‘Better if you do’: Phuket Immigration chief urges foreigners to re-register addresses, even if staying off-island just one night

[1337markus]

Good morning Vietnam  your grass is looking greener!

[johnc925]

This is (supposed to be done) by your landlord or juristic office (depending on their committee rules) to file the TM28 with immigration.  This is done more in Chiang Mai, than any other place I have seen.  Not done in Bangkok as there are simply too many expats who vaca and put their dollars into the Thai economy (gee .. there is a novel strategy; treat resident expats nicely)

 

https://www.thai888.com/tm28-thai-immigration-notice-of-change-of-address/

 

[spiroinusa1]

Change the law.

[cms22]

You do wonder, at least I wonder, the intellect of these people. Such a requirement is clearly not practicable nor reasonable. I'm sorry but there is just so much increasing evidence of Thai people being unable to think. Not being nasty, but so many are like animals, just following: no ability to think "is this right" "is this common sense". Such a shame.

[Mattd]

8 minutes ago, johnc925 said:

This is (supposed to be done) by your landlord or juristic office (depending on their committee rules) to file the TM28 with immigration

Sorry, but that is incorrect information, a TM28 is filed only when you change your PERMANENT address and this has to be filed by you in person.

A TM30 can be filed by several means, if staying in a registered hotel or guest house, then they should be doing this for you, if staying in rented accommodation, then the landlord should report you, the issue is, most will not, as they seem to think there is link to income taxes if they make this report and wish to stay below the radar, immigration will gladly fine you as the renter, loads of examples of this on other forums.

The interesting part, is that there does not appear to be a national database, so if this is the case, for example you stayed at a hotel in Bangkok for two nights and returned back home, immigration in Phuket (or any other province outside of BKK) would not actually know you had been to BKK!

Edited January 27, 2018 by Mattd

[nabbie]

It looks as the immigrant officers want to hold all the farangs' hands ....

Edited January 27, 2018 by nabbie
grammar

[Knocker33]

why don't they just tag us F.F.S.

[namatjira]

More important is that they have the ability to fine you for 2000 baht.

opens up all sorts of large amounts of cash.....never forget....it’s all about the money....your money.

[farcanell]

2 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Better if you do’: Phuket Immigration chief urges foreigners to re-register addresses, even if staying off-island just one night 

How stupid is this?

 

spend a day at Phuket immigration office (I absolutely hate going there) to go away for a day... or two... or three... then come back and spend another day at immigrations to tell them your back, or changing hotels once your back

 

a primary address...no problems

contact information... no problems

the minutiae of day to day movement... sheer stupidity

 

the 2000 baht fine option is definitely the way to go. (???? please post it to my incorrect address 5555)

[uwe_rayong]

I can understand that they want foreigners to report a new address when moving. 
But to report each and every time someone returns from a short holiday is just crazy.
Why not give everyone an ankle monitor with GSM/GPS?
Would be a lot more effective, as I personally know people who report consequently wrong addresses to immigration for one reason or the other. 

 

 

 

[laislica]

2 hours ago, NCC1701A said:

photo caption:

 

"I thought of this all by myself."

And he also thought, whilst rubbing his hands, All those lovely 2,000Baht fines will be Mine, all Mine!

I hope he will write to all those registered as staying in his area to advise them of this?

Edited January 27, 2018 by laislica

[Bob12345]

16 minutes ago, cms22 said:

You do wonder, at least I wonder, the intellect of these people. Such a requirement is clearly not practicable nor reasonable. I'm sorry but there is just so much increasing evidence of Thai people being unable to think. Not being nasty, but so many are like animals, just following: no ability to think "is this right" "is this common sense". Such a shame.

It has to do with mental development. You see the same behavior with little kids.

 

At a young age the left side of the brain, which follows rules without questioning them, takes over but with the help of parents and teachers we learn to also activate the right side of the brain.

