Visiting The Chiang Mai Immigration Office

[anto]

Then there is the extension of permission to stay.

I think anto isn't really sure why he's got a yellow book.

I have a multiple O visa valid for 15 months ,and doing a border run every 3 months .Why would i ever need to go to C.M.immigration ever again ?

Dunno, you tell me - these are your words ".Hoping to get my Yellow House book (its in progress), so i don't have to go to that sweaty hell hole again" .

The meaning is with the yellow book i dont have to go to Chiang Mai immigration for a residance cert .I buy and sell motorcycles on a regular basis .

Then if you are in the motorcycle business surely your work permit would mean that you don't even have to do border runs?

I am not in the motorcycle business .My wife is ,and all the business bikes are in her name .I just buy and sell maybe 2 bikes a year as a hobby .

[Thailand]

Then there is the extension of permission to stay.

I think anto isn't really sure why he's got a yellow book.

I have a multiple O visa valid for 15 months ,and doing a border run every 3 months .Why would i ever need to go to C.M.immigration ever again ?

Dunno, you tell me - these are your words ".Hoping to get my Yellow House book (its in progress), so i don't have to go to that sweaty hell hole again" .

The meaning is with the yellow book i dont have to go to Chiang Mai immigration for a residance cert .I buy and sell motorcycles on a regular basis .

Then if you are in the motorcycle business surely your work permit would mean that you don't even have to do border runs?

I am not in the motorcycle business .My wife is ,and all the business bikes are in her name .I just buy and sell maybe 2 bikes a year as a hobby .

Wouldn't you need a work permit even if you were only buying and selling a couple of bikes a year? Is the number of purchases and sales relevant?

[maanoi]

Made the dreaded trip to CM Immigration today to have my ED visa extended. Arrived at 6.50am, got the last car park left. Had to queue in the standing line. They opened the doors early at around 7.45am. Got my first queue number 19. They started calling people at 8am to get the second queue number. Got number 6. Only 1 desk processing my queue. Eventually got called at 9.20am. Interview was fine and suprisingly every seemed pretty happy today (maybe cause its friday?) Got my passport back at 10am and home by 10.20am.

Pretty big improvement compared to my previous visits. If it was always like this I wouldn't hate going there.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[cabralad]

yep, I just completed my trip to cm immigration for my edu visa extension, a major improvement over my last visit there.

Arrived at 8am, ended up 24th in the queue, they were processing 6 an hour so I went home and came back 1 pm. Had passport at 2.15 pm with new 3 month stamp. Great girl at desk 5 , good service .

[silverhawk_usa]

Arrived 2:30PM for my 90 Day Report. No problem parking the motorcycle. Finished in 10 minutes. i find this to usually be the case when arriving late afternoon to do 90 day.

[anto]

>>Wouldn't you need a work permit even if you were only buying and selling a couple of bikes a year? Is the number of purchases and sales relevant? <<

So anyone who buys and sells one or two motorcycles per year at a loss needs a work permit ?

Strange way of thinking IMO !!!

[Thailand]

>>Wouldn't you need a work permit even if you were only buying and selling a couple of bikes a year? Is the number of purchases and sales relevant? <<

So anyone who buys and sells one or two motorcycles per year at a loss needs a work permit ?

Strange way of thinking IMO !!!

When you are in a hole stop digging comes to mind?

[anto]

>>When you are in a hole stop digging comes to mind?<<

Just pointing out how stupid your statement was ,regarding needing a WP .lol !! ( to Mr/Ms/mrs. Thailand )

[Thailand]

>>When you are in a hole stop digging comes to mind?<<

Just pointing out how stupid your statement was ,regarding needing a WP .lol !! ( to Mr/Ms/mrs. Thailand )

[Mapguy]

Bump. It seems some new posters are not familiar with the search function. Despite a few digressions, this thread has stayed on topic.

[mania]

So having used the online system 100 days ago I went this week for my 2nd year of 1 year visa extension based on marriage.
I must say it was much better than the last year.

Reasons being....

First off parking lot was packed but mainly Burmese milling about.
I parked at the CM Airport & a short walk is fine 30 baht when we left
Inside immigration was packed too but chairs came available quickly.
Air con was good & it was not hot

Best of all the tough lady from the center desk is gone & the lady who replaced her
was super pleasant & nice/polite. Joking at times & just overall a nice comfortable experience.
When we arrived my wife dropped the appointment queue card at the front desk & she asked if we
were all ready. Then took us right on time.

