Immigration Promenada One Stop Service v2

[northernjohn]

I agree with you. It seems that a lot of people are more interested in who is making the money than they are in improving the system. Some think that putting the on line reservation will solve the problem. They forget that just because there are two offices there is still roughly 50 a day being served and only 10 reservations were being handed out. That is 1 out of 5 got the reservation. As Nancy pointed out when she did the one day pre inspection of the people filling there own there was a lot who didn't know what was needed. If those people were lucky enough to get an appointment they would still have taken up the immigration officers time and he would not have been able to serve as many people. What is the big deal about that? It takes just as long to check all their paper work as it dos the people who don't have an appointment.

I would be interested in hearing from Pattaya. A friend of mine used to live there and he told me they had a sign guaranteeing 1/2 hour service. He also said that there was volunteers there checking over all the paper work before you went to see the officer. I personally am wondering how immigration is reacting to the complaints. Are they trying to solve it or are they saying there is no problem. I may not know every thing about the Thai culture but I do know that they defiantly do not like criticism or being told they are wrong.

[Tywais]

This is my last warning for those who are continuing to make accusations regarding immigration. Thailand does have conflict of interest laws and any improprieties can be handled by the government. Trying to make implications regarding immigration, subtle or direct, can be construed as libel and posts will be removed. We don't want to take any chances nor aggravate already dire conditions. I've removed posts and replies plus edited out quotes that contained such suggestions.

[thaibeachlovers]

Caperfriend / Northjohn,

My wife and I went to the I/O in September to renew our retirement extension, and our comments about the IM Officer are exactly the same as yours

Not polite and very rude

The guy who did the re-entry permit was worse, he more or less throw our documents at us

NO UNDERSTANDING OF "SERVICE'

Did my extension on Wed., there were 2 officers side by side, a woman that was being polite and friendly to the customer to my left I got a dude that did not even look up when handed the docs. I said good morning to him, no reply, no eye contact... checked everything then motioned me to move to the camera seat. .... strange.

Perhaps he didn't understand English, so didn't want to lose face. It's not an English speaking country after all, and we shouldn't expect the same as in our own countries, and I've heard of rude officials in my country too.

The nastiest Thai I ever had to deal with was a policeman, so not just imm. officers.

[thaibeachlovers]

Anybody done a 90 day report recently?

Just wondering what time to show up, not as early as I did for retirement visa last month I hope?

Should have gone postal I know, but I didn't so gotta show up!!

I got my appointment card number after lunch break and was seen about 3 pm. However, might be safer turning up in the morning, 8ish or so.

[daoyai]

Caperfriend / Northjohn,

My wife and I went to the I/O in September to renew our retirement extension, and our comments about the IM Officer are exactly the same as yours

Not polite and very rude

The guy who did the re-entry permit was worse, he more or less throw our documents at us

NO UNDERSTANDING OF "SERVICE'

Did my extension on Wed., there were 2 officers side by side, a woman that was being polite and friendly to the customer to my left I got a dude that did not even look up when handed the docs. I said good morning to him, no reply, no eye contact... checked everything then motioned me to move to the camera seat. .... strange.

Perhaps he didn't understand English, so didn't want to lose face. It's not an English speaking country after all, and we shouldn't expect the same as in our own countries, and I've heard of rude officials in my country too.

The nastiest Thai I ever had to deal with was a policeman, so not just imm. officers.

I believe English is a requirement of Imm. officers handeling visa extensions as there is normally a bit of "interview" involved but I am quite able to manage polite greetings in Thai , no he is just showing contempt for whatever reason. Don't forget, Imm. ARE policmen.