 

For example, small kids like to point out traffic violations people make but cannot see past the literal rule of law. Someone driving past the line at a red traffic light to let an ambulance pass will be seen by them as someone deserving a ticket. At a later age they will understand that rules are the foundation but you need to know the exact situation and circumstances to actually appoint fault. Moving away for an ambulance, and thereby passing the line, is not just perfectly fine, it is even expected.

 

In Thailand the right side of the brain is highly underdeveloped in many individuals due to the teaching and parenting methods. They have trouble placing themselves in someone else's shoes as they see themselves as the center of the universe. They are also taught to never question authority. This left-side brain dominance works well in a militaristic society where rank determines everything (high rank means you are always correct).

 

This guy seems to be an example. He does not ask what the rules are for, if they are working, and how others are effected by them, he just wants to follow the letter of the law exactly.

 

His bosses are the same given the 90-day reporting still exists. Why tell them where you live every 90 days, instead of just letting them know when you change your permanent address? They should be able to figure out that if i not told them i moved i still live at the same spot. Its not rocket science.

 

I wonder what immigration thinks to gain with this. How many criminals have they caught by just looking up their address from a 90-day report and finding the person there? And wouldn't they have found him if he only had reported his address yearly? Same for filling in your address when you enter the country. I just used to make up a hotel name... (Sunshine Inn of Sukhumvit rd). Good luck finding that.

[Megasin1]

I have a friend who works in Malaysia and returns to Phuket every weekend. He has given up with the whole mess and has decided to take one weekend out elsewhere and just enters on a 30 day visitor. This was due to the fact that arriving back on a Friday evening, or Saturday morning, he was subject to the fine as he couldn't register because the immigration office is closed for the weekend. Good common sense on behalf of the Thais, introduce a system, then have no resources to support it and take out your ineptitude on others.

Apply this over time and eventually you lose people. You gotta face it, the Thais don't want you there, be you good, or bad, they just want you all gone. They want lots and lots of Chinese and moving further East is not the long term solution, as eventually it will all be a Chinese peninsular...The Great Wall is expanding in the form of a new 'silk road'.

[hansnl]

Suppose, have to go to Bangkok to visit the Embassy, have to stay in a hotel for one night.

Then come back home and have to register again.

Can immigration please tell me, why?

Come to check if I am really at home, while I presented myself already?

But, if I rent it is not my duty to register but the landlord's.

They come to check?

And if the landlord doesn't notify immigration it comes down on my head?

 

[anon4637435435]

Countrys dumb! Nuf said really. My wife does register this crap with immigration and they are amazed because no one else does. The flip side is its not hard to fake an address. What a @#£&n waste of time. Next headline will read. Thailand = Hub of dumbness. Rated #1 dumb country.

[peperobi]

1st: that was always the responsibility of the hotel staff or the house owner, they change the law???

2nd: how Thailand can attract a more foreigner investor/retired peoples if the restrictions become very strange from time to time?

3th: can be that an immigration boss set the rules he likes?

[Golden Triangle]

Last September I flew to Singapore, stayed one night, caught the train from Butterworth through Malaysia and back into Thailand, stayed one night in BKK and travelled back to Pattaya the following day, I have since done a 90 day reporting, got a new passport and renewed my extension of stay (retirement) Never once have I re-reported to immigration that I am back at my permanent address.

 

And as far as possible when travelling within Thailand I get the Mrs to book us in using her ID card, less work for the hotel/guesthouse and no need to inform immigration of anything.    

[trainman34014]

Up here in Chiang Mai we are told we only need to do a new TM30 if we leave the country and not if we travel within the country.   

 

Seems every boss of every department for everything in this country makes up his own rules as he goes along !

[The Deerhunter]

2 hours ago, NCC1701A said:

photo caption:

 

"I thought of this all by myself."

 Needs another few staff to get a raised grading.   That is how it is done "back home."

[thaibeachlovers]

3 hours ago, Thaiwrath said:

Overkill !

I have no objections to reporting every 90 days, but what they are asking for here is absolutely pathetic.

Surely, when you go to stay in a hotel for a few nights, it should not be too difficult to tell them you are already on the register, at a more permanent address, and the two can be matched up ?

But, then, This Is Thailand ! 

