A visit to Immigration at Government Center Building B, Chaengwattana Road.

See Video of Immigration Office in Bangkok at bottom of this page. For updated info on 90-days reporting.

Immigration Offices in Bangkok have moved from Suan Phlu to the Northern part of the city in 2009. This sounds like a long time ago, but we never really get used to it.. If located in Pattaya or Ayutthaya, immigration would be as difficult to reach as it is now (at least until recently, see below).

The offices are located at :

Government Center Chaeng Wattana Building B, Nr. 120
Moo 3, ChaengWattana Road Soi 7,
Tung Song Hong Subdistrict
Laksi, Bangkok 10210
Website Immigration

The website of Thai Immigration certainly has useful information, and also attempts to be appealing. On the other hand, sometimes recent changes or updates in services are not timely reported.

Thai Immigration in Bangkok (also called Immigration Division 3) is off the major Chaengwattana Road. The last few years we have used minivans, leaving from Chatuchak Park towards Pak Kret. They pass the Government Center and prices have gone up in 2022 to 30 Thai baht. Cheaper, and certainly safer than taking a taxi. You have to be able to read some Thai language though, because for some reason the minivans have not come up with the idea of announcing their destination in English language. You can find the location of minivans and taxis easiest by exiting the MRT station through the Chatuchak Park exit. Below we will discuss some alternative, maybe faster public transport towards the Government Center complex.

Government Center Building B is located amongst a spread out cluster of government buildings, about 1 kilometer from the main Chaengwattana Road. All the buildings around seem to be brand new, though the development of this area has not widely been talked about in the Thai media. Basically every time one visits there seems to be an extra building being constructed. The headquarters of the Thai Army are also located in the compound. Lately quite a few major construction has been going on for National Telecom Public Co. Ltd., despite its name a state-owned communications company. Not sure why so much new office space is needed at this day and age.

Government Center Building B, at Chaeng Wattana Road Soi 7

Building B is a really huge rectangular building (there is a building A close to the main Chaeng Wattana road of similar appearance and size). Once inside the building it is revealed that most of the wide space is occupied by an empty central atrium (all roofed), about the size of two soccer fields. All around are various government offices and related services 5-6 floors high. The building is rather functional and not exactly architecturally inspiring inside.

The entrance to Immigration Division 3 is located at the southeastern corner of the building. Transport to the building either stops at the western or southern corner, so you have to take it from there.

The immigration offices themselves are spacious but usually crowded. There is an information desk at the entrance, where you are given the appropriate forms to fill out. A little bit further is the location where you can get your 'queue' number for the service you require.. Opening hours are from 8.30 A.M. till 4.30 P.M. However the last queue numbers (and you need them) are given before 3.30 P.M. Between getting your queue number and being serviced there may be ample time to go around for copying documents, or drink a coffee. The place inside immigration can be very crowded, so we usually do not spend waiting there for more than half an hour or so.
Immigration officers are located in separate cubicles, usually housing 3 or 4 desks. You may experience a lunch break of the staff between 12.00 A.M. and 1.00 P.M., when all activity is temporarily halted. Many people seem to arrive in the morning, get there queue number, then have to wait during lunchtime, and are lining up again after lunch. We rather simply go in the afternoon.

In the basement of the building there are a lot of banks, convenience stores, a food court, and a few shops where you can have copies made and passport photos taken. As anybody knows, whatever work you do at home to prepare yourself, it will almost always be necessary to take yet another copy of some of your passport pages or other documents. Lately, we noticed that some of the offices have a copier in situ, and some immigration officers seem to be willing to use it to make copies, if you have one or two missing.

Please be advised that some if not all of the banks close at 3:30 PM. In case you need your bank statements, or the immigration officer demands yet another type of bank statement, you may be in trouble if the banks are closed for the day. In our experience, we have bee send to our bank regarding our deposits for our retirement visa a few times over the years, and often the bank employees do not know what additional document is required, go figure. You may ask your immigration offices to write a small note in Thai language, to take with you.

After the few years of operation, the huge Building B seems now completely functional, as can also be judged by the number of cars parked all over the area. The covered parking on the lower floors of the buildings are not sufficient anymore.

How to get to Immigration?

There are quite a few steps and time needs to be spent. At least for this, the original route (our original route).

