so you want to get your driver's license in Thailand but you don't know where to start well this video is going to be a complete guide of the whole process from beginning to end I'm going to tell you all the documents you need to prepare where to go to get it all done how much it costs whether you need driving tests I'm going to cover everything and I'm going to be moving pretty fast but don't worry I'm going to put chapter markers in for every step of the process so you can just come back to th
e video and find the parts that you're looking for it's going to be divided into three parts and part three I'm going to give you my biggest tip to save you the most time and uh and headaches so without further Ado let's get into it and let's get me and you a tie driver's [Music] license I'm doing all the research here so you don't have to and here's a line that I found that says it all a tie driver's license can be done in a single day costs only few hundred bought and is valid in 10 ACN countr
ies sounds easy enough but we're about to find out just how true that statement is it seems like there's a bunch of documents and stuff that they're going to be asking for so let's run through the list I got all mine prepared here but first the basics you need to be 18 years old and in good physical and mental health well I'm just a little bit older than 18 so all good there good physical health H I'm not so sure about that and good mental health yeah sure let's just hope that we can trick them
on this one next all the paperwork you're going to need to fill out an application form you get this from the Department of land transport which is Thailand's equivalent to the DMV I'm heading there next and I'm going to be showing you this form when we get there and for the rest of this video I'm just going to call it the DLT the department of land transport next you're going to need a valid passport I got mine right here some fine print I found is that you're supposed to prove that you're a lo
ng-term resident in Thailand but there's tons of foreigners with stories of how they got their tie driver's license using just a tourist visa this is because the DLT isn't the government branch that gives a damn about your Visa status that's immigration lucky for me though I'm a longterm resident I won't have to put that to the test depending on which DLT office you go go to they might need a copy of the first page of your passport the page containing your valid non-immigrant visa and the page w
ith the last entry stamp into Thailand or your last 90-day report to be safe I've got all of these ready to go and I actually made two copies of each just to be safe so it should be good there next I heard you need a resident certificate this is where things get painful to get a residence certificate you need to go into the immigration office or as I like to call it no but if you take a copy of your lease for where you live in Immigration along with your passport they'll issue you a resident cer
tificate within a day I also heard the DLT might want this certified by your country's Embassy I'm really hoping to avoid all that so we're going to roll the bones here I'm going to take my work permit and I got a copy of my lease with me and I'm going to go straight into the DLT this might backfire but I'm about to find out next if you have an international driver's license make a copy of that I've heard that this makes things way easier once you get there I don't have one but I do have my Cana
dian driver's license and I made two copies of that and I'm going to be bringing them with me and The Originals Bring all originals and we'll see if that helps lastly and this one's classic Thailand I've read that you need a medical certificate same as when I renew my work permit every year so I'm going to pack up all my documents here and I'm going to head to the DLT but first let me show you where I'm going to get my medical certificate or at least try to get it okay so the cost of getting a m
edical certificate or so I've read in my research can range between like 200 bot at a little local Clinic all the way up to 800 bot or more at one of the fancy hospitals and in classic tie style I've heard that if you show up to the DLT office and you forgot to bring a medical certificate there's a motorbike taxi service that'll take you to a clinic right around the corner they'll run you over you get it done they'll take you back but I'm assuming that the line there might be super long I don't
want to wait so I came down here to the same Clinic that I like to use it's close to my house in a soak it's called wellmet Clinic uh they've given me quick easy service before uh so I'm going to go in and see if they can handle this I'll also leave a Google Map link to this place in the description in case that helps you now let's go in we'll see exactly what they do and uh I'll find out how much it really costs and now this is a good time to tell you about the sponsor of today's [Music] video
ah got to fill the paperwork out in tie but they give you a little English example so okay so this video is sponsored by safety Wing more specifically their new Nomad Health Plan I've been using safety Wing since I moved to Thailand and I'm going to give you the top five reasons why Haley and I signed up for their new Nomad Health Plan number five is by far the most important one for us anyway first it covers you in over 175 countries around the world we live here in Thailand but we want to trav
el quite a bit and wanted a plan that would take care of us no matter where we go this probably isn't the best thing for my blood pressure reading that's just normal oh [Music] good all checked out good news number two why IU safety Wing Nomad Health it's a full health plan covers both routine and preventative health care so if I want to use it for checkups like the one I did last year the big Comprehensive Health check that's totally [Music] covered okay just like that I'm done I couldn't even
get you through the five reasons but the third reason is that safety Wing has 24/7 service in all time zones so if you need to reach them you can do it quickly and easily the last time I needed to contact someone on the online chat uh I got hooked up in under a minute and number four here I am on my list is fast and easy claims I hope I never have to use it for the big stuff but for the small stuff they got a cool system where I just pay at the local hospital and then uh get reimbursed online qu
ickly and easily now number five is the the the biggest reason why I like to use this so yeah this one for me by far is the most important reason why I've chosen to go on this plan it's reason number five and and that's that they let you choose any health care facility that you want to use whether it's public or private so Thailand as you know has got some of the nicest hospitals that I've ever seen and for Haley and I it's super important that whatever plan we're on it lets us go into the best
places which for us places like Bangkok Hospital or bum run grad and it's not going to stick Us in some public hospital that we might not want to be at so where you choose to get your health insurance obviously totally up to you I'm sure there's lots of great options out there do your own research but those are the reasons why I use Nomad health and if you want to see how much it would cost you I'll leave a link to their pricing calculator down in the description you can into your age and it'll
