Lampang Immigration Office

[yang123]

Since the on-line facility for submitting 90 day reports is down,  it looks as if in-person reporting is required. 

 

That means, for me, using the Lampang Immigration Office.  I know where it is, but does anyone know which days it's open and what its operating hours are?

Some sites suggest its open only 1st and 3rd Tuesday of each month, others suggest Tues/Wed/Thurs of each week.

None give the opening hours, and I haven't been able to raise a human being on the telephone numbers that usually appear online, i.e.

089-433-0099 & 083-152-6417.

Many thanks in advance.

 

[Maestro]

The law and the instructions posted on the website of the Immigration Bureau also allow mailing the form.

[yang123]

Fair enough, but having lost one passport in the post (not in Thailand), I'm disinclined to post an application here + Immigration Office in Lampang is only 10 minutes from  home.

[LivinLOS]

You dont post your actual passport.. Just copies.. 

[yang123]

Visited Lampang Immigration Office today to submit 90 day report and enquire about Extension of Visa (retirement) procedures.

 

Office (ground floor right hand side corridor) opens at 09.00.  No queue.

 

Officer asked for my 'appointment note', but it quickly became clear that he meant the tear-off slip from TM47.  I didn't have one -  reporting all done on-line for over a year.  No probs after I showed him a print-out of my last confirmation e-mail.

 

Then told that I had no TM30 ("Notification form for House-master, owner or the possessor of the residence where alien has stayed") on record - fair shout, never submitted one or been asked for one at any time in the last ten years.  Wife will duly be fined THB 1,600; form to be filled in pronto.

 

Extension of Visa applications are processed by appointment only, i.e. cannot queue.  Recommended to fix such an appointment by calling 093-259-2121 one month before extension expiry date.   

[RPCVguy]

On 1/23/2017 at 7:42 PM, yang123 said:

Visited Lampang Immigration Office today to submit 90 day report and enquire about Extension of Visa (retirement) procedures.

 

Office (ground floor right hand side corridor) opens at 09.00.  No queue.

 

Officer asked for my 'appointment note', but it quickly became clear that he meant the tear-off slip from TM47.  I didn't have one -  reporting all done on-line for over a year.  No probs after I showed him a print-out of my last confirmation e-mail.

 

Then told that I had no TM30 ("Notification form for House-master, owner or the possessor of the residence where alien has stayed") on record - fair shout, never submitted one or been asked for one at any time in the last ten years.  Wife will duly be fined THB 1,600; form to be filled in pronto.

 

Extension of Visa applications are processed by appointment only, i.e. cannot queue.  Recommended to fix such an appointment by calling 093-259-2121 one month before extension expiry date.   

Interesting news here.
I've lived in the northernmost part of Lampang for 9 years and always mailed my 90-day report to Chiang Mai, as well as the annual extension of stay paperwork through Chiang Mai. Making one annual trip in person wasn't so bad, and Chiang Mai is closer with better bus options than Lampang. This latest 90-day report was stamped as due on January 15th (a Sunday) so I filled in the paperwork for January 13th and mailed it EMS on December 29th. Receipt shows it was delivered on January 4th - but I've yet to receive the completed bottom portion of the form AND can not get through by phone to either the Chiang Mai office or the above number for Lampang.

As for the TM30, that was delivered in person to our local Police Station in 2008 and the address has never changed. Now I wonder if the police ever added it to the Immigration record. (?) They certainly know me - we even share relatives.

So, stuck here with the proof of mailing my old form to what has been the place I was instructed was the address (Chiang Mai) to use for mailing, but wondering if and when that 90-Day paperwork will get returned.
Also wondering how one books an appointment for obtaining an extension - if the phone is not answered.
I would wonder why there was not a notification of changing procedures sent back with my most recent 90-day form - but after this many years in Thailand, I know that surprises and pre-planning / notifications are rarely enacted. It is more than 2 hours by bus to reach Lampang from my home, let alone local transport to the Immigration office. This looks to be the newest wrinkle in being retired here.

Maybe the online system will start working and stay operational (?) which would at least get me back to only a single trip out of my local community a year.
~ Wishing and hoping...
 

