Jump to content

Immigration Promenada One Stop Service


Tywais

Recommended Posts

I recently attended CM Immigration at Promenada for a Retirement extension and a re-entry permit.

My comments are:-

Location and Facilities better - Parkling / Toilets

Service - Airport was better

Que - I could not understand the que was not directed uncover, as against a line leading into the rain /sunshine

I had a reservation for myself and wife

Total time 8 hours

Total time processing 10 minutes submission of paperwork, 5 minutes photo (after a 3 hour wait), receipt of passport 5 minutes again after another 3 hour wait, times are approx.

Bottom line processing was 15/20 minutes approx.

Waiting approx. 8 hours

Whilst I was there various Visa agents coming and going, it appeared to my wife and I that the new G4T visa agent was in / out with various people paying to get processed in front of the people who had queued

Once I received the visa, I obtained the re-entry visa without waiting

Three hours late even though you had an appointment?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 597
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

The purpose of the post was to give an indication of approx. timings,

I arrived approx. 55 minutes early, I did not write down or time every action to the minute APPROX

My total time spent 8 hours APPROX

To be specific, were you called at your appointed time, approx?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The purpose of the post was to give an indication of approx. timings,

I arrived approx. 55 minutes early, I did not write down or time every action to the minute APPROX

My total time spent 8 hours APPROX

How long were you delayed for your appointment?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I recently attended CM Immigration at Promenada for a Retirement extension and a re-entry permit.

My comments are:-

Location and Facilities better - Parkling / Toilets

Service - Airport was better

Que - I could not understand the que was not directed uncover, as against a line leading into the rain /sunshine

I had a reservation for myself and wife

Total time 8 hours

Total time processing 10 minutes submission of paperwork, 5 minutes photo (after a 3 hour wait), receipt of passport 5 minutes again after another 3 hour wait, times are approx.

Bottom line processing was 15/20 minutes approx.

Waiting approx. 8 hours

Whilst I was there various Visa agents coming and going, it appeared to my wife and I that the new G4T visa agent was in / out with various people paying to get processed in front of the people who had queued

Once I received the visa, I obtained the re-entry visa without waiting

To the untrained eye what does a Visa agent look like?

This is directed at several posters who have mentioned the many Visa agents.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Visa agent if you talking about the runners in the queue, are usually near the start of the queue, and look like Thai people are usually young men not tall quite small, but there are some Burmese visa runners and the men are easy to pick from Thai's as Burma has a border with Bangladesh the blood is mixed so often they will have a much longer nose. The middle class jobs in the office mostly women but if held by Thai men under 40 years old mostly all have had silicon nose reconstruction surgery, the Burmese dark skin, Chiang Mai much lighter color tone to Bangkok, but you can guarantee all attractive women in Thailand Japan China have a copy nose upgrade.

Edited by Old people
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We observed girls from G4T constantly running backwards and forwards between the G4T office and Imm office

My wife and I thought the attitude of Imm was not great, maybe because we did not use an agent

When you think about using agents or not, there may be a knock on effect to the people who que up and do their own visa /permit

Link to comment
Share on other sites

After reading all the post i am thinking of other options for 1 year & 90 day reporting like local Thai visa service,”We should only give our business to the one Agent that most of us recommend?” so we can Control the Prices. “If we all get together we can make one Visa Service rich, or make it Poor no work no business.

Any idea Guys what sort of credentials do Visa Services need to obtain from the Thai government" before they receive license to handle so many different countries citizens passports?

Wrong sir. take away competition and UP go the prices.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just renewed my one year visa excellent, to quick as I was coming back from breakfast all the people out the front was saying come on, they have been calling your number for five minutes, so I went inside very pleasant man, not the same pleasant man as last year. But electronic number display would be good, security lights for very early morning would be nice and maybe security camera to spot the line jumpers, and some cooling system for outside would be a big improvement, and open the gates so you could drive your car in would be nice, leave the car out the front not so good. But overall a great improvement and thank you to the Chiang Mai Customs Department.

Edited by Tywais
Changed to standard font
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I recently attended CM Immigration at Promenada for a Retirement extension and a re-entry permit.

