Video of CM Immigration Presentation at Expats Club now on-line

[Lizard2010]

Was interesting to see the Video

Hope the new Internet based System will work when it is implemeted in April

For the 90 reporting

They might be able to handle more 1 year Visa Extension

Only time will tell

[uptheos]

There are special queues at Nakorn Ping hospital for over age 65 and seniors get discounts at some Thai movie theaters, so yes, there is a precedence for such a queue elsewhere in Chiang Mai and at a gov't facility (NKP hospital) During the short-lived time that they issued the 30 baht insurance card to foreigners, the staff there was very good about leading the older foreigners over to that line at the cashiers because most foreigners were clueless about its existences because the signs were in Thai.

I don't know how much help such a queue would be for for the morning process however, because the longest queue is the one for retirement extensions and I suspect many of the customers are over age 65.

When the head of Chiang Mai immigration looked out across the sea of white linen table clothes at The Meridian, aghast that there were so many elderly people and 'wondering if they could manage alone', surely he must now be thinking further out of the box than providing plastic chairs so that elderly infirm people can sit at 4am?

It's disgraceful that the elderly and infirm have to compete for a place at a time they should be asleep and resting!

It's too bad it's not a level playing field as far as the online appointments are concerned, I don't think anyone is in doubt that many spots get taken by agents even before the online kicks in after midnight. The only way this can happen is with cooperation from inside and heaven knows how many of these slots are for 'young' people maybe in their 50's.

If it were a level playing field and it's not, I would like to see the first hour of the online reservation system reserved for people over say 75, then it opens up to all and sundry on a first in first served basis.

I would gladly miss an appointment for this reason, but damned if I'm going to miss out whilst it's not being run fairly.

There were no questions put to immigration that would put them on the spot to answer and I wonder why not?

I doubt they would ever have a question and answer session, without the questions being vetted......would they?

[Beetlejuice]

Bumping this up.

Surprised there aren't any comments yet.

Thank you, I watched the video and asking for your professional opinion.

Considering you and the Ex-pats club arranged the said meeting, do you believe that anything beneficial for ex-pats residing in Chiang Mai as regards the procedures when dealing with Chiang Mai Immigration Department, came out of this and meeting? And if so, what in your opinion do you think they are?

[NancyL]

Bumping this up.

Surprised there aren't any comments yet.

Thank you, I watched the video and asking for your professional opinion.

Considering you and the Ex-pats club arranged the said meeting, do you believe that anything beneficial for ex-pats residing in Chiang Mai as regards the procedures when dealing with Chiang Mai Immigration Department, came out of this and meeting? And if so, what in your opinion do you think they are?

Already asked and answered in posts No. 6 and 11.

[NancyL]

......snip

There were no questions put to immigration that would put them on the spot to answer and I wonder why not?

I doubt they would ever have a question and answer session, without the questions being vetted......would they?

Several reasons that it was decided not to have a format with "on the spot" questions.

As you saw in the video, none of the Immigration officials are especially fluent in English. The idea of having a British Parliament give-and-take style Question Session would be totally impossible.

As we saw with some of the questions submitted in the poll of members there are people with "one-off" questions, of interest to just one person in the Universe. Frankly, some of these people are just plain crackpots with an ax to grind. Would you want to pay a couple hundred baht to come to a meeting to listen to them spout off?

Some of the questions submitted were, shall we say, beyond the portfolio of the Immigration people in that room. For example, it's not within their power to decree that 90 day reports are stupid, serve no purpose and will no longer be collected. They may agree, but they can't make that decision, nor would they ever tell us what they really think.

Our time with the Immigration officials was limited. If we turned over the microphone to, say 15 random people in the audience, we might not address the 15 most important issues of concern to our members.

There certainly wouldn't have been any Power Point slides to support answers to open questions. You've got to admit the Power Point slides go a long way in helping to support what the officials are saying.

Perhaps we could have had open questions, but we wouldn't have had a video that could serve as a good reference.

[northernjohn]

There are special queues at Nakorn Ping hospital for over age 65 and seniors get discounts at some Thai movie theaters, so yes, there is a precedence for such a queue elsewhere in Chiang Mai and at a gov't facility (NKP hospital) During the short-lived time that they issued the 30 baht insurance card to foreigners, the staff there was very good about leading the older foreigners over to that line at the cashiers because most foreigners were clueless about its existences because the signs were in Thai.

I don't know how much help such a queue would be for for the morning process however, because the longest queue is the one for retirement extensions and I suspect many of the customers are over age 65.