[Lizard2010]

Caperfriend / Northjohn,

My wife and I went to the I/O in September to renew our retirement extension, and our comments about the IM Officer are exactly the same as yours

Not polite and very rude

The guy who did the re-entry permit was worse, he more or less throw our documents at us

NO UNDERSTANDING OF "SERVICE'

Did my extension on Wed., there were 2 officers side by side, a woman that was being polite and friendly to the customer to my left I got a dude that did not even look up when handed the docs. I said good morning to him, no reply, no eye contact... checked everything then motioned me to move to the camera seat. .... strange.

Perhaps he didn't understand English, so didn't want to lose face. It's not an English speaking country after all, and we shouldn't expect the same as in our own countries, and I've heard of rude officials in my country too.

The nastiest Thai I ever had to deal with was a policeman, so not just imm. officers.

When dealing with Thai government Departments that deal with English speaking Expart

They need to know English

Because they are in a government job which many would love to work

Because when they retire they get a very good pension

The Government workers who get a very high % of there monthly Salary

Compared to the normal people WHO ONLY GET 600 baht per month to start with

All people ask for is a competent and efficient service

Which at this time is not being provided

[Lizard2010]

Caperfriend / Northjohn,

My wife and I went to the I/O in September to renew our retirement extension, and our comments about the IM Officer are exactly the same as yours

Not polite and very rude

The guy who did the re-entry permit was worse, he more or less throw our documents at us

NO UNDERSTANDING OF "SERVICE'

Did my extension on Wed., there were 2 officers side by side, a woman that was being polite and friendly to the customer to my left I got a dude that did not even look up when handed the docs. I said good morning to him, no reply, no eye contact... checked everything then motioned me to move to the camera seat. .... strange.

Perhaps he didn't understand English, so didn't want to lose face. It's not an English speaking country after all, and we shouldn't expect the same as in our own countries, and I've heard of rude officials in my country too.

The nastiest Thai I ever had to deal with was a policeman, so not just imm. officers.

I believe English is a requirement of Imm. officers handeling visa extensions as there is normally a bit of "interview" involved but I am quite able to manage polite greetings in Thai , no he is just showing contempt for whatever reason. Don't forget, Imm. ARE policmen.

Don't forget, Imm. ARE policmen

Are they?

I thought they were just a Government worker

Maybe we need clarification?

Does anyone know this?

[hml367]

Don't forget, Imm. ARE policmen

Are they?

I thought they were just a Government worker

Maybe we need clarification?

Does anyone know this?

You can go to the Royal Thai Police Immigration web site and look under the History tab.

[NancyL]

Yes, the point is to improve service -- not to go off on some crusade about who owns the satellite businesses around the Immigration office. None of us are too torqued up about who owns the copy shop or the coffee stand staffed by the nice lady are we? (They serve great cold goat milk and goat milk ice cream in honor of our absent mascots)

From what I understand about the Pattaya office (never having been there mind you) they use a corp of foreign volunteers to screen documents and answer questions. Not Thai college students who barely can speak English, are shy around foreigners and don't know the Imm. regulations. They have good signs and have the work flow process figured out. The Chulalongkorn PhD student said that the Pattaya Imm office is crowded, but there's movement. Nothing is static. Unlike our office which also is crowded, but everyone is just sitting.

[Ace of Pop]

They are Police .Things have changed.23 years ago I went to C.M... I hate forms I told the Officer ,ok I'll do it for You,would you like a Cafe,black or white ?..Ah Well those days are gone...He sat at the Table ,nice chat and a smile.

[Lizard2010]

Don't forget, Imm. ARE policmen

Are they?

I thought they were just a Government worker

Maybe we need clarification?

Does anyone know this?

You can go to the Royal Thai Police Immigration web site and look under the History tab.

