anyone out there who is honest??

Try getting a NON-Imigrant B Thai Visa online... that will be that day...

Edited January 21, 2006 by TRD LOVER

[PK Engineering]

Actually your permission to stay in Thailand is what is being extended. You are already in Thailand so you do not need a visa to enter the country (that is what they are for). But visa is a four letter word and much easier to remember than "extension of stay".

It may be easier to say, but it caused me no end of confusion because my visa expires long before my permission to stay. Because of all the talk about "visa extension" I made a special trip to Bangkok to extend mine only to be told that Immigration does not extend visas and that I have to come back again when my permission to stay is about to expire.

If people (including Thai Immigration) had been more accurate and less lazy in their use of language I would not have made this expensive and time consuming mistake.

Is anybody of you aware that a visa is an entry permit but not a permission of how long to stay? A Visa that states entry permitted within 90 days after issuance is what it says: you have 90 days to use this visa to entry the country otherwise it's void.

That's it

Klaus

[BKK2]

Any one know the web address for this service

[marty]

You all do realise, of course, that the website will be in Thai!!

Yes it is. www.pattaya-immigration.e-webonline.com/

Did anyone else see this in last Friday's Pattaya Mail? Besides TM7, must the usual bank statements, health certicate, etc also be faxed to Immigration? Would like to hear from anyone who has successfully applied online.

Chapeau Pattaya Immigration Police

Editor;

Having noticed the possibility to apply for an extension period through the internet I tried that service. Having completed the TM.7 form I pressed send. I repeated the procedure for my wife. The next day we went to their office in Jomtien and asked for the extension. The computerised system being brand new, one could expect that something might have gone wrong. (Having been in IT myself for over 30 years I know all the pitfalls and Mr. Murphy.) The officer told me that indeed something had gone wrong that night and that the forms had not been received by them properly.

Almost everywhere in the world one would expect to be blamed for incorrectly having handled the system. But the officer apologised, handed us 2 empty TM.7 forms, and with the passport copies attached, asked us to sign the blank forms. The completion of the TM.7 was to be taken over by the police themselves! After having paid the 1,900 baht per person we got he extension.

Well done Immigration Police. That’s what I would call: Real Customer Service.

Chapeau!

Cees Bosman

[WilliamIV]

“We will be the first immigration center to offer on-line visa extension applications where the applicant will submit the application over the internet,” said Pol Col Itthipol.

1). Please note the word - APPLICATIONS !!!!

You do not get an extension given over the Internet.

2). The Expiry date of a THAI VISA is the date by which you must ARRIVE in Thailand - NOT the date by which you must leave !!!

[NewGuy]

Does anyone have a link where a T.M.7 form can be filled out on-line and submitted to Pattaya Immigration? Or is this a vapour service?

Thanks ...

NewGuy

[Noel]

Does anyone have a link where a T.M.7 form can be filled out on-line and submitted to Pattaya Immigration? Or is this a vapour service?

Thanks ...

NewGuy

Cannot help with a link, but in any event I do not see how it would be worth the bother.

You will have to go in person to present your passport and other documents anyway.

[NewGuy]

I was asking for a friend. His theory was that he would submit the T.M.7 on-line, drop into the Jomtien office a couple of days later with the rest of his papers and get the new visa on-the-spot - none of this "come back tomorrow" stuff. He must have a tighter schedule than me.

[Noel]

I was asking for a friend. His theory was that he would submit the T.M.7 on-line, drop into the Jomtien office a couple of days later with the rest of his papers and get the new visa on-the-spot - none of this "come back tomorrow" stuff. He must have a tighter schedule than me.

OK, but I cannot see how Immigration having a stand-alone TM 7 in advance can be of any use to them as they have nothing to check the details against. They will still need to check everything else as well as ask the usual questions.

That said, if you can find out how to submit the form on-line it may be worth your friend sending it in just to see if it does make a difference.

[wilko]

Pattaya’s new Immigration office up and running

Pattaya Immigration superintendent reveals on-line visa application services coming soon

PATTAYA: -- On-line visa extensions are one of the services offered by the new Pattaya Immigration headquarters, which has just opened in extensive new premises on Beach Road.

Pol Col Itthipol Ithisarnronachai, superintendent of Pattaya Immigration, on January 10 opened the new headquarters building to reporters, inviting them on a tour of the premises and describing future plans for the service.

He said that under the policies of Pol Lt Gen Suwatt Damrongsrisakol, commander of Immigration Police, the intention is to develop the Pattaya facility as a model immigration control point. Pattaya is one of 15 centers and a prime industrial and tourism gateway that needed to be both an effective control center and to present a favorable image of Thailand to visitors.

Pattaya’s original Immigration headquarters were set up at the time when American servicemen were coming to Pattaya on R&R leave, which required more police to look after the locals and tourists, so the Thai Royal Police sent down officers to offer visa services. In 1985 the Royal Thai Police recognized the growth of Pattaya and provided a budget to build accommodation, the first of its kind in Thailand. That was at a time when Pattaya wasn’t as developed as it is today.

The old premises eventually became too small, and unsuitable for providing services to foreigner visitors even though modern services were provided using IT, cue tickets and information over the internet. There was insufficient parking, and no room for expansion. Land and buildings were donated at a new location and the move to new premises took effect from December 6.

The new premises have ample parking space and the service has a 30 million baht budget provided mostly by the private sector, with Pattaya City Council providing a 1 million baht budget for a conference room. Solar cells are being used under the government energy saving policy and a Japanese company has supplied a 1 million baht budget for this. The old premises are being utilized as a lock-up and staff residences.

“We will be the first immigration center to offer on-line visa extension applications where the applicant will submit the application over the internet,” said Pol Col Itthipol. “Immigration police will check the information overnight and be ready to extend the applicant’s visa the next day. This will take only 10 minutes as we already have the information needed.”

Service by officials will be improved under an internal campaign designed to make visitors using the headquarters leave with a good impression.

“I feel proud the facility has been built. It is the property of everyone, accepted by everyone and we will serve everyone and everyone will trust Pattaya Immigration Police,” said the superintendent.

Pol Col Itthipol showed reporters around the conference room, offices and service booths, and pointed out the forms where people can express their opinions or submit complaints and suggestions to improve services even further.

The new headquarters is located at Beach Road. For further details call 0 38252 750-1.

--Pattaya Mail 2006-01-20

What an astounding piece of journalism! It makes no mention of thee fact the the offices are in Jomtien NOT Pattaya. Was the reporter so drunk that he didn't know where he was!?!?!

[Artisan]

What an astounding piece of journalism! It makes no mention of thee fact the the offices are in Jomtien NOT Pattaya. Was the reporter so drunk that he didn't know where he was!?!?!

Please refer to several previous postings. Thank you.

[wilko]

What an astounding piece of journalism! It makes no mention of thee fact the the offices are in Jomtien NOT Pattaya. Was the reporter so drunk that he didn't know where he was!?!?!

Please refer to several previous postings. Thank you.

Why? What for?