queue for annual visa renewal is full. now what

[uncola]

i live in chiang mai. i have had a work visa for about 20 years. last year i signed up for my appointment date [22 oct] exactly 100 days prior. yesterday i went to sign up but it was full. i should have stayed up until 12:01 to sign in? silly i know but TIT. now what? i can't show up at a later date. and why is the whole day full? there are several people working at Thai immigration who specialize in the various visas. appointments are made at various desks. not just work visas. but for some reason the whole day is full? it makes no sense. why don't they have a queue for the various departments instead of all being grouped into one? and why isn't the website more foreigner friendly. it is for foreigners; Thais don't get visas. anyway now what? i suppose just show up on 22 oct and sit all day? there has got to be a better way.

[ubonjoe]

In October things will probably be much different than today because the new office opens on Monday. It could be that you will not need to line up at 5 am to get your extension done.

[Tywais]

The queue filling up quickly has been ongoing for a while now as there is a large increase of expats in Chiang Mai. Generally, if you don't get online by a few minutes after midnight the slots will have all been taken. Here is an example (see link below) of how I did it in the CM topic on 90 day queue.

And as ubonjoe mentioned, the services will be split starting Monday with the new office with Retirement extensions at Promenada and work/marriage at the old building so hopefully it will be easier to go directly without a queue number. We will not know for certain how this works out until probably a few days after the new opening and reports come in.

Also, I always start trying to get a queue at least 100 days plus 3 weeks before my extension expiration to give me more chances to get a queue number.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/788344-immigration-on-line-queue-system-2015/page-2#entry9462747

[uncola]

my one year visa expires on 22 oct. you are saying i probably should have been trying to schedule the appointment before my visa expires? no one canapply online more than 100 days prior so you are saying i should have been trying to apply and move my appointment date up earlier? well hopefully with immigration splitting the work load between two locations things will improve. that is the general idea. i can remember applying for a visa when i first arrived about 30 years ago and oftentimes there were one or two guys ahead of me and sometimes no one there at all. then Chiangmai became popular.

[Tywais]

my one year visa expires on 22 oct. you are saying i probably should have been trying to schedule the appointment before my visa expires? no one canapply online more than 100 days prior so you are saying i should have been trying to apply and move my appointment date up earlier? well hopefully with immigration splitting the work load between two locations things will improve. that is the general idea. i can remember applying for a visa when i first arrived about 30 years ago and oftentimes there were one or two guys ahead of me and sometimes no one there at all. then Chiangmai became popular.

Yes. You can do your extension of stay at least 30 days before the expiration of the extension. Example in my case. My extension expires September 30 so 100 days before September 7 I started looking to make a queue reservation which would be 3 weeks before actual expiration.

[uncola]

that makes sense. why didn't i think of that? i guess because 22 oct has been my renewal date for at least 20 years. it just never occurred to me to go earlier. thanks if it is still a mess next year i will do it earlier as you suggest. and 90 day reporting can be done online?

[Tywais]

that makes sense. why didn't i think of that? i guess because 22 oct has been my renewal date for at least 20 years. it just never occurred to me to go earlier. thanks if it is still a mess next year i will do it earlier as you suggest. and 90 day reporting can be done online?

Mixed results for most offices including Chiang Mai. Some success stories but many failures. Seems at least one of the keys is that if your last permission of stay stamp was prior to 2-3 years ago they will not have a record due to expunging the database periodically. Also, a change in passport such as renewal may effect it. Of course give it a try and if fails use the mail in option.