Chaeng Wattana Imm./Retirement Extension trip report Aug 2013

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

is there a kasikorn branch nearby somewhere CW that will do the required letter too?

i take the train to laksi station and walk from there. will check the buses on my google maps phone app next time.

edit: can do on laptop too https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Bangkok+Bus+Terminal,+Kamphaeng+Phet+2,+Chatuchak,+10900,+Thailand&daddr=Chaeng+Watthana+Bangkok+Thailand&hl=en&sll=13.853032,100.572418&sspn=0.132334,0.208054&geocode=FfrF0gAdfED-BSndBXCFaJziMDG8zGZJVfJoZA%3BFQ_10wAd42v-BSmdI0r3PYPiMDG3otXzOEVfDQ&dirflg=r&ttype=now&noexp=0&noal=0&sort=def&mra=ls&t=m&z=12&start=0

The #52 bus from Mochit BTS drives right past the Laksi train station and turns the corner there onto Chaeng Wattana Road en route to the Government Complex a bit further on down the road.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Sorry lopburi3, I think I am slow :-P Does that mean that upon entry, next 90 day report should be done counting from that date?

I think I should open a new thread instead of hijacking this one, confused now after leaving and entering and then applying for the extension. I don't know anymore when I should report again ^^U

For someone who's subject to the 90 day reporting requirement, every time you leave Thailand and re-enter the country again, a new 90-day period starts with your arrival back into Thailand.

Even if your prior reporting slip from Immigration has a different/earlier date on it, that is superceded when you leave and then re-enter Thailand. Start counting a new 90 days from the date you return and that will be your next due date.

Thus theoretically, a person traveling in and out of Thailand frequently for business or other reasons might never have to do a 90-day report, even if they were subject to that requirement, because they'd never have 90 consecutive days in country that would trigger the reporting requirement.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

TallguyJohn, after reading your post, I would like to recommend to you and anyone else who enjoyed your enthralling account, Bill Bryson's "Notes from a Small Island". Read it and enjoy.

Notes from a Small Island is a humorous travel book on Great Britain by American author Bill Bryson, first published in 1995.

Bryson wrote Notes from a Small Island when he decided to move back to his native United States, but wanted to take one final trip around Great Britain, which had been his home for over twenty years.....

Bryson also pays homage to the humble self-effacing fortitude of British people under trying times such as the World Wars and Great Depression, as well as the various peculiarities of Britain and British English...

I hope you're not suggesting I was "paying homage to the humble self-effacing fortitude" of the Thai Immigration Service...

Edited August 21, 2013 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[Card]

I know about the 52 bus but never knew about the 166 bus. Do you wait for the 166 at the exit of the immigration building on the same floor (the one above the ground floor) as the office where the visas are processed, ie. where the motorcycle riders congregate? Or do you wait on the main road outside the government complex? And how frequent are the number 166 buses?

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Don't know how frequent the 166 buses are. Although, when I was leaving CW Immigration yesterday, the correct blue one probably came along in less than 10 minutes of my waiting.

As for the location, yes, you would catch the 166 bus in the same location as where the red shuttle buses and most of the taxi drivers stop.... on the side of the Immigration building where you walk up a few stairs, pass thru the metal detector station, go inside, and then hang a left to head to Immigration on the same floor.

Going back from CW to Victory Monument on the 166 seems pretty easy. But it's a bit more complicated on the outbound trip.

That's because, apparently, there are two flavors of the 166 when it leaves Victory Monument...one that swings by the Government Complex on Chaeng Wattana, and a different 166 that heads straight for Muang Thon Thani. The placards on the bus, written in Thai of course, distinguish between the two.

Here's what the yellow placard for the Government Complex to Victory Monument bus looks like. In Thai, it's saying, "Government Complex - Victory Monument". The top line in Thai says Government Complex. The bottom line in Thai says Victory Monument.

What's going on with the red colored #166 buses that always seem to pull thru the same driveway at Immigration but never let any passengers on there, I'm not sure. But I've been passed off by them the last two times I've been at Immigration. So it seems that the blue air con #166 buses are the correct ones to look for for the expressway trip.

The #52 bus, meanwhile, stops outbound and inbound on the main Chaeng Wattana Road, at about the Soi 7 intersection. It doesn't drive down Soi 7 to or toward the Immigration Bldg. So to get to and from its stops, you'd take the free BMTA red colored shuttle buses that run between the main road and the Immigration building along Soi 7.