When the head of Chiang Mai immigration looked out across the sea of white linen table clothes at The Meridian, aghast that there were so many elderly people and 'wondering if they could manage alone', surely he must now be thinking further out of the box than providing plastic chairs so that elderly infirm people can sit at 4am?

It's disgraceful that the elderly and infirm have to compete for a place at a time they should be asleep and resting!

It's too bad it's not a level playing field as far as the online appointments are concerned, I don't think anyone is in doubt that many spots get taken by agents even before the online kicks in after midnight. The only way this can happen is with cooperation from inside and heaven knows how many of these slots are for 'young' people maybe in their 50's.

If it were a level playing field and it's not, I would like to see the first hour of the online reservation system reserved for people over say 75, then it opens up to all and sundry on a first in first served basis.

I would gladly miss an appointment for this reason, but damned if I'm going to miss out whilst it's not being run fairly.

There were no questions put to immigration that would put them on the spot to answer and I wonder why not?

I doubt they would ever have a question and answer session, without the questions being vetted......would they?

Would you if every thing you said on the spot had to go through Bangkok to be OK?

You read enough Thai Visa to know that there is a lot of people ready willing and able to jump on any thing they can.

Edit

Yes a special allowance for those over 70 or 75 would be a good idea. I believe that is some thing they could do with out Bangkok's OK. Or maybe another on line appointment for only those over 70 or 75.

Question.

If it is the Visa companies tying up the appointments don't they have to have a name to put in and when it comes time that is the person who has to show up?

Edited February 25, 2015 by northernjohn

[Beetlejuice]

Bumping this up.

Surprised there aren't any comments yet.

Thank you, I watched the video and asking for your professional opinion.

Considering you and the Ex-pats club arranged the said meeting, do you believe that anything beneficial for ex-pats residing in Chiang Mai as regards the procedures when dealing with Chiang Mai Immigration Department, came out of this and meeting? And if so, what in your opinion do you think they are?

Already asked and answered in posts No. 6 and 11.

I perused your posts in detail, and you mostly give accounts of how events unfolded during the said meeting, and it all seems to be a lot of ifs, buts and maybes.

For those who wanted to know more, including myself, should have personally attended the meeting, no excuses, and I can see why yourselves and members would be reluctant to corner the officer with any hard searching questions, the bottom line being we are at their mercy in Immigration.

But what you and other TV members have mentioned so far and after viewing the video, I am not optimistic that there will be any improvements regarding our dealings with Chiang Mai Immigration in the foreseeable future, in fact the situation may become much more chaotic before it gets better, that`s if it ever does improve, which is the million dollar question?

Anyway, I appreciate your good self arranging the meeting and sharing the video with everyone. I appreciate and thank you for that.

Edited February 25, 2015 by Beetlejuice

[uptheos]

There are special queues at Nakorn Ping hospital for over age 65 and seniors get discounts at some Thai movie theaters, so yes, there is a precedence for such a queue elsewhere in Chiang Mai and at a gov't facility (NKP hospital) During the short-lived time that they issued the 30 baht insurance card to foreigners, the staff there was very good about leading the older foreigners over to that line at the cashiers because most foreigners were clueless about its existences because the signs were in Thai.

I don't know how much help such a queue would be for for the morning process however, because the longest queue is the one for retirement extensions and I suspect many of the customers are over age 65.

When the head of Chiang Mai immigration looked out across the sea of white linen table clothes at The Meridian, aghast that there were so many elderly people and 'wondering if they could manage alone', surely he must now be thinking further out of the box than providing plastic chairs so that elderly infirm people can sit at 4am?

It's disgraceful that the elderly and infirm have to compete for a place at a time they should be asleep and resting!

It's too bad it's not a level playing field as far as the online appointments are concerned, I don't think anyone is in doubt that many spots get taken by agents even before the online kicks in after midnight. The only way this can happen is with cooperation from inside and heaven knows how many of these slots are for 'young' people maybe in their 50's.

If it were a level playing field and it's not, I would like to see the first hour of the online reservation system reserved for people over say 75, then it opens up to all and sundry on a first in first served basis.

I would gladly miss an appointment for this reason, but damned if I'm going to miss out whilst it's not being run fairly.

There were no questions put to immigration that would put them on the spot to answer and I wonder why not?

I doubt they would ever have a question and answer session, without the questions being vetted......would they?

Would you if every thing you said on the spot had to go through Bangkok to be OK?

You read enough Thai Visa to know that there is a lot of people ready willing and able to jump on any thing they can.

