How many hours at Immigration without appointment

[northernjohn]

Just to follow up:

Without an appointment or having another person or agency do the waiting for me I got my one-year extension this morning.

I was up at 5:15, and arrived at Immigration a couple minutes after 6. Already there were 8-10 people there, quietly sitting in place, waiting outside the door. Position yourself as close to the door as possible, because there's a mad rush when the door opens. Also be aware that the mosquitoes in the area can be vicious; be sure to have some repellant.

At about 7 the door opened and everyone was given a large, laminated queue number as they entered. I got #8.

Now that I was inside, it was time to wait some more, but, having gotten this far, it seemed like things were progressing well. At about 7:30 they began calling numbers in order to "triage" those waiting. This process involved showing your passport and explaining what service was needed today. The clerk then assigned a new number indicating the desk and number at that desk. Mine was #202, i.e., desk 200, customer #2. Looking good.

At 8:30 the work day began. Queue numbers lighted up over the desks, and business was underway. My number was called at about 8:50. Papers were checked, a couple of my signatures were required, payment was made, and I was told to return to the waiting area until my name was called.

And finally at around 9:15 my passport containing the new one-year extension was back in my hands, and I was on my way to breakfast.

Show up early, though, to make sure you can pull it off in one day and with the least amount of hassle. Having to endure the slight inconvenience of getting there early was not as bad as I had anticipated. And for the 5,000 baht saved by doing it myself rather than employing an agent, I figure I can enjoy quite a few good breakfasts during the coming year.

Thanks for the follow up.

[Ricardo]

Just a heads-up, that they seem to be rather busy at Immigration just now, I popped-in at 14.30 to do my 90-day-report & was told to come back tomorrow, as they had drawn-the-line after 300 reports today !

[inthepink]

This sounds terrible. I was planning to 'pop in' to get an extra 7 days on my visa exempt stamp because I am not leaving the country until 3 days after it expires. Does this mean I will have to get there at 6 in the morning and spend half the day there?

[Sparkles]

As they have aa long break for the Songkran holiday reopening Wednesday 16 th ? you would expect them to be busy,well I would.

[inthepink]

I might expect them to be a little more busy for the few days leading up to the holiday, not for three weeks though. I thought this was an ongoing problem rather than a holiday issue? Maybe I've misread the posts.

[northernjohn]

As for the extensions. the last one I got I stopped in at 9:30 in the morning and was told to come back at 3:30. You just never know. I was expecting the come back tomorrow.

[binjalin]

amazed anyone would go - get a service to do it - waste of your life standing there in the heat and all that stress

[NancyL]

This sounds terrible. I was planning to 'pop in' to get an extra 7 days on my visa exempt stamp because I am not leaving the country until 3 days after it expires. Does this mean I will have to get there at 6 in the morning and spend half the day there?

No, most of the people talking about spending half the day there are going for 12-month extensions. Once thru the door, you're assigned to join a different queue to obtain a 7 day extension. Still a good idea to come early, but you should be done by 9 - 9:30 am.

Or, here's a thought -- if you're feeling "risky". The fine for overstay is 500 baht per day and can be paid at the airport upon leaving the country. You're only going to stay an extra 3 days (1500 baht). The cost of a 7 day extension at Immigration is 1900 baht plus the inconvenience of getting up early. Remember, though that they seem to "count days" funny at airport immigration, and they may somehow say you're on four days overstay, but still it's not much more than the cost of an extension at Immigration.

OK, yes I'm advocating someone deliberately go on overstay, but it's just for a few days, there's no "blacklist" or anything to prohibit future entry into Thailand. The only real problem would be if "inthepink" were stopped by a cop before getting to the airport, the overstay was found and the cop insisted on collecting the "fine" before inthepink got to the airport. Once at the airport he'd discover the overstay fine was still due.

Edited April 12, 2014 by NancyL

[inthepink]

I did consider doing that and 10 years ago I would almost definitely have done so (and not just because it would have been cheaper!). I'm more boring nowadays so I'll get the extension - thanks for the info.

I'm applying for a visa when out of the country and I'm 99.999999% sure that a 3-day overstay would have absolutely no effect on my application but I still don't fancy doing it. As you know from my posts in other threads, I was no stranger to overstays in the past but I have more invested in the country these days so I guess I'm no longer prepared to mess about. I hope this doesn't mean I'm growing up!