Thai License
That’s it, I’ve got my Thai motorbike licence, a provisional licence, as it says on it, i.e. valid for two years and which I can then renew for five years.
I’ll explain in detail how I got it, and I think many people will be interested..
First of all, prepare all the documents carefully:
- Certificate of residence
- Photocopy of international permit
- Photocopy of passport page with photo
- Photocopy of passport page with last entry into the kingdom. ATTENTION ! it is very important, it is the last entry and not the first entry with this visa
- French licence both sides
- Certificate established by a doctor of aptitude to the driving
A few details:
The certificate of residence cannot be issued at the Blúport immigration office. It is therefore necessary to go to the central immigration office, which is located about 5 km west of Hua Hin (Google Maps link at the end of this article):
- the rental contract for the house or condo or possibly a title deed
- another photocopy of the passport page with photo, because they will keep it
- another photocopy of the passport page with the date of entry stamp because they will keep it.
- Two passport photos.
Once you have all these documents, make an appointment with the Pranburi Transport Office on the DLT smart queue website..
This appointment is not compulsory, but it helps to avoid a wait that can be very long because there are always a lot of people at the transport office.
You can also register on the DLT eLearning site to watch the four videos required to obtain your licence. If you have not watched these videos in advance on the site, you will have to spend an hour in front of a computer during your appointment at the transport office.
So there are four videos.
The first two are in Thai with English subtitles.Note that the subtitles are not always very well done, sometimes a little too white on a light background, which makes them difficult to read.
The following two videos are in English.
So, VERY IMPORTANT WHAT FOLLOWS for the clever ones 😀
- It’s not possible to fast-forward videos
- If you interrupt a video before you’ve finished it, or if you leave the website, the next time, you’ll have to start that video again from the beginning.
- When you reach the end of a video, it is automatically recorded as viewed.
- To prevent you from starting the video and going for a beer or a walk on the beach in the meantime, a question is displayed at regular intervals that must be answered for the video to continue. If you take too long to answer, you’ll have to start again.
- When you’ve completed the series of four videos, you’ll get a barcode, which you take a photo of. This is the proof that will allow you to avoid watching the videos during your appointment.
These 4 videos are a little long, but quite nice. They give safety tips and a few points on the rules of the road in Thailand, rules that are obviously, as you will have realised, very little respected.
The last step is to go to the transport office.
CAUTION: if you arrive before the time of your appointment (for me, it was 8 a.m.) the young person at reception will simply tell you to go and sit down while you wait. But if at 8am you don’t go and see her again to get your ticket, you risk waiting all morning for nothing.
When it’s your turn, you hand over all the documents to the person at the counter. I don’t know if it’s always like this, but the day I went there, the person was particularly unfriendly for a Thai woman.
And then you have to hope that you’ve got all the papers right and that he’s happy with them. In this case, the photocopy of my international driving licence didn’t suit him – I didn’t really understand why, but I went and had it redone. There’s a little shop that does this just outside the transport office. There’s no point in arguing or arguing in these cases, it won’t help matters.
Once the file has been compiled, you will be asked to check the information and sign, and you will have to wait until you are called for the physical aptitude tests. The fact that you have given a medical certificate does not exempt you from these tests.
The person in charge of these aptitude tests was, on the other hand, rather friendly and even funny.She took a series of files and formed a group of people. She first explained the tests in Thai to the group. Obviously I didn’t understand a word of it (I’m starting Thai lessons this week), but as several people had gone before me I had time to understand what they were all about by observing.
There are four tests:
- The first test is designed, I suppose, to check that you’re not colour-blind. A coloured light comes on and each time you have to indicate whether it is green yellow or red.
- Second test for reflexes. There is an accelerator pedal and a brake pedal. When accelerating you activate a green light which after a certain random time changes to red. You then have to brake in a sufficiently short time, which is measured by a machine.
- Third test. There is a box about 2 m in front of us in which there are two vertical white sticks, each on a horizontal rail. The stick on the right is not moving. It’s in the middle of the box. The young woman pushes the left stick to the very bottom of the box, so you have to press a button to move this stick forward and stop pressing it when it’s at the same height as the right stick. I think this tests some notions of the perception of relief.
- Fourth test, you rest your chin on a support and hold it straight out in front of you. A light comes on on the left or right. You have to say which side the light is on.
And it’s all over! Yippee!Last formality: have your photo taken (they’ll call you) and wait five minutes for the licence to be produced.
Cost of the operation (apart from photocopies, of course): 500 baht to issue a residence certificate 105 baths to issue a permit
I hope that this post will help you to prepare for this “formidable” test with peace of mind.
I should point out that I hold an A motorbike licence in France, so I don’t know to what extent that changes things.
Immigration office address
https://maps.app.goo.gl/7Qgwu7fAJke4iDyPA?g_st=ic
Transport office address
https://maps.app.goo.gl/mKoN8a9Q6KyZbtUp8?g_st=ic
