Thanks for the suggestion, but I don't have a UK motorbike licence and I lost my UK car licence when I had my wallet stolen on a beach in China years ago. Hence trying to renew the Thai licence. :) I was also thinking about trying to get the residence certificate from the UK embassy, but that would mean a special trip to BK and the requirements didn't seem any less onerous (besides the added expense).

I'm also interested in this (and have been trying to chat with a couple of visa agencies in CM about it recently). As far as I can tell, although

@Robert ******

seems to be correct from the perspective of the Department of Land Transport, the main sticking point seems to be getting the residence certificate on a short-term stay/visa-exempt entry (at least in CM - I know some immigration offices elsewhere are perhaps more flexible).

One of the visa agencies in CM told me today that it's necessary to have a visa of "more than 30 days" to get the residence certificate (their words, not mine - some info may have been lost in translation), and I've read elsewhere about generally needing an apartment contract longer than 3 months. So this might be the real issue for renewing a licence during a short-term stay. I haven't yet been able to figure out whether there's a solution to that?

(My situation is that my first two-year Thai licence expired a couple of months ago and I'd like to renew it so I can drive legally while I'm visiting CM next month for a couple of weeks on an exemption (or SETV, if necessary)).

So you can renew it up to one year after expiry of the date on the licence with no issues? What about driving during that time - I assume you'll be fined if you get pulled over and show them the expired licence?

But that's 180 RM total, right? For the visa fee (150 RM?) plus the agent's fee? I remember paying 190 RM total - that's what I mean. The consulate is hardly in a convenient part of town either, so I'm not sure why anyone would bother not using an agent in Penang.

@T**

, isn't it normal to use an agent in Penang? Unless the price increased a lot recently, why would anyone want to make two return trips to the consulate (4x 8-9 RM in a Grab?) and waste several hours there rather than just spend the 40 RM or whatever and let someone else deal with it? Paperwork or not, it seems a no-brainer.

In principle, yes, but I think it would depend on what time your flight is in the morning. If it's at 1am, sure. If it's at 7am and you need to go to the check-in desk first, which doesn't open until 2-3 hrs before the flight, I think you wouldn't be able to pass immigration without the boarding pass. In that case I'd just rely on the one-day grace period.

So...why wouldn't that work? If the problem is just that his current place can't do it because the owner isn't there.

Can't you just book a hotel for a night or two, get whatever the piece of paper is that proves you're staying there, and then extend the tourist visa with that?

It's almost certainly not a big deal - I'm quite sure it just means that they're checking that you have the stuff you do have (which they presumably don't know about). I guess it depends on the airline/airport, but I don't remember the last time I flew within SEA where I didn't need to go to the check-in counter (and occasionally show them a return ticket or argue about that a bit when I didn't have one).

That's basically just the entire group. 90% of the Q's are A'd pretty F.