Edit

Yes a special allowance for those over 70 or 75 would be a good idea. I believe that is some thing they could do with out Bangkok's OK. Or maybe another on line appointment for only those over 70 or 75.

Question.

If it is the Visa companies tying up the appointments don't they have to have a name to put in and when it comes time that is the person who has to show up?

Immigration rules are rules that they have to abide by, I would not expect them to answer anything they couldn't.

Thinking out of the box and coming up with ideas to prevent elderly infirm people lining up at 4am, doesn't have to go through Bangkok. This goes for other strategies and procedures that are currently in place, decided on a local basis and could be improved upon. However, the head of Chiang Mai Immigration has now seen for himself the people who showed up and from what I read he was dismayed and concerned how they could do it alone. Now, if it's genuine, let's see his dismay and concern put into action to help resolve some of the problems for the elderly and infirm.

For the fit and healthy I apologise for harping on, but one day if you live long enough you too will/might be one of them, it concerns us all.

[Mapguy]

......snip

There were no questions put to immigration that would put them on the spot to answer and I wonder why not?

I doubt they would ever have a question and answer session, without the questions being vetted......would they?

Several reasons that it was decided not to have a format with "on the spot" questions.

As you saw in the video, none of the Immigration officials are especially fluent in English. The idea of having a British Parliament give-and-take style Question Session would be totally impossible.

As we saw with some of the questions submitted in the poll of members there are people with "one-off" questions, of interest to just one person in the Universe. Frankly, some of these people are just plain crackpots with an ax to grind. Would you want to pay a couple hundred baht to come to a meeting to listen to them spout off?

Some of the questions submitted were, shall we say, beyond the portfolio of the Immigration people in that room. For example, it's not within their power to decree that 90 day reports are stupid, serve no purpose and will no longer be collected. They may agree, but they can't make that decision, nor would they ever tell us what they really think.

Our time with the Immigration officials was limited. If we turned over the microphone to, say 15 random people in the audience, we might not address the 15 most important issues of concern to our members.

There certainly wouldn't have been any Power Point slides to support answers to open questions. You've got to admit the Power Point slides go a long way in helping to support what the officials are saying.

Perhaps we could have had open questions, but we wouldn't have had a video that could serve as a good reference.

An open Q&A would most probably have been time-wasting as well, potentially, a circus.

The officers' performance and the video will never get Oscars, but the result was constructive and useful "Immigration 101," and that's where most people are, not into post graduate studies!

There is potential for follow-up, as has been gently alluded to above. Volunteer activities for long-stay expats is a no-no, but coffee klatches or high tea among friends could work.

Edited February 25, 2015 by Mapguy

[Beetlejuice]

......snip

There were no questions put to immigration that would put them on the spot to answer and I wonder why not?

I doubt they would ever have a question and answer session, without the questions being vetted......would they?

Several reasons that it was decided not to have a format with "on the spot" questions.

As you saw in the video, none of the Immigration officials are especially fluent in English. The idea of having a British Parliament give-and-take style Question Session would be totally impossible.

As we saw with some of the questions submitted in the poll of members there are people with "one-off" questions, of interest to just one person in the Universe. Frankly, some of these people are just plain crackpots with an ax to grind. Would you want to pay a couple hundred baht to come to a meeting to listen to them spout off?

Some of the questions submitted were, shall we say, beyond the portfolio of the Immigration people in that room. For example, it's not within their power to decree that 90 day reports are stupid, serve no purpose and will no longer be collected. They may agree, but they can't make that decision, nor would they ever tell us what they really think.

Our time with the Immigration officials was limited. If we turned over the microphone to, say 15 random people in the audience, we might not address the 15 most important issues of concern to our members.

There certainly wouldn't have been any Power Point slides to support answers to open questions. You've got to admit the Power Point slides go a long way in helping to support what the officials are saying.

Perhaps we could have had open questions, but we wouldn't have had a video that could serve as a good reference.

An open Q&A would most probably have been time-wasting as well, potentially, a circus.

The officers' performance and the video will never get Oscars, but the result was constructive and useful "Immigration 101," and that's where most people are, not into post graduate studies!

There is potential for follow-up, as has been gently alluded to above. Volunteer activities for long-stay expats is a no-no, but coffee klatches or high tea among friends could work.

Agree.

This is not like in the UK or the United States where members of the public can discuss and place into question the decisions of those in authority, certainly not without consequences from those who have us under the thumb here. It`s a case of; this is what we have to say; listen and don`t dare question us, otherwise who knows what might happen?