My comments are:-

Location and Facilities better - Parkling / Toilets

Service - Airport was better

Que - I could not understand the que was not directed uncover, as against a line leading into the rain /sunshine

I had a reservation for myself and wife

Total time 8 hours

Total time processing 10 minutes submission of paperwork, 5 minutes photo (after a 3 hour wait), receipt of passport 5 minutes again after another 3 hour wait, times are approx.

Bottom line processing was 15/20 minutes approx.

Waiting approx. 8 hours

Whilst I was there various Visa agents coming and going, it appeared to my wife and I that the new G4T visa agent was in / out with various people paying to get processed in front of the people who had queued

Once I received the visa, I obtained the re-entry visa without waiting

To the untrained eye what does a Visa agent look like?

This is directed at several posters who have mentioned the many Visa agents.

Just a wild guess but maybe looking like this : A thai man/woman holding some Brown envelopes with 1-4 foreigners in tow ...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just renewed my one year visa excellent, to quick as I was coming back from breakfast all the people out the front was saying come on, they have been calling your number for five minutes, so I went inside very pleasant man, not the same pleasant man as last year. But electronic number display would be good, security lights for very early morning would be nice and maybe security camera to spot the line jumpers, and some cooling system for outside would be a big improvement, and open the gates so you could drive your car in would be nice, leave the car out the front not so good. But overall a great improvement and thank you to the Chiang Mai Customs Department.

Did you use an agent or do by yourself? If done by yourself, what time were you in the line-up (queue) this morning?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A Canadian friend recently had his marriage extension declined because he was 200 Baht a month short on the monthly income rule. This was due to forex fluctuations being unfavourable on the day his appointment occurred, and of course you can't top it up with money in the bank. Yesterday, although my combined income for a retirement extension was well over right through the three month period, the I/O [new face to me] insisted on going through every entry in my FCD and Thai passbooks. He found a transfer between the two accounts where the dates didn't appear to match exactly and refused to process the application until I proved that the funds had gone straight from one account to the other. Even though there was a three day religious weekend between, and the dates appeared to be three days different, he wouldn't budge. So trip back to the bank [fortunately Promenada so just upstairs] and 200 Baht for an itemised print out of all transactions on both accounts, which showed that it did happen on the same day. Even so he spent ages studying, calculating, ruminating, before finally smiling and saying 'we have to be careful now'. From those I saw being processed while waiting he was not as thorough with everyone; though a couple did come out still clutching their papers and looking glum. Maybe the rest were Americans or Australians who don't have to prove their income to their embassy to get a letter stating that they meet the requirement thumbsup.gif Not suggesting any would modify the truth of course whistling.gif

Might be worth those who are relying on bank funds, to take an itemised statement with them in addition to the bank letter; just in case. My 'problem' was apparently due to not updating my books frequently enough. It also took an hour to get my passport through the boss' even though he was in the room all the time; not just mine as no others came out during that hour. Better than waiting for it to be shipped to the airport for checking as some have reported.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I went to Chiang Mai Immigration Tuesday to extend my Visa and the following is a recount of my Annual Visa Extension Renewal experience to assist others.

I arrived at Promenada at 4.30am to find 4 people already waiting and also 2 seats reserved by 1of those people waiting. It was later revealed that this person was working for a Visa Agent. These 2 people arrived and claimed their seats at 7.00am. So arriving at 4.30am got me number 5 in the Retirement Extension line. This is important because those people in the line after number 10 were told by Immigration, when they opened at 8.30am, to leave and not come back until the afternoon.

When Immigration opened the Visa Agent nearby placed himself straight in the front of one of the lines, he did not arrive early.

The waiting area for clients is outside the offices and you will need mosquito protection while waiting there and beware that there are dogs roaming and also fighting around this area.

I was called into the office at 9.45am to check my forms were all correct, money seasoning all ok, and pay the fee (already 11/4 hours elapsed). This was straight forward and took less than a couple of minutes. I was then instructed to go outside again and come back inside again when I was called. After lunch I was called in to have my photo taken and then told to go outside again until my name was called again. Finally I was summoned at 2.30pm to collect my completed Passport. I was made to sign a document first under duress to be able to collect my Passport. It was totally in Thai, no English version was available, no explanation was available of its contents and no copy of the document signed was given to me.

