Foreigner residency registration Thailand

KTMphil

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There seems to be a new, Thai, immigration law, that states that foreigners in Thailand, within 24 hours of arriving in Thailand, need to register with Thai immigration where they are staying.

If you are the landlord ( I dont know how this will affect hotels), you can be liable for a 1,600 Baht fine if the foreigner has not been registered a TM30 form with immigration stating where they are staying, within 24 hours of arriving in Thailand.

Looks like this will be a huge mess as no foreigners know about the law. I spoke to the head of the tourist police, he knew nothing of the law and said it is only to do with Thai Immigration police.


A link to the new TM30 form is below:

http://www.immigration.go.th/nov2004/download/pdf/tm30.pdf




resident by Triangle Golden 007, on Flickr
 
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Restricted motor-vehicle access into the country, foreigners (alien) registration required within 24hr. of arrival ~ better start learning MANDARIN (Chinese) as seems your gettin' "Chinafied" over in the Land of Smiles... 'nuff said....

ps: PRC National Day Holiday (October) starts tomorrow 01/10 for seven days in case you like to celebrate....
 
I thought thats what you filled in the arrivals card for, so they had the address of where you are staying
 
This is not a new rule but is something the owner of the hotel, guesthouse, etc. as well as the owner of the house where you stay should do within 24 hours on your arrival. I must admit that my wife has only done it once in the 37 years that we have been married and that happened when I had forgotten to do a 90 day report and was fined for that. The immigration guy then checked if a TM30 had been filed and he got quite angry with my wife about the fact that she had never filled in a TM30.

Here is the text of the "Notification of residence of foreigners for businesses" - http://www.immigration.go.th/nov2004/en/base.php?page=alienstay

Notification of residence of foreigners for businesses
According to section 38 of the 1979 immigration act, "House owners, heads of household, landlords or managers of hotels who accommodate foreign nationals on a temporary basis who stay in the kingdom legally, must notify the local immigration authorities within 24 hours from the time of arrival of the foreign national." If there is no immigration office in the province or locality of the respective house or hotel, the notification is made to the local police station. In Bangkok the notification is made to the Immigration Bureau. The notification of residence of foreign nationals is made by the manager of licensed hotels according to the hotel act, owners of guesthouses, mansions, apartments and rented houses using the form TM. 30.

The notification of residence of foreign nationals within 24 hours can be made in a number of ways to make the notification as convenient as possible:

In person at the respective office, or
Through an authorised person at the respective office, or
By registered mail, or
Via internet.


And this is how it is filled in:

The first part/address is where the owner states who he/she is, age, nationality, etc. and HIS/HER present address.

The second part, "wish to notify etc." is where you, the alien, have been given permission to stay.

By the way, here if the link from where you can download the various Immigration forms:Download Immigration Forms
 
Additional to the TM30 there is another paper "Name of aliens in Residence" to be filled out. You need a copy of the blue book, a copy of the landlords ID. The TM30 shall also include the Landlords phone number. You shall provide copies of your passport (front page, visa page, entry stamp, and TM.6)
It has at least been in place since January, that was the first paper I got when I was asking for the residence permit.
Did just a new one, (new passport, new visa), it gives my 72 year old landlady almost a heart attack every time she has to sign them, as she has no clue what or why she has to sign anything. That the staff in our local immigration office is extremly unfriendly doesn't help either.
If I'm not mistaken, you're even required to renew that with every new entry stamp, TM.6, but for now I guess, new visa shall do, otherwise I really bring my landlady to the grave.
 
Could anyone confirm - If you read on ThaiVisa you will see that this only has to be done once not per every entry or every visa. ( this is if you don't move house, does this apply for one night in a hotel and is it logged in the system ??)

I have actually been caught and fined ( it's just another extortion racket ) .. I have always been aware of its existance but it has never been enforced.
I went to get a certificate of residence, they then fussed about for 30 minutes and produced my records ..

This was quite interesting, it's an A4 sheet, with a little picture they take from the little webcams when you arrive, the address that you put on the arrivals form.

The pointed to a blank box - see, see you didn't tell us where you were living !!

They asked for my wife to appear, she's a Thai kindergarten teacher so that wasn't going to happen, then I just filled out the TM30 and signed it on her behalf.

The fine is something like 200B a day to a maximum of 1600B - I paid 800B, there was no calculation.