Now having taken both the #52 and the #166 on different trips back from CW, they both arrived back to their return destinations in about the same 35 minute time... the #52 going to Mochit BTS via the roadways and the #166 going to Victory Monument BTS in good part by expressway. Though those return times were late morning.... not rush hour times.

Once the #166 got off the expressway, I believe on Rama VI a fair distance from Victory Monument, the surface street traffic heading toward Victory Monument was pretty bad even at late morning, and worse as the bus headed down Ratchathewi into the VM circle.

Edited August 21, 2013 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

...

Edited August 21, 2013 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[Card]

Don't know how frequent the 166 buses are. Although, when I was leaving CW Immigration yesterday, the correct blue one probably came along in less than 10 minutes of my waiting.

As for the location, yes, you would catch the 166 bus in the same location as where the red shuttle buses and most of the taxi drivers stop.... on the side of the Immigration building where you walk up a few stairs, pass thru the metal detector station, go inside, and then hang a left to head to Immigration on the same floor.

Going back from CW to Victory Monument on the 166 seems pretty easy. But it's a bit more complicated on the outbound trip.

That's because, apparently, there are two flavors of the 166 when it leaves Victory Monument...one that swings by the Government Complex on Chaeng Wattana, and a different 166 that heads straight for Muang Thon Thani. The placards on the bus, written in Thai of course, distinguish between the two.

Here's what the yellow placard for the Government Complex to Victory Monument bus looks like. In Thai, it's saying, "Government Complex - Victory Monument". The top line in Thai says Government Complex. The bottom line in Thai says Victory Monument.

166 Bus.jpg

What's going on with the red colored #166 buses that always seem to pull thru the same driveway at Immigration but never let any passengers on there, I'm not sure. But I've been passed off by them the last two times I've been at Immigration. So it seems that the blue air con #166 buses are the correct ones to look for for the expressway trip.

The #52 bus, meanwhile, stops outbound and inbound on the main Chaeng Wattana Road, at about the Soi 7 intersection. It doesn't drive down Soi 7 to or toward the Immigration Bldg. So to get to and from its stops, you'd take the free BMTA red colored shuttle buses that run between the main road and the Immigration building along Soi 7.

Now having taken both the #52 and the #166 on different trips back from CW, they both arrived back to their return destinations in about the same 35 minute time... the #52 going to Mochit BTS via the roadways and the #166 going to Victory Monument BTS in good part by expressway. Though those return times were late morning.... not rush hour times.

Once the #166 got off the expressway, I believe on Rama VI a fair distance from Victory Monument, the surface street traffic heading toward Victory Monument was pretty bad even at late morning, and worse as the bus headed down Ratchathewi into the VM circle.

Sorry to labour the point (and thanks a lot for this great info), but everything you wrote here fits in with my experience except the bit about LEFT in "on the side of the Immigration building where you walk up a few stairs, pass thru the metal detector station, go inside, and then hang a LEFT to head to Immigration on the same floor."

Shouldn't that be RIGHT? I labour the point because I may be entering the building on the opposite side from you and that would make a big difference, although I don't know if there is only one entrance to the building.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

The entrance I'm talking about where the #166 buses and the red shuttle buses stop is the one that fronts onto/faces the Soi 7 roadway. The buses travel down Soi 7, make a U-turn at the end, and then come back up along the side of the Immigration building that faces onto the soi/road.

From there, you walk into the building at that entrance, pass thru the metal detectors, walk into the main atrium/open area, and turn LEFT to walk toward the Immigration office area on that same floor.

There's another different entrance on what I'd call the back of the building, closer to the car parking area, that is right where the Immigration office is located. But neither the red shuttles nor the blue #166 buses stop there, AFAIK. I'm sure the building has other entrances as well...but those aren't where the buses stop, AFAIK.

Edited August 21, 2013 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[jointedNose]

thanks for the clarification on the 166. was wondering how it got from impact/ muang thon thani to chaeng wattanna. so in fact there are two different routes of 166.

there are a number of buses along that road where it comes off the express way that will take you to close to immig if you get the wrong 166. or if the right 166 is too long coming. from what i recall 166 is reasonably frequent at least a couple an hour. though i wasnt paying attention to the different route factor when i was looking.

Edited August 21, 2013 by jointedNose

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Well, there's mostly one #166 bus line and route that breaks into two different directions at the northern end of the route, one going to the Government Complex and the other to MTT.

Here's a link to a BMTA map, unfortunately in Thai, that I believe shows the routing, with the blue route line going to the Government Complex, and the red route line going to MTT....

http://www.bmta.co.th/upload/bus_map_download/img049.pdf

Since the blue route line #166 appears to terminate at the Government Complex, for someone catching the bus there, at least you don't have to worry about which direction that bus is headed since, at that point, it'll only be headed back into the center of town to Victory Monument.

