Getting First Drivers Licenses (Car and Motorbike) in Pattaya

[Qman]

I recently got the retirement extension and decided to go for Thailand drivers licenses for car and motorbike as well in Pattaya. The place to go is near the Regents School on Highway 36 very close to the intersection of Highway 7 to Bangkok. The office opens at 8:30 so I went at 7:30 to have the shops across the street assist me with having the necessary paperwork and copies in hand before going to the Transportation Office.

I had with me:

-passport

-US drivers license without motorcycle endorsement

-International Drivers License with both car and motorbike endorsements

-Medical certificate (2)

-Resident certificate from Jomtien Immigration (2)

The lady made copies of my passport front page, retirement extension page, landing card, IDL various pages and US license front/back. Cost 42 baht for all the copies which was two sets of everything other than the originals for medical and resident. I thought they also had the cover application which is in Thai language but they did not and only provided copies of my documents.

Over to the transport office and there about 7:45. Crowds started building up with most people in the general form of a que and they finally opened the doors at about 8:20. Lady comes out and has farang stand in one line and Thais in another. A number of announcements primarily for Thai people who are there to do a number of things and in much larger numbers than farang. Will note that despite signs to dress appropriately when entering government offices I did see many with shorts, sleeveless shirts and other typical casual wear. All seemed to be served but I would recommend going with long trousers and sleeved shirt just in case they decide to enforce the rules as posted. I was given a number by the lady official and told to wait downstairs for it to be called.

I wanted to get the application form but the information desk told me to just sit there and wait for my number to be called and then go upstairs. About 10 minutes later I get call and go up to second floor where man checks all my papers in the two sets and returns the copies of my US license and keeps my original passport and IDL. He gives me a green card with a number on it and told me to sit in the waiting area. They call the red card holders first and I watch them go and do color test and reaction timing. Not sure of what they are there to do but those who pass are sent to another room for the written test. They call the greens and about 20 people line up. I am concerned about the color test as I have a red/green color blindness when looking at the circles with dots in them to pick out numbers (Ishihara Test). I take a position a few back in the line and watch those in front do the color test which is the man pointing at different dots on an enlarged circle of colored dots and you say red/green/yellow/blue which I think are the only colors in the circle. I did try to remember which dots were green and red as yellow not an issue. He was going quickly and I responded to all and passed. Not sure if I got all right but happy to get in the pass line. After all done we then do the reaction test where you move your foot from the gas to the brake within the allowable time. Tested said if you failed twice you go home but all in our group passed.

Told to sit down and tester went away and returned with big stack of papers which he signed and stamped. Call out names and I picked up mine with return of passport and IDL. Was surprised to see that the Thai language application had been filled out for me and I just had to sign it so saved me time. Do not know if this is the normal process or just my lucky day. Told to go pay at the window which was 360 baht for both licenses and given a number to wait for photo.

It should be noted we did not do the peripheral vision test or the depth perception test and I do not know why. I did see the depth perception device in the area we were tested and no one was tested in the red or green groups. Also with an IDL there was no need to take written exam or physical driving test or watch a video. I have read that if you do not have both car and motorbike endorsements on our IDL you would have to take written exam and perhaps driving test for license not covered by IDL. Was happy with all the exemptions as saved time and was easy.

Called for my photo and lady took one picture to be used for the two licenses. She had me check data and there was one mistake which was correct on the paperwork she had so she corrected in the computer and then printed the licenses. She handed both to me and I was out the door about 9:30 which seemed very fast considering the number of people but with exemption from most of the lengthy testing and video it went quickly. Very pleasantly surprised with the general efficiency given the number of people to be processed. While it seemed a bit chaotic at times they are used to dealing with large numbers of people and spoke English when dealing with me. From talking to a few people while waiting it is normal to have lots of people there every day for licenses.