I said - I have been in the city for 7 years, never been mentioned, I have been in for extensions in the past, it has never been mentioned, I have applied for certificate of residence in the past 6 months, it's never been mentioned. There answer was, we didn't have the staff in the past to deal with it.

I then asked, considering this is a newly applied law, can we forget about the fine, I complete it now and we all leave happy. "Oh, no, it's only 800B, you have lots of money" .. Seriously, I laughed with (at ) them .. but as its you we will give you 2x certificate of residence.

I then got a new passport and new 12 month visa and I completed the form again - no one had a clue what I was doing or why I was there.

The fine is only calculated upon the days you have been here since your last entry - so do it once, then before you need to go to the IO again, just do a reentry and show up at their door the next day.

The above post is very valuable, you need a signed copy of the ID card and the house book .. Just to prove what a joke it is, the copy of my wife's blue book is not the addy we live at, the landlord refuses to put us on the virgin house book of our addy. So we use his address.


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Ive just had a meeting with a Visa agent.

1. Once the TM30 has been filed, it seems if you don't change address, it doesn't have to be filed again even if you come in and out Thailand (to be confirmed).

2. Visa agent says there is an online registration option, she will get me the URL.
 
Ive just had a meeting with a Visa agent.

1. Once the TM30 has been filed, it seems if you don't change address, it doesn't have to be filed again even if you come in and out Thailand (to be confirmed).

Cheers - this is the way i interpreted it too .. My local immigration really are a law unto themselves.


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Ive just had a meeting with a Visa agent.

1. Once the TM30 has been filed, it seems if you don't change address, it doesn't have to be filed again even if you come in and out Thailand (to be confirmed).

2. Visa agent says there is an online registration option, she will get me the URL.

Well, hope so, this will prevent my landlady from a heart attack :drib
 
Tried IE, FF, Chrome and Edge. The site wont open. The link is only on the Thai language site, not on the English translation. As far I understand it it's only for buisinesses, not for private landlords.

Notification of residence of foreigners for businesses
According to section 38 of the 1979 immigration act, "House owners, heads of household, landlords or managers of hotels who accommodate foreign nationals on a temporary basis who stay in the kingdom legally, must notify the local immigration authorities within 24 hours from the time of arrival of the foreign national." If there is no immigration office in the province or locality of the respective house or hotel, the notification is made to the local police station. In Bangkok the notification is made to the Immigration Bureau. The notification of residence of foreign nationals is made by the manager of licensed hotels according to the hotel act, owners of guesthouses, mansions, apartments and rented houses using the form TM. 30.
The notification of residence of foreign nationals within 24 hours can be made in a number of ways to make the notification as convenient as possible:
  • In person at the respective office, or
  • Through an authorised person at the respective office, or
  • By registered mail, or
  • Via internet.
Filling in the foreign national residence notification form (TM. 30)
Please fill in all requested information according to the foreign national's passport, as often arriving passengers do not fill in the correct data on the arrival card. The form can be typed or handwritten in clear block letters. Leave a space between name, middle name, and surname.

  • If the passport number is preceded or followed by a letter, fill in the letter too.
  • Write the arrival card number (TM. 6) in the respective field. The arrival card is stapled into the passport. Both letters and numbers of the arrival card number must be filled in.
  • Arrival date means the date of arrival in Thailand. Date of accommodation must be filled in on the front page of the notification sheet.
After the officer in charge has verified the information on the notification sheet (TM. 30), he accepts the notification and hands over the lower part of the form to the person making the notification. This part must be kept for further checking.
Registration by businesses via Internet.
Prepare the documents

  1. Business license or signed copy of business registration confirmation
  2. Letter of authorisation to conduct the registration via internet
  3. Copy of ID card of person giving authorisation and authorised person
  4. Fill in the form provided by the officer (download)
  5. 1 empty compact disk (CD)
Hand over the complete documents to the officer in charge.

  • The officer examines the documents.
The officer announces the result of the examination.

  • If documents are incomplete, the business owner is notified.
  • If documents are complete, the officer in charge accepts the registration. The registration code is sent to the business by mail or e-mail as indicated by the business owner, together with record forms.
 
Another post on TV today, if you were to go on holiday and the guest house or hotel register you at their local immigration, then you are required to register again when you return home.

I won't be changing my habits, the next time I will register my location is when I require a certificate of residence and i will leave the country, and visit the immigration the next day ..




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