immigration queue: what time should I show up?

[NancyL]

went at 2:30 PM, 45 minutse total time there for an extension

What type of extension? Retirement, marriage, tourist, 7-day, one of those new 30 day extensions to a 30 day visa exempt entry? Did you have an appointment? Were you there with a visa agent?

[Cheesekraft]

went there alone for a tourist visa extension. I was expecting to wait a couple of hours; the place was swamped, no where to sit even, and an old guy who i asked where I could get a queue card from said "over there, and then wait a few hours". I was shocked at how fast they processed it. Didn't even have time to read a chapter in the book I brought and finish my coffee I ordered outside before they called me.

Edited October 18, 2014 by Cheesekraft

[Mapguy]

NancyL was correct to ask! Actually, 45 minutes might even be considered slow for a tourist visa extension.

Edited October 18, 2014 by Mapguy

[SBA]

On 2014-10-10 I went there to transfer everything to a new passport. I arrived at 05:35. There were about 20 persons lined up already. There are in reality 5 lines. You line up in the one appropriate to you (there are semi-comprehensible placards at the front of each line indicating what they are for). The lines are: 001, Tourist, Reentry; 201: Teacher, Medical, Education, Researcher, Missionary; 301: New passport transfer; Investment; Change A-O visa; Endorsement non-quota; 401: Business, Thai family member, Volunteer; 501: 90-day Report. (Sorry if these are unclear. That's the way they were written).

By 07:00 there were about 5 persons in Line 001; 100+ persons in Line 201; ~12 persons in Line 301; ~10 persons in Line 401; and ~3 persons in Line 501. At 07:00 is when the action starts: they give each person a provisional number that enables them to queue for their working number. Between 07:00 and 08:30 they pass out the real numbers based on your place in the earlier queue. Presumably people who exceed the number they can't handle that day are sent home.

In answer to your question: I have no clue as to what line you would be in. Except for Line 201, I would show up at 06:00. If Line 201, I would guess 05:00.

Thanks for the info! I have been there 2 days in a row and that is exactly what the lines, and persons-to-line ratio, have been.

... and, depending whether you want to be out in the morning or afternoon, show up in between 4 and 6.30 am

Edited October 21, 2014 by SBA

[Tokay]

My friend went today. He said he was there at 4:30am and was 5th in line, and most people who came after 6 didn't get a number and went home. He was getting his ED extension.

That sounds like an incredibly inefficient system.

[elektrified]

went at 2:30 PM, 45 minutse total time there for an extension

I went in June for mine also around 14:30 and was out of there in about 90 minutes. A couple of members pooh poohed me for it, but June is usually slow in my experience and perhaps that day I was lucky. Had I gone the next day, the wait may have been 3 or 4 hours - or more, of which I would have left. In the past I've usually gone at 7:45-8:30 and been out in 2-2 1/2 hours. I've never spent more than 2 1/2 hours there for an extension. Never. And I would never queue up in a government office at 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 A.M. for anything.

[ThaiPauly]

Went to do retirement extension yesterday, my wife got there at 6am to get a number, she said there must have been 50 people waiting already.

It was a bad day to go to be fair because today is a public holiday so everyone who wanted a visa went yesterday so they really had to process 2 days worth of visa applications in one day

Upshot was we went back at one and faced a very long wait and were eventually seen at about 5,45pm, so almost a 6 hour wait, still they could have closed at 5 and made us all come back on Friday but they didn't they said they would process every application that had a queue ticket.

I'm not blaming the immigration staff, we were just unlucky because of the day we went. Next time I will get an an on-line appointment

[masuk]

"However, a friend just told me she went last week at 3.30am and there already was 6 persons standing there ..."

rubbish. she's pulling your leg!

An Immigration Dept official at yesterday's meeting advised us that he was sleeping in his car one night, and the first farang arrived at 2am. The reason was that the farang's 90 day report was left to the last day.

Not reported on City News was the incredible increase in farangs moving to Chiang Mai in the past 12 months. Staffing numbers at Chiang Mai remain the same. Chiang Rai has about a quarter of the expat population that Chiang Mai has, and their Immigration Dept has slightly more staff.

Seems to me that a few top Immigration Officials in BKK should do a stint here and see what it's like.

However, it was good public relations that Immigration reached out to us and explained things in a little more detail.

[Hugh Jarse]

"However, a friend just told me she went last week at 3.30am and there already was 6 persons standing there ..."

rubbish. she's pulling your leg!

An Immigration Dept official at yesterday's meeting advised us that he was sleeping in his car one night, and the first farang arrived at 2am. The reason was that the farang's 90 day report was left to the last day.