After we asked how long it would be to get the passport back & she said maybe 10 minutes & she was right.
Total time in there just under an hour. Not bad at all for an extension based on marriage as it has a lot more paper
than extension based on retirement.

Some side notes...
I could not help but notice the 90 day window was double staffed & moved very rapidly so much so that I may even
give it a try this year..not sure yet

While we were being interviewed I heard screaming at the counter. I turned around & a somewhat unruly looking falang was yelling
I am right & your wrong ! I want to see your boss NOW !!!
The lady who was doing our papers acted like it was nothing & smiled at me & said ....He wants to see my boss??
Made me realize they probably see that too often.

But I want to give credit where credit is due & I think this place has improved greatly over last year.
Still too small yes, but the general attitude of all the workers seemed very pleasant.

While sitting at the desk during the interview when not being asked questions I could hear the conversations
at the desks on the side & all the workers were explaining things very nicely to those applicants too.
I asked our interviewer if it is everyday the same & she smiled & said "took wan took wan"
So I can only imagine doing that day after day.

But what an improvement over last year with the cranky lady & the hour plus wait even after the interview for
my stamped passport to be returned.

They are doing a good job now IMHO. Of course would be nice if parking & building were larger but what a difference from a year ago.

Edited August 7, 2013 by mania

[Frank James]

The service at CM Immigration has improved quite noticeably this year. You want to see an immigration nightmare/horror story, try dealing with US "Customs & Border Protection". Every agent wears an all black uniform, equipped with: 9mm pistol; two pairs handcuffs; expandable steel baton, large can of eye irritant, and (optional) taser. They interpret and make up law as they go along. They are real dicks when they want to be, and they always want to be. Dig the following:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Vo91XS5pVj8

We are lucky to be here, and should be grateful that the rules are mild.

[true blue]

i went for a res cert yesterday,and the guy doing them was great,i no it was only handing paperwork in but he checked it,made a few jokes about it and gave me reciept come back next week,could not have been easier.

[Thailand]

I saw cars were parked on the main road from immigration to the airport side this afternoon.

Maybe a concession to the lack of parking, or something else going on?

[hellodolly]

The service at CM Immigration has improved quite noticeably this year. You want to see an immigration nightmare/horror story, try dealing with US "Customs & Border Protection". Every agent wears an all black uniform, equipped with: 9mm pistol; two pairs handcuffs; expandable steel baton, large can of eye irritant, and (optional) taser. They interpret and make up law as they go along. They are real dicks when they want to be, and they always want to be. Dig the following:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Vo91XS5pVj8

We are lucky to be here, and should be grateful that the rules are mild.

the only thing I saw unusual was the lines were short.

[Mapguy]

Immigration on Friday Morning:

Parked at airport. Arrived 8:05 and left at 10:25. Door had opened before 08:00. Seats still available. There are 50 - 60 seats inside. Announced need at central counter. Given appropriate task queue number.

Announcement at 08:10 of general instructions in Thai and English and encouragement (and time) provided to prepare material. Steady but not huge stream of newcomers. Two hours later there were 90 - 100 waiting both inside and out. This seems to indicate that the office is serving more than 55 (an announced morning limit).

The work stations (7) opened at 8:30.

Counter 1 (7 & 30-Day visa extension, medical treatment,re-entry): operated at rate of 40 call-ups per hour! Processing time varied with task. Re-entry visa processing took 45 minutes - 1 hour. Passports tend to be done in small batches. Extension of 7 & 30-day visas very fast.

Counter 2 ( 90-day): operated at rate of 36 per hour and cleared those waiting very quickly, 15 minutes after opening up. Thereafter, very brief backups from time to time.

Counters 3 & 4 (with 2 clerks for spouse visa, business, volunteer, dependent, other): began operating at 9:00 at a rate of about 4 per hour. The interviews for marriage visa extensions still go quite slowly.

Counter 5 & 6 (with 2 clerks for teacher, student, retirement, studying, and British missionary): began with only one clerk at a rate of 4 per hour. Second clerk showed up at 9:00. Same rate as the other desk.

Counter 7 (visa transfer to new passport, endorsement re-entry, non-quota immigration visa, residence permit, BOI, IEAT, and change visa for retirement only): operated at rate of 5 per hour. Initial "front office" processing time varied significantly depending upon task. For transfer of data to new passport, with appropriate photocopies in hand, the initial interview took less than 4 minutes.

General callbacks for picking up completed passports began after 45 minutes after "initial front office" work except simple tourist visa extensions which required no real wait. The "back office" work seems to take 45 - 1 hour for just about anything.