I spent a total of 10 hours at Promenada on Tuesday and was 5th in the queue. So from when Chiang Mai Immigration opened it took 6 hours to process 5 Retirement Extension clients.,

Be aware you have to have stamps transferred from an old passport to the new passport at the Airport office as they will not do this at Promenada

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi

I went to the new Immigration office at Promenada for the first time today and was not impressed. I expected an improvement in service and environment, but found the opposite: it was slower than usual and uncomfortable. I was shocked to discover that, while the staff sit inside in air conditioned comfort, the paying guests to the country are expected to sit outside in the heat! This is despite there being plenty of space in the big room inside. Not very civilised! I plan to ask my embassy to look into the matter and tactfully suggest some improvement to the Immigration office after posting this message; doesn't pay to alienate paying guests.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just remember customs people in your country my country and Thailand are tax collectors.

You will always get mixed response for this topic, some customers can have bad attitude problems, and of course public servants have their good days and bad days, and it can depend on your passport some times if you are in the new Western European Empire or Japanese or Chinese big trading business relationships or powerful allies like America, Australian big trading nation with Asia this can help, “But as there are a lot of problems at the moment in the country” Policies are changing, and new office . “My personal situation I had a bank book 800,000 fixed account”, I was told to copy every single page inside my passport front and back of each page every visa where ever I travel to, but when I sat down in the office very very quick look and he gave it back, interesting 10 minutes went quick, the officer continuously stamp very quick look stamp quick look stamp on an on easy, last words he said sorry sir I've been told to take everybody's photo this year, and please come back about 2 o'clock to 2 30 pick up your passport. 230 my name was caught out passport was ready.

Edited by Tywais
Changed to standard font
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I went to Chiang Mai Immigration Tuesday to extend my Visa and the following is a recount of my Annual Visa Extension Renewal experience to assist others.

I arrived at Promenada at 4.30am to find 4 people already waiting and also 2 seats reserved by 1of those people waiting. It was later revealed that this person was working for a Visa Agent. These 2 people arrived and claimed their seats at 7.00am. So arriving at 4.30am got me number 5 in the Retirement Extension line. This is important because those people in the line after number 10 were told by Immigration, when they opened at 8.30am, to leave and not come back until the afternoon.

When Immigration opened the Visa Agent nearby placed himself straight in the front of one of the lines, he did not arrive early.

The waiting area for clients is outside the offices and you will need mosquito protection while waiting there and beware that there are dogs roaming and also fighting around this area.

I was called into the office at 9.45am to check my forms were all correct, money seasoning all ok, and pay the fee (already 11/4 hours elapsed). This was straight forward and took less than a couple of minutes. I was then instructed to go outside again and come back inside again when I was called. After lunch I was called in to have my photo taken and then told to go outside again until my name was called again. Finally I was summoned at 2.30pm to collect my completed Passport. I was made to sign a document first under duress to be able to collect my Passport. It was totally in Thai, no English version was available, no explanation was available of its contents and no copy of the document signed was given to me.

I spent a total of 10 hours at Promenada on Tuesday and was 5th in the queue. So from when Chiang Mai Immigration opened it took 6 hours to process 5 Retirement Extension clients.,

Be aware you have to have stamps transferred from an old passport to the new passport at the Airport office as they will not do this at Promenada

Thanks for sharing your experience, kingoak. Horrible to hear how they treat elder people but I guess thats how they would like their grandparents treated in a foreign country ... I wonder how long retirees are gonna take this before they move on ...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I went to Chiang Mai Immigration Tuesday to extend my Visa and the following is a recount of my Annual Visa Extension Renewal experience to assist others.

I arrived at Promenada at 4.30am to find 4 people already waiting and also 2 seats reserved by 1of those people waiting. It was later revealed that this person was working for a Visa Agent. These 2 people arrived and claimed their seats at 7.00am. So arriving at 4.30am got me number 5 in the Retirement Extension line. This is important because those people in the line after number 10 were told by Immigration, when they opened at 8.30am, to leave and not come back until the afternoon.

