An Idiots Guide to the Retirement Extension process at Samui Immigration Office

[Tmoney]

On 8/16/2023 at 9:08 AM, Neilly said:

Just been to immigration this morning to renew my retirement extension, they've added another requirement to the list...photo of you stood in front of your house with the house number showing ????

 

There are a few new forms to fill out, but the girl at the check desk will give you those and they can be filled in there easy enough. They've also added a line stating that the bankbook statement must be done on the same day as your application at immigration.

 

Interesting. Both those requirements have been required for an extension based on marriage for as long as I've been doing one. For the marriage one they want 6 photos altogether of husband and wife in different rooms including the bedroom. Last time they also took photos of us together with an IO in the bedroom as well.

[Neilly]

28 minutes ago, Tmoney said:

Both those requirements have been required for an extension based on marriage for as long as I've been doing one.

If they bump up the 800k retirement extension to 1.5m I'll probably switch to a marriage one as the two are getting closer and closer from the paperwork side

[Tropicalevo]

16 hours ago, Tmoney said:

Last time they also took photos of us together with an IO in the bedroom as well.

Kinky! ????

[khunPer]

23 hours ago, Tmoney said:

Interesting. Both those requirements have been required for an extension based on marriage for as long as I've been doing one. For the marriage one they want 6 photos altogether of husband and wife in different rooms including the bedroom. Last time they also took photos of us together with an IO in the bedroom as well.

For some of us on retirement extension, two policemen would show up without prior notice and ask for a photo of the retiree holding his/hers passport, standing together with one of the police officers in front of the house with the house number visible; the other police officer was the photographer...

[beatlebones]

How long from retirement extension submission to when you can return to pickup the stamped passport ?

[Tmoney]

I can't say definitively how long for the retirement extension, but (if it helps) for the marriage based extension they don't keep your passport, you keep it. They put in a stamp which tells you when to return (in the case of the marriage one it is one month). On your return they complete adding your stamps and off you go for another year.

[lom]

15 hours ago, beatlebones said:

How long from retirement extension submission to when you can return to pickup the stamped passport ?

Sometimes immediately, sometimes a day or two later. It all depends on how many applications they have in the pipeline and when the big boss approving them is in the office.

[khunPer]

19 hours ago, beatlebones said:

How long from retirement extension submission to when you can return to pickup the stamped passport ?

About a week; i.e. i.e., around 7 days.

[bigt3116]

23 hours ago, lom said:

Sometimes immediately, sometimes a day or two later. It all depends on how many applications they have in the pipeline and when the big boss approving them is in the office.

The under consideration period is done because the extension application has to be approved at a higher level of immigration than the office where you apply. Not by the "big boss" is in the local office.

[lom]

On 8/16/2023 at 3:08 PM, Neilly said:

Just been to immigration this morning to renew my retirement extension, they've added another requirement to the list...photo of you stood in front of your house with the house number showing ????

Did my retirement extension yesterday and had to go back home and take a photo of myself in front of the postbox which has my house number on it.

The photo covered only wall and postbox, house could not be seen and that they don't care about - house number is what they want to see.

 

Document for notification of the residence of foreigner  aka TM30 receipt,  TM30 must have been reported using your current passport!!!

My last TM30 report was 6 years ago with an expired passport, I had the receipt slip in my current passport but it was not accepted, they said that they could not find any TM30 report for me in their system.

So this makes me believe that their TM30 database is separate from the TM47 database where my address is known and where I had made a 90 day report on-line two weeks ago, they can only check for TM30 using your passport number!

I could have gone home once again and made it online but decided that it was worth the 300 baht the visa company opposite the coffee shop/recreation area charged for doing it.

[Tropicalevo]

1 hour ago, lom said:

My last TM30 report was 6 years ago with an expired passport,

That would have been on the old 'Samui Hotel system'.

The new system is Thailand wide and everyone had to start from scratch when it started. Old system records lost.

[lom]

6 hours ago, Tropicalevo said:

That would have been on the old 'Samui Hotel system'.

The new system is Thailand wide and everyone had to start from scratch when it started. Old system records lost.

So when was the new system introduced?

I have done yearly retirement extensions and 90 day reporting for the last 5 years obviously without having a valid TM30...

My last TM30 report was not 6 years ago but 5 years and a few weeks ago and was done in a dimly room on the bottom floor of Immigration in Maenam, a room with just one immigration officer and a computer.

 

That they have lost their old records is no surprise to me, neither is it a surprise that I have to give them a TM30 receipt every year from now on even when I am in their "new" system.

In a more developed country the TM30 and TM47 databases would be a single one and all info about an applicant would come up on the computer when entering a passport number. Here instead the number of required documents increase from year to year..

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Tropicalevo]

2 hours ago, lom said:

So when was the new system introduced?

