Thread: Immigrations at the Chaengwattana Government Complex is closed for now

Been that way since Thursday afternoon when the protesters took it. They found out its huge and has air conditioning throughout. I would hate to be one of the cleaners once it is back online.

^ yeah it's like the Tardis.... seems even bigger on the inside.

Actually I was out at Chaengwattana on Friday and although that big open park like area in the building was taken over by protestors it was business as usual at Immigrations. I did hafta go thru a couple taxis before I got one who'd lug me out there from lower Sukhumvit but I did get there.

Friday at Chaengwattana, there were almost no foreigners in the Immigrations Office. I didn't even hafta get a queue number, the officer said, "What do you want to do?" I told him and he said, "Go do it"..

Today I went to the alternate Immigrations Office at Imperial World Ladprao. It was a LOT better than yesterday (when I was there too) as it was barely controlled chaos then.

They had a good system of temporary tables, good clear signage up, had pre-printed queue numbers, vetted people's paperwork before they gave you a queue number, and really for the volume of foreigners there, it ran smooth.

I'd say if you hafta go, go early. Today I got there at 8:30. Walking outta there at about 11 when I was done doin' stuff it was totally packed outside Immigrations in the staging area.

Here're some of the trickz to making it as painless as possible;

If you call The Thai Government Hotline at 1111, they'll say it opens at 8:30, which it does NOT. It opens at 10:30, like the Immigrations announcement says.

There's a big sign on the ground floor which says Immigrations Bureau next to the McDonald's. DON'T go in that way as those doors don't open until the mall itself opens.

If you're there at 9 when Big C opens go in that entrance and instead of entering the store veer right and go into the darkened mall. Climb up the escalators (which aren't working at that time) to the 5th floor, or take the lifts which do work. You can also go into the parking garage in back and walk right up to the door of Immigrations..

While they don't let you into the Immigrations Office until 10:30, they have a "staging area" where you can get your queue number, have your paperwork vetted, get applications, and today that area was staffed starting at about 8:45 when I walked up there. There are copy shops on the ground floor if you need them.

One other thing, they had a sign saying 10:30-18:30 (no lunch) meaning they weren't closing for the one hour lunch, but doing split shifts to cover the volume of people.

Kudos to the Thai Immigrations people for stepping up and making do with a tough situation because it ran as well as could be expected..

Good Luck. hope it helps.

hafta?

Is that an even more retarded effort along the line of 'should of'.....

comprehensive effort tod - should help save time for anyone having to attend immigration

could'a - would'a - should'a

Sorry for my less than stellar engrish skillz.

I tend to write like I speak and even at 54 y/o, I use hafta, coulda, woulda, shoulda, oughta, mighta, etc-a

I do apologize again for the errant engrish..

I only wanted people to know what to expect if/when they hafta go out there..

Oh BTW; hafta is "have to".. Sorry again gentz

"Gazza" that's good info to know as I always drag the foreigners I'm shepherding thru the system out to Chaengwattana at 8:45AM after that opening rush.

I've found at Chaengwattana the best days are Tues-Weds-Thurs as you avoid the Monday and Friday wait to the last minute crowd.

After showing up out at Chaengwattana at random times during the day, it just seemed to me that it's a crap shoot and depends on how many people decided to go at the same time as you did.

I'd imagine (although this being Thailand I wouldn't bet dollars to durian on it) that when you need to go to Chaengwattana it'll be back open again. Either that or they'll open the old Immigrations for "white people" at Suan Plu too.

There is no way Immigrations can keep handling the foreigners and the incredibly high numbers of Cambodians, Burmese and Laotians (who BTW; show up every 90 days to get extensions of stay) at this Ladprao office which wasn't designed for this type of traffic.

Then again I might be confused as they made foreigners pack themselves in like sardines in a can at Suan Plu for many years before they finally moved "us" to the government complex.

The queue for those three nationalities stretched down the hallway of the mall itself. There's no reason to penalize those people just because "other higher priority foreigners" need stuff done too.

Seeing them being treated like that almost made me sick. It is my humble opinion that the Cambodians, Laotians and Burmese do far more real work than almost any foreigner here in terms of day-2-day stuff that matters. However, that's just my two satangs worth on the subject.

Really for the volume of people they dealt with (white foreigners) at Ladprao they did a remarkable job keeping it under control, or at least keeping it at the controlled chaos level..

This could be jumping the gun, but I called the Thai Government Hotline 1111 like I do every day to check when Thai Immigrations at the Chaengwattana Government Complex will re-open.

Today the person I spoke to said, "As of right now (meaning if the protestors don't go back out there) they will re-open Thai Immigrations at Chaengwattana on Monday December 16th.."

That's the last and most current info I got..

We will see what happens, the 16th is a LONG way away given the situation..

Anyway, just wanted you all to know...

Just an update;
The Thai Immigrations Office in the Government Complex out at Chaengwattana Road is still closed.

Foreigners residing in Bangkok are being told to go to the two locations I mentioned earlier. Those locations BTW are Imperial World Ladprao Soi 83 (Big C Ladprao), and Major Hollywood Suksawat.

I was at the LadPrao Soi 83 one today and it was barely controlled chaos. They're doin' the best they can, but it seems most of the foreigners in Bangkok are going there as opposed to the other location.

With that being said, I talked to another foreigner who was at Major Hollywood Suksawat (the one on the other side of the river) yesterday. He was in and out with his yearly extension of stay, a re-entry permit AND his 90 day reporting in under an hour!

Here's the link to the map for the Major Holly Suksawat location;


And here's the link to the one at Imperial World LadPrao Soi 83;


Note that they open at 10:30 and NOT 8:30 like Chaengwattana used to. Still they hand out queue numbers and vet your paperwork before they open the doors.

Good Luck,

Taking the advice I'd posted from a foreigner who'd went to Major Hollywood Suksuwat and breezed thru I went out there with 3 acquaintances yesterday morning.

We got there at about 10:15, got our paperwork "vetted", got queue numbers; 1, 2, and 3 for what we needed to do.. I thought we were in "tall cotton"!

Unfortunately at 10:30 when the Immigrations Office opened the entire building had a total power failure!!! EVERYTHING crashed and we were left standing in the dark! We waited two hours, but the power never came back up long enough to reboot the computers..

Finally we bailed out and took the oh-so long taxi ride from there to LadPrao Soi 83. We got there and got the paperwork re-vetted.. Surprisingly we were 1,2 & 3 in the queue again. After about an hour and a half later three people had done their yearly extensions of stay, secured re-entry permits and done their 90 day reporting..

I think Major Hollywood Suksawat would have been fine IF they hadn't had that power failure..

As I said, I feel so sorry for all the Cambodians, Laotians and Burmese who are the normal patrons of those two locations. Due to the foreigners flocking there because Chaengwattana is closed, they're relegated to just 4 windows of service with the rest serving foreigners of other nationalities. The queue for those three nationalities stretched down the hallway.

I give those three nationalities credit; they waited with the stoic patience of people who are used to being treated as second class here. Sad deal for them really though...