Not reported on City News was the incredible increase in farangs moving to Chiang Mai in the past 12 months. Staffing numbers at Chiang Mai remain the same. Chiang Rai has about a quarter of the expat population that Chiang Mai has, and their Immigration Dept has slightly more staff.

Seems to me that a few top Immigration Officials in BKK should do a stint here and see what it's like.

However, it was good public relations that Immigration reached out to us and explained things in a little more detail.

Is this all that materialised from the meeting? Hope someone from CEC will enlighten us on the salient points of the meeting yesterday.

[naboo]

Went on the 14th at 6am. As said, there are now several queues. I was queue starting at 201. Was seen at 11:45, passport returned at 13:30. There are usually two staff working on my queue, but the male, early 30s, didn't turn up to work until 10am.

[masuk]

"However, a friend just told me she went last week at 3.30am and there already was 6 persons standing there ..."

rubbish. she's pulling your leg!

An Immigration Dept official at yesterday's meeting advised us that he was sleeping in his car one night, and the first farang arrived at 2am. The reason was that the farang's 90 day report was left to the last day.

Not reported on City News was the incredible increase in farangs moving to Chiang Mai in the past 12 months. Staffing numbers at Chiang Mai remain the same. Chiang Rai has about a quarter of the expat population that Chiang Mai has, and their Immigration Dept has slightly more staff.

Seems to me that a few top Immigration Officials in BKK should do a stint here and see what it's like.

However, it was good public relations that Immigration reached out to us and explained things in a little more detail.

Is this all that materialised from the meeting? Hope someone from CEC will enlighten us on the salient points of the meeting yesterday.

CEC ??

[elektrified]

Went on the 14th at 6am. As said, there are now several queues. I was queue starting at 201. Was seen at 11:45, passport returned at 13:30. There are usually two staff working on my queue, but the male, early 30s, didn't turn up to work until 10am.

That's ridiculous. What did you do for 7 and a half hours?

[naboo]

Read a book.

[Tywais]

"However, a friend just told me she went last week at 3.30am and there already was 6 persons standing there ..."

rubbish. she's pulling your leg!

An Immigration Dept official at yesterday's meeting advised us that he was sleeping in his car one night, and the first farang arrived at 2am. The reason was that the farang's 90 day report was left to the last day.

Not reported on City News was the incredible increase in farangs moving to Chiang Mai in the past 12 months. Staffing numbers at Chiang Mai remain the same. Chiang Rai has about a quarter of the expat population that Chiang Mai has, and their Immigration Dept has slightly more staff.

Seems to me that a few top Immigration Officials in BKK should do a stint here and see what it's like.

However, it was good public relations that Immigration reached out to us and explained things in a little more detail.

Is this all that materialised from the meeting? Hope someone from CEC will enlighten us on the salient points of the meeting yesterday.

CEC ??

Chiang Mai Expat Club. Another topic indicates they will put up the minutes of the meeting on their site sometime.

[NancyL]

Not just the "minutes" but we're hoping for a video of the entire presentation, complete with the PowerPoint slides. Mike and Sid of the CEC Video Club are busily editing the production now. We're going out to Immigration today in the hopes they'll let them film a few shots of the office in action so they can edit-in some shots of the teaming mass of humanity in the waiting room. (the video club guys weren't up for 6 am filming of the lines, though!)

The video has to be approved by Immigration prior to posting and we don't know how long that approval process will take. Stay tuned. I'll post on Thai Visa with links when the final product is on the CEC website. The CEC Video Club did a very professional job with a recent video "Introducting the Chiang Mai Expats Club", http://www.chiangmaiexpatsclub.com/about-us/ which we used to, hmm, introduce the club to Immigration in asking them to come speak. I'm sure they'll do an equally professional job with Wednesday's program.

Edited October 24, 2014 by NancyL

[Hugh Jarse]

"However, a friend just told me she went last week at 3.30am and there already was 6 persons standing there ..."

rubbish. she's pulling your leg!

An Immigration Dept official at yesterday's meeting advised us that he was sleeping in his car one night, and the first farang arrived at 2am. The reason was that the farang's 90 day report was left to the last day.

Not reported on City News was the incredible increase in farangs moving to Chiang Mai in the past 12 months. Staffing numbers at Chiang Mai remain the same. Chiang Rai has about a quarter of the expat population that Chiang Mai has, and their Immigration Dept has slightly more staff.

Seems to me that a few top Immigration Officials in BKK should do a stint here and see what it's like.

However, it was good public relations that Immigration reached out to us and explained things in a little more detail.

Is this all that materialised from the meeting? Hope someone from CEC will enlighten us on the salient points of the meeting yesterday.

CEC ??

Chiang Mai Expats. Club