[yang123]

RPCVGuy:

 

Just seen your post.  For what it's worth, these two numbers for Lampang Immigration came up in a Google search today:

 

089-433-0099 / 083-152-6417

 

Source: Don's life in Thailand (Chiang Mai) web-site.

 

 

[RPCVguy]

I've made a trip to the Chiang Mai Immigration office and was handed the address to which I am to mail future 90-Day reports as well as to which I must go annually to extend my permission to stay in the kingdom. The address was given to me in Thai as follows:

ตรวจคนเข้าเมืองจังหวัดลำปาง
3 (ถนนสนามบิน) ตำบลหัวเวียง อำเภอเมือง
จังหวัดลำปาง 52000

I prefer keeping it in Thai for use with the Post Office so as to avoid translation errors by anyone in that chain of handling. For those who prefer to write it in English, I've translated it as:

Lampang Immigration Office
3 Boonyawat, T. Huawiang
A. Mueang Lampang, Lampang 52000

 

The phone number was also supplied by the Chiang Mai Office as  054-209-534

GPS   18.2905282, 99.5027355

Though I live in the province, it is at the far northern part, and neither I nor my Thai family know Mueang Lampang - except to pass through it heading south. 
Now will begin our need to learn transportation terminals, lodging and banking options (as to where and how to obtain my timely proof of deposits for extending my stay.)

To assist others who also may live far outside the provincial capitol, I've used Google Maps to survey the location and have a photo to show tuk-tuk drivers.

 

 

Edited March 8, 2017 by RPCVguy

[RPCVguy]

This doesn't make me happy, ... Google maps also lists the postal code as 52100, NOT the 52000 that was handed to me by Chiang Mai Immigration.
I will report back after I go to my local post office to see what they say is the correct code.

[RPCVguy]

1 hour ago, RPCVguy said:

This doesn't make me happy, ... Google maps also lists the postal code as 52100, NOT the 52000 that was handed to me by Chiang Mai Immigration.
I will report back after I go to my local post office to see what they say is the correct code.

Still working on it. It would be so much simpler if anyone ever answered the phone in Lampang. There has been no answer at the 054-209-534 number, then I tried the number listed above by yang123 (first trying 089-433-0099) ... which answered as Chiang Rai Immigration. When asking there for the Lampang phone number, I was given 089-433-1178 which was Chiang Mai immigration.  The 2nd number dead ends after many rings in what sounds like a system message as though the number is a non-working number.

The local post office saw what I had printed from above and (since it was printed) favored it as the preferred valid zip code.   He did get out his office book of codes and it turns out that Lampang has codes starting with 52000 and with 52100, though how to run a postal system when one office can supposedly have both such codes?   This is not going to be answered today... not unless someone in Lampang can stop in and get the Lampang Immigration Office to declare what their mailing address is. ... and while at it, what is their phone number?

[ubonjoe]

For Mueang Lampang the code would be 52000.

The 52100 code is shown as Soptui on the Thai Post website post office search. http://www.thailandpost.com/index.php?page=search_office&zipcode=52100&office_name=&amphur=&province=

Soptui is a tambon within Mueang Lampang. Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sop_Tui

Thai Post has post codes for post offices within a Mueang but incoming mail is processed through the main post office for the Mueang.

 

 

[RPCVguy]

4 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

For Mueang Lampang the code would be 52000.

The 52100 code is shown as Soptui district on the Thai Post website post office search. http://www.thailandpost.com/index.php?page=search_office&zipcode=52100&office_name=&amphur=&province=

 

Nice use for a link! Thank you. I was just talking to a friend who lives in the vicinity who says either number might work, but that the MAIN POST OFFICE for Lampang is 52000 and is just around the corner from this address on Boonyawat road. The Thailand Post website does list 52000 as " Government Service Center Lampang Post Office " which then also makes sense, not just geographically, but administratively.
That suggests I can relax a bit as to these sources vs the GOOGLE MAP listing for the ceramics center at that location.
 