I think the only plausible ways of obtaining some desirable results to the problem is for some official representation, (have no idea where that would come from) people unlike us who have some clout and can discuss these matters with the Thai authorities on their own level. I am not calling for any revolutions or being disrespectful to those in authority here, my point being that as the ex-pat communities in Thailand are increasing year by year, than we need some kind of official representation to put forward our concerns, complaints and requirements here in Thailand or perhaps the Thai authorities could enlist their own agents to represent the Thailand ex-pats, people that could be our spokespersons on an official level.

This is what I would like to see, but doubt will happen in my lifetime.

[uptheos]

......snip

There were no questions put to immigration that would put them on the spot to answer and I wonder why not?

I doubt they would ever have a question and answer session, without the questions being vetted......would they?

Several reasons that it was decided not to have a format with "on the spot" questions.

As you saw in the video, none of the Immigration officials are especially fluent in English. The idea of having a British Parliament give-and-take style Question Session would be totally impossible.

As we saw with some of the questions submitted in the poll of members there are people with "one-off" questions, of interest to just one person in the Universe. Frankly, some of these people are just plain crackpots with an ax to grind. Would you want to pay a couple hundred baht to come to a meeting to listen to them spout off?

Some of the questions submitted were, shall we say, beyond the portfolio of the Immigration people in that room. For example, it's not within their power to decree that 90 day reports are stupid, serve no purpose and will no longer be collected. They may agree, but they can't make that decision, nor would they ever tell us what they really think.

Our time with the Immigration officials was limited. If we turned over the microphone to, say 15 random people in the audience, we might not address the 15 most important issues of concern to our members.

There certainly wouldn't have been any Power Point slides to support answers to open questions. You've got to admit the Power Point slides go a long way in helping to support what the officials are saying.

Perhaps we could have had open questions, but we wouldn't have had a video that could serve as a good reference.

An open Q&A would most probably have been time-wasting as well, potentially, a circus.

The officers' performance and the video will never get Oscars, but the result was constructive and useful "Immigration 101," and that's where most people are, not into post graduate studies!

There is potential for follow-up, as has been gently alluded to above. Volunteer activities for long-stay expats is a no-no, but coffee klatches or high tea among friends could work.

I think you are right, but it would be interesting to know from the 'horses mouth' such things as, why is the online appointment system sometimes full immediately it opens after midnight?

I guess it will just remain one of life's little mysteries.

[masuk]

......snip

There were no questions put to immigration that would put them on the spot to answer and I wonder why not?

I doubt they would ever have a question and answer session, without the questions being vetted......would they?

Several reasons that it was decided not to have a format with "on the spot" questions.

As you saw in the video, none of the Immigration officials are especially fluent in English. The idea of having a British Parliament give-and-take style Question Session would be totally impossible.

As we saw with some of the questions submitted in the poll of members there are people with "one-off" questions, of interest to just one person in the Universe. Frankly, some of these people are just plain crackpots with an ax to grind. Would you want to pay a couple hundred baht to come to a meeting to listen to them spout off?

Some of the questions submitted were, shall we say, beyond the portfolio of the Immigration people in that room. For example, it's not within their power to decree that 90 day reports are stupid, serve no purpose and will no longer be collected. They may agree, but they can't make that decision, nor would they ever tell us what they really think.

Our time with the Immigration officials was limited. If we turned over the microphone to, say 15 random people in the audience, we might not address the 15 most important issues of concern to our members.

There certainly wouldn't have been any Power Point slides to support answers to open questions. You've got to admit the Power Point slides go a long way in helping to support what the officials are saying.

Perhaps we could have had open questions, but we wouldn't have had a video that could serve as a good reference.

An open Q&A would most probably have been time-wasting as well, potentially, a circus.

The officers' performance and the video will never get Oscars, but the result was constructive and useful "Immigration 101," and that's where most people are, not into post graduate studies!

There is potential for follow-up, as has been gently alluded to above. Volunteer activities for long-stay expats is a no-no, but coffee klatches or high tea among friends could work.

I think you are right, but it would be interesting to know from the 'horses mouth' such things as, why is the online appointment system sometimes full immediately it opens after midnight?

I guess it will just remain one of life's little mysteries.

To answer your question, possibly it's a matter of there being many more expats requiring this service, than there are Immigration staff and office space to handle the work-load.

I'm sure Chiang Mai Immigration have statistics at hand, but it's a matter on convincing the decision makers in BKK, be they Immigration seniors or politicians.

