We just received a visit from the immigration police here at my home in rural Phrae province. There wasn’t a problem, they simply asked for a photo copy of my passport with visa and left. What has me wondering a little is that they were dressed in very casual civilian clothing. My wife dealt with them and didn’t ask them for ID but she seems certain they were the real deal.

 

Anyone else have a similar experience?

 

 

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Home visits are becoming more regular in certain Provinces.

 

We had a home visit 2 months ago, by appointment, just after renewing my marriage extension.

Casually dressed, didn't request ID as I knew the IO.

Very informal, just wanted a photo of me and the wife with 2 Thai friends present.

 

I believe the regional headquarter offices are instructing the sub offices to do more checks.

Then again several IO's were dismissed a few months ago (corruption) and several expats were rounded up as a result, so I guess they were just making further checks.

Repeated reports during this year about home visits by immigration police or local police.

There seems to be no simple pattern who gets a visit and who not.

Maybe more likely for those who stay on marriage extension.

No reason for concern and you are not under suspicion.

 

Haven't got a visit in seven years (married but on retirement extension).-

I have a minor correction to make. It seems they were ordinary district police.

 

What I was concerned about, given their dress, is that they might not be legit.

 

 

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Did they arrive in a police vehicle ?

My wife says she didn’t see it. They arrived with the assistant village headman though.


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Happened to me also a few weeks ago in a sleepy little village in Issan, where you never see a policeman from one year to the next.

 

Polite and friendly and all he requested was a copy of my passport and a photo of me.

 

He did explain to my wife's uncle (my wife was out at the time) that they were aware that there were a number of falangs quietly overstaying in the area and he was going around doing routine checks.

 

Me? I'm legal, so no sweat. I returned to my book.

Same here, I’m not concerned at all if they were legitimate police.


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Next time, invite them for a cup of coffée. They can be quite funny to chat a while with.

Same here, I’m not concerned at all if they were legitimate police.


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I live in a village in Prachiburi, about two months ago I went to empty some rubbish in a bin opposite my house and a "immigration police" truck went past and stoped, four uniformed guys got house and asked to see my passport. I took them to the house and my wife's father came out. They explained they thought I was wondering in the village and just wanted to check me. They were very nice and took the usual pictures and went on there way. I think it was a chance encounter.

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7 minutes ago, colinchaffers said:

I live in a village in Prachiburi, about two months ago I went to empty some rubbish in a bin opposite my house

Where was your bin?

1 hour ago, ArtHay said:

I have a minor correction to make. It seems they were ordinary district police.

That's consistent with other reports.

Not all immigration offices have the capacity to do themselves and areas can be huge (100 km distance for me).

So they delegate it to the district police.

 

Village headman: one of the few who knows where the houses are found by address and probably knows "his" foreigners.

3 hours ago, ArtHay said:

Anyone else have a similar experience?

Yep.

3 hours ago, ArtHay said:

Anyone else have a similar experience?

https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/1041345-police-patrol-surprise-visit/

 

https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/1024131-if-you-live-in-hua-hin-you-might-be-about-to-get-a-visit-from-the-tourist-police/

 

https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/925552-police-visit/

 

https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/945350-thai-police-visiting-foreigners-at-home-asking-for-yet-more-personal-info-via-new-controversial-form/

 

It seems that the invasive questioning like described in the last link is not the norm or given up.

Yes .... Immigration officials also came to my house in civvies to confirm ID and talk with neighbors.

I've never experienced home visits up here in Phitsanulok, in fact I don't recall any of the foreigners that I know here mentioning visits either.

 

That is obviously not saying it isn't going to happen, changes in local policies happen all the time. But, unless it happens in the evening or at the weekend, they may find it difficult to get me at home without prior warning.

If you are legit, nothing to worry about.

They are cracking down on "arranged marriages" where the wife has never even seen the groom.

Which is one reason I took up the retirement option 

They are not immigration offices, just plain clothes bobbies from your local police station. 

No doubt turned up in a pick-up truck. Mine were friendly enough, even got a mobile number off one of them,

but would not want to mix with them if I was Somchai  who had been a bad boy.

Yes I also had a visit here in Issan , 4 plain clothed local police officers arrived in pickup . They had a computerised print out of 9 peoples names on it , that they were checking , along with spreadsheet asking for information . They to took photo of Passport with visa stamp on it and Girlfriends id card. along with pictures of house and car , all very calm and pleasant .  Nothing to hide = no problems , they are just doing their job .

Some off topic posts have been removed.

Same ....except I wasn’t home so they requested I come to the police station. I did they were casual dressed. No problem picture info and off I go. I didn’t notice but must have been lunch time.... they all had same brand cold beverage (wink wink) 

On 8/14/2018 at 12:01 PM, colinchaffers said:

I live in a village in Prachiburi, about two months ago I went to empty some rubbish in a bin opposite my house and a "immigration police" truck went past and stoped, four uniformed guys got house and asked to see my passport. I took them to the house and my wife's father came out. They explained they thought I was wondering in the village and just wanted to check me. They were very nice and took the usual pictures and went on there way. I think it was a chance encounter.
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I also live in a Prachinburi village but my only visits have been as part of my Thai extensions

We recently did all the stuff for yet another extention of married non-o and they told us they would probably need to come for a visit. They called the wife and said they'd be at the house in 2 hrs. She was teachng a class in Bangkok (120km from the house) and I was teaching a class around 70km away. 

They excused her and I had to race home in the rain on my bike. Water logged my passport and phone. Passport dried, phone died. They never asked me a single question after asking if I could speak Thai and I said not really. They talked to our nieghbor then mom and dad. Took a few pictures of themselves doing their job. Recreated a couple of the pictures we submitted with our application. Filled out a form with the nieghbors info and left.

This has been a very strange yearly renewal so far. Still in the pending phase at the moment.

They came to visit me at our baan a while back.  Two guys, asked for my passport, took a photo of me and the wife, spoke to several neighbors (all relatives) thanked us and left.   Really nothing to worry about.  Took about 10 minutes.