Ok thanks for that mate

I will look it up

[hml367]

If you don't want to go searching for things, you could just look at the Immigration logo:

[Lizard2010]

If you don't want to go searching for things, you could just look at the Immigration logo:

I think its just to make then feel specail

Because of the job they do

Yes i have already read it in History

[HenryB]

Bottom Line how much other agents charge since G4T out business I hope we do not have to pay more

By paying more we lose more

[stephenterry]

Yes, the point is to improve service -- not to go off on some crusade about who owns the satellite businesses around the Immigration office. None of us are too torqued up about who owns the copy shop or the coffee stand staffed by the nice lady are we? (They serve great cold goat milk and goat milk ice cream in honor of our absent mascots)

From what I understand about the Pattaya office (never having been there mind you) they use a corp of foreign volunteers to screen documents and answer questions. Not Thai college students who barely can speak English, are shy around foreigners and don't know the Imm. regulations. They have good signs and have the work flow process figured out. The Chulalongkorn PhD student said that the Pattaya Imm office is crowded, but there's movement. Nothing is static. Unlike our office which also is crowded, but everyone is just sitting.

Two years ago, I was living in Pattaya. 90 day reporting took less than ten minutes, arriving at 4pm, even though the office was crowded. It holds about 70 people, including many Imm officers who were dealing with all different types of visas.

Retirement visa went like this: get a mid-morning ticket, wait about 10-15 minutes to be called to a desk where a female volunteer speaking good English, patient and helpful, would scan and check all the paperwork. There's a photocopy and photo shop outside in the compound. Then, if correct, she added it all to a pile sitting on the IMM officers desk, and he was ploughing through the checked ones. The guy said come back in the afternoon after 3pm. At 3pm it was all done and dusted, the guy asked a few questions and was very polite. Handed me back my passport.

What I don't know is what happens if there is a problem, but from the number of available officers there, service was provided promptly. Visitors on any one day must be in the hundreds. There is also a English/American police volunteer at the reception who handles queries prior to giving out tickets. The attitude from all I spoke to, was friendly and cooperative - it is a world away from what happens here at Promenada, which is as pleasant as going to the dentist.

I cannot stress enough, how good was the service at Pattaya and how bad the service is here at Promenada. Seems like they take pride in their jobs, which must be tedious at times, and still maintained a friendly approach to all.

[briley]

Does anyone know what happens if you can not get a ticket to renew your retirement extension and it runs out?

I assume you have to leave Thailand and start again.

Has this happened to anyone?

[NancyL]

Does anyone know what happens if you can not get a ticket to renew your retirement extension and it runs out?

I assume you have to leave Thailand and start again.

Has this happened to anyone?

You can apply for your retirement extension up to 45 days in advance in Chiang Mai, so you have much time to try to get a queue ticket.

Technically, yes if you go on overstay you're suppose to exit Thailand, pay the overstay fine and apply for a new visa. However, I've heard very recent reports of Imm. Prom. allowing people to pay an overstay fine of 500 baht/day if they're just a few days late. I think that depends on who they are and how they handle themselves. I doubt that either me or my husband would be granted this small favor.

[NancyL]

Bottom Line how much other agents charge since G4T out business I hope we do not have to pay more

By paying more we lose more

As reported in previous posts it doesn't appear that G4T is really out-of-business. They've just gone on the low-down, operating from an unmarked table set up outside their old office. So don't worry, as of Friday you could still get your low-cost entree into Imm. Prom.

To bad some of the money they're collecting isn't being used to develop a Chiang Mai-specific on-line queue system with 40-50 appointment times each day for retirees.

[northernjohn]

Yes, the point is to improve service -- not to go off on some crusade about who owns the satellite businesses around the Immigration office. None of us are too torqued up about who owns the copy shop or the coffee stand staffed by the nice lady are we? (They serve great cold goat milk and goat milk ice cream in honor of our absent mascots)

From what I understand about the Pattaya office (never having been there mind you) they use a corp of foreign volunteers to screen documents and answer questions. Not Thai college students who barely can speak English, are shy around foreigners and don't know the Imm. regulations. They have good signs and have the work flow process figured out. The Chulalongkorn PhD student said that the Pattaya Imm office is crowded, but there's movement. Nothing is static. Unlike our office which also is crowded, but everyone is just sitting.

