WHAT'S ON THAILAND

Well, here is another TIT story.

This person I know has a US passport with one year visa, due to expire later this year (around June 2009) that was issued because he had a work permit of the same duration.

He went to Chiang Mai Immigration and explained to them that he wanted to cancel his work permit and change his visa status to "retired". Immigration told him since his work permit was issued in Bangkok, he had to go there to cancel it, and then he could apply for his new visa in Chiang Mai (or Bangkok).

He was also told all his paper work was in order and they would issue him his retirement visa, but he had do cancel his work permit first.

So, following the instructions from the officials, he flew to Bangkok and cancelled his work permit on a Friday and immediately flew back to Chiang Mai.

The following Monday was a holiday, so he arrived with his paperwork at CM Immigration on Tuesday.

CM Immigration charged this guy a 5 day overstay because his work permit was cancelled on Friday, which effectively cancelled his visa which expired a few months into the future.

After protesting that normally when you cancel a work permit, as they told him, you get 7 days before you have to get a new visa. The response from CM officials:

"If you don't like our policy, go back to Bangkok and have them do it."

I find it typical "This is Thailand" that even when you follow the officials letter-by-letter, they will find a way to extract money from foreigners.

Never, would they do this to a fellow Thai.

This Is Thailand