What a difference a few months make. A friend and I attended the office for visa matters on Tuesday, after the long weekend. My friend obtained another 12 month extn to an AO visa and I bought a

I believe shaking up immigration is one of Mr Thaksin's priorites.He moved out the top man and brought in new blood.

Thanks for a very positive update.

take note "in the past, i have never had a problem with immigrations and actually wondered about all the complaints and possibly caused by one's behavior or actions after service not promptly provided as expected. just renewed my retirement visa, after my 3rd, count them, 3 trips to nong khai this week. couple weeks ago i did my 90 day report, as usualy, uneventful and efficient. advised as i already knew, to return before 23rd next month for renewal, "all you need is passport, bank letter, income statement, and 2 copies of each", 2 of which already had in my possession. go to bank, get statement, basically a copy of statement, with stamp and signature to quarentee authenticity. i also get a healths cert. which i'm sure i don't need for renewal, but for 60 baht and 15 mins, why not. always have copies of passport and house station. so tuesday, bank statement refused, as it did not say "to immigrations" on it. informed there is an office in udon who will give me a proper statement. informed agent to look at stamp, that states 'udon thani office w/signature', but it doesn't say 'to immigrations' on it. ok, politely leave, knowing better not to stir trouble. return to bank, they type up letter 'to immigrations', 'been customer for so long, with deposits, blah blah blah, see attached detailed statement for account info. yesterday, bank letter refused again. doesn't no list dates and deposits in letter. i point out statement, showing dates and deposits amounts in credit column. take a second to think, reason now is, it says no where that funds come from america. common sense here would tell you that since i don't have a work visa, it must come from out of country. now, on top of all this, my notorized income statement from embassy, states i make more than 950,000 baht a year, so the bank statement isn't really a requirement, since the regulation is, 800,000 and/of saving/income total of required amount. again, politely exit, and return today. bank letter no problem. but now he askes for med statement, which they didn't ask for 1st 2 days, i produce that, and he wants copies, yes already have. what next, need house station, have that also, need copies, already have. completely stumped, he tell me to make copies of passport, again, already have sitting on desk. then, ask me to make 2 copies of 3 pages in passport that basically have no info in them, as he already has copy of my arrival/departure card and last entrance/exit stamp. one last attempt, need to see bank book, that you have copies w/stamp of, ok i have it with me. thinking of nothing else to ask of me, ok, now ok, no problem, bye. politely exit.

oh joy, now i can understand why some complain. granted, i'm sure many are not prepared, and customer service does suck as a job if not having the right attitude. and many customers don't take no politely, yes i used to do customer service and it can be stressful.

nina would of been a welcome sight, as i believe she did my 1st which i didn't have properly prepared and was very helpful and efficient with her assistance and once in order, appoved, stamped and on my way. i know she gets a lot of bad pr, but i and two others like her, or have been fortunite to catch her on good days. and for those who are not in the same opinion, my friend with me the other day, did notice her in the office, so stories of her demised, are greatly exaggerated.

I always got Nina there on my renewals she can be tough but nothing to get excited about unless you catch he on a bad day then you will get some flack. Just got to take it with a grain of salt and move on. My uderstanding was she w transfered to the bridge for a period of time, that usualli ounitive, sounds like she has been forgiven

They will all make you jump through the hoop everything that you described in your encounter with the exception of the health permit is what I have done in the past. I have the 90 day coming up one month befoer the annual reewal I will have to remember to ask about that.

According to AEK Udon they are going back there sometime in March on Mondays and Friday' when the office opens then i will know until then it's just a rumor.

As you pointed out the health certificate is nothing, no more then what you need fror the drivers license, just the once a year game. Each year everyone that I know goes through a bit of pressure in this, me included a for me not about what really happens but what could happen.

I keep hearing rumors about a five year visa, But I can't seem to nail that one down anyone hear of this, non existent as far as I know.

I keep hearing rumors about a five year visa,

The jolly Malaysians let farang stay for five years

http://www.imi.gov.my/ENG/im_MalaysiaMy2Home.asp

Yep knew about that one supposedly they are talking about Thailand, my guess is that it just a rumor and nothing more, but I will ask.

I went to Nong Khai about a month ago to get "a buying a car letter". I enquired about Nina and was told she was upstairs. I did not recognise her, she looked 10 years younger. I commented on this and she said that not having to deal with falangs who could be a bit nasty and being expected to understand English spoken in 10 different accents has eased the stress load on her. We chatted and she walked me to my bike, asked if I was married yet and if not her sister is very nice. She did say she may be seconded to Loei soon.

John

In all honety thie job is not one I would want, english is only one the languages they have to deal with