Two years ago, I was living in Pattaya. 90 day reporting took less than ten minutes, arriving at 4pm, even though the office was crowded. It holds about 70 people, including many Imm officers who were dealing with all different types of visas.

Retirement visa went like this: get a mid-morning ticket, wait about 10-15 minutes to be called to a desk where a female volunteer speaking good English, patient and helpful, would scan and check all the paperwork. There's a photocopy and photo shop outside in the compound. Then, if correct, she added it all to a pile sitting on the IMM officers desk, and he was ploughing through the checked ones. The guy said come back in the afternoon after 3pm. At 3pm it was all done and dusted, the guy asked a few questions and was very polite. Handed me back my passport.

What I don't know is what happens if there is a problem, but from the number of available officers there, service was provided promptly. Visitors on any one day must be in the hundreds. There is also a English/American police volunteer at the reception who handles queries prior to giving out tickets. The attitude from all I spoke to, was friendly and cooperative - it is a world away from what happens here at Promenada, which is as pleasant as going to the dentist.

I cannot stress enough, how good was the service at Pattaya and how bad the service is here at Promenada. Seems like they take pride in their jobs, which must be tedious at times, and still maintained a friendly approach to all.

Thank you for your first hand input. If I understand you correctly you still have to come back at a later time to collect your passport. The same as here.

One other point that we seem to over look or cheapen is that they have a volunteer to check over every thing before the officer looks at your papers.

We don't do that we just complain and ignore that often the people expect the officer to do the work. I have first hand experience with the girls out front. They told me every thing was fine. They could not give me a queue number because only 20 a day are given out. I went next door and they checked my papers before going to the immigration officer and I had missed one spot to sign also as has been mentioned here they made sure the picture was the correct size. I had been using these pictures for two years. This time they cut the picture down a little bit.

I am quite sure the officer handling the work is aware that the girls out front do not fully check the paper work and therefore does it himself and if needed helps the applicant to fill it out.

As for late applicants. My first year here I was 6 days late and they charged me 1,000 baht a day. Then gave me 365 days from the new date. Don't know if that is Standard or not. The original officer I had seen was not going to give me the time and I was not going to argue with him. It was the signing officer who noticed it and gave me the additional days. He never even spoke to me. I sat against the wall and watched him looking it over. He got up and came back with the original officer they talked and I just sat off to the side and watched. Finally he got done with it stamped it motioned me over pointed out the new date and gave me back my passport.

[northernjohn]

On a slightly different note here is a bit of bad news for us. I get different locations and a bit of the good points about many countries from them by e mail every day. Might be deleted by the Mods . Just thought I would mention it. The article was written by a Chiang Mai resident. Go figure he talked more about beaches in Thailand but the article was titled Chiang Mai.

" Discover more about this low-cost retirement haven by accessing our devoted Thailand page on the International Living website"

[slapout]

I think the problems that are being encountered at immigration can for the most part be blamed on the

people who have abused the changes /options that have been implemented by the CM office over the past 2 or 3 years, which proved successful and popular. First, the internet visa extension appointment, by booking multiple slots at the stoke of midnight, the 90 day report queue by sending someone carrying passports for a dozen people thus taking up the first hour+_ of the individual official assigned that day. I will not address other options or requirements we have to abide by as I do not require most of them. such as reentry, short time extension, residense certificate, etc

I would venture that most of those who have abused the system I refer to, go thru life screwing everyone they can so they can get enough to exist with the least amount of effort and little contribution to doing anything meaningful for the rest of society.

Now I do agree there is a need by some individuals who have physical handicaps, emergencies come up, or other limiting factors where a Visa Agent is needed. Possibly for the shy ones, as they have a pimple on their nose. Some people do not intermingle well with others, some do not want to be bothered, some even profess it costs them too much money to not use a agent due to possible monetary loss they would incur.