No, this is the law. Always has been for many years. If you disagree with the law write to your MP to get it changed.

For that reason when I stayed in an hotel with my wife she had to register at reception so I didn't have to go to immigration every time we returned home.

[The Deerhunter]

2 hours ago, faraday said:

Has Lek left..?

Yes.  There was a big party a couple of months ago.

[AWillOz]

Since they have the "world's greatest tourism" numbers, why don't they set up a web site "www.immigration-register.co.th" for quick and simple notifications.  That would be serious thinking!

[thaibeachlovers]

26 minutes ago, peperobi said:

1st: that was always the responsibility of the hotel staff or the house owner, they change the law???

2nd: how Thailand can attract a more foreigner investor/retired peoples if the restrictions become very strange from time to time?

3th: can be that an immigration boss set the rules he likes?

1st If the farang is the house owner they have to do TM30 themselves

2nd Hasn't made a difference for all the years it's been the law already. Just because it wasn't enforced before doesn't change that it is the law.

3rd Yes. They do that where I am.

[whaleboneman]

2 hours ago, Mickmouse1 said:

You mean if I have a fixed address and travel to krabi or surat I.must upon my return go to immigration and tell them where I went&stayed and am back to my home?????

no. you just have to tell them you're back home so they won't worry too much about you.

[The Deerhunter]

2 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

No, this is the law. Always has been for many years. If you disagree with the law write to your MP to get it changed.

For that reason when I stayed in an hotel with my wife she had to register at reception so I didn't have to go to immigration every time we returned home.

I somehow don't think that is quite what he has in mind.  555    But, how would anyone know?  Each local office has different interpretations of the rules.  In my local office, I once offered to do a re- notification of my address once while I was in there doing my long stay extension, shortly after returning from a trip out of the country, and they said,:  "Why?  Have you moved house?"

[thaibeachlovers]

2 hours ago, Mickmouse1 said:

You mean if I have a fixed address and travel to krabi or surat I.must upon my return go to immigration and tell them where I went&stayed and am back to my home?????

Why do you think that? No one ever said that.

It's only your responsibility if you are the house owner, but if you live in a condo, you have to tell the management so they know to do TM 30 for you.

[Sparkles]

15 minutes ago, trainman34014 said:

Up here in Chiang Mai we are told we only need to do a new TM30 if we leave the country and not if we travel within the country.   

 

Seems every boss of every department for everything in this country makes up his own rules as he goes along !

Maybe its some sort of revenue income incentive.I too am in CM and recently was at Imm where a Dutch guy got pinged for not reporting ,been at the same address for 30 years,only been back to Holland twice in all that time.

 

Nothing to do with bad guys out ,they dont go anywhere neat any Imm office

[thaibeachlovers]

9 minutes ago, The Deerhunter said:

I somehow don't think that is quite what he has in mind.  555    But, how would anyone know?  Each local office has different interpretations of the rules.  In my local office, I once offered to do a re- notification of my address once while I was in there doing my long stay extension, shortly after returning from a trip out of the country, and they said,:  "Why?  Have you moved house?"

If you were doing an extension in my local office you need current TM30, but regardless, every office makes its own rules. In the case of Phuket, everyone now knows that they need to keep current on TM 30 if they have stayed at any place that does TM 30 that is not your current address.

Edited January 27, 2018 by thaibeachlovers

[The Deerhunter]

2 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

1st If the farang is the house owner they have to do TM30 themselves

2nd Hasn't made a difference for all the years it's been the law already. Just because it wasn't enforced before doesn't change that it is the law.

3rd Yes. They do that where I am.

Can a Farang own a house now???  Or did you mean "condo", when you said house?    But, then maybe it is the condo manager's job.  555.  But it keeps us amused and from getting too bored.

[akampa]

29 minutes ago, Golden Triangle said:

And as far as possible when travelling within Thailand I get the Mrs to book us in using her ID card, less work for the hotel/guesthouse and no need to inform immigration of anything.    

My thoughts as well ,let the wife register  at the hotel  and  which  I always do  simple if your with gf same applies .