U.s. Consulate In Chiang Mai

[ProThaiExpat]

Having waded through this entire thread, clearly there are many who post out of general dissatisfaction with the way they think they should be treated, as opposed to the way they were.

The OP, having clearly been told that BKK Embassy was the only place he could get the visa he desired, nevertheless persists on insisting the CM Counsulate should help him with an issue they have nothing to do with.

I am not an expert on the U.S. Foreign Service, but there is a difference between a counsulate and an Embassy and that may be a factor here.

What does the thicknes of security glass have to do with the issue. Perhaps literary license to make a rant more interesting. Third party accounts of what happens to others is so fraught with hearsay as to be totally unreliable.

I had occasion to deal with the young lady who I believe some have referred to as the author of the undesireabilty of a CM posting. When one takes into account, as she related to me, that when she thought CM was a "hardship post", she was speaking from the point of view of a young lady who found the paucity of male dating material in her age group as being the "hardship" of her posting.

When I came to her window to sign my escrow documents that were to be notarized, we both discovered that they had already been signed by the man at the window who preceeded me. While she had no concern about whiting out his name and allowing me to sign over his, I was somethat concerned it would not be accepted by a U.S. escorw company. It was. No purpose in ranting about the foulup, these things happen regardless.

We had an interesting conversation about how much money the counsulate made from fees as compared to how little she was paid. Evidently she felt she should share in the profits or receive more pay as a profit generating center. She further complained how boring dealing with the "citizens window" when she had so many more important duties in the counsular area such as trade deals, assisting import and export problems and the like.

PS. When there last week to get my "pension letter", their fairly new security installation manned by Thais seemed working well until they tried to give me someone elses cellphone when I left. No point in ranting about the foulup, these things happed regardless. Am I repeating myself.

I learned a long time ago that failed expectations was the main source of my anger in life and particularly when dealing with a beaurocracy. My suggestion to the ranters, unless they enjoy doing in for whatever reason, is to not expect anything from the CM Counsulate and then you won't ever be disapointed. Expect nothing but trouble and inconvenience and you will thereby always leave feeling good, as you will experience somehting less than pure trouble an inconvenience when dealing with them.

[mongoose]

A letter to the Consul General might help improve service. I spoke with one a few years back and he said that the personel files contained "customer" complaint information which he was aware of.

Might not fix the problems fast but might help to get the offensive government servants posted somewhere really nice next time, like Kabul or Karachi.

[Rasseru]

. . . . . might help to get the offensive government servants posted somewhere really nice next time, like Kabul or Karachi.

Or Baghdad. Hear tell the U.S. has a big embassy there.

[jomama]

The OP, having clearly been told that BKK Embassy was the only place he could get the visa he desired, nevertheless persists on insisting the CM Counsulate should help him with an issue they have nothing to do with.

Thank you for your thoughful post. But just to clarify: At the the time we went to the consulate, we did not know that it was the wrong place, that they didn't deal with such visas there. If fact, we didn't know what we should do to initiate the process and that's why we went to the consulate -- to try get a little guidance to get us started.

[kash]

The OP, having clearly been told that BKK Embassy was the only place he could get the visa he desired, nevertheless persists on insisting the CM Counsulate should help him with an issue they have nothing to do with.

It's exactly that a Consulate is for; to help. Regardless of where the authority of the question lay, the help factor is what has been searched for here, and denied.

I am not an expert on the U.S. Foreign Service, but there is a difference between a counsulate and an Embassy and that may be a factor here.

A consulate is to help and assist citizens, which clearly was the factor here ...

Third party accounts of what happens to others is so fraught with hearsay as to be totally unreliable.

So why do you bother replying to this, your opinion ain't worth much if we are taking your above quote into context.

[Dustoff]

A consulate is to help and assist citizens, which clearly was the factor here ...

Third party accounts of what happens to others is so fraught with hearsay as to be totally unreliable.

So why do you bother replying to this, your opinion ain't worth much if we are taking your above quote into context.

May we give it a rest here? A U.S. Consulate's primary mission is NOT to assist American citizens and if any of us have any questions as to the missions of the U.S. Embassy and Consulate over here we need only check out their Thailand website.

Given, IMHO, the frequent attitudes of WE American tourists/expats around the world, I have to remember this when I approach my own Consulate without having fully checked out their mission and purpose here in Chiang Mai.

Agreed, a poor attitude is no pleasure to deal with but I think that we have to keep in mind that they have to deal with very much the same every day..after day..after day. Can you imagine having to have bullet-proof glass in an interview room primarily because of their own countrymen who frequently respond physically when they don't have their unreasonable expectations met?

Duh, I gonna punch da glass...

[ProThaiExpat]

The last time I was at the Counsulate a few weeks ago, one window was occupied for the entire time I was, while a staff member was attempting to explain to a citizen that he had to have the consent of the mother of his child to register the child as a U.S. citizen.

I heard from this citizen from his lound voice that the mother of his child snuck into Thailand periodically without documentation from a bordering country during theirr relationship, and while he was married to her/ He had no marriage document. Likewise, he claimed sole parental rights as his "wife" had abondoned him and his child.

He had no documents on the child.

What with human trafficing abounding, is there any wonder he was refused but more germaine to this thread, I would have kicked the guy out after ten minutes, not listening to his loud prtestations for an hour based on what I heard.

As to the gray haired man with moustache who notarized my pension letter, while he didn't smile and was somewhat gruff, he was not rude. Officious is the worst I can say about him. Effecient is the best I can say about him. I was pleasantly surprised how easy the process was, as I fully expected a great deal more hassle than I experienced.

[Vespa]

The staff at the Bkk embassy are on the most part total a*sholes.

I think they are so used to having people trying to kiss their ass for a visa that when "we" use them for menial tasks like at the DMV , it rubs them the wrong way.

The woman that staff's the counter at the American Citizens Services in Bkk. is really uptight.

Edited December 2, 2006 by Vespa