Fairly recent. This year some time.

There are some good threads on it. I found this one.

 

https://aseannow.com/topic/1306628-tm30-new-website-address-for-filing-notifications-and-registration/

 

[Tropicalevo]

2 hours ago, lom said:

In a more developed country the TM30 and TM47 databases would be a single one and all info about an applicant would come up on the computer when entering a passport number.

I think that Thailand is working towards that. To my knowledge, this is the first time that Thailand has had a single reporting system for arrivals in Thailand. Hotels, villas, condos etc.

I suspect that the tricky bit is that TM 30 is for everyone. Originally just tourists, but now, everyone. Huge database.

The TM 47 system is not usually used by tourists/short stay etc.

Let's hope that they get there but many folk will not like it.

[khunPer]

On 12/7/2023 at 5:20 AM, lom said:

My last TM30 report was 6 years ago with an expired passport, I had the receipt slip in my current passport but it was not accepted, they said that they could not find any TM30 report for me in their system.

So this makes me believe that their TM30 database is separate from the TM47 database where my address is known and where I had made a 90 day report on-line two weeks ago, they can only check for TM30 using your passport number!

The reason is, that the TM30 database is a new system from September 15th. No data from old database is transferred, so the house owner or host must make a new registration and register tenants/guests/yourself (if foreign owner of home or host) again.

Read more from news (The Thaiger) HERE.

 

They do check the TM30 database. Samui Immigration do not accept the part of the announcement for expats in Section 2.2 of section 38 of the Immigration Act, which means that if you leave Surat Thani province, you need to make a new TM30 registration. I had that problem, when renewing my extension of stay in October. Also, in the new TM30 system your starting date cannot be earlier than "today" and your stay is stated to be for your validity of stay; i.e., the date stamped in your passport.

 

I'm a house owner and therefore TM30 host. Earlier I used to report the day my present extension of stay ended, and with the new extension of stay's date as the end of stay; i.e. once a year if I didn't leave the Kingdom. If I left, I made a new registration upon entry to my home. I stopped doing that when section 2.2 of section 38 became valid in 2020; however, this was not accepted by Samui Immigration, which is well know to have stricter rules than most other immigration offices.

 

At present 90-days reporting is a separate database from TM30, and it also work different in various immigration offices. At some – probably most places – the 90-days reporting is an individual system counting from date of entry. By Samui Immigration the 90-day-system both resets upon entering the Kingdom and when applying for extension of stay. When your extension of stay is approved by Samui Immigration, there is a new 90-days report-date slip in your passport, counting 90 days from  you approval.

[lom]

On 12/8/2023 at 3:31 PM, khunPer said:

They do check the TM30 database. Samui Immigration do not accept the part of the announcement for expats in Section 2.2 of section 38 of the Immigration Act, which means that if you leave Surat Thani province, you need to make a new TM30 registration. I had that problem, when renewing my extension of stay in October.

Don't use your passport when checking in at hotels in Thailand, use your pink Id card (which I assume you have since you have a yellow house book).

[Tropicalevo]

1 hour ago, lom said:

Don't use your passport when checking in at hotels in Thailand, use your pink Id card (which I assume you have since you have a yellow house book).

Not legal though.

If immigration checked, you could be take to their offices. There, my friends were threatened with possible fines and visa cancelled. Luckily we were able to get their TM 30 details on the database before they were processed.

Here on Samui, immigration do random checks. My friends were 'arrested' at their business for not having a current TM 30.

 

Hotel has to report your passport number and date of entry. That is why I always give them a copy of my passport.

 

 

[khunPer]

On 12/10/2023 at 1:17 AM, lom said:

Don't use your passport when checking in at hotels in Thailand, use your pink Id card (which I assume you have since you have a yellow house book).

I presume your Thai ID is linked to your passport, as you need to give that information, to obtain a Yellow House Book. New passports are linked to old passport numbers.

And, by the way, a TM30 report includes nationality and both latest arrival date to the Kingdom, and length of stay. A Thai ID has a special code-number for foreigners, so it might not be accepted at all in the system.

 

Edit, PS: It's much easier just to follow the regulations...

[lom]

On 12/8/2023 at 3:31 PM, khunPer said:

Samui Immigration do not accept the part of the announcement for expats in Section 2.2 of section 38 of the Immigration Act, which means that if you leave Surat Thani province, you need to make a new TM30 registration.

 

and that is exactly the reason why I avoid being registered for a two-night stay in Bangkok or Hua Hin.

The pink Id card has my birth date and my full address but no passport number

It is a valid Thai Id document and so far it has always been accepted as such by the hotels I've stayed at.

 

2 hours ago, khunPer said:

Edit, PS: It's much easier just to follow the regulations...