When Immigration opened the Visa Agent nearby placed himself straight in the front of one of the lines, he did not arrive early.

The waiting area for clients is outside the offices and you will need mosquito protection while waiting there and beware that there are dogs roaming and also fighting around this area.

I was called into the office at 9.45am to check my forms were all correct, money seasoning all ok, and pay the fee (already 11/4 hours elapsed). This was straight forward and took less than a couple of minutes. I was then instructed to go outside again and come back inside again when I was called. After lunch I was called in to have my photo taken and then told to go outside again until my name was called again. Finally I was summoned at 2.30pm to collect my completed Passport. I was made to sign a document first under duress to be able to collect my Passport. It was totally in Thai, no English version was available, no explanation was available of its contents and no copy of the document signed was given to me.

I spent a total of 10 hours at Promenada on Tuesday and was 5th in the queue. So from when Chiang Mai Immigration opened it took 6 hours to process 5 Retirement Extension clients.,

Be aware you have to have stamps transferred from an old passport to the new passport at the Airport office as they will not do this at Promenada

Thanks for the report. I'm surprised you let two people who arrived 2.5 hours after you arrived cut in line in front of you. What is this "saving seats", crap? If you aren't there, you aren't in the line.

Edited by TheAppletons
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I arrived this morn, after a difficult journey finding the damn Prom. This at 5.30 am, still dark and frankly outrageously poor road signs. I parked the car after seeing numerous signs announcing IMMIGRATION with a big arrow. Since these signs were on wheels and (probably) few security guards read English the signs pointed in opposing directions and were not helpful. But finally, after trotting around in the dark Prom, hoping to smell the goats, i found the office and took a seat in the queue. 4 Qs were on offer, each with signboard of different color: Tourist Extension, 90 day Notify, Re-Entry Stamp, and Retirement/Medical extension. I took seat 4 in the Retirement Q at 5.45am.

I did see some of the first seats in the 90 Q occupied only by book bags. That was not my Q, i was not concerned. By 8 am the numbers were approx: Tourist 8, Reentry 4, Retire 12 and 90 Day 35 folks. At 8.25 signs of life in the office and on schedule the Immig Team arrived. At the head of my Q the Officer, with his aide who held a pile of numbers on Blue labels, asked all to stand and hold his/her passport. The Officer inspected each passport and i heard him say to Seat 2, 'you are more than 45 days prior' which told me that between 45 and 1 day prior to extension cancellation, OK to apply. He looked at my psprt and gave me 004, Blue. Wait till called. Now the time was 8.45. So far so good. The weather cool and cloudy, the chair adequate (much better than a stool) and gave me no trouble.

Since most of the folks wanted 90 extensions and perhaps these were easier to process, this group shrunk fast. The retirees took the longest time and i was called at 10.20. However, on the tannoy, at 10 am i heard a name called, 'Herman XXX, from Germany, 10 o'clock' and a chap, fresh from the taxi, trotted into the office. So i guess he had one of the elusive appointments. I went in and did not have a copy of my first entry stamp so went out a got a copy, 3 baht, and then he made all the needed stamps and scribblings, took my 1900 baht, fooled around with a computer and told me to go out and wait. "how long? can't say", I went out and bought a coffee but before it was half drunk i was called back in. More stamping and my computer photo taken and then told to return at 1.30 to collect passport.

I moped around the mall (very boring, very loud) and bought some food. At 1.15 the office called my name to collect passport. Finished. Foolishly i brought only one photo, or would have applied for Re-Entry stamp, which i think could have been done on the spot. Leave that for another day.

Drove out of Prom and got lost again. Did i mention the terrible road signs here?

Conclusion: Went well for me at Immig. Prom sucks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This somehow reminds me of the situation for Thais when the foreign ministry was shut early last year. There were no passports issued for many weeks and then they reopened doing a ridiculously small number every day. At the time my daughter needed a new passport hence one day we found ourselves at city hall at 0430 to join the "queue" . There were already about 10 people there. When the office opened one man/representative/agent suddenly appeared with a stack of around 20+ passports and tried to barge in. I think my daughter was probably the first to tell him where to go and then others joined in . He may have snuck in the back later but he certainly wasn't going to survive in that queue.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The big southern resorts in Thailand were having lots of problems with Thai thugs & stand overs, but the Thai cavalry cleaned then all up and the beaches are safe again. Maybe someone should "telephone the army to cleanup the Thai queue jumpers in Chiang Mai.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Conclusion: Went well for me at Immig. Prom sucks.

