Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing backlogs at Thai Immigration and specifically associated with holidays. I thought of making this article after reading a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, that is pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Huge queues at Jomtien-Pattaya Immigration Office. Again I urge those who are watching this video, go check out that article in detail, a lot of good information in there. Quoting directly: "The six days 6 days of holiday resulted in a big backlog of Jomtien Immigration customers at the reopening on Thursday August 3. The neighboring photocopying and visa services bureau was overwhelmed with many foreigners requiring photos and/or extra copies of documentation for Visa Extensions." 

So yeah holidays are always kind of a vexing thing for foreigners here in Thailand especially as it applies to Visa Extension. A question often arises "well what happens if my Visa expires during the holiday or the day of the holiday or while they are closed or maybe the holiday fell on a Friday and I couldn't get there until the following Monday when they reopened?" 

The general policy of Thai Immigration is to go ahead and treat the next day after a holiday as if it was the day itself, so there is that way to deal with it. Now that said, you do not want to put yourself in a position where you are kind of at the mercy with respect to the Bureaucracy. I am not really calling out the Officers. Look these folks are all doing the best that they can. There are tons of people processing lots of cases, lots of paperwork going everywhere, they can only do so many things at once; I do get it. The problem you can have where you come in after a holiday and your Visa has expired is you really have to get it sort of that day. You are under a massive time crunch and that is not a place you want to be with regard to any Immigration Office, anywhere in the world for that matter. 

So for those who are thinking about this or whatever, especially if you are an expat, keep an eye on the Thai holidays. I am very well aware of when all the Thai holidays are. Now I get it, a guy that has been here for a year or two, not really as fully acclimated, not really as settled in, yeah you are not going to be as aware of Thai holidays but they do pop up and it is not a bad idea, you can just Google "Thai holidays" and they are going to tell you all the Thai holidays in that given year. Look at it against your visa and if it looks like you are going to expire on a Thai holiday, just make sure to get in there a little early; get in there week, 10 days beforehand rather than being put under the time crunch of having to deal with it or essentially expire and then fall into overstay.