Immigration Promenada One Stop Service 2016-2017

[EricTh]

This morning I arrived at around 7 am. I was lucky to get a queue number below 10.

 

My number was called around 11 am.

 

It must be my lucky day today. Everything went smoothly.

 

 

[EricTh]

I tried to open another bank account at Siam Commercial Bank but the bank officer gave me a shock.

 

They want a letter from the immigration stating that I will be living in Thailand for one year!

 

Then I showed her the visa stamp on my passport but she said it's a new additional requirement besides the visa.

 

Does anybody know whether Promenada immigration offer this service and whether there is a charge for this 'confirmation' letter?
 

Edited November 8, 2016 by xng

[rawhod]

1 hour ago, xng said:

I tried to open another bank account at Siam Commercial Bank but the bank officer gave me a shock.

 

They want a letter from the immigration stating that I will be living in Thailand for one year!
 

 

How can anybody confirm that?

[EricTh]

2 hours ago, rawhod said:

 

How can anybody confirm that?

 

That's why I think it's a bit absurd when the visa stamp is clearly visible on my passport. Due to communication problem, I think ask why

 

[NancyL]

What the bank is asking for is a Certificate of Residency.  They want that because you don't have a Work Permit.  SCB has a really crummy website, so unlike Bangkok Bank, they don't list the documents needed to open a new account, but I suspect that's what they were saying.

[balo]

I opened an account at Kasikorn branch inside Central Festival a few weeks ago. No questions asked, I'm on a 1 year Non-Imm visa.   

[EricTh]

20 hours ago, NancyL said:

What the bank is asking for is a Certificate of Residency.  They want that because you don't have a Work Permit.  SCB has a really crummy website, so unlike Bangkok Bank, they don't list the documents needed to open a new account, but I suspect that's what they were saying.

 

I think you're right, It could be the certificate of residency. The bank officer didn't know how to say it in English, she just say 'immigration letter'.

 

But I have already handed my original certificate of residency to the transport department when I applied for my car license and they wouldn't let me have it back.

 

Isn't there some sort of an ID card for temporary residents where we don't have to keep on applying for certificate of residency?

 

[EricTh]

19 hours ago, balo said:

I opened an account at Kasikorn branch inside Central Festival a few weeks ago. No questions asked, I'm on a 1 year Non-Imm visa.   

 

Some banks are stricter than others. They don't have a standard procedure.

[HullyGully]

Get a Yellow House book and Pink ID card

 

[EricTh]

10 hours ago, HullyGully said:

Get a Yellow House book and Pink ID card

 

 

Where can I get these in Chiang Mai?

[ubonjoe]

6 hours ago, xng said:

 

Where can I get these in Chiang Mai?

Unless you have your own condo, married to a Thai or can get the owner of the residence you are renting to allow it you would not be able to get one at an Amphoe.

[ubonjoe]

A off topic inflammatory post has been removed.

[EricTh]

Today I went to Promenada again to apply for the residence certificate.

 

It now takes 3 weeks to make a submission of application (instead of 1 week one month ago) and the officer explained it is because the number of applicants have ballooned. I guess it must be the tourist peak season now. After submission, it'll take another 2 weeks to collect your cert.

 

She even implemented a maximum number of bookings per day she can made. People arriving as early as 9:30 am were turned away and I saw one angry lady raising her voice when she was turned away.  Note that this is just to make a booking and not to submit the application form which will be 3 weeks later.

 

 

Edited November 10, 2016 by xng

[thai006]

for 30 day tourist extension  need to wake up at 5 am ? 

[NancyL]

3 hours ago, thai006 said:

for 30 day tourist extension  need to wake up at 5 am ? 

No, but it would be a good idea to get out there before 10 am.

[EricTh]

5 hours ago, thai006 said:

for 30 day tourist extension  need to wake up at 5 am ? 

 

No. Not many people in this queue. I did see some people coming in the afternoon for tourist extension.