Reach either Chatuchak MRT station (most convenient) or Moo Chit skytrain station.
At Chatuchak MRT station take the exit Chatuchak Park. On the main road, you will notice a taxi queue, and further away a queue of minivans. Most of the minivans go to Minburi, which seems to be a very popular destination. Usually within a few minutes you will see a minivan parked, or arriving, with Paak Kret destination. Signs on the minivans are in Thai language only.
The minivans going to Paak Kret turn into Chaeng Wattana road and pass the Government Complex. Tell the driver you want to exit at Government Complex. Fare is 30 baht. Traffic to Immigration is usually reasonable, but it still can take 20 to 30 minutes.

When in front of the Immigration compound, you have 4 choices. You can walk to Building B, where Immigration is located, it takes about 15-20 minutes. You can take a motorcycle taxi, which we never recommend, but if you are used to taking them, you can as well take them here. The third option is to wait for the shuttle bus to arrive, which may take 10-15 minutes. The fourth option, which we have used quite a few times, is to flag down a regular taxi on Chaengwattana, and use to go to Building B. Taxi drivers are happy to take the short trip.

When entering the building, you have to show your passport. A photo of your face may be taken, and your luggage may be X-rayed.

Alternative, maybe faster ways to go to Immigration

We have not yet tried them ourselves, but there are at least two ways to use public transport to reach (close to) Immigration. When you visit you will see (beginning 2023, we noticed clearly) that construction on the so-called pink line, a monorail train line is progressing, so in the near future it will be possible to arrive by this transport right in front of the Government Complex compound.

At present :

You can take the BTS Northern Line (no stops on the way if you come from Sukhumvit area) all the way to Wat Phra Sri Mahathat (from E4 Asoke to N17, by example, that would mean about 21 stops). From the station at Wat Phra Sri Mahathat you can take a taxi, for the last few kilometers to Government Complex.

You can also take the MRT to the Bang Sue station (where also the main Train station of Bangkok is now located). From there you will have to find the way to another train connecting station of the so-called SRT Red Line. The fifth stop in the Rangsit direction will be Laksi Station, which indeed is just about 1,500 meter from the entrance of the Government Complex. We saw a video clip about where to waive down a taxi, and were not impressed (some safety issues), but certainly worth a try if you are in reasonable physical shape. Personally, we never recommend motorcycle taxis, way to dangerous. Looking at the map of the train traject, it should also be possible to make to connection somewhere in the Chatuchak area, not sure at present whether close to either the MRT and BTS there.

Going back home :

We often walk the distance to Chaeng Wattana road. Motorcycle taxis are not always visible when exiting the building. Taxis will often, if not always, refuse to take you the short distance. They seem to prefer to take you all the way home. If you exit around the time most offices close, you can enter the staff queue waiting for the shuttle buses taking passengers to main Chaengwattana Road. Not sure if taking this transport is allowed for 'customers', but nobody ever turned us down when we use it. Strangely though, we see very few foreigners making use of it.
On Chaengwattana wait for passing minivans (cross the road first by the passenger bridge closeby) taking you to Chatuchak. You may have to wait awhile, and the traffic back in the later afternoon can be busy (the same would apply if you take a taxi home). Of course, you may head back to Laksi station, or Wat Phra Sri Mahathat. The Laksi station should be easy to reach, because it would just involve one left turn from Chaengwattana Road.

Some small advice :

After entering the Immigration offices,fill out whatever forms need to be filled out. Proceed and get a queue ticket. Check on the ticket how many people are there before you. If let's say more than 40, you have ample time to exit the area again and go down the escalator to have a coffee or have a snack. Visit the GPO pharmacy, which has cheaper stuff (vitamins, plasters, etc.) for sale, than you will find in most pharmacies around Bangkok. Get a bottle of water at 7-Eleven, you may need it. You can also use this time to take any necessary copies like the pages in your passport, including your entrance slip, which should be kept in your passport. After about 30 or 40 minutes, go back to Immigration proper. You likely still will have to wait awhile.

Always be polite, do not come in beach clothing to the area, it always helps. Service has improved the last few years, likely because most of the immigration officers working are female. Still requirements may be changing with each visit, so there is always a degree of uncertainty surrounding the procedures.

Personally, we always go to Immigration in the afternoon. A lot of people seem to prefer to go from early in the morning, even queueing and waiting for Immigration to open. We have heard many stories of people going in the morning, having to wait till the afternoon before they get serviced (after the lunch break of the staff, when services are closed).

When coming in the afternoon, there is certainly a speeding-up of activities later on, because, after all, the Immigration Officers want to go home at a reasonable hour.

Location of Government Center Building B

Note : The photo and map have been borrowed from the Immigration Bureau website.