Data might be:

Number of expats requiring 90 day reports. (more than doubled in the past 24 months)

Actual working days in that 90 days.

Number of staff processing on-line requests.

[uptheos]

I think you are right, but it would be interesting to know from the 'horses mouth' such things as, why is the online appointment system sometimes full immediately it opens after midnight?

I guess it will just remain one of life's little mysteries.

To answer your question, possibly it's a matter of there being many more expats requiring this service, than there are Immigration staff and office space to handle the work-load.

I'm sure Chiang Mai Immigration have statistics at hand, but it's a matter on convincing the decision makers in BKK, be they Immigration seniors or politicians.

Data might be:

Number of expats requiring 90 day reports. (more than doubled in the past 24 months)

Actual working days in that 90 days.

Number of staff processing on-line requests.

I'm sorry but I have absolutely no idea how this answers my question or is even related to it.

[Mapguy]

I think you are right, but it would be interesting to know from the 'horses mouth' such things as, why is the online appointment system sometimes full immediately it opens after midnight?

I guess it will just remain one of life's little mysteries.

To answer your question, possibly it's a matter of there being many more expats requiring this service, than there are Immigration staff and office space to handle the work-load.

I'm sure Chiang Mai Immigration have statistics at hand, but it's a matter on convincing the decision makers in BKK, be they Immigration seniors or politicians.

Data might be:

Number of expats requiring 90 day reports. (more than doubled in the past 24 months)

Actual working days in that 90 days.

Number of staff processing on-line requests.

I'm sorry but I have absolutely no idea how this answers my question or is even related to it.

True, the response did not relate to the question which was really nothing more than rhetorical and provocative. Nimble fingers, Uptheos! Nimble fingers!

[uptheos]

I think you are right, but it would be interesting to know from the 'horses mouth' such things as, why is the online appointment system sometimes full immediately it opens after midnight?

I guess it will just remain one of life's little mysteries.

To answer your question, possibly it's a matter of there being many more expats requiring this service, than there are Immigration staff and office space to handle the work-load.

I'm sure Chiang Mai Immigration have statistics at hand, but it's a matter on convincing the decision makers in BKK, be they Immigration seniors or politicians.

Data might be:

Number of expats requiring 90 day reports. (more than doubled in the past 24 months)

Actual working days in that 90 days.

Number of staff processing on-line requests.

I'm sorry but I have absolutely no idea how this answers my question or is even related to it.

True, the response did not relate to the question which was really nothing more than rhetorical and provocative. Nimble fingers, Uptheos! Nimble fingers!

Well, NancyL needed to bump the thread up originally for lack of A comment, but it was obvious that there were not going to be any forthcoming. So I felt it might be useful to throw out a few things, which in return have indeed attracted a little attention to her thread. It's quite obvious that no-one is interested (scared?) to say or ask anything provocative (I prefer honest), which I find quite sad, so best to left for people such as yourself.

Talk among yourselves it should be most interesting.

[NancyL]

I don't think there are dark forces at work that cause the on-line queue to fill within a minute or two of opening at midnight. No evil cabal of visa agents in cahoots with Immigration officials. No conspiracy at work.

Just motivated visa holders with nimble fingers and good keyboard skills.

All you have to do is look at the lines in the Immigration parking lot at 6:30 am. There are four prequeues -- the longest by far is the one for retirement extensions, usually with at least 60 customers. The next longest is for marriage extensions -- with at least 20 people. These are the same customers who would be waiting at their keyboard for the stroke of midnight to try to snag an on-line appointment.

It's just too many customers and not enough appointments.

Edited February 26, 2015 by NancyL

[uptheos]

I don't think there are dark forces at work that cause the on-line queue to fill within a minute or two of opening at midnight. No evil cabal of visa agents in cahoots with Immigration officials. No conspiracy at work.

Just motivated visa holders with nimble fingers and good keyboard skills.

All you have to do is look at the lines in the Immigration parking lot at 6:30 am. There are four prequeues -- the longest by far is the one for retirement extensions, usually with at least 60 customers. The next longest is for marriage extensions -- with at least 20 people. These are the same customers who would be waiting at their keyboard for the stroke of midnight to try to snag an on-line appointment.

It's just too many customers and not enough appointments.

OK since I'm still here.

Of course not NancyL, when have visa agents ever been in cahoots with Immigration officials? Even when (as reported often) agents used to turn up with a fistful of passports for whatsoever reason, doesn't mean they were given favourable treatment just because they went in the side door and were greeted with a big smile.