 

It's only the retirement queue that needs waking up at early hours. 

 

 

Edited November 28, 2016 by xng

[JimGant]

Are TM30's still at the airport Immigration, Bldg 3 -- or now at Promenade per this thread 

Or can be done at either/or?

[scottiejohn]

NO. TM30's are upstairs at Promenade only, according to the 2 IO's I spoke to today to fix my TM30 registration/fine conundrum. This they did fix by just talking to each other, only 4 desks apart, in the same office and no queues at 1045 AM today.

 

EDIT;  Just added that no queues upstairs at 1045 today.  downstairs looked as if it was overflowing inside, even with the extra seating outside the main downstairs office.

 

 

Edited December 14, 2016 by scottiejohn
Added extra info

[silverhawk_usa]

My very nice and smart new landlady took my TM30 Form, my TM28 change of address form, and a Power of Attorney for TM30 form, to Promenada a few days ago.

TM30 completed.  Power of Attorney form not needed because it is only for first issuance of TM30.  From here on the Immigration Officer says I just have to have the TM30 stamped.   The T28 Change of Address form, per Immigration Officer, "Not necessary because TM30 more important now". 

 

Yes, I know that is not what the law says, but those were the current rules on that day.  Of course subject to change and interpretation.  Don't shoot the messenger. :) 

Edit:  I forgot;  she said it was very fast and no waiting.

 
 

Edited December 20, 2016 by silverhawk_usa
Addition.

[bloody tiger]

Hi chiang mai funsters,
last week I submitted my 90 day online and received "pending", but since then have not been able to check the site http://extranet.immigration.go.th/pibics/online/tm47/TM47Action.do as it comes up with "The Site Can't be Reached" everytime. I have used IE and IE ext in chrome but the same. It's been a week now and I simply can't access it.
Have been doing the 90 day online since it started and never incurred a problem. At first I thought it may be just a glitch and would be okay after a day or two.
Anyone else having this difficulty at this time or is it just me?
 

Edited December 20, 2016 by bloody tiger

[HullyGully]

Blood Tiger

 

Your online post did not work therefore you should either post or go in person, you will be fined, even though its IMM computer system problems                                                                                                        

[bloody tiger]

yeah, thx Hully Gully, I have until the 26th, so that would be my intention if i can't access the site.
I did just notice some news that some govt websites had been shut down yesterday & today due to cyber hacking, but that still wouldn't explain why I couldn't access the site in the few days prior to yesterday.
Btw: One of my favourite songs is Hully Gully by Don Walker!!!!

[Konini]

10 hours ago, bloody tiger said:

yeah, thx Hully Gully, I have until the 26th, so that would be my intention if i can't access the site.
I did just notice some news that some govt websites had been shut down yesterday & today due to cyber hacking, but that still wouldn't explain why I couldn't access the site in the few days prior to yesterday.
Btw: One of my favourite songs is Hully Gully by Don Walker!!!!

 

Christmas day would be particularly quiet up at immigration.

 

(And I prefer The Year That He Was Cool; you can almost taste the bile in his mouth).

[CMBob]

2 hours ago, Konini said:

 

Christmas day would be particularly quiet up at immigration.

 

And given it's on a Sunday this year, one can bet it will be extremely quiet at Immigration.....given they're closed....

Edited December 21, 2016 by CMBob

[Konini]

D'oh!

[eyecatcher]

Some bedtime reading fodder.

It was my marriage visa extension today and I was dreading it to be honest. I literally put it off until one day to go.

Last years experience at “airport” and this years at Promenada were completely different, so maybe some can help themselves after my trip today.

 

 

Like last year I was there for 5.30 really based on accounts of needing to get your queue ticket ahead of those agents.

 

 

At 5.30 Promenada I was about the 10^th person to arrive, several empty chairs  had been “claimed” but the long queue was the retirement one. There was no one at all in any other queues, except mine the “thai family” queue but I didn’t know that; it was in total darkness, no lights, you cant even make out the signs where to stand.

