tomx2 Posted August 29, 2014 Share Posted August 29, 2014 Today at 8:30am I went to Jomtien to get a 30 day extension on my Tourist Visa. Everything went well on that part, but the delegation of responsibility to hand-out stamped passports does not seem to go smoothly. There is a British man employed by the Thai immigration who is there to assist you with your visa problems. There was a long queue of individuals with visa issues today, he seems very helpful to assist them. Apparently another of his duties (from what I observed) is to hand-out your stamped passport after it has been processed. So I pay my 1900 baht, check my ticket number and wait to be called and pickup my stamped passport. The immigration girl processing the passports does a bundle of passports, but does not stop to call-out or post the finished numbers on the screen. Instead she just keep on processing the next batch of passports. When the British imm agent is done assisting his last customer, only then will he walk over, get the finished batch and call out the numbers. He then goes back to his desk with more tourist begin lining up for assistance. Giving the Thai agent the benefit of the doubt, I assume she just wanted to catch-up on unfinished passports then call out(post) the numbers, but again she just put a batch of completed passport aside to do more, and we (Tourist) patiently waited for the British agent to once again come over and hand-out our passports. What could have been a 15-30 minute wait turned out to be almost 1 hour for me and other Tourist. I hope someone from Thai immigration at Jomtien is reading this. TC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post paz Posted August 29, 2014 Popular Post Share Posted August 29, 2014 What an unfortunate occurrence! I'm sure you had a much better use of the wasted 30 minutes in Jomtien, pearl of the Gulf of Thailand. It is really incomprehensible how the local management is unable to streamline processing, especially when they can count on the precious help of a Briton volunteer. I hope the experience doesn't have totally ruined your Tourist experience and you will back to Immigration again for your future needs. 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deacon Bell Posted August 29, 2014 Share Posted August 29, 2014 What a waste of a day of your precious holiday here, eh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Jdietz Posted August 29, 2014 Popular Post Share Posted August 29, 2014 His boss was quite upset when he came back late from lunch. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deacon Bell Posted August 29, 2014 Share Posted August 29, 2014 His boss was quite upset when he came back late from lunch. Has to TEFL tomorrow to make up for the lost hours. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChiTownHustla Posted August 29, 2014 Share Posted August 29, 2014 Your 30 minute extra wait isn't worthy of the keystrokes it took you to vent. See my post about ED visa today... 4 hour wait to be sent home with a big middle finger. Count your blessings sir. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomx2 Posted August 29, 2014 Author Share Posted August 29, 2014 His boss was quite upset when he came back late from lunch. Not sure who's boss your refereeing to, but I do not work in Thailand. Why can't (as a poster mentioned above) streamline this process better. Why runaround the Brit to handout passports when he is assisting other Tourist. The Thai imm agent could post finished passports right there at her desk. TC 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paz Posted August 29, 2014 Share Posted August 29, 2014 (edited) Why can't (as a poster mentioned above) streamline this process better. Why runaround the Brit to handout passports when he is assisting other Tourist. The Thai imm agent could post finished passports right there at her desk. Yes, so much can be obtained with little effort, thank you for clarifying it again. Poor Briton begin given the runaround while trying to earnestly help these disorganized locals! Edited August 29, 2014 by paz 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
habfan Posted August 30, 2014 Share Posted August 30, 2014 I don't mean to attack you OP and I understand a certain amount of frustration but an extra half hour wait to get your passport returned is peanuts in the world of immigration visits. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canarysun Posted August 30, 2014 Share Posted August 30, 2014 I find Jomtien Immigration very good indeed ! always nice and polite ( myself included...) and always offer a great service! Of course sometimes you have to wait but even if you have to wait a few hours does it really matter? every time i go to immigration i always see the usual farangs who " huff & puff and seem to act a bit twitchy " ( normally the ones that look " pale & white " ) who actually do absolutely nothing all day apart from sit in a bar or watch television all day! I think some of us need to learn to " chill " (and get out and enjoy the sun a bit more...) F.J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AGareth2 Posted August 30, 2014 Share Posted August 30, 2014 everyone has a bad day sometimes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lopburi3 Posted August 30, 2014 Share Posted August 30, 2014 The person processing passports would lose about 50% of her time calling number in Thai and English (with most customers not understanding number or there own name)/waiting for person to appear/confirm identity and pass to them and then have to go back to normal processing - great chance for errors to be made. Much more effective to have native English speaker take care of this function and less chance for error as his task is dealing with this and customers. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post eeeya Posted August 30, 2014 Popular Post Share Posted August 30, 2014 deary me, 30 whole minute and then rush home to start banging away on the keyboard. i've spend days in govt offices trying to get stuff done only to find its done wrong or cant do it because i didn't get the signature of a pink unicorn. next time get yourself a magazine or book or something rather than gripping the seat in white knuckled rage 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Time Traveller Posted August 30, 2014 Share Posted August 30, 2014 Stupid question, but why would the immigration hire a brit to work for them? Is handing out passports a skill that Thai people are unable to perform? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubonjoe Posted August 30, 2014 Share Posted August 30, 2014 Stupid question, but why would the immigration hire a brit to work for them? Is handing out passports a skill that Thai people are unable to perform? The are volunteers not employees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozziepete Posted August 30, 2014 Share Posted August 30, 2014 You are on a tourist visa. Sit back relax and enjoy the scenery. Isn't that what you are meant to be doing when on a tourist visa? Maybe you should go and spend a day doing a border hop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AhFarangJa Posted August 30, 2014 Share Posted August 30, 2014 You are on a tourist visa. Sit back relax and enjoy the scenery. Isn't that what you are meant to be doing when on a tourist visa? Maybe you should go and spend a day doing a border hop. He cannot it is illegal now, is it not Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubonjoe Posted August 30, 2014 Share Posted August 30, 2014 You are on a tourist visa. Sit back relax and enjoy the scenery. Isn't that what you are meant to be doing when on a tourist visa? Maybe you should go and spend a day doing a border hop. He cannot it is illegal now, is it not Is is still possible to do border runs. Nothing has been made illegal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ITGabs Posted August 30, 2014 Share Posted August 30, 2014 In the HQ Immigration office in Bangkok I wait 2 or 3 hours but after lunch outside the office were close to 500 ppl But really I understand how you feel, coming back from Myanmar by the friendship bridge, was horrible, the queue was quite long, full of rolinga muslim and other refugees and the queue was the same for all, only thai people can pass easy, was hot, smelly and slow, I tried to ask if there was another queue for tourist but all the people around me inclusive other tired tourist look me and tell me hey is the same queue for all, LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paz Posted August 30, 2014 Share Posted August 30, 2014 Some of the stuff I'm reading here, is for real ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ITGabs Posted August 30, 2014 Share Posted August 30, 2014 Some of the stuff I'm reading here, is for real ? yup, immigration Bangkok was around 50 days ago Crossing Myanmar around 2 years ago Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midas Posted August 30, 2014 Share Posted August 30, 2014 OP I would hate to think what your state of mind would be like after one hour in the Chiang Mai immigration office. Relax and enjoy the very pleasant and comfortable surroundings of Patttaya immigration. You don't realise how lucky you are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AhFarangJa Posted August 30, 2014 Share Posted August 30, 2014 You are on a tourist visa. Sit back relax and enjoy the scenery. Isn't that what you are meant to be doing when on a tourist visa? Maybe you should go and spend a day doing a border hop. He cannot it is illegal now, is it not Is is still possible to do border runs. Nothing has been made illegal. O.K. I was under the impression that after August 12th. it was not possible to do back to back border runs, that was what I was alluding to Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubonjoe Posted August 30, 2014 Share Posted August 30, 2014 He cannot it is illegal now, is it not:cheesy: Is is still possible to do border runs. Nothing has been made illegal.O.K. I was under the impression that after August 12th. it was not possible to do back to back border runs, that was what I was alluding to:giggle: August 12th was only the date set to enforce in/out visa run rules for exempt entries at the airports. Runs to get a new entry from a visa can be done without a problem, In/out visa runs for visa exempt entries after staying for the enter length of allowed stay, leaving and then immediately returning for another one are restricted. Reports indicate one is allowed at the Cambodia border after flying in. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubonjoe Posted August 30, 2014 Share Posted August 30, 2014 This topic has run out of steam, Since the OP was a just complaint I see no reason to keep it open after having to remove some posts. It is now 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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