[RPCVguy]

Continuing my report of process as regards switching from Chiang Mai Immigration to the Lampang office, which is indeed located as identified on the above images.:
1) A working number for their landline is 054-209-535 
2) Either postal zip code 52000 or 52100 works, the 52000 is more linked to government offices in downtown Lampang

Today my wife, newly automobile licensed daughter, and son-in-law went the 110+ Km drive to Mueang Lampang and the new Immigration Office. The reason for the trip was mandated by the warning given on a water bottle back in Chiang Mai. ... When Chiang Mai Immigration updated  my 90-day report form this time, they took my photo as they handed me a bottle of water that I was to deliver to my wife. Taped as a label on this water was a statement that NOT filing a report TM30 is subject to a fine of up to THB10,000.

 

I did a search on Thai Visa as to TM30 reports and found an abundance of new listings. Below is a sampling:

►http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/971229-chaos-confusion-confrontation-and-conningpattaya-immigration/?do=findComment&comment=11694284
►http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/972036-will-i-be-fined-when-i-go-to-jomiten-for-not-having-a-up-to-date-tm30/?do=findComment&comment=11682164
►http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/970708-im-moving-to-a-new-city-immigration-requirements/?do=findComment&comment=11691996
►http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/960966-lampang-immigration-office/?do=findComment&comment=11551699

"no TM30 ("Notification form for House-master, owner or the possessor of the residence where alien has stayed") on record - fair shout, never submitted one or been asked for one at any time in the last ten years.  Wife will duly be fined THB 1,600; form to be filled in pronto.

Extension of Visa applications are processed by appointment only, i.e. cannot queue.  Recommended to fix such an appointment by calling 093-259-2121 one month before extension expiry date. "

 

Though the TM30 form states that police locally should accept it, ours would not. My family called immigration while with the police and it was affirmed that my wife needed to physically go to Lampang to file the paperwork.
IF THIS was to be required each and every time I traveled away from our home, and within 24-hours as printed on the form TM30, this would have been an immense hardship for us and for friends. (Example: one friend has a wife who manages a large shop, would she need to shut her shop to travel to Lampang? Another couple split time between here and his home country, but do not always arrive at the same time - since she has a job abroad. How would they be able to comply? FIVE Hours round trip each time a spouse gets home from any internal touring is NOT a nice way to treat Thai citizens or spouses.)

THE ANSWER as was told to my 3 family members is that the TM30 is VALID UNTIL I leave Thailand. Upon traveling outside of Thailand, the form needs to be completed again.  The Immigration officer was quick and polite, but he DID want my passport, not just the copies... and the bottom portion of the TM#) is now stapled into the back of my passport. It needs to be there when I PHYSICALLY next visit the Immigration Office to update my 90-day reports. The Lampang Office is currently NOT accepting mail in reports, and the Chiang Mai Office is apparently not mailing back the 90-day reports - at least to other provinces. This makes sense as a confirmation that:
1) A Thai homeowner has vouched for your home address, and
2) Only one primary home address is being used for any expat - verified by the officer seeing that the TM47 (90-day report) matches the TM30 in the passport.
I also attempted to file the TM28 again with Lampang, as long ago done with Chiang Mai when it handled residents of Lampang, but the officer declined accepting it, saying the TM30 served both functions.

This is both a relief  -- not repeatedly needing to update the TM30 (contrary to as written) and
frustrating -- since it not ends access to what is authorized in the law as to being able to mail in the TM47 (90-day report.)
Maybe the authorities are seeking to shake out some portion of the expat community, and will apply these steps for only a number of months. Maybe too it is only Lampang, or maybe only the provinces that newly have added Immigration Offices.

As people have their individual and varied experiences we may learn more as to how the law is being applied in Lampang. As posted on other threads, multiple times, experiences vary from time-to-time at any one immigration office, and certainly from one immigration office to another.

 

I certainly look forward to being allowed again to mail in the 90-day reports (EMS to the office and registered sticker /postage affixed to the self addressed return envelope) so as to avoid the 230Km round trip day consuming event.

 

[RPCVguy]

On 3/8/2017 at 2:35 PM, ubonjoe said:

For Mueang Lampang the code would be 52000.

