Retirement Extension At Chaeng Wattana - Aug 2012

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Went to Chaeng Wattana today for my annual retirement extension renewal. American guy in his 50s.

150 baht taxi fare via surface streets from Victory Monument to CW... Taxi driver didn't want to take the expressway, claiming there would be too much traffic.

Arrived CW just after their 8:30 am opening, walked right in, saw loads of people filling out their documents in the first lobby, went on thru to the queue counter where the officer checked my passport and already completed documents and issued me queue #17 for the retirement extensions section.

They were on #6 when I sat down... and had four officers/booths handling retirement extensions.... The wait was about 70 minutes before we were called in. Once in, the retirement extension approval process took perhaps 15 minutes including the check by the supervisor of the officer who handled my paperwork.

I went in about 3 weeks early with my passport, 1900 baht fee, completed TM form with my color 4x6 cm profile photo pasted on the back, my mobile phone number written on the top of the back side of the TM form, and photocopies of my passport face page, my most recent extension and reentry permit stamps, my most recent Thailand entry stamp and my airport departure card. Satisfied the income requirement with the $50 income letter from the U.S. Consulate.

No questions and no interrogations, no warnings, no requests for any additional documents or evidence. Had with me, but wasn't asked for, supporting statements for my monthly income, printout of one of my Thai bank account's transaction history, apartment lease, utility bill confirming my address, and a map showing my BKK address.

One slightly odd thing... last year I did my retirement extension at Bumrungrad Hospital via a special program Immigration offered there and at a hotel in BKK on a once a month basis... (They only ran that mobile immigration clinic program last year in honor of the King's birthday, and it wasn't continued this year). So back at CW today, the supervisor looked my retirement stamp from last year, looked puzzled and a bit concerned, and started conversing with my GF in Thai. Turned out the CW supervisor didn't recognize the signature of the Immigration supervisor who had signed my extension at Bumrungrad, and I'm not even clear the CW supervisor today was aware they had been issuing retirement extensions to regular folks (meaning non hospital patients) there last year, as she asked me at one point if I'd been hospitalized at Bummers at the time, and I said no. In any event, after a bit of hemming and hawing and my explanation of what had occurred last year, I was signed and on my way.

Not out the door, unfortunately, but instead back to the queue counter to then get my ticket for the re-entry permit line. I thought that would be quick, as I was only about 10th in line by the time we reached the re-entry permit section about 10 am. But although our intake of my paperwork and paying the 1000 baht fee occurred in maybe 15 minutes time, there then ensued about a 40 minute wait as the nearby issuing desk seemed to be having some problem and didn't churn out any stamped passports for probably a good 20 minutes or so while a bunch of the officers were standing nearby conferring. But after a while, the train got moving again and I finally received my passport back, and was able to head out by 11 am.

Took a bit of time to stroll around the basement only to find that the large area that had been a general and well-used food court on my last visit a year ago was now dark and empty... No idea of what happened with that. And didn't see any replacement for that operation anywhere else on the basement level.

Going out, took the traditional songtheau that was serving as the free shuttle service between the Immigration building and the main Chaeng Wattana Road, then took a van toward Pakret to stop and have lunch at the Central Chaeng Wattana Mall before heading elsewhere in the afternoon for business.

All in all, a relatively painless experience, albeit one that took half of a day. But no rude or unexpected surprises or warnings of dire Immigration things to come. But sitting there cooling my heels for most of the morning, I couldn't help but wonder why BKK Immigration couldn't implement an appointment reservations system similar to what I gather the Chiang Mai Immigration office has done, not to mention the U.S. Consulate and their citizens services unit's mandated appointments system.

[Maestro]

Thank you for your detailed report. I see they still exist, the clever taxi drivers who know which route is faster at a given time of the day.

[Maestro]

I have a feeling that an appointment system would not work in Bangkok. Too many applicants without an appointment might be tempted to try and bribe their way to the front of the queue, whereas the Bangkok immigration chief takes pride in running a clean operation and would not want to expose his staff to such temptation.

[Colabamumbai]

Excellent, well written informative post. Thanks for taking the time. It is always nice to hear about a positive experience.

[bangkokburning]

B120 from Huay Kwang to MFA after peak

[Sateev]

"only to find that the large area that had been a general and well-used food court on my last visit a year ago was now dark and empty..."

Probably killed off all their customers - I got deathly ill the last (and only) time I ate there...

[NancyL]

I have a feeling that an appointment system would not work in Bangkok. Too many applicants without an appointment might be tempted to try and bribe their way to the front of the queue, whereas the Bangkok immigration chief takes pride in running a clean operation and would not want to expose his staff to such temptation.

Chiang Mai also runs a clean operation. Someone has the option of either making an appointment on-line or coming in at dawn to join the pre-queue queue to get a queue number. If someone walked into CM Immigration at 8:30 am for a retirement extension, they'd probably be told all the queue tickets for extensions had been already given away and to come back earlier (much earlier) the next day. There certainly is no option to bribe your way to the head of the line.