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Thai driving licence


Lusty
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I don't know if the house book would be accepted. My understanding is that you're required to have either a certificate of residency from your embassy or one from the Thai Immigration police. I'd suggest checking it out before you go. You will also need photo copies of the first page of your passport and your current visa. You have to be a resident here to get a license.

I did it through  Immigration, which was much cheaper than the US embassy, but it takes longer (two or three weeks). Immigration sends a form to your local police station, and they verify your address. They will send you the letter in Thai. Once I had the letter, I went down and got my license.

Since you have a valid license, you won't have to take the written test or driving test. There will be a bizarre sort of test of your depth perception and reaction time. Once you have everything completed, they'll require you to sit and watch some movies and cartoons (almost all in Thai) supposedly showing you how to drive. Try not to fall asleep.

 

 

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I got my residency letter through Jaeng Wattana Immigration. I think they charged me 180 baht. Several weeks later, I received a very nice letter all in Thai from the local police station confirming my address. (If the police even came here, I never saw them.) The embassies are ridiculously overpriced. It costs at least 1,500 baht at the US Embassy for them to sign a piece of paper for you, plus nowadays you have to make an appointment just to see them! Even back in the 1980s the US Embassy would charge you $1 a page for photo copies, when you could go out on the street and have them done for half a baht.

There's a special desk for the residency letters. Let them know what you want and you can save yourself time, since it's the same window as used by tourists extending their visas. Once the police sergeant saw what I wanted, she called me in and did my form on the spot. Otherwise,  I'd have had to wait for my number to come up - with dozens of tourists ahead of me.

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  • 5 months later...

Jaeng Wattana didn't give me a residence letter because i hadn't done a 90day report. 

I didn't need a 90 day report because i traveled abroad before the 90 days were up. And I will travel abroad again before 90 days are up.  And again...

So they told me they will not give me a residence letter. Residence letter in their opinion requires 90 day report.

 

 

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  • 2 months later...
On 9/11/2018 at 11:36 AM, Flashermac said:

I got my residency letter through Jaeng Wattana Immigration. I think they charged me 180 baht. Several weeks later, I received a very nice letter all in Thai from the local police station confirming my address. (If the police even came here, I never saw them.) The embassies are ridiculously overpriced. It costs at least 1,500 baht at the US Embassy for them to sign a piece of paper for you, plus nowadays you have to make an appointment just to see them! Even back in the 1980s the US Embassy would charge you $1 a page for photo copies, when you could go out on the street and have them done for half a baht.

There's a special desk for the residency letters. Let them know what you want and you can save yourself time, since it's the same window as used by tourists extending their visas. Once the police sergeant saw what I wanted, she called me in and did my form on the spot. Otherwise,  I'd have had to wait for my number to come up - with dozens of tourists ahead of me.

As i said before,  CW will give you a residence certificate only if you have done a 90-days report. A TM30 seems to be ok, too, but as TM30 is usually not done in Bangkok you run the risk of being fined for not doing it earlier (and your landlord runs the risk of having to pay taxes).

The desk for residence certificates changed,  it is now the one for reentry permits. They made me wait 150 qeue numbers. Plus I had to wait again because only the boss does residence certificates. 

200 baht without receipt. 

I am waiting for the letter now.  But they wrote down my address in a very haphazard way, i doubt if a letter will ever arrive. If not,  I have to go again and pick it up there, they gave me a slip.

An unpleasant experience. 

BTW 1. if your drivers license is not from an English speaking country, Bangkok DLT requires a translation into English,  certified by your embassy. 

2. In Pattaya, all this is much easier (and you can get a driver's license as a tourist), but it cost more. And you need to have an address in Pattaya. 

 

 

 

 

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I got mine through the desk that issues renewals of tourist visa. I was sitting there waiting for my number to be called, when a woman sergeant saw me and asked what I wanted. I told in Thai, and she immediately called me over and did it for me. So now they've moved it to the 90-day report section? That place is always packed. :(

 

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