 

 

The marriage extension is now done at office 3 which is on the right as you exit the tunnel from the carpark.

 

 

At 6pm after sitting in the retirement line someone put on some security lights and I found the marriage line by chance but fortunately there were only two chaps and two girls asleep; not together of course At the head of the line was a magazine followed by a bottle of water, then a Big C bags and a polka dot bra. Two more bags and then me!

So beaten again by a bottle of water and a bra.

 

 

At the airport I recall the staff coming out to check paperwork around 6.45 and  by 7 you could at least begger off and return after 9 with the wife.

 

 

At 7pm, there was still no one else in my line. But the retirement line was growing and very surprisingly the 90 day report line was even longer. The first 90 day reporter arrived at 5.45.

None of my business but I couldn’t fathom out why he didn’t go later in the day.

 

 

By 8am no one else had joined my line, I was still sitting alone behind a water bottle and a bra though two owners of some bags had awaken.

 

 

At 8.30 the staff came to process the teachers/monks/students. I think about 8 only in total. Then my line which was Thai family, volunteers and BOI? I was the 6^th and  an agent arrived behind me.

 

 

The 90 reporters, I counted 32 people in the line, those at the back were discussing posting/ going at a different time and quite rightly so.

 

 

The retirements about 25 also looking ominous for those at the back.

 

 

I spotted the Queen Bee also; with all the talk about Nancy this week, she was almost celebrity so I decided to sit up straight as she walked past me.

She was on a mission, it was either inspection day for her or she was searching out a couple of chairs to sit on (no chance Nancy)….I was almost going to give her one…or two chairs with a bottle of water and maybe a polka dot bra.

 

 

In the end I managed  to get the 2^nd marriage ticket, which meant I only had 30 minutes to call the wife and impress on her to get her arse down there asap.

 

 

Anyway now you have read the drama these are the points I have learned today.

 

 

1. The officer told us they will only process 10 marriage extensions per day
2. Arriving at 5.30 or even 6.30 no longer seems necessary for any visa extension/report/stamp etc
3. Arriving at 8am in the retirement queue to me seems a bit late, expect to be no 20+
4. The staff don’t do anything before 8.30
5. 90 day reporting; absolutely ridiculous; going after 3pm will means a max of 45 minute wait
6. Agents; I don’t think there are as many about and I was looking for them.
7. Regarding all the photocopied paperwork for the marriage extension, I wouldn’t bother signing everything to save time; I did that only to see the officer press his big blue stamp elsewhere and you then have to sign in the box!
8. No one can ever get the map to your house right.. last year  it came from google, today I hand drew a great little map on A4. The officer  gave me his headed paper with name and address on and you have to draw it out in front of him.
9. My bank statement was for 2 months but he wanted 3 months; not a problem he just sent the wife to photocopy the pages from the “bookbank”
10. The officer told us they have a new boss so they are quite slow at processing the paperwork. Any mistakes on their part, ie customer not signing everything and it will be sent back…….whoever was his last customer yesterday will have a shock when they are contacted to return to sign a load of pages the officer had missed asking them to sign.
11. Our signing took an hour; he didn’t ask to look at any original marriage certif., name changes, kor ror or my tabien baan. He just looked at passport and wifes ID
12. We used all the same as last year, no updated kor ror, nothing whatsoever on the TM30 (you have one, it lasts permanently I think)
13. Officers gratefully receive sweeteners….not from us; but two agents came in during our interview, both times delivering New years boxes of biscuits for each person in there. One managed to get a big cuddly octopus which then distracted everyone whilst the camera was out taking photos.

 

 

Hasten to add, we were out of there by 10.15,just 75 minutes but 3 hours waiting. As we came out, there was no one else waiting, they only had 2 marriages to process so perhaps things are getting better or maybe theres a lot of us getting divorced and joining the retirement group.

Edited December 28, 2016 by eyecatcher

[Touch wood]

3 hours ago, eyecatcher said:

Some bedtime reading fodder.