The 52100 code is shown as Soptui on the Thai Post website post office search. http://www.thailandpost.com/index.php?page=search_office&zipcode=52100&office_name=&amphur=&province=

Soptui is a tambon within Mueang Lampang. Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sop_Tui

Thai Post has post codes for post offices within a Mueang but incoming mail is processed through the main post office for the Mueang.

 

 

UBONJOE: One more acknowledgement of the website link you provided. There is a brochure at the Lampang office that list the financial penalties related to not reporting addresses (Immigration Act B.E. 2522 and 2551) most of which is in Thai. I was told the address for mailing was supplied on the brochure. There is an address supplied, but it is in Thai and the ZIP CODE IS WRONG on the brochure. The address on the brochure lists 50200 as the Zip code, but that lands mail in Mueang Chiang Mai in the area of Kad Suan Kaew ( เคาน์เตอร์บริการไปรษณีย์กาดสวนแก้ว )
The correct address is:

ตรวจคนเข้าเมืองจังหวัดลำปาง
3 (ถนนสนามบิน) ตำบลหัวเวียง อำเภอเมือง
จังหวัดลำปาง 52000

 

Lampang Immigration Office
3 Boonyawat, T. Huawiang
A. Mueang Lampang, Lampang 52000

[RPCVguy]

Latest (and Best) update so far:

FIRST GOOD NEWS in the afternoon, an officer did state that the Lampang Immigration office now accepts 90-day reports by mail. As always, a stamped, self addressed return envelope must be included with the TM-47 [along with the photocopies from the passport and the previous TM-47 original  as  stamped and dated for when due. It needs to arrive nearly 2 full weeks before the old 90-day report expires. Best to send it in by EMS]

Second Good News - My annual extension of stay has now been processed for the first time through the Lampang Immigration Office. It required far less wait and hassle than in the crowds at the Chiang Mai Office.  Since this seems the only ongoing post about Lampang Immigration, I'm adding info for others to learn from, or comment about as appropriate.

I was nervous. Two people had told me they were asked for tea money to process their paperwork - BUT both also used agents to hand hold them. I'd never had such requests in Chiang Mai, and did not have a suggestion for such this time in Lampang either. (IMO, it is just as likely that the agent was the one who wanted a bonus atop their fee, and used the excuse that the Immigration official wanted the cash. No way of knowing, but I hope never to find otherwise. So far my experiences have been of officers doing their jobs diligently and as politely as possible across a language and cultural divide.)
I had arrived just barely before noon, and was seeking a yes/no answer to the possibility of being processed that afternoon - while in the city. If so, I'd need to go to the bank for certification of funds on deposit the prior 3 months. Instead of a yes/no, I was told maybe my forms (successfully filed over multiple years) would need new paperwork due to "new laws/regulations." Huh? Thus I must NOT get the bank certification until AFTER my current application documents with the TM-7 would be reviewed by the officer AFTER lunch.

Tic-Toc, Tic-Toc, my anxiety built as I wondered what surprises loomed. I waited the hour, now the first in line for the afternoon.
 

Once in front of the officer after lunch, all went very cleanly. The new forms were a requirement to sign affidavits acknowledging awareness of the penalties for overstay, forms supplied by Immigration, and signed on the spot.
I then did have a shortened time-window to get to the bank and back with the bank certification AND then to sit in the cue again to turn everything in, be handed an invoice/ receipt for the THB 1,900 ... and await the TM-7 info to be typed onto their system. This last step took time, but MIGHT mean that future visits will find most of the data already in their database.

If this was helpful, or turns out to be bad information based on experiences of others, please comment so we can help each other AND be better prepared to simplify the review process/ experience.

[yang123]

No complaints from me about the service at Lampang Immigration:  recently extended retirement visa (pension income method) and, on a subsequent visit, did 90 day report. 

No early morning start necessary to get a place in a Chiang Mai-style queue: arrived mid-morning on both occasions and seen within 20 minutes.  Done and dusted within 15 minutes.

No soliciting for off-file extra payments. 

[yang123]

Just done my 90 day report at Lampang Immigration.  Arrived at 11.00a.m., done and dusted by 11.25a.m.

 

[RotMahKid]

For now they want to see your documents and make an appointment for the extension of the retirement visa. So I went there to make an appointment and showed the documents but had to wait 2,5 hours for that!!!!!