Go along that 60 customer line and ask how many know about the online process and how many know you can start doing it 130 days in advance. IMO these are people who mostly don't know very much at all about the online process at at all, otherwise they would surely have got a slot within a 30 day window.......wouldn't they?

Nimble fingers

There you go NancyL, you're quite philanthropically minded. A printed leaflet outlining the online appointment in detail. Distributed in the morning to those who must be stiff from sitting. Include an offer by (dare I say it) volunteers, who would be willing to try to get an online appointment for them, if they are trustful enough to hand over their details.

I'd stay up trying to do it for a genuine elderly infirm person, I wonder who else would?

By the way how's that poor lady that certain people contributed funds towards about 2 years ago?

Edited February 26, 2015 by uptheos

[Beetlejuice]

I don't think there are dark forces at work that cause the on-line queue to fill within a minute or two of opening at midnight. No evil cabal of visa agents in cahoots with Immigration officials. No conspiracy at work.

Just motivated visa holders with nimble fingers and good keyboard skills.

All you have to do is look at the lines in the Immigration parking lot at 6:30 am. There are four prequeues -- the longest by far is the one for retirement extensions, usually with at least 60 customers. The next longest is for marriage extensions -- with at least 20 people. These are the same customers who would be waiting at their keyboard for the stroke of midnight to try to snag an on-line appointment.

It's just too many customers and not enough appointments.

OK since I'm still here.

Of course not NancyL, when have visa agents ever been in cahoots with Immigration officials? Even when (as reported often) agents used to turn up with a fistful of passports for whatsoever reason, doesn't mean they were given favourable treatment just because they went in the side door and were greeted with a big smile.

Go along that 60 customer line and ask how many know about the online process and how many know you can start doing it 130 days in advance. IMO these are people who mostly don't know very much at all about the online process at at all, otherwise they would surely have got a slot within a 30 day window.......wouldn't they?

Nimble fingers

There you go NancyL, you're quite philanthropically minded. A printed leaflet outlining the online appointment in detail. Distributed in the morning to those who must be stiff from sitting. Include an offer by (dare I say it) volunteers, who would be willing to try to get an online appointment for them, if they are trustful enough to hand over their details.

I'd stay up trying to do it for a genuine elderly infirm person, I wonder who else would?

By the way how's that poor lady that certain people contributed funds towards about 2 years ago?

The system or lack of it at Chiang Mai Immigration is abysmal.

Although the Immigration staff are mostly always polite, the system still makes me feel more like a poor refugee waiting to be processed rather than a retiree trying to extend my annual visa.

Visiting Chiang Mai Immigration has become a most stressful and demeaning experience and I know people are starting to feel angry. One day I am sure tempers are going to flare in there and if that happens than perhaps Immigration will realise that there is a problem. Obviously if the situation continues on like this, than it will mean that many will fail to obtain appointment slots, whether by personal visits or online or be forced to use the so-called agencies, meaning having to involve the lucrative business for middle people into the process, that I have no doubts will make many people very rich once they gain a monopoly.

I would not feel comfortable with the commercial Ex-pats club gaining footholds with the authorities and being a third party representative between me and the Chiang Mai Immigration Department nor any other outfits they are associated with..

For the present the situation is based on a hope and a prayer that things will improve in the future. I am hoping that soon the 90 day online facility with be up and running alleviating some of the stress from ex-pats and that somehow a system will be installed that will accommodate the predicable increase in the Chiang Mai ex-pat communities in the foreseeable future.

[Sparkles]

The 90 day reporting is not a problem even if the on line version doesn't happen.Just mail it,very simple,it works,costs less than 50 b.

Its the yearly extension of visa and re entry etc stuff that is the problem and that wont be resolved until there is bigger building with more staff.

Its supposed to happen this year, on the same site, but like all rumours believe it when you see it.

I would consider the % age of people arriving at Imm at dawn would be be a max 10% followers of the Thai Visa forum.However the word does get around. I've told 10 people myself who don't follow TV

The number of slots available every day is also a joke.I mean its maximum of 15 mins to process an applicant. X 10 that's not much more than 2 hours of staff time and yes Agents can walk in at any time and process extensions seen it with my own eyes last time I renewed in December.

[jonwilly]

Thank you Nancy, your are an ace.

john

[uptheos]

Thank you Nancy, your are an ace. john

What parts of the presentation were particularly helpful for you Jon?

