Thread: Teak Door Suggestion Box: Things That Would Make Suanplu Immigration More Bearable

I've posted this on another thread that I ran a year or so ago.

You can do just about all of the necessary crap at ANY immigration office. You definitely DO NOT need to keep returning to the same office you started with originally. It may take a minute or two to establish yourself but often times it is worth it. (There are exceptions of course, if your initiating a visa that ONLY the Bangkok office can issue)

There are at least two offices I've dealt with on the same retirement extension with absolutely no hassle or problems and the max time has been twenty minutes. It all depends on what office you use.

Yesterday an expat living in our condo was over the moon with regards to me telling him to go to the Samut Prakan office for his 90 day visit. His quoted comment: "WOW that was easy, if I hadn't told the taxi driver to wait I would have stayed and chatted with them for a few minutes, very pleasant staff."

Yep, the taxi driver waits while you go in and get your stamps sorted... takes at most five minutes. Another comment: "If I lived next to the immigartion office in town I would take a taxi out here, its that good!"

Another great immigration office is Pong nam ron (sp?) near the Cambodian border on highway 317 out of Chantaburi. Great folks and will try and keep you hanging out to keep the conversation going. The lady in charge of the office is the one that clued me into the fact that ALL imigration offices can do anything you need.

If your are about to redo your visa it may help to go back to the originating office and get a copy of your 'file' (no charge) but is totally unnecessary. In the two offices I've mentioned I've never spent more than 10 minutes waiting in line.

Typically in the Samut Prakan office, if there are folks from the area's companies with lots of passports getting processed, you walk in and almost immediately (or when the opportunity arises) one of the women will push aside the corporate stuff and wave you into the process and idicate a seat for you to take. You get your stuff done and she returns to handling the coporate pile. Very nice and sociable and no one gets a hair across their ass. Totally civil.

E. G.

EDIT: If your on a 90 day reporting period it helps to take a couple of forms with you so that you can have it filled out when you get there, no hassle trying to find a pen that functions etc.

Originally Posted by kingwilly

I know, I know, not everyone has the luxury. I'm just boasting, sorry, please allow me the one small benefit

Had the same when I was working in Bangkok. Always went to the hi so one stop office on Ratchada with an overpaid company lawyer. He did all the talking as I sat with him in front of a smiling helpful immigration officer. I signed where she told me to sign. Got a big wai and was on my way in five minutes.

After retiring from my job, I headed for the Suanplu office for my first visa extension as a retiree. Blissful in my ignorance of the real world, I of course decided paying someone to assist in what I knew to be a "simple" task a waste of money. I drove into the car park at 9AM. Being a fast learner, I immediately concluded this was not going to go as easy as in the hi so office. After an hour of driving slowly in circles through the car park I spotted one of the thousand cars crammed into the 100 slot car park leaving. I accelerated around to the row where they had left only to run into a slight problem. Six other cars were queued waiting to get into the empty slot! OK, more than one way to skin a cat. I'll just find a parking spot down the road and walk to the office. Cars in front of me were die hard optimists and clearly were going to wait it out. No room to drive around so started to back up only to find there was another guy behind me waiting for a parking spot. Being trapped and with no other option, I shut off the engine and just sat there organizing the phone numbers in my hand phone. At 12 sharp, suddenly and without warning a herd of khaki clad immigration officers swarmed out of the building and much to my great pleasure, jumped in their cars and headed out of the lot leaving it virtually empty. Wasting no time, I quickly parked my car and headed for the office entrance.

Pushed the door and it didn't move, pulled it and got the same result. Noticed a sign, read it. CLOSED FOR LUNCH! Went home, laid on my bed in the fetal position with my security blanket and after a few hours, was over the trauma of my first venture into the real world of Thai immigration.