I've been hearing good things about Chiangmai immigration recently - less waiting, less paperwork and even stories of immigration officials bringing out Birthday cake for people celebrating their day by waiting in line!
This is good news because honestly, if you live overseas, you spend a lot of time at immigration. It's one of the less glamorous parts of an overseas life . . . . 90-day check-ins, visa renewals, applying for re-entry permit before we leave and updating our residence every time we get back. I have not added up the time spent filling in forms for a family of 5 or waiting in line for someone's important piece of paper but it has been a lot.
As some of you may know, I have been having a bit of drama with my visa recently. When I started work at Thai Village I switched my dependent visa linked to Tyler's job to a volunteer visa of my own. Thanks to a lot of work by my Thai Village team-mates, I was able to get a 1-year work permit on this visa in November last year! A big answered prayer as work permits had previously been disallowed for holders of volunteer visas.
This was a huge high point on the paperwork journey . . . but there have been many low points too like being denied visa renewal recently and having to leave the country unexpectedly at short notice.
So far, in the past 9 months, I have done 3 visa run trips to neighbouring countries - Vietnam, Malaysia and Laos - plus obtained one visa during a planned trip to the UK. If you know me, you'll know that I love to travel so it's not the worst burden ever, but honestly visa runs are costly and are mostly all the boring bits about travel and not much of the fun stuff, unless you have time and money to add on some extra days. In Vietnam we did (see this post) but not so much the other times.
Tyler and I are very lucky that we have colleagues at our places of work who prepare most of our immigration paperwork for us. With rules often changing and officials being very strict about how forms are filled, we are so glad we are not on our own in this and we're very grateful for the hard work of our team-mates. Thank you!
I am writing this post now, because my visa obtained in Laos will be up for renewal soon and together with my colleagues at Thai Village, we are hoping to successfully extend our visas for a full year, thus eliminating the need and expense of more visa runs. I would be grateful for your prayers in this process. The pile of papers required will be even thicker than for the work permit!
In the mean time, I will be going to immigration next week to do a 90-day check-in for two of our kids (don't ask how the five of us got on four separate 90-day schedules!!) and maybe, if I'm lucky, someone near me will be having a Birthday that day!
This is good news because honestly, if you live overseas, you spend a lot of time at immigration. It's one of the less glamorous parts of an overseas life . . . . 90-day check-ins, visa renewals, applying for re-entry permit before we leave and updating our residence every time we get back. I have not added up the time spent filling in forms for a family of 5 or waiting in line for someone's important piece of paper but it has been a lot.
As some of you may know, I have been having a bit of drama with my visa recently. When I started work at Thai Village I switched my dependent visa linked to Tyler's job to a volunteer visa of my own. Thanks to a lot of work by my Thai Village team-mates, I was able to get a 1-year work permit on this visa in November last year! A big answered prayer as work permits had previously been disallowed for holders of volunteer visas.
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| The checklist of papers for the work permit is pretty extensive! |
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| Jessie and I are holding the papers but really Jade (front right) did all of the work! |
So far, in the past 9 months, I have done 3 visa run trips to neighbouring countries - Vietnam, Malaysia and Laos - plus obtained one visa during a planned trip to the UK. If you know me, you'll know that I love to travel so it's not the worst burden ever, but honestly visa runs are costly and are mostly all the boring bits about travel and not much of the fun stuff, unless you have time and money to add on some extra days. In Vietnam we did (see this post) but not so much the other times.
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Our most recent visa run to Vientiane, Laos was 2 days spent mostly waiting at the consulate and working in coffee shops but I enjoyed a few walks around the city and snapped this pic outisde Wat Sisaket |
I am writing this post now, because my visa obtained in Laos will be up for renewal soon and together with my colleagues at Thai Village, we are hoping to successfully extend our visas for a full year, thus eliminating the need and expense of more visa runs. I would be grateful for your prayers in this process. The pile of papers required will be even thicker than for the work permit!
In the mean time, I will be going to immigration next week to do a 90-day check-in for two of our kids (don't ask how the five of us got on four separate 90-day schedules!!) and maybe, if I'm lucky, someone near me will be having a Birthday that day!
Praying for success!
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