[true blue]

have the most respect and admiration for the staff at chaing mai immigration went yesterday for ext of stay had booked appointment at 13-30 went to desk at 13-15 showed my queue number staff took me in straight away sat me next to officer in nice chairs she was waiting for a very old elderally lady who had come unprepaired she had to go out twice to get stuff photo printed and was in a right twiss,the iceing on the cake was when she asked female for her tele number not a clue out again to find tele number,no wonder they like agents if that's a snap shot at what they have to put up with,she dealt with me in about 10mins including photos,but I had to wait over a hour to get passport back,

[uptheos]

have the most respect and admiration for the staff at chaing mai immigration went yesterday for ext of stay had booked appointment at 13-30 went to desk at 13-15 showed my queue number staff took me in straight away sat me next to officer in nice chairs she was waiting for a very old elderally lady who had come unprepaired she had to go out twice to get stuff photo printed and was in a right twiss,the iceing on the cake was when she asked female for her tele number not a clue out again to find tele number,no wonder they like agents if that's a snap shot at what they have to put up with,she dealt with me in about 10mins including photos,but I had to wait over a hour to get passport back,

I think what you have witnessed is an excellent indication that the elderly and infirm (including mentally infirm) need some kind of special priority assistance.

Thanks for bringing that to our notice and yes the online appointment is a doddle.

Wonder what the officer did for the other 20 minutes of you allotted time?

In my case she went off somewhere, phone in hand and returned on the half hour.

Edited February 26, 2015 by uptheos

[NancyL]

Uptheos -- it's been my observation that many of the people waiting in the parking lot don't speak English, so any "leaflet" explaining the on-line queue system would have to be produced in multiple languages and with the OK of Immigration, of course.

Frankly, while I am interested in doing community service, this project is beyond the capabilities of the Board of the CM Expats Club -- which despite what Beetlejuice says about CEC being a "commercial enterprise" -- is no longer run by someone who has an office staff at his beck-and-call.

Oh, Uptheos -- if you have questions about specific people Lanna Care Net and the community has assisted in the past, please send me a PM.

Edited February 26, 2015 by NancyL

[Mapguy]

have the most respect and admiration for the staff at chaing mai immigration went yesterday for ext of stay had booked appointment at 13-30 went to desk at 13-15 showed my queue number staff took me in straight away sat me next to officer in nice chairs she was waiting for a very old elderally lady who had come unprepaired she had to go out twice to get stuff photo printed and was in a right twiss,the iceing on the cake was when she asked female for her tele number not a clue out again to find tele number,no wonder they like agents if that's a snap shot at what they have to put up with,she dealt with me in about 10mins including photos,but I had to wait over a hour to get passport back,

I think what you have witnessed is an excellent indication that the elderly and infirm (including mentally infirm) need some kind of special priority assistance.

Thanks for bringing that to our notice and yes the online appointment is a doddle.

Wonder what the officer did for the other 20 minutes of you allotted time?

In my case she went off somewhere, phone in hand and returned on the half hour.

You got this conversation off to a good start. Regarding your third paragraph, give it a rest, Uptheos !!! You are beating your own dead horse!

[uptheos]

have the most respect and admiration for the staff at chaing mai immigration went yesterday for ext of stay had booked appointment at 13-30 went to desk at 13-15 showed my queue number staff took me in straight away sat me next to officer in nice chairs she was waiting for a very old elderally lady who had come unprepaired she had to go out twice to get stuff photo printed and was in a right twiss,the iceing on the cake was when she asked female for her tele number not a clue out again to find tele number,no wonder they like agents if that's a snap shot at what they have to put up with,she dealt with me in about 10mins including photos,but I had to wait over a hour to get passport back,

I think what you have witnessed is an excellent indication that the elderly and infirm (including mentally infirm) need some kind of special priority assistance.

Thanks for bringing that to our notice and yes the online appointment is a doddle.

Wonder what the officer did for the other 20 minutes of you allotted time?

In my case she went off somewhere, phone in hand and returned on the half hour.

You got this conversation off to a good start. Regarding your third paragraph, give it a rest, Uptheos !!! You are beating your own dead horse!

I don't tell you what to write so please don't tell me.

Questions are often raised about 'not having enough time', I made a valid point, nothing else.

What is it you're scared of Mapguy?

[uptheos]

Uptheos -- it's been my observation that many of the people waiting in the parking lot don't speak English, so any "leaflet" explaining the on-line queue system would have to be produced in multiple languages and with the OK of Immigration, of course.

Frankly, while I am interested in doing community service, this project is beyond the capabilities of the Board of the CM Expats Club -- which despite what Beetlejuice says about CEC being a "commercial enterprise" -- is no longer run by someone who has an office staff at his beck-and-call.