 

I would probably be a bit more interested in doing that if Immigration followed their regulations..

I'm also a house owner and has lived at the same address for more than 20 years, I don't necessarily agree that I should have to report my address (TM30) once per year while at the same time doing it another four times per year (TM47) and that just because they have misplaced their old TM30 database.

At least I didn't have to make a hand drawn map this year and they didn't notice that my stamp in the bank book was two days old...

 

[TerraplaneGuy]

On 12/7/2023 at 11:20 AM, lom said:

Did my retirement extension yesterday and had to go back home and take a photo of myself in front of the postbox which has my house number on it.

The photo covered only wall and postbox, house could not be seen and that they don't care about - house number is what they want to see.

1.  Do you have to print the photo or is it OK to have it in your phone and let them take their own pic of it from your phone?  

2. Is this document now on Samui's official list?  Does anyone have a current copy of that list to share?

[lom]

1 hour ago, TerraplaneGuy said:

1.  Do you have to print the photo or is it OK to have it in your phone and let them take their own pic of it from your phone?  

2. Is this document now on Samui's official list?  Does anyone have a current copy of that list to share?

I printed it since it should be included in the document stack.

 

https://aseannow.com/topic/1102143-an-idiots-guide-to-the-retirement-extension-process-at-samui-immigration-office/?do=findComment&comment=18279727

 

[TerraplaneGuy]

22 hours ago, lom said:

I printed it since it should be included in the document stack.

 

https://aseannow.com/topic/1102143-an-idiots-guide-to-the-retirement-extension-process-at-samui-immigration-office/?do=findComment&comment=18279727

 

Hate to ask because it can be futile to try to understand Immigration but do you have any idea why they want this photo, in addition to all the other things that already prove your residence?

[khunPer]

3 hours ago, TerraplaneGuy said:

Hate to ask because it can be futile to try to understand Immigration but do you have any idea why they want this photo, in addition to all the other things that already prove your residence?

Proof of address...

[TerraplaneGuy]

20 hours ago, khunPer said:

Proof of address...

So the house book, TM30, drawn map, rental agreement ...  are all insufficient to accomplish that?  And if someone really wanted to fake their address, a pic of them in front of a house would stop them?  lol

[KannikaP]

On 12/26/2022 at 12:17 PM, churchill said:

Yes but if you plan on staying for 5+ years  , 800,000 is locked . It releases funds now . I look at the 800,000 as locked cash , so unable to use until or if you want to return to Europe .

You can use 400k of it for 7 months of the year.

[KannikaP]

On 10/12/2023 at 6:22 PM, beatlebones said:

How long from retirement extension submission to when you can return to pickup the stamped passport ?

In my case in Phitsanulok...........5 minutes.

[khunPer]

2 hours ago, TerraplaneGuy said:

So the house book, TM30, drawn map, rental agreement ...  are all insufficient to accomplish that?  And if someone really wanted to fake their address, a pic of them in front of a house would stop them?  lol

To show that you actually live/stay on the address recorded in your paperwork; similar to, with a police visit, to check that married couples also lives together.

 

I had visit by two kind policeofficers one morning some years back – they had a long list of foreigners to check, if the lived at their given address; they showed me the list – saves time for police to visit foreigners, when you prove it yourself. It also saves you from a visit by the police.

 

No matter what we expats think about weird rules at Samui Immigration, we have to follow the rules to get an extension of stay, so much more easy, just to do what they ask for...

[khunPer]

2 hours ago, KannikaP said:

In my case in Phitsanulok...........5 minutes.

This thread is about Samui Immigration and different regulations from Phitsanulok, so no help replying about another place, different immigration offices have different regulations.

 

It takes about 5 working days or one week in time before you can pick up your passport.

[TerraplaneGuy]

On 12/30/2023 at 2:24 PM, khunPer said:

To show that you actually live/stay on the address recorded in your paperwork; similar to, with a police visit, to check that married couples also lives together.

 

I had visit by two kind policeofficers one morning some years back – they had a long list of foreigners to check, if the lived at their given address; they showed me the list – saves time for police to visit foreigners, when you prove it yourself. It also saves you from a visit by the police.

 

No matter what we expats think about weird rules at Samui Immigration, we have to follow the rules to get an extension of stay, so much more easy, just to do what they ask for...

If someone has gone to the trouble to fake all the other residence documents (TM30, lease, etc) why couldn’t they just go to their fake residence and take a pic of themselves in front of it? It doesn’t really prove they live there.  It’s in fact easier to fake that than the other documents.  

[TerraplaneGuy]

Has anyone recently used a hotel (long stay) as residence for retirement extension in Samui?  Wondering if Immigration is accepting a hotel booking as “lease/rental agreement”.   (The TM30 and other residence documents are manageable.)