Excellent report, on behalf of everyone reading, thanks for taking the time.

Two things bothered me - firstly the queue jumpers, I would have given them short shrift. Secondly having to take a photo along with you if they are going to make you wait to take your photograph you anyway. What a complete and utter waste of time (and for those more environmentally conscious than I, resources). If they are going to the trouble of taking your photograph, said item is digital. Digital photos sounded the death knell for photograph print shops if I recall rightly. Because; don't need print if got electronic. Want print nice one, print extra one for mam.

Petty maybe, but it just strikes me as pretty bloody stupid (not to mention the photocopies of every page in the passport for those who haven't left the country for donkey's years). (So (In a pantomime whisper) They're the same as last time we did a 90 day report and you had the copies then.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I arrived this morn, after a difficult journey finding the damn Prom. This at 5.30 am, still dark and frankly outrageously poor road signs. I parked the car after seeing numerous signs announcing IMMIGRATION with a big arrow. Since these signs were on wheels and (probably) few security guards read English the signs pointed in opposing directions and were not helpful. But finally, after trotting around in the dark Prom, hoping to smell the goats, i found the office and took a seat in the queue. 4 Qs were on offer, each with signboard of different color: Tourist Extension, 90 day Notify, Re-Entry Stamp, and Retirement/Medical extension. I took seat 4 in the Retirement Q at 5.45am.

I did see some of the first seats in the 90 Q occupied only by book bags. That was not my Q, i was not concerned. By 8 am the numbers were approx: Tourist 8, Reentry 4, Retire 12 and 90 Day 35 folks. At 8.25 signs of life in the office and on schedule the Immig Team arrived. At the head of my Q the Officer, with his aide who held a pile of numbers on Blue labels, asked all to stand and hold his/her passport. The Officer inspected each passport and i heard him say to Seat 2, 'you are more than 45 days prior' which told me that between 45 and 1 day prior to extension cancellation, OK to apply. He looked at my psprt and gave me 004, Blue. Wait till called. Now the time was 8.45. So far so good. The weather cool and cloudy, the chair adequate (much better than a stool) and gave me no trouble.

Since most of the folks wanted 90 extensions and perhaps these were easier to process, this group shrunk fast. The retirees took the longest time and i was called at 10.20. However, on the tannoy, at 10 am i heard a name called, 'Herman XXX, from Germany, 10 o'clock' and a chap, fresh from the taxi, trotted into the office. So i guess he had one of the elusive appointments. I went in and did not have a copy of my first entry stamp so went out a got a copy, 3 baht, and then he made all the needed stamps and scribblings, took my 1900 baht, fooled around with a computer and told me to go out and wait. "how long? can't say", I went out and bought a coffee but before it was half drunk i was called back in. More stamping and my computer photo taken and then told to return at 1.30 to collect passport.

I moped around the mall (very boring, very loud) and bought some food. At 1.15 the office called my name to collect passport. Finished. Foolishly i brought only one photo, or would have applied for Re-Entry stamp, which i think could have been done on the spot. Leave that for another day.

Drove out of Prom and got lost again. Did i mention the terrible road signs here?

Conclusion: Went well for me at Immig. Prom sucks.

Other than you don't like the location what else did you dislike about the Promenada? How long did it take you to

look around it. It is after all fairly large.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Immig is Ground Floor, exterior entrance, of Bldg A. I saw Bldg B but never entered. On my break i toured A. I found many small shops selling items i never buy like fashions and cosmetics, all for ladies. I saw many shops selling items i infrequently buy, like shoes, sporting goods, but would never pay high price for Brand name as adverts take 1/3 the cost: who needs that. I saw some food and coffee shops. The rent on these must be high, so the price is high. 80 baht for an iced expresso is 40 more than i like to pay. I saw Dukes restaurant and his menu posted at the door. Very high quality photos and said by many to be best western food in town. Smallest burger 120, add 7% tax and tip, so i passed on that.