It was my marriage visa extension today and I was dreading it to be honest. I literally put it off until one day to go.

Last years experience at “airport” and this years at Promenada were completely different, so maybe some can help themselves after my trip today.

 

 

Like last year I was there for 5.30 really based on accounts of needing to get your queue ticket ahead of those agents.

 

 

At 5.30 Promenada I was about the 10^th person to arrive, several empty chairs  had been “claimed” but the long queue was the retirement one. There was no one at all in any other queues, except mine the “thai family” queue but I didn’t know that; it was in total darkness, no lights, you cant even make out the signs where to stand.

 

 

The marriage extension is now done at office 3 which is on the right as you exit the tunnel from the carpark.

 

 

At 6pm after sitting in the retirement line someone put on some security lights and I found the marriage line by chance but fortunately there were only two chaps and two girls asleep; not together of course At the head of the line was a magazine followed by a bottle of water, then a Big C bags and a polka dot bra. Two more bags and then me!

So beaten again by a bottle of water and a bra.

 

 

At the airport I recall the staff coming out to check paperwork around 6.45 and  by 7 you could at least begger off and return after 9 with the wife.

 

 

At 7pm, there was still no one else in my line. But the retirement line was growing and very surprisingly the 90 day report line was even longer. The first 90 day reporter arrived at 5.45.

None of my business but I couldn’t fathom out why he didn’t go later in the day.

 

 

By 8am no one else had joined my line, I was still sitting alone behind a water bottle and a bra though two owners of some bags had awaken.

 

 

At 8.30 the staff came to process the teachers/monks/students. I think about 8 only in total. Then my line which was Thai family, volunteers and BOI? I was the 6^th and  an agent arrived behind me.

 

 

The 90 reporters, I counted 32 people in the line, those at the back were discussing posting/ going at a different time and quite rightly so.

 

 

The retirements about 25 also looking ominous for those at the back.

 

 

I spotted the Queen Bee also; with all the talk about Nancy this week, she was almost celebrity so I decided to sit up straight as she walked past me.

She was on a mission, it was either inspection day for her or she was searching out a couple of chairs to sit on (no chance Nancy)….I was almost going to give her one…or two chairs with a bottle of water and maybe a polka dot bra.

 

 

In the end I managed  to get the 2^nd marriage ticket, which meant I only had 30 minutes to call the wife and impress on her to get her arse down there asap.

 

 

Anyway now you have read the drama these are the points I have learned today.

 

 

1. The officer told us they will only process 10 marriage extensions per day
2. Arriving at 5.30 or even 6.30 no longer seems necessary for any visa extension/report/stamp etc
3. Arriving at 8am in the retirement queue to me seems a bit late, expect to be no 20+
4. The staff don’t do anything before 8.30
5. 90 day reporting; absolutely ridiculous; going after 3pm will means a max of 45 minute wait
6. Agents; I don’t think there are as many about and I was looking for them.
7. Regarding all the photocopied paperwork for the marriage extension, I wouldn’t bother signing everything to save time; I did that only to see the officer press his big blue stamp elsewhere and you then have to sign in the box!
8. No one can ever get the map to your house right.. last year  it came from google, today I hand drew a great little map on A4. The officer  gave me his headed paper with name and address on and you have to draw it out in front of him.
9. My bank statement was for 2 months but he wanted 3 months; not a problem he just sent the wife to photocopy the pages from the “bookbank”
10. The officer told us they have a new boss so they are quite slow at processing the paperwork. Any mistakes on their part, ie customer not signing everything and it will be sent back…….whoever was his last customer yesterday will have a shock when they are contacted to return to sign a load of pages the officer had missed asking them to sign.
11. Our signing took an hour; he didn’t ask to look at any original marriage certif., name changes, kor ror or my tabien baan. He just looked at passport and wifes ID
12. We used all the same as last year, no updated kor ror, nothing whatsoever on the TM30 (you have one, it lasts permanently I think)
13. Officers gratefully receive sweeteners….not from us; but two agents came in during our interview, both times delivering New years boxes of biscuits for each person in there. One managed to get a big cuddly octopus which then distracted everyone whilst the camera was out taking photos.