We used to manage, own, run a business that expecting 90+% of the problems are as a result of action, lack of, comments, etc by 10%_of your customers, hired help, suppliers, etc. It appears Visa agents fit this profile nicely.

[Lizard2010]

Yes, the point is to improve service -- not to go off on some crusade about who owns the satellite businesses around the Immigration office. None of us are too torqued up about who owns the copy shop or the coffee stand staffed by the nice lady are we? (They serve great cold goat milk and goat milk ice cream in honor of our absent mascots)

From what I understand about the Pattaya office (never having been there mind you) they use a corp of foreign volunteers to screen documents and answer questions. Not Thai college students who barely can speak English, are shy around foreigners and don't know the Imm. regulations. They have good signs and have the work flow process figured out. The Chulalongkorn PhD student said that the Pattaya Imm office is crowded, but there's movement. Nothing is static. Unlike our office which also is crowded, but everyone is just sitting.

Two years ago, I was living in Pattaya. 90 day reporting took less than ten minutes, arriving at 4pm, even though the office was crowded. It holds about 70 people, including many Imm officers who were dealing with all different types of visas.

Retirement visa went like this: get a mid-morning ticket, wait about 10-15 minutes to be called to a desk where a female volunteer speaking good English, patient and helpful, would scan and check all the paperwork. There's a photocopy and photo shop outside in the compound. Then, if correct, she added it all to a pile sitting on the IMM officers desk, and he was ploughing through the checked ones. The guy said come back in the afternoon after 3pm. At 3pm it was all done and dusted, the guy asked a few questions and was very polite. Handed me back my passport.

What I don't know is what happens if there is a problem, but from the number of available officers there, service was provided promptly. Visitors on any one day must be in the hundreds. There is also a English/American police volunteer at the reception who handles queries prior to giving out tickets. The attitude from all I spoke to, was friendly and cooperative - it is a world away from what happens here at Promenada, which is as pleasant as going to the dentist.

I cannot stress enough, how good was the service at Pattaya and how bad the service is here at Promenada. Seems like they take pride in their jobs, which must be tedious at times, and still maintained a friendly approach to all.

Thanks for that

A friend recently did his 90 report in Chiang Rai

There was a gentleman before him, but he must not have had it all correct in his paperwork

Another office said Mr **** come over her i will fix your up

within 4 minutes he was finished

I do understand Chiang Rai is a small plac

I would say this was 5 Star Service

Make you begin to wonder

Is it worth staying in Chiang Mai

[Trujillo]

I think the problems that are being encountered at immigration can for the most part be blamed on the people who have abused the changes /options that have been implemented by the CM office over the past 2 or 3 years, which proved successful and popular.

Oh, boy, here we go again...it's our fault things are not good at CM immigration....

[moe666]

I do not understandwhat allof the complaining is about the old office was a totalcircle jerk and the service could be crazy cramped in front of the information desk with some smelly folks whohad not filled out their paper work. The only difference is the on-line reservation system and it has been explained that it was discontinued because of a problem of having two offices. There was a early morning line at the old office for those who could not get a reservation and a few of the officers were not all that friendly. Please tell me in your working days that you never slowed down took a break never had to go to the toilet, didn't have to talk to the boss. Since we no longer work we expect perfection from those who do. I have never expected perfection from people who deal with the public it is a thankless job trying to meet someone elses idea of perfection.

[Vacuum]

I'm beginning to understand people with a very long overstay.........

[Trujillo]

You haven't been keeping up, Titanium Member. Go back and catch up a bit.