Here's a shorthand guide to BMTA bus placard signs that another member posted elsewhere:

a yellow notice with red or black writing means it's going to go on an expressway,

a red notice with white writing means it either started from or is going to (or both) somewhere other than what you'd expect, but will use the route that the number suggest for a large part of the journey,

a white notice with red writing means it'll not go the whole distance by a long way.

A blue notice with white writing usually means that the bus will do as expected.

If you notice from the photo I posted above, the #166 bus from the Government Complex to Victory Monument via expressway does indeed have a yellow placard sign with black writing indicating its route terminus points.

Edited August 22, 2013 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[Card]

The entrance I'm talking about where the #166 buses and the red shuttle buses stop is the one that fronts onto/faces the Soi 7 roadway. The buses travel down Soi 7, make a U-turn at the end, and then come back up along the side of the Immigration building that faces onto the soi/road.

From there, you walk into the building at that entrance, pass thru the metal detectors, walk into the main atrium/open area, and turn LEFT to walk toward the Immigration office area on that same floor.

There's another different entrance on what I'd call the back of the building, closer to the car parking area, that is right where the Immigration office is located. But neither the red shuttles nor the blue #166 buses stop there, AFAIK. I'm sure the building has other entrances as well...but those aren't where the buses stop, AFAIK.

Thanks a lot for this - it does seem like I enter through the other entrance - but I will check next time I go - It's a good thing I checked with you or I could have been waiting for the 166 bus a long time!

BTW, for the return journey, I usually go to the main Chang Wattana Road by motorbike taxi from the exit and catch a minibus back to Mor Chit. It's only 25 baht and air con. If there is a spare seat all the minibuses stop or slow down near the bus stop heading east (other side of road from Gov Complex). The ones that go to the BTS have a BTS sign on the front or side of the bus so it's easy to tell which ones go there - even though all the other writing is in Thai. But you have to be quick or the other people waiting will grab the seats.

Also minibuses from Mor Chit go to the Gov Complex. I know number 10 does, but the drivers don't speak English and even if u carry a notice in Thai, they don't know exactly where to drop u off, but I managed once with the help of another passenger.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

The helpful Thai phrases in those kinds of situations would include:

"Bai soon ratchigan mai?" -- Do you go to the Government Complex?

or

"Bai Chaeng Wattana Soi Jet mai?" -- Do you go to Chaeng Wattana Soi 7?

and on the return

"Bai Mochit BTS mai" or "Bai Rod Fai Fah Mochit mai?"

[lunatic farang]

hmm this link is worth bookmarking http://translate.google.com)

Edited August 23, 2013 by lunatic farang

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

This is probably a more useful site than the actual BMTA site:

http://www.transitbangkok.com/bangkok_buses.html

[qween]

this is the one i was looking for https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Pak+Kret+Nonthaburi+Thailand&daddr=Lak+Si+Bangkok+Thailand&hl=en&ll=13.899576,100.537434&spn=0.065987,0.103683&sll=13.899637,100.537026&sspn=0.065987,0.103683&geocode=FRY31AAd_HH9BSnpHlWjsIXiMDFgUQxFN5IBAw%3BFQzo0wAdSbb-BSm14e8GJoPiMDEQUOJdsgABAw&oq=laks&dirflg=r&ttype=now&noexp=0&noal=0&sort=def&mra=ltm&t=m&z=13&start=0

so if you have to catch the ordinary 166 from democracy monument you get off as soon as it gets off the express way at the first stop, cross over the road (by pedestrian bridge), then look for bus stop, then take either the 52 or 150 (i.e opposite direction to the way ordinary 166 is going on the same road) to soi 7 as above. then from there as previous posted here. or walk up soi 7. shouldnt have to wait more than 10 minutes for either of the buses 52 or 150

Edited August 23, 2013 by qween

[OJAS]

Sorry lopburi3, I think I am slow :-P Does that mean that upon entry, next 90 day report should be done counting from that date?

Yes, it does so mean.

[jcnbkk]

Only the first extension of stay is regarded a 90 day report - once you start reporting only the TM.47 or entry into country is regarded as a report.

I'm not sure I understand that. I'll be flying back into Thailand in late Dec. 2013 and going to Chaeng Wattana immigration in early Jan. 2014 to do my second extentention of stay on an O-A visa due on Feb. 10. So will my 90 day report date be from Dec. arrival, Jan. filling, or Feb.10 expiration date?