spit out a quick price for you so thanks to safety wing for sponsoring this video now it's time to see if all this preparation work that we've done pays off let's head to the [Music] [Music] DLT so from what I read the biggest DLT office and the one that's most recommended for xats is the one out at chatt chak Market but I did some digging around and I found one a lot closer to my house so if you live on sukum bit you might want to come here this is bangchak station right where I am now just exi
t out of the BTS follow the signs to uh exit number three and when you get here you're going to want to turn right and head down these stairs and when you get out of bang track station you'll see it behind you then you want to walk this way just a bit you're going to pass sukum bit soy 99 shout out Wayne Gretzky and then right when you get to this nice lady cooking up nice little egg omelets uh you're going to want to turn left right here let me show you so that is the entrance to the DLT you're
going to want to hang left here you can see it's very uh kind of close off and formal now we're walking down that [Music] way okay so after walking a few hundred meters I've made it here the rain started to fall I don't like that but there it is the infamous Department of land transport office that you're going to want to find now I don't know what happens when I go in there I've heard rumors of color blindness tests Vision tests driving tests forms paperwork all kinds of stuff but I figured uh
I'm just going to walk in no appointment and see what happens now I don't know if I'll be able to get any footage in there but we're going to put the big camera away we're going to go stealth mode and and see what we can find out oo only tie that's a bad start as soon as you get in there no surprise but there's a big lineup to get to the information desk and as I got closer to the front I saw xats who had a tie agent this worried me cuz I had no idea what to do but there is a specific line that
says foreigners only so make sure you get into that one I got to the front of the line and found out my first mistake I didn't print the backside of my Canadian driver's license so I went outside and just across the parking lot you'll see this little outdoor restaurant and in the corner is a little print shop for bought later I had my missing photo copy I went straight back to the information desk where the same girl recognized me and gave me a ticket with a Q number next head over to this sect
ion and when your number gets called go up to the counter they'll check your documents and send you into the physical test where first they test your reflexes upon seeing a red light and uh then they'll test so that you know all the colors of the stop light after that they sent me up to the third floor of the same building and into a room where they make you watch a safety video video that lasts nearly an hour try and stay awake I challenge you I thought there'd be a test but they sent me right
back downstairs to the main information desk where they gave me another q number ticket this time go to the right side and when your number's called head into this room I sat down and saw the camera could it be is this it c cap oh yeah it worked that was pretty easy in and out of there probably in about 2 hours now before I get to part three and tell you how much it cost and give you some of my tips on making the process easier I should talk a little bit about the tests because I had a Canadian
license I was able to avoid most of the tests but if you don't have a valid license with you then here's the tests that you're going to need to do first there's a physical test this includes a test for color blindness one for depth perception a reflex test and a test to your peripheral vision I think I had to do that one next you'll have to do a theory test for this one you watch a very long video and they'll give you a book with traffic signs studying the road signs is key cuz it all leads to a
written test where I hear you're going to need to remember a bunch of this stuff I didn't have to do that that after the video they sent me down to give me this bad boy finally you got to do an actual driving test compared to most countries the driving test in Thailand is actually really easy you drive alone on this course here behind me to demonstrate driving forward and backward parallel parking and driving alongside a curb and stopping at a stop sign if you can't do that then you don't deser
ve a damn driver's license and as you go through this course there's going to be a DLT rep watching you and as you complete each maneuver you raise your hand to let them know that you're done and they give you a little score you can rent your own car and bring it for the driving test or you should be able to rent one from right here at the DLT for the test for a couple hundred bot if you fail the driving test you can take it again after 3 days now let's get to part three and I'll wrap this all u
p and give you some tips and some things to definitely not forget [Music] okay so here's my tips for you first some things that I didn't have to do but it doesn't mean that you won't have to so I didn't have to fill out any application form I didn't have to provide any proof of residency uh my work permit was enough but for those of you out there like on a retirement Visa I think that you might have to do the painful step of going to immigration and or your Embassy to get this done if anyone out
there knows and has done this on a retirement Visa drop a comment below and help everyone else out uh that'd be appreciated I also didn't need two copies of anything so one copy will do you can save yourself a few bot there my biggest tip is to go prepared I wouldn't want to go into the DLT multiple times because I forgot to bring something so get all your paperwork in order before you go into the DLT and don't forget to take all your Originals I didn't need to bring a copy of my condo lease bu
t I had it just in case so I would recommend the same next how long does it take well I was in the DLT for a total of 2.5 hours about under just under 3 hours and another tip is to get in there early like literally when they open but overall a super smooth process in at the DLT I got to say good job by the minister of land transport I tip my cap to you sir when you first apply for your license it's valid for 2 years so two years from now I'm going to have to go in and renew it and when you renew
it you're going to get 5 years at that time finally the price so it was 200 bot for the medical checkup 60 bot for the first batch of copies four bot for the extra copies and 205 bot for the actual driver's license grand total of 469 bot Which is less than $15 US I'll leave links to everything I mentioned in this video to help you out so check that out in the description below and check out the Nomad Health Link if you're curious what my health insurance program in Thailand would cost you just
click that one thanks again to safety wing for sponsoring this video and I hope you guys found it useful F cheers
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