Chaengwattana, My Best Experience Ever

[theoldgit]

Went to Chaengwattana this morning to extend my stay based on retirement, arrived at 08.29 and my heart initially sank when I saw the queue waiting for the Immigration office to open, the queue was in a circle back to the entrance of the complex.

Doors opened spot on 08.30 and there was a rush like the first day of the Harrods sale, I got my queue ticket at 08.36.

My number was called almost immediatly and my application was processed by the friendly and efficient Immigration Officer, who then passed me over to her superior, who signed me off, and I was back in my car at 08.49.

So twenty minutes after setting foot in the complex I was back in my car and good for another year, certainly a record for me.

[OJAS]

Allow me to be the first to congratulate you on this extraordinary achievement! Presumably no-one ahead of you in the queue at opening time was after an annual extension of stay or a re-entry permit (assuming this is also dealt with at the same window as at my local immigration office (Maptaput)), then.

Did you obtain a POI letter from the British Embassy this year, as I recall you doing in previous years? If so, I trust that you managed to do so without any difficulty on the basis of the info on their old website before this vanished into thin air when they migrated to their new site on GOV.UK (as I discovered a few days ago in preparation for obtaining my POI letter for this year's extension).

[theoldgit]

Hardly an achievement. There were people ahead of me seeking an extension, but there were a number of desks open, I guess I was fortunate.

Yes I still use the income method and purchased a letter from my embassy, whilst the instructions are buried in the depths of their new improved website, the procedure is still the sane.

At the end of the day a twenty minute turn around was pretty good.

Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app

[NCFC]

Yep my one-year extension based on marriage took around ten minutes to process in early March at Chaeng Wattana- very efficient service.

[Cuchulainn]

Agreed. Much better and more efficient than Suan Plu.

[Pib]

Using Suan Plu always made me think of a very crowded and hot bus station.

[TerryLH]

"At the end of the day a twenty minute turn around was pretty good."

I think that's better than 'pretty good'!

Terry

[Nana Cowboy]

The worse thing about that place for me is getting to and from. I loved the old location. In fact I havent even set foot in the place since they moved but know full well the nightmare of the location

[Pib]

The worse thing about that place for me is getting to and from. I loved the old location. In fact I havent even set foot in the place since they moved but know full well the nightmare of the location

The "starting point" for each individual and how they transport themselves has a big impact on whether a location is considered good or bad. For me staring in western Bangkok, the drive time to Suan Plu or Chaeng Wattana is about the same, traffic jam wise the Chaeng Wattana drive is less stressful, at Chaeng Wattana I can easily park my car, shop/eat/bank in the building while visiting immigration and do this in air conditioned comfort. However, but, Suan Plu has practically zero customer parking, a hot air con, and shopping/restaurants/bangking was limited to whatever was on the narrow soi. Plus, a Chaeng Wattana the immigration officers seem more helpful and efficient than when they were at Suan Plu....I guess a much nicer work environment helped make that possible. The Chaeng Wattana locaton gets my vote but I will admit if immigration had a nice facility more centrally located in Bangkok it would be better for the majority of folks transporation/travel time wise, but central Bangkok is already so, so crowded that's one main reason the govt relocated many of it's offices/agencies to northern Bangkok/Chaeng Wattana.