All copies should not be signed also and have to come back in about a week to do the real thing.

What a waste of time, next time I just try to go without an appointment, but maybe that time rules are changed again.

[RotMahKid]

Today did my 90 days report: arrived there just after 10.00 am and there were a lot of people. You can pick a number at the door for the 90 days report, but nobody was called in for a long time. Inside they seemed to be busy with visa extensions. We saw somebody enter the office with a much higher number then most of the people outside had and she already sat down en the officer wanted to start with her documents, when other people who had a lower number reacted what she was doing. Then the officer realized there were a lot of lower numbers first, so I question here, what is the use of giving number if the officers don't care about it and also people outside can NOT see what number is being helped. Lampang Immigration has a lot to learn! What a system.

[RPCVguy]

Heed this to avoid hassles and being sent out to go get new photocopies for Immigration to accept.
I travel infrequently, and to Lampang only for my Extension of Stay (TM7). It is a few hours and I need to get the deposit certificate from the bank before the all the paperwork is ready for a "Retirement Visa." Over a decade of the papers, so I thought all was well prepared. NOPE! My photocopies needed to be copied with only ONE open book page per copy - not the two pages per copy as is often done for registration book copies or copies of a Thai Nat'l ID card.
The reason is that it is necessary to have each page stamped and signed off by both the applicant and the processing officer. There can be no markings on the image copied (unlike all past years in Chiang Mai when I was encouraged to sign and date anywhere, especially on the image.) A diagram showing the ideal position of photocopies is attached.

Additionally, they request that people come in and book an appointment for when they will return to file for an extension. There is no way to do it by phone, email or internet. I explained that taking 2 hrs each way to get there - usually accompanied by family, meaning they take off work - it is highly time consuming and hence necessary to rely on their cue number system instead.

I hope this advice allows others to be processed more quickly, making life and waits easier on everyone - including the officers.

[yang123]

Anyone know the dates on which Lampang Immigration will be closed for New Year?

Thanks in advance!

[KhunBENQ]

36 minutes ago, yang123 said:

Anyone know the dates on which Lampang Immigration will be closed for New Year?

Thanks in advance!

As the other immigration offices closed until Jan 2.

Dec 31 and Jan 1 being public holidays in general.

Dec 30 has been declared an extra public holiday some two months ago or so.

Edited December 27, 2019 by KhunBENQ

[yang123]

A couple of questions:

1.  Anyone been to Lampang Immigration recently? My annual extension and 90 day report fall due next month.  Never a lengthy wait in the past, but I wonder if Covid-19 etc has changed that. Last time round no big queues, either morning or afternoon.

 

2.  Does Lampang insist on the bank letter being issued on the day of extension application or is 24/48 hour leeway granted?

 

Thanks in advance!

[deeks]

On 3/23/2020 at 4:41 PM, yang123 said:

A couple of questions:

1.  Anyone been to Lampang Immigration recently? My annual extension and 90 day report fall due next month.  Never a lengthy wait in the past, but I wonder if Covid-19 etc has changed that. Last time round no big queues, either morning or afternoon.

 

2.  Does Lampang insist on the bank letter being issued on the day of extension application or is 24/48 hour leeway granted?

 

Thanks in advance!

Bank letter must be on same day and you also must make a transaction on same day before getting the statement

My last extension on Dec26, non O retirement, Went in 2 weeks prior with all paperwork except copy of last 90 day report (my fault) was given an appointment to come back Dec26 1pm and told the bank stuff must be done on same day,had to get bank letter and a statement from bank that included a period that was not updated in the book even though the amounts never went under the 800000 they wanted all transactions in a statement to prove it.(because i left updating the book too late it just showed a total amount)

They told me i had to bring a Thai friend with me that can speak English (my language) and she had to read and understand the requirement forms that they now issue and make you sign.

This was the first time in 7 years between CM and Lampang that i had to go away and come back for an extension,

Next time will do everything i had to do this time, but on the first visit and see if i still have to get an appointment and come back.

With this new rule about 800000 in the bank for 3 months after approval and never being under 400000 will need fully updated and copies of every page of bankbook.