 

 

Hasten to add, we were out of there by 10.15,just 75 minutes but 3 hours waiting. As we came out, there was no one else waiting, they only had 2 marriages to process so perhaps things are getting better or maybe theres a lot of us getting divorced and joining the retirement group.

Wow amazing story I feel so sorry for all nationality’s that marry Thai people & want to live in Thailand, this was the saddest story I have ever heard in my life of 65 years.

 

[roo860]

Wow amazing story I feel so sorry for all nationality’s that marry Thai people & want to live in Thailand, this was the saddest story I have ever heard in my life of 65 years.
 

Why?

Sent from my SM-G920F using Thaivisa Connect mobile app

[NancyL]

Many thanks, Eyecatcher for that detailed, specific and very helpful account.  It will surely help others venturing out to Imm. Prom. in search of a Marriage Visa extension.  And no, it's not the saddest story I've ever read about someone's interaction with CM Imm.  actually quite good, by Chiang Mai standards.

 

I was at Imm. Prom. yesterday because Immigration has taken down the on-line system used for submitting 90 day reports and TM30s.  That's why the line for 90 day reports was so long.  My condo mgt. inputs TM30s for residents, just as hotels do.  It's not a system that individuals use, but is intended for use by hotels, guesthouses, etc.  It's offline just as the 90-day reporting system is offline.  Why?  The speculation over at the ThaiVisa Visa forum is because the Thai gov't websites are experiencing high levels of cyber attack in protest of the plans for a single portal internet and the Imm. website for 90 day reports and TM30 aren't secure.  (We all knew this, since our computer's antivirus software has a fit every time we try to do 90 day reporting.)  So, rather than do something reasonable like (a) abandon the plan to adopt the North Korean-style single portal gateway and/or (b) make the Imm. on-line systems secure, Imm. thoughtfully just pulled the plug on them.  Kind of like their excuse for shutting down the Chiang Mai on-line reservation queue "too many complaints" rather than fixing the cause of the complaints, i.e. not enough appointments, no way to cancel appointments, not secure, etc.

 

Hubby and I returned late last week from a trip to Malaysia where, among other things, we investigated the "Malaysia My Second Home" 10 year visa.  So, we needed to update our TM30s.  Our condo office tried several times.  Finally, we got the mgr to complete a paper TM30 form and that's why I was at Imm. Prom. yesterday.

 

I arrived around 8 am, and yes you're right, Eyecatcher, I did a quick swing around the place to take in the set up since I hadn't been there since the consolidation move.  No, it wasn't an "inspection tour".  I was at Imm. Prom to take care of my own business.  This is an important point.  About a year ago the message was delivered to me that I was only to go to Imm. Prom to take care of my own business and not to talk with any other customers there.  No more going out every couple weeks or so to see how the retirees were being treated in the morning queue.  The way the message was delivered to me was frightening enough that Hubby hired a visa agent to handle his own business.  

 

So, I did the quick swing around at 8 am to see where I should go to update my TM30.  There is a queue to the right of the info desk for "2nd floor business".  This would be TM30s, Cert of Res, and Business visas.  Also visa conversions.  Except for TM30s, someone must have an appointment for these other services.  There were only four or five people standing in that queue, and since I wasn't in a hurry, I went and bought a Coke Zero and stood next to the kiosk, drinking and taking in the scene.

 

The lights were starting to come on in the Imm. office and I saw someone spot me and get on their mobile.  I smiled at him and he looked away.  I should have waved.  I caught the eye of a few employees of visa agents but none dared to exchange words, even though we're on friendly terms outside Imm.  A few months ago, one chatted with me when I was at Imm. and she got the third degree from an Imm. officer later about the nature of our conversation.

