I renewed my five year car driving license in CM a few days ago. Before doing so, I looked up the requirements on Thaivisa and elsewhere on the internet and found some current requirements in CM are different to those posted there. The first time I tried I turned up about 1:30pm to find I was too late. They do it only twice each day, at 9:30am and 1:00pm, so you have to arrive a bit before either time. Requirements are:

- You hold a 1 year visa.

- Passport with copies of picture page, last visa extension and last entry.

- Residence certification (copy and original), either certificate from consulate or from immigration, or work permit or yellow tabian baan.

- Expiring Thai driver's license. You can renew up to 90 days before.

- Fee of 605B (extra 50B if you've changed your address).

- If you have two driving licenses you must make two copies of documents.

Two items that other postings say are required they did not need:

- Medical certificate---I brought one and they said not necessary.

- Photocopy of front and back of old license.

There was a colour blindness test using a traffic light mockup, but with the red, green and amber lights appearing in random positions, a braking reaction time test and a one hour training course. Thai participants went into a lecture hall for this. I watched an English language video on a computer monitor.

Everything moved quite quickly (except the video!) and total time from entering to leaving with a new license in hand was about 1.5 hours.

I went in a few days after my license had expired. No one commented on this and it is well worth doing. The new license expires five birthdays from now, so I received what in effect is a 6 year license, expiring in November 2019.

Sounds as if the procedure has changed in the last few months. I got my first 5 year license in August and didn't have to do the one hour training course although I think I did the color blind & reaction tests. Getting the license took about 15 minutes. I also brought a medical certificate which was accepted without comment.

When I applied for the 5 year license my 1 year had been expired for two months. No one mentioned the time lapse.

Maybe the difference between a first time 5 year license and a 5 year renewal is the reason for the different requirements.

Did the reaction test include coming to a complete halt when driving at 90km/h, with a 2 metre gap between the car in front, and not colliding with the guy in front? ?

It seems quite acceptable to renew your licence after its expires which technically means you are an unlicenced driver for period...no worries TIT

It seems quite acceptable to renew your licence after its expires which technically means you are an unlicenced driver for period...no worries TIT

A Thai DL is accepted by the authorities up to 1 year over after its expiration date after the expiration date your back to square one on applying.

Another variation: I renewed by existing 5 year licence in January I think, and I did the traffic light test, but neither the 1 hour training course, colour blind test, or reaction test. I'd rather have done all of them then sit through the 'safety' video though.