[elgordo38]

Thanks NancyL for the hard work

Yes Nancy L thanks for the hard work. Being president of an organization sometimes can be rewarding and at other times thankless. I have experienced to much of the later in the past thus I no longer volunteer. It is unusual to see you take of the gloves as you do above. Go get em girl. I just knew looking at you in your beautiful printed dresses you would have a break out moment like now. I am glad I experienced it. Being just plain dumb as you outlined in some of the above cases is just part of human nature along with getting older. Being a rock like yourself can be comforting to us when a storm hits. I a rebel do not like jumping through hoops at immigration. I do not like to be "herded" as we presently are. We seem to be the only part of Thailand with our unique problem but then the northern part of the country seems to be "out of favor" at present. Yes agents serve a purpose but then immigration is supposed to provide a decent/reasonable service(small s) which is sadly lacking. Simple things like the online queue system could be fixed and expanded with a little effort but effort seems to be a major thing lacking in the eyes of immigration.I guess I am a rebel completely opposite of yourself a person seeking solutions and I hope you find them. I like to rail out against injustice and I feel this falls into that category. In the end I may have to succumb to the "system" and feed the cookie monster but I will not "gently go off into the good night" I am used to living in a world of black and white and not a world of 50 shades of grey.

[cyberfarang]

I do not understandwhat allof the complaining is about the old office was a totalcircle jerk and the service could be crazy cramped in front of the information desk with some smelly folks whohad not filled out their paper work. The only difference is the on-line reservation system and it has been explained that it was discontinued because of a problem of having two offices. There was a early morning line at the old office for those who could not get a reservation and a few of the officers were not all that friendly. Please tell me in your working days that you never slowed down took a break never had to go to the toilet, didn't have to talk to the boss. Since we no longer work we expect perfection from those who do. I have never expected perfection from people who deal with the public it is a thankless job trying to meet someone elses idea of perfection.

Would you still have the same opinion if you went into a restaurant and the staff were abrupt and rude or had to wait an hour to be served because staff had other chores to do? Would you still be sympathetic of their situation?

No, thought not. You would walk out of that restaurant and never set foot in there again. I never expect a member of staff to be totally subservient and kiss my backside while providing a service, but a little courtesy costs nothing and taking into account that without us these people would be out of a job.

[slapout]

You haven't been keeping up, Titanium Member. Go back and catch up a bit.

Not sure if this is adressed to me or not as you quote a part of a post I made in reference to my opinion that some people were screwing up a system which was working and had been for 23 years of my personal experience with the Thai immigration people and system itself.

Then you make this post, Not sure what to catch up on, I did my yearly extension in person by appointmentmid year, my 90 day reports have been mailed in and acknowledged. Its the internet appointment for yearly visa extension, and 90 day reporting by those with multiple passports in hand that I consider as a major cause of the complaints most people mention.

I do realize some of those living on a hope, prayer and a small allowance from daddy might have to find real paying jobs that will support their adopted life style or they will point fingers at others or exclaim that we do not understand as we are behind times and do not understand the youngesters nor Thai mind set.

[Caspersfriend]

"A civil servant or public servant is a person in the public sector employed for a government department or agency. The extent of civil servants of a state as part of the "civil service" varies from country to country."

Throughout my 'previous' life, and also during the years I have lived here in Thailand, I have always been respectful and courteous to those who sit across the desk when I am requested to comply with legislation. In doing so [and recognising that those on the other side of the desk were generally just 'doing their job'] nine times out of ten in my home country those experiences were light-hearted as there was no barrier put up by either side. The one out of ten was the minority and the next time you saw them they would likely be in the nine. It has taken me a few years to adjust; but here in Thailand we are sitting across a desk to those whose upbringing and life experience is very different. Perhaps the majority of those who wear a uniform and/or sit behind a desk here do not consider themselves to be the servant of anyone; be they Thai or 'alien'. Always best to keep that possibility in mind.

Expressing our opinions on forums such as this is extremely unlikely to change anything much. However expressing those opinions here [even though that's not behind closed doors] is better than confrontation of those at Immigration who [to their mind] are just doing their job. I very much doubt any of those behind the desks we sit across come to work thinking "how best can I screw up the lives of some aliens today" -- maybe one in ten