Waiting takes a long time – Experience in 2018 at the immigration office and Ministry of Employment in Bangkok

Last weeks it was that time again. It is the month of September and so for me the annual trip to the immigration office in ChaengWattana to extend my visa (based on my new employment contract) and then to the Ministry of Employment to extend my work permit for 1 year.

Now, September is always a busy month there, no doubt because the fiscal year ends on September 30 for a number of companies and institutions in Thailand. New employment contracts will therefore be concluded on 1 October based on the forecasts of the companies and institutions. In recent years it has always been possible to do these two things on the same day. Early in the morning to ChaengWattana, finished there just before or after lunch and then in a hurry to Din Deang for the work permit. Finished there late afternoon and then back home.

This year, however, I was warned. The queues have become exorbitant and I would certainly need a day for each of the desired stamps. Well, I thought, we'll see. I take all my papers to the immigration office anyway, positive as I am. The procedure in the immigration office has changed slightly. Because the queue is so long, it has been decided that you first get a number for the first queue before the office opens. It seems that on some days the first people waiting arrive at 04.30:07.00 am (no, not a typo) while the numbers are handed out at 08.30:07.30 am. This number tells you where to line up until the office doors actually open at 247:08.40 AM. I thought I got there early at 97:XNUMX am but was given number XNUMX for the snake queue that was forming outside the office. As a result - once inside at XNUMX:XNUMX am, I was given number XNUMX to extend my visa. And that meant that I was helped at half past three in the afternoon and my passport was stamped.

Fortunately, I was still able to get a fresh 90-day paper at 4 o'clock. I was home at 5 o'clock. Waiting all those hours and looking around a bit, I discovered that the counters that were all intended for a re-entry permit last year now all had the sign BUSINESS. Apparently, all companies now also have to go to ChaengWattana to extend or apply for visas for their employees. I seem to remember that there used to be separate one-stop-shop offices for that, where they arranged both the visa and work permit. Apparently, there has to be centralization (in a place that was already too small) to maintain law and order. Customer service: never heard of it. While hundreds of expats wait for their stamp, the entire department collectively takes a lunch break at 12 noon.

It was different in the Ministry of Employment. Well, just a little bit then. Just before the lunch break, the head of the department apologizes for the long queues. With an audience of about 100 expats in perfect Thai (while all service staff there speak English). At that moment I am already waiting, with number 237, from 09.30 am. At 15.30 pm it is time. It's my number's turn and I'm helped from A to Z in about 15 minutes. Here too I see Thai employees of Human Resources departments of companies and institutions walking around with piles of blue work permit booklets. Here too, centralization has apparently struck, at the expense of customer-friendliness.

At 4 o'clock in the afternoon my wife and I are outside again. Just outside the gate we pick up a taxi. On the way home, about 30 minutes' drive, the taxi driver tells us that the waiting times in the ministry are a gold mine for him. The Friday before, the work permit office closed at 12 o'clock at night and the expats still present were sent away. The taxi driver thought there had been a party, but stamps were put up until 12 o'clock. And, he said, that's not the only night it's late. When I have dropped you off I will drive back to Din Deang. Long live customer unfriendliness and centralization.