Fastest Tourist Visa Extension Today and new form

[seancbk]

I arrived at Chaengwattana this morning at 09:15 and left with my Tourist visa extension 20 minutes later.

That included going downstairs for copies of my passport and to get photos taken. 
 

After I handed in my passport the immigration officer gave me a copy of a new form and asked me to fill it out while I waited.   

It asks first for Name, Date of Birth, Age, Passport Number - I couldn't fill out my passport number as I don't know it and they had my passport.... so I left that field blank.

Next section asks for your address but the layout of the form is for village style addresses not Bangkok Condo style addresses, so I left that section blank.

Next section they want contact details of 2 emergency contacts in Thailand.   Name, address etc.    I have friends here but I don't know anyone's address so I left that section blank too.

Next is Emergency contact overseas.   I would have put my sister in Macau but I don't know her address either so I left that blank.

Then there is a section marked Optional where they want your Facebook, LINE, email and other.....   it said optional so I left it blank too.

Last is a section to put details of your car or motorbike.   Make, model, colour.    Left that blank as I have neither.

Completely pointless form as the only info I could provide was already on the other form.   Waste of paper and waste of their time (and mine).   

When I collected my passport I asked the girl if she wanted it, she sort of shrugged and took it.  She didn't even look to see if I'd filled it out.

[BritTim]

I think the immigration officials mostly have the same opinion about the form that we do. However, when a senior Police General tells them to get foreigners to fill it in, they comply, sort of. I do not think their immediate superiors are stressing the importance of getting every field properly completed.

[seancbk]

9 hours ago, BritTim said:

I think the immigration officials mostly have the same opinion about the form that we do. However, when a senior Police General tells them to get foreigners to fill it in, they comply, sort of. I do not think their immediate superiors are stressing the importance of getting every field properly completed.

Yes that is probably true.

[Shatian]

Do you really think leaving out information that is vital to your life in here is waste of time and paper? What if something happens to you and they need to contact someone who could help safe say your life if you were in any danger? We shouldn't just criticize for the sake of the word but we should be objective in our thinking. I think giving the names and contacts of people who could be contacted if something goes wrong with you here is very important. What do we really think the immigration can do with say the contact of a person you give from your country or even a friend you give their contacts here? Will they go harrasing them in any way???? I think a big no. It is also very important to know the contacts of people will deal with or that of family members. I went to Myanmar for a Non B visa and when I returned to Thailand, the immigration officer said I was a footballer and almost sent me back to my country. I told him I had a teaching job and was in Myanmar for a Non B visa. So he said ok and that he needed to call my school director to confirm what I was saying. I had no document with me from the school as I left everything at the embassy in Myanmar. But I had the director's contact (though I had been in the school for only half a month) He called the director and I was let go with ease. If I didn't have that contact, things would have gone bad for me. We shouldn't hide information that is for our own interest and safety.

[seancbk]

19 minutes ago, Shatian said:

Do you really think leaving out information that is vital to your life in here is waste of time and paper? What if something happens to you and they need to contact someone who could help safe say your life if you were in any danger? We shouldn't just criticize for the sake of the word but we should be objective in our thinking. I think giving the names and contacts of people who could be contacted if something goes wrong with you here is very important. What do we really think the immigration can do with say the contact of a person you give from your country or even a friend you give their contacts here? Will they go harrasing them in any way???? I think a big no. It is also very important to know the contacts of people will deal with or that of family members. I went to Myanmar for a Non B visa and when I returned to Thailand, the immigration officer said I was a footballer and almost sent me back to my country. I told him I had a teaching job and was in Myanmar for a Non B visa. So he said ok and that he needed to call my school director to confirm what I was saying. I had no document with me from the school as I left everything at the embassy in Myanmar. But I had the director's contact (though I had been in the school for only half a month) He called the director and I was let go with ease. If I didn't have that contact, things would have gone bad for me. We shouldn't hide information that is for our own interest and safety.

What if I don't have any family overseas that need to be informed?   

Next time I'll be prepared and have some info to put on the form (perhaps).   

 

Actually if I failed to post pictures of my lunch or regular check-ins of where I am to Facebook then my friends would think something was wrong within a day at most.    

 

[BritTim]

40 minutes ago, Shatian said:

Do you really think leaving out information that is vital to your life in here is waste of time and paper? What if something happens to you and they need to contact someone who could help safe say your life if you were in any danger? We shouldn't just criticize for the sake of the word but we should be objective in our thinking. I think giving the names and contacts of people who could be contacted if something goes wrong with you here is very important. What do we really think the immigration can do with say the contact of a person you give from your country or even a friend you give their contacts here? Will they go harrasing them in any way???? I think a big no. It is also very important to know the contacts of people will deal with or that of family members. I went to Myanmar for a Non B visa and when I returned to Thailand, the immigration officer said I was a footballer and almost sent me back to my country. I told him I had a teaching job and was in Myanmar for a Non B visa. So he said ok and that he needed to call my school director to confirm what I was saying. I had no document with me from the school as I left everything at the embassy in Myanmar. But I had the director's contact (though I had been in the school for only half a month) He called the director and I was let go with ease. If I didn't have that contact, things would have gone bad for me. We shouldn't hide information that is for our own interest and safety.

 

Sure, if I have a sudden medical emergency, the police are going straight to the immigration office to search through their records to see if there is a foreigner information form with someone to contact in an emergency. That is far easier than having a "who to contact in case of emergency" card in my wallet.

[kokopelli]

Quite often in an emergency the authorities/responders will check your cell phone for names/numbers of frequent contacts. Always a good idea to include Emergency # on your phones, just in case.

[Briggsy]

Quite often in an emergency the authorities/responders/nearby motorcycle taxi drivers will rifle through your pockets for money. Always a good idea to refuse treatment even if you are unconscious or dead.

[Shatian]

On 10/6/2016 at 0:15 PM, BritTim said:

 

Sure, if I have a sudden medical emergency, the police are going straight to the immigration office to search through their records to see if there is a foreigner information form with someone to contact in an emergency. That is far easier than having a "who to contact in case of emergency" card in my wallet.

So the only problem that you think and know you could have is a medical situation? Did you see anywhere in my post that I mentioned any medical situation? Someone's life being in danger could not only be a medical situation. The example that I gave was not a medical problem. When you create suspicion by claiming not to know things that anyone knows that you know or you should know, you draw attend to yourself and hiding information in this case, one may be tempted to think that you have something to hide.

[BritTim]

4 hours ago, Shatian said:

So the only problem that you think and know you could have is a medical situation? Did you see anywhere in my post that I mentioned any medical situation? Someone's life being in danger could not only be a medical situation. The example that I gave was not a medical problem. When you create suspicion by claiming not to know things that anyone knows that you know or you should know, you draw attend to yourself and hiding information in this case, one may be tempted to think that you have something to hide.

 

I am pretty sure the foreigner information form is going to gather dust with the 90-day reports, TM-30 forms, and all the rest of the totally unnecessary paperwork. I cannot conceive of a situation where the Thai authorities are going to make good use of it. The most likely reasons why the authorities are going to want emergency contact information is an accident , suddenly being taken ill, or being the victim of a crime that leaves one unconscious. If I still have my wallet, or passport, they can see the emergency contact details. If not, they probably cannot quickly identify me. Once I am identified, without the help of my wallet or passport, their first move is to contact the Embassy.

 

All this "if you have done nothing wrong you have nothing to hide" is all very well in a Police State, but it is not appropriate in what purports to be a modern democracy.