Visa and Mastercharge payment accepted!

Little evidence of overwhelming number of elderly waiting. No obnoxious farang spotted.

Your mileage will vary.

The non-immigrant (aka Burmese") workers waiting outside at the adjoining building numbered at least 150 at 10:30! Consider yourself lucky!

[uptheos]

Immigration on Friday Morning:

Parked at airport. Arrived 8:05 and left at 10:25. Door had opened before 08:00. Seats still available. There are 50 - 60 seats inside. Announced need at central counter. Given appropriate task queue number.

Announcement at 08:10 of general instructions in Thai and English and encouragement (and time) provided to prepare material. Steady but not huge stream of newcomers. Two hours later there were 90 - 100 waiting both inside and out. This seems to indicate that the office is serving more than 55 (an announced morning limit).

The work stations (7) opened at 8:30.

Counter 1 (7 & 30-Day visa extension, medical treatment,re-entry): operated at rate of 40 call-ups per hour! Processing time varied with task. Re-entry visa processing took 45 minutes - 1 hour. Passports tend to be done in small batches. Extension of 7 & 30-day visas very fast.

Counter 2 ( 90-day): operated at rate of 36 per hour and cleared those waiting very quickly, 15 minutes after opening up. Thereafter, very brief backups from time to time.

Counters 3 & 4 (with 2 clerks for spouse visa, business, volunteer, dependent, other): began operating at 9:00 at a rate of about 4 per hour. The interviews for marriage visa extensions still go quite slowly.

Counter 5 & 6 (with 2 clerks for teacher, student, retirement, studying, and British missionary): began with only one clerk at a rate of 4 per hour. Second clerk showed up at 9:00. Same rate as the other desk.

Counter 7 (visa transfer to new passport, endorsement re-entry, non-quota immigration visa, residence permit, BOI, IEAT, and change visa for retirement only): operated at rate of 5 per hour. Initial "front office" processing time varied significantly depending upon task. For transfer of data to new passport, with appropriate photocopies in hand, the initial interview took less than 4 minutes.

General callbacks for picking up completed passports began after 45 minutes after "initial front office" work except simple tourist visa extensions which required no real wait. The "back office" work seems to take 45 - 1 hour for just about anything.

Visa and Mastercharge payment accepted!

Little evidence of overwhelming number of elderly waiting. No obnoxious farang spotted.

Your mileage will vary.

The non-immigrant (aka Burmese") workers waiting outside at the adjoining building numbered at least 150 at 10:30! Consider yourself lucky!

Did you go for something or was this an undercover operation?

[Mapguy]

Shushhhh!

[NancyL]

I went on Tuesday, the day after a holiday and showed up at 7:30 am, even though I don't need to do that for 90-day reports. I, too, was pleasantly surprised.

A few observations -- the "go away until after lunch if your ticket is over 55" is just for counter No. 1, where they do tourist visa extensions, med visa extensions and (I think re-entry permits). It's not for those faux-queue tickets they distribute when they open the door. They distributed over 100 pre-queue tickets the day I was there and had gave everyone "real" queue tickets by 9 am. They need to make it more obvious what people who arrive between 8 - 8:30 am should do. They clogged up the pre-queue processing area and often had trouble understanding they were suppose to grab a handwritten number from the spindle on the counter and take a seat.

They still need to improve the "pre-queue" process to make it more friendly for the old and infirm. Maybe someone could start distributing the pre-queue slips outside the building at 7 am. There was a bit of a crush when the door opened at 7:45 am -- enough where some people could have been thrown off-balance and fallen.

And, I must observe that the rudest behavior I saw wasn't from western foreigners (AKA farangs, a word I hate). It was from Asian tourists. The one who took the cake was the guy (Chinese, Korean, don't know) who showed up to get a re-entry permit without his passport -- just a copy of the photo page, not the visa. The poor senior female Immigration officer had a hard time explaining to him in English that she needed to see his passport. Of course, he knew no Thai. At one point she said, rather loudly, "why you come to Immigration and not have passport" as she hit her head with the palm of her hand (the "oh, duh" gesture.) It was great entertainment and I think she appreciated the audience reaction.

Edited August 16, 2013 by NancyL

[StevieH]

anyone know of any reason why CM immigration shouldn't be open this coming monday please? don't think there are any public holidays or whatnot no?

[Tywais]

Nothing on the calendar - http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/604006-public-holidays-2013/

[MESmith]

anyone know of any reason why CM immigration shouldn't be open this coming monday please? don't think there are any public holidays or whatnot no?