I saw a large array of electronic shops, many bundled under one awning but i'm not very interested in electronics just now in life. Have old cell phone and MacBook pro, other needs unidentified. I am not easily lured by 'pretties' of any persuasion. I did shop for food at Rimpings and it was normal for that chain of supermarkets. I carried away a bit of food to eat outside. There were some small food vendors next to Rimpings and the food looked good but i found the sitting place loud as competing speakers were in play with adverts and tunes. Annoying to me.

And i was miffed to find later the real 'food court' hidden away in the basement. I entered the food court by accident as i was seeking the Mitsuoka Car dealer, as advertised on every floor register. Now gone, supplanted by MerBenz. Don't need a Benz. I saw few people in the Mall at noon, esp the 3rd floor. Some rents must be cheap there as the goods looked unattended.

I am familiar with Kad Suan Kaew and enjoy that mall. I also go to Maya, but only to Rimping. I am just not into stuff i can't eat or use, unless very inexpensive. I like thrift shops around town.

I'll be back to Prom but only to Immig. Next time i'll search the roadways better and maybe approach from 1141 as that feeds from the Moat. But Superhiway 11 is out of the question for Prom; it's a giant joke.

One final note. The Immig officer was not interested at all in my proof of address. And the digital photo he took no doubt was hooked into the National Immig photo database as found at every airport Immig station, so they have a record of who looks like what.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Immig is Ground Floor, exterior entrance, of Bldg A. I saw Bldg B but never entered. On my break i toured A. I found many small shops selling items i never buy like fashions and cosmetics, all for ladies. I saw many shops selling items i infrequently buy, like shoes, sporting goods, but would never pay high price for Brand name as adverts take 1/3 the cost: who needs that. I saw some food and coffee shops. The rent on these must be high, so the price is high. 80 baht for an iced expresso is 40 more than i like to pay. I saw Dukes restaurant and his menu posted at the door. Very high quality photos and said by many to be best western food in town. Smallest burger 120, add 7% tax and tip, so i passed on that.

I saw a large array of electronic shops, many bundled under one awning but i'm not very interested in electronics just now in life. Have old cell phone and MacBook pro, other needs unidentified. I am not easily lured by 'pretties' of any persuasion. I did shop for food at Rimpings and it was normal for that chain of supermarkets. I carried away a bit of food to eat outside. There were some small food vendors next to Rimpings and the food looked good but i found the sitting place loud as competing speakers were in play with adverts and tunes. Annoying to me.

And i was miffed to find later the real 'food court' hidden away in the basement. I entered the food court by accident as i was seeking the Mitsuoka Car dealer, as advertised on every floor register. Now gone, supplanted by MerBenz. Don't need a Benz. I saw few people in the Mall at noon, esp the 3rd floor. Some rents must be cheap there as the goods looked unattended.

I am familiar with Kad Suan Kaew and enjoy that mall. I also go to Maya, but only to Rimping. I am just not into stuff i can't eat or use, unless very inexpensive. I like thrift shops around town.

I'll be back to Prom but only to Immig. Next time i'll search the roadways better and maybe approach from 1141 as that feeds from the Moat. But Superhiway 11 is out of the question for Prom; it's a giant joke.

One final note. The Immig officer was not interested at all in my proof of address. And the digital photo he took no doubt was hooked into the National Immig photo database as found at every airport Immig station, so they have a record of who looks like what.

Thanks for your review. I like it because it has as you say cheap stuff. Same as all the other mall's But it is far

more open and less people. I am not impressed with the immigration as I can not see where they have the room to do the

job proper. They have enough room for a proper staff but sitting outside can be a bummer. I wonder if any other

offices in the system operate like that? Not much into second hand stuff as the wife makes most of my clothing and I

have no need for any thing else at this point. I find it a relaxing mall when I have to go to one. all the same the

amount of time they can make you wait if you are getting the permission to stay is far more than I need. It would be

nice if they could be more definite on the time to pick up your passports. Could maybe catch a movie.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.








×
×
  • Create New...