I’ve just been through the second extension and since I found myself banging on the same doorframes I decided to share the process with whoever might need such instructions/advice.
First things first, you can apply and go through the process by yourself, no need for an agent. It doesn’t take ages if you got the paperwork.
You can apply for re-issuing 6 months (if I recall correctly) prior to the expiration date, which is usually your birthday. For some reason the new one I got expires in 2029, not 2028 as I had expected.
Note: as the DLT official said, your current license is “valid” up to 1 year after the expiration date, but I wouldn’t chance it. Mine had expired 2 weeks prior to the actual date I was issued a new one.
I first tried the DLT office at Sukhumvit 93 and I wouldn’t recommend it from my experience, they aren’t very organised. The only good hint I got from them was a weblink for an online training/quiz you have to do prior to submitting your paperwork at the actual DLT office. I went to my usual main office in Chatuchak (right across the market/next to the BTS station on Phaholyothin). Go straight to Building 3 [https://maps.app.goo.gl/poaoXeq8tdmeY1aA8](https://maps.app.goo.gl/poaoXeq8tdmeY1aA8)
Paperwork (make 2 copies of everything just in case, as usual with any government office in LOS):
1. **your passport**\+2 copies (just in case) – front page and visa page
2. **proof of residence**: if you have a work permit with specified address – that should work (mine doesn’t). OR:certificate of residence issued by Immigration (mine was issued there, took 30 minutes to apply+500THB fee) they have it posted to your address in Thailand (if you are on a long term visa, otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this). It takes around 1-2 weeks, so have patience. OR: affidavit from your country’s consulate/consular section of the embassy, with an official seal, certifying your stated address.
3. **Expired/expiring Thai driver’s license.**
4. **Medical certificate**: you can get one at any clinic for 200THB. Just tell them you need a medical certificate to apply for a driver’s license.
5. **Proof of training** \- a screenshot of a webpage with a QR code that comes up after you’ve spent 1 hour watching a video and answering randomly popping up questions here: [www.dlt-learning.com/home](https://www.dlt-learning.com/home). Select “Foreigner” – > register -> choose your ID type – > enter your information -> watch the video and answer questions -> print out the result
6. **550THB in cash**. Yes, they do accept bank transfers to their account, but the official said “I normally don’t allow foreigners to pay by transfers, but…” I did a bank transfer through a QR code. (and yes, Thais pay 250THB but hey, you shouldn’t be surprised by now, eh?)
The process is as follows: once you’ve parked your banger at the DLT’s parking lot and walked to the building, there’s a “one stop window” on the ground floor- you queue up and hand over the above. They give you a queue card and you proceed to the adjacent room to have a stack of papers prepared. Then you move on to the next floor.
There is a queue ticket counter (operated by an expert engineer) and 3 lines – red – for first time applicants, yellow and green (that’s where you go). The next room is where you wait for your queue and have the information from the paper stack input into the database by another expert operator. This is where you will come back to have your picture taken and to part with your hard owned cash in exchange for the piece of plastic with your coupon on it, but not before they test you. Once they’re done, you go one floor up.
This is where the magic happens. You hand over your queue ticket and papers, you get another set of papers in return and another queue ticket. (they got a good deal on paper for those printers). THEN! YOU bloody wait until the next lot is being called into the test room (there’s a TV running some educational video and a bunch of bored Thais waiting to go through the tests). An official will come out to the waiting area and start calling queue numbers in Thai (you do know Thai numbers by now, don’t you?), one by one. When it’s your turn you go queue up for the TESTS! You go through a series of tests, supposed to make sure you are fit to drive (what a joke).
Point 1: Colour blindness – with a traffic light model. You say your queue number first and then the grumpy lady will switch the traffic lights on and you should guess the colour (what a bloody lottery!)
Point 2: Vision depth test – a machine with 2 vertical poles one is further away from you than the other. you press a button to move one towards you and let go when you feel like they are more or less the same distance from you.
Point 3: Reaction test: Now that’s a fun one. You sit on a stool with 2 pedals in front of you. There’s a “speed gauge” with a red light on top. What you do is you step on the accelerator and wait until the green “speed gauge” starts going up (IT DOESN’T GO ON STRAIGHTAWAY right after you put your foot on the pedal, I think it does it randomly). Then the red light goes on and you have to hit the brakes before the green goes into the red zone. Good luck, ya legends.
Point 4: side vision test – basically put your face into a machine and look straight ahead. there are two different colour lights on the left and on the right and you tell them what colour is on now).
Once you’re done, go out and hand over your paper with ticks and signatures on it back to the reception desk and they give you your paperwork back. Go down one floor.
Get yet another queue ticket from a certified operator. Follow the green line back into the same room. Wait until your number comes up and go have your picture taken and pay the fee (you still have the money, don’t you?)
If they like you, they will make sure you dont’ look like Ted Bundy on your permit for the next 6 years. You will look like a smiling Ted Bundy, which makes a world of difference.
All in all, if you are prepared, it takes 1-1.5 hours and you are another happy legal driving alien.
Now go back to the real world and forget what they said in the instructional videos. But you already knew it, right? Right?
If you’ve read this far, you are a proper gentleperson and a scholar, **I can guarantee that your attention span is much longer than that of 90% of the world’s population.** Get yourself a Mr. Doughnut (they have the 12 pc for 180 baht promo again, yay!)
Happy driving ya plonkers.