Oh, Uptheos -- if you have questions about specific people Lanna Care Net and the community has assisted in the past, please send me a PM.

So what you're basically saying is that many of the people waiting in the parking lot would actually have some difficulty using the online appointment system anyway, due to language difficulties. That sort of compounds things a lot especially if they are elderly and infirm in some way. Even more reason for someone to start thinking of solutions.

Regarding specific people that have been assisted at Lanna Net by people in the community, perhaps it is you that should send the pm to the person who donated the money and keep him informed, not the other way around.

[Mapguy]

have the most respect and admiration for the staff at chaing mai immigration went yesterday for ext of stay had booked appointment at 13-30 went to desk at 13-15 showed my queue number staff took me in straight away sat me next to officer in nice chairs she was waiting for a very old elderally lady who had come unprepaired she had to go out twice to get stuff photo printed and was in a right twiss,the iceing on the cake was when she asked female for her tele number not a clue out again to find tele number,no wonder they like agents if that's a snap shot at what they have to put up with,she dealt with me in about 10mins including photos,but I had to wait over a hour to get passport back,

I think what you have witnessed is an excellent indication that the elderly and infirm (including mentally infirm) need some kind of special priority assistance.

Thanks for bringing that to our notice and yes the online appointment is a doddle.

Wonder what the officer did for the other 20 minutes of you allotted time?

In my case she went off somewhere, phone in hand and returned on the half hour.

You got this conversation off to a good start. Regarding your third paragraph, give it a rest, Uptheos !!! You are beating your own dead horse!

I don't tell you what to write so please don't tell me.

Questions are often raised about 'not having enough time', I made a valid point, nothing else.

What is it you're scared of Mapguy?

Huh ?? I thought we were talking about ways in which the elderly and infirm can be assisted which was your good suggestion --- as well as the video --- not the perceived efficiency or lack of efficiency among government employees, which, as I recall, has been a frequent theme of yours for some time.

Otherwise, it is too bad that there have been few substantive suggestions so far following your initiative. I agree with you that it is a valid concern, especially for the disabled, actually regardless of age but obviously of more concern for older folks.

Me scared? Maybe of growing old !! You ?!

L'chaim!

Edited February 26, 2015 by Mapguy

[sappersrest]

Whilst CM Eexpats and Lanna care do an excellent job in helping people through their difficulties in dealing with immigration perhaps there is some merit in developing a system where a some sort of befriending scheme is developed.

Each volunteer is put in touch with an elderly person to go with them and either hold a place in the line, or accompany them through the whole process. Or even better visa agents could do a reduced price for the over 70's or infirm.

Dare I say each volunteer is vetted by immigration authorities to avoid any unscrupulous people getting involved.

In the Uk I was a trained caseworker for a veterans charity , so I know that setting up such a scheme is fraught with great difficulties.

Best wishes to all Frank.

[uptheos]

I don't tell you what to write so please don't tell me.

Questions are often raised about 'not having enough time', I made a valid point, nothing else.

What is it you're scared of Mapguy?

Huh ?? I thought we were talking about ways in which the elderly and infirm can be assisted which was your good suggestion --- as well as the video --- not the perceived efficiency or lack of efficiency among government employees, which, as I recall, has been a frequent theme of yours for some time.

Otherwise, it is too bad that there have been few substantive suggestions so far following your initiative. I agree with you that it is a valid concern, especially for the disabled, actually regardless of age but obviously of more concern for older folks.

Me scared? Maybe of growing old !! You ?!

Cheers!

The theme of this thread should be comments on the presentation, which were just not happening so it took a different direction. There are many problems at CM Immigration, some are being tried to be put right, but yes I think there could be more done by immigration. Maybe they do need more staff and a bigger building, but they have what they have and they need to make the best of it for the foreseeable future. If they can start to think things through a little more and if they are serious about solving problems, then after seeing everyone at the presentation I'm sure they will now start to try and do things and that's good.

Of course there are not going to be more suggestions 'following my initiative' whatever that is. People know what they should be saying but like you Mapguy they have some kind of deep fear that if they speak their mind something bad will happen to them, so it's easier to keep quiet and go with the status quo. I'm sure you're VERY familiar with the phrase "I'm alright Jack' and have probably used it often.

Are you scared of growing old?

I have heard that you actually are old but try to present as being younger, but that's entirely up to you not my business.

You certainly come across as someone fearful of being elderly. The derogatory remarks you've made against the elderly in the past are probably just a deflection not of things to come, but of what already is.