 

I saw that the retirement extension line had about 18 people in it.  I know you reported more Eyecatcher, but I think some of those chairs for wives helping husbands.  Several were very much in need of assistance, over age 75, dementia, physically handicapped.  I wondered if they'd get selected by Imm. for "Priority Lane" treatment.  Nope.  The head hancho must not have been around today for a photo op, Priority Lane didn't seem to be operating.  

 

One couple got out of the retirement visa queue and came to talk with me.  Newbies.  They'd seen me at CEC meetings and asked if they were in the correct queue.  Nope.  They needed a 30 day extension to a tourist visa.  I got them straightened out and in the correct queue.  I worried if my helping would count against them, but I saw them later in the day and everything went OK in the office.

 

Finally at 8:30 am the Imm. officers and co-ops came out to distribute queue tickets and I figured I should go stand in my queue instead of on the sidelines.  After looking at my documents, the co-op just waved me upstairs where I found one overworked Imm. officer surrounded by customers at the first desk marked TM30,  8 - 10 customers sitting in chairs along the wall and 3 or 4 other Imm. officers sitting at desks labeled Visa Conversion, Cert. of Res., Business Visa, etc, not doing anything except playing with phones and talking with each other.  I asked a customer holding a queue ticket where to get one and he motioned toward the overworked lady at desk No. 1.

 

So, I stood there, a little politely back from the action, waiting for her to finish with a customer, to ask for a queue ticket.  One of the phone-players looked up, recognized me, jumped up and ran over to the officer at desk No. 1 and whispered in her ear about me.  She interrupted what she was doing with the customer to ask why I was there (in English), I requested a queue ticket to update a TM30 in very polite Thai.  She handed me one looking a little like she'd been busted.

 

As with the main office downstairs, there is no "queue number being served" board like you have at every bank and utility company office in Thailand.  And is standards at CM Imm. there is no "cross-training" with idle employees helping those who are swamped.  Finally around 9:15 am a guy came in, sat next to the busy lady and started to input data into a computer.  That got things moving for the busy lady.  She was doling out fines for people who hadn't submitted TM30s.  1600 baht with receipt.

 

Turns out all I needed to do, as reported elsewhere by CMBob, is to have brought our passports with the previous receipt for the TM30 and they would stamped the old receipt.  But, to be 100% correct, according to the busy lady, she asked me to wait while they input the reports and I got new receipts to put in our passport.  

 

Now, whether updating TM30s are necessary is another question.  For me it is.  Last year, CM Imm got so annoyed with me observing and reporting on service levels to the foreign consuls and embassies that everything for me has to be perfect.  I think I'm flagged in their system.  On our trip, Hubby breezed thru the Thai Imm. checkpoints going in and out of the country, but I was delayed while the officers looked at multiple screens and checked details, double checked.  No questions asked of me.  In fact, they never really looked at me, just their screens.  Perhaps it's a message not to mess up on their data inputting.

 

Anyway, after I got done with updating the TM30s, I had about an hour to kill before I could access Building B to see if there were any worthwhile movies and have lunch at Ragu.  So, I went to the ladies room closest to Imm.'s second floor office and then sat at a bench to continue to learn how to work my new Samsung 7S smartphone.  It sure is nice to be able to check email, Thai Visa, Facebook -- get all caught up.  I tried to take a selfie, but I haven't quite figured out how that front-and-back camera thingy works.  Here's how it turned out:

 

 

Oh while I was on that bench for an hour, I noticed five older white guys go into that G4T store, sit at a table and talk with them.  There is no sign on the store or inside indicating what the store is sells.  Yet it was pretty active, compared to the other stores @Prom.   

[hml367]

It sounds like you are really important to Immigration, NancyL. I find that amazing.

 

You would be a cause of heartache, also, to the people in the visa forum and thread about people being upset with the use of "visa extension" versus "permission to stay".

Edited December 29, 2016 by hml367