Thanks to OP for this post and the bus info. I've never tried The #166 bus to Victory, I'll look for it next time. You catch it where? And thanks to all for bank info.

[Sceptict11]

Your 90 day report will be due 90 days after landing in Thailand. ( Day 1 is the date of entry).

You talk about a second extension of stay does this mean that you have a re-entry permit ?

[lopburi3]

As said above it will be from last entry into Thailand as always for those already on extensions of stay. Don't forget to get a re-entry permit prior to travel to keep your current extension alive for the December return.

[Sceptict11]

As said above it will be from last entry into Thailand as always for those already on extensions of stay. Don't forget to get a re-entry permit prior to travel to keep your current extension alive for the December return.

Suspect jcnbkk is already outside Thailand which is why I raised the issue of a re-entry permit.

If jcnbkk does not have a re-entry permit he will only receive a 30 day visa exempt entry and will have to restart the process of obtaining a non O visa and subsequent extension of stay

[OZEMADE]

John,

I did my 90 day report at Chaeng Wattana today also....but the girls were really giggling because your fly was open. :-)

Thanks for the report...I'll go back in early Sep to do my annual extension of stay, but I now use the Bt800K bank letter approach. I first go to the Bangkok Bank branch downstairs when it opens at 8:30am just like when Immigration opens, takes about 5-10 minutes to got the letter against the fixed savings account I have at that branch...the letter costs Bt100 and they update the passbook, I then get a copy of the updated passbook page to attach to the bank letter, then it's back upstairs to immigration to file my extension paperwork....usually I'm done and gone in 30 to 60 minutes. Has worked fine and easy for the last two years using the bank letter; before that I was using the embassy letter but got tied of paying them $50/Bt1600 for the letter.

Pib

Crikey, you got ripped off. OZ Embassy Stat Dec with your info filled out by yourself re your finances. 15 minutes stamped and dated $20 OZ.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

The U.S. Embassy issued income letters for retirement extensions have been priced at $50 U.S. for quite some time... and yes, it's pretty much a ripoff, considering it's a single page form that you (the applicant) fills in some very basic info and all they do is stamp and sign it.

On the other hand, the U.S. consulate process is pretty accommodating and applicant friendly -- pricing aside -- unlike some other countries' consulates.

[lopburi3]

It also requires the personal time and attention of a US Consular officer being assigned overseas to do this so the cost is based on the expense to provide that service. It is a primary function rather than a free service as we are used to seeing from Banking establishments in the USA. Do not believe there is much ripoff.

[Pib]

You swear to the income statement....the consular officer stamps & signs the letter....you are done. $50 is just too much for that simple and quick process...it use to be $20 up until about 2 years ago which I think was reasonable.

[Sceptict11]

You swear to the income statement....the consular officer stamps & signs the letter....you are done. $50 is just too much for that simple and quick process...it use to be $20 up until about 2 years ago which I think was reasonable.

Just as a matter of interest .

What would it cost to secure a sworn affidavit within the USA?

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Yes... that's why I said I considered it a ripoff...because as Pib points out...the price had been much less, and then suddenly was increased quite substantially.

I believe it was part of a broader adjustment of consulate fees at U.S. consulates around the world... not just singling out Thailand or income letters.

The $50 fee is the same fee you'd pay if you want them to do their version of notarizing something -- again, a pretty pricey stamp.

I've always looked at it lately, as the feds getting their pound of flesh to help (un) balance the federal budget. Or perhaps to pay for the rising cost of Thai food and niceties that the U.S. Consular staff here are forced to endure...

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

You swear to the income statement....the consular officer stamps & signs the letter....you are done. $50 is just too much for that simple and quick process...it use to be $20 up until about 2 years ago which I think was reasonable.

Just as a matter of interest .

What would it cost to secure a sworn affidavit within the USA?

The closest thing to that, domestically in the U.S., would be getting a document notarized.

And last time I did that a couple years back in the U.S., it was a whole lot less than $50 per document. As I recall, it was more like $10 per document at the time. But that's done by private business notaries, who don't have the considerable cost overhead of the U.S. State Dept.

[ubonjoe]

You swear to the income statement....the consular officer stamps & signs the letter....you are done.  $50 is just too much for that simple and quick process...it use to be $20 up until about 2 years ago which I think was reasonable.

It went up from $30 to $50 in July of 2008. I remember because I was preparing for 1st extension then.

[lopburi3]

I don't believe so as I paid $30 in June 2009 and again in June 2010 and am sure there was no discount.

[ubonjoe]

Maybe it was July of 2010. I know it went up just before one of my annual embassy runs.