Exhaustion?

[Thailand]

Nothing on the calendar - http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/604006-public-holidays-2013/

There are visa extension reservations for the whole day so I guess it is open unless something out of the ordinary has occurred?

[StevieH]

thanks guys. just sanity checking.

[Mapguy]

Bump!

The purpose of this thread is to consolidate practical --- practical --- information not opinion or complaints (if that is at all possible!) about visiting the Chiang Mai Immigration office including matters such as where to park, office opening procedures, the activities of different stations, waiting times experienced, holiday schedule, and so on. There are so many threads, some with vague or opaque topic headers, that it is more than understandable that people get confused as to where to go to get information.

The procedures at the Chiang Mai Immigration office are much improved over the rather chaotic conditions of a very few months' past. Some procedures do still change from time to time. That can be noted here. The best general advice is that conditions vary from day to day, but if people share recent experience carefully, then it is hoped that those seeking the latest information will be helped.

Edited September 11, 2013 by Mapguy

[maanoi]

Went to CM immigration this at 1:10pm today (monday) to get a re-entry permit. Was suprised to see the car park with 5 or 6 empty spots. Inside the office was maybe half full. Got my queue. Had to wait for 17 people, took almost 1.5 hrs to be called. Another 15 mins to get my passport back. Was out the door at 3pm.

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[Mapguy]

Maanoi's experience compared with reports of very prompt re-entry permit service shows that from day to day, your mileage will differ!

There have also been some posts flying around that the "back office" staff is also assisting with initial interviews as well as processing. That's good news.

I have also seen a recent post elsewhere which noted problems with a clerk (probably an intern) returning documents at the central sign-in desk. That was unfortunate.

In recent weeks, to handle the morning crush, I have seen one or two senior desk officers (not interns) taking charge of the initial disposition of needs at the central sign-in desk which seems a terrific improvement since a lot of important questions might come up at that time that are beyond an intern's knowledge. Who is fielding the initial disposition of requests these days?

Another question: For a while, the petrol station across the road was not allowing parking (at Bt20), but is that so today? Nothing wrong with a 3-4 minute walk from either the airport lot or the Airport Plaza lot, but parking across the way might be helpful for those not too mobile folks visiting the office.

[Greenwich Boy]

went last week (Wednesday) to extend a Tourist Visa. arrived 7.30 ish just as the doors were opening. very quiet, no rush and no queue jumpers as the initial numbers handed out.

went to the middle desk when my number was called at 8.30, passport was inspected and was told politely in good English 'you can have another 30 days'

served by the usual grey haired official - the one who is often joking with other members of staff - got a thumbs up from him when he noticed that my photo was glued to the TM7.

passport collected just after 9. polite and efficient service all round.

what seems to grind this counter (can not speak for others) to a halt on occasions is the tourists who can not (or will not) complete the form before getting to the desk. we have all forgotten the odd photo copy but to turn up in a group and virtually expect the official to complete the form drives me nuts!

as an aside the TM7 asks for a 4x6 photo, I only had old ones so used a British passport sized 4.5x3.5 without any problems and add your phone number somewhere on the form

[Tywais]

I have also seen a recent post elsewhere which noted problems with a clerk (probably an intern) returning documents at the central sign-in desk. That was unfortunate.

That was me. Generally she was fielding questions or requests fine and promptly, just that she decided to ignore me when I questioned about the 100 Baht (2000-1900) change being returned and was annoyed at my asking. Oddly enough, there were a stack of passports with receipts and 100 Baht stapled to them as normal.

In recent weeks, to handle the morning crush, I have seen one or two senior desk officers (not interns) taking charge of the initial disposition of needs at the central sign-in desk which seems a terrific improvement since a lot of important questions might come up at that time that are beyond an intern's knowledge. Who is fielding the initial disposition of requests these days?

Normally the intern is doing it but I was there yesterday (Monday) also and a senior official who has a private office off to the left side of the room was getting involved also. She was the one who called out my name for the online queue and handled my paper work and was a bit upset with the staff as to why it hadn't been called out already. Usually I get the lady at the far right desk and was waiting for her to call me up but she was only handling standard queue numbers. Appears the online queue individuals were forgotten about for a while.

This was at 9:00 AM and called at 9:20AM and in her office for 5 minutes and passport retrieval 30 minutes later. So can't really complain now can I?

[brommers]

Went to get a multiple entry permit and do my 90 day check-in today. Arrived at 14:04 and left at 14:18, with a free mint to boot. It doesn't get better than that.

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