Expat group launches online petition calling for TM.30 to be scrapped

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Expat group launches online petition calling for TM.30 to be scrapped

 

 

A group of expats based in Isaan have launched a petition lobbying for reform of Thailand’s Immigration Bureau and also for the abolition of the TM.30 form.

 

The group describe themselves as a “collective of foreigners and Thai people wishing to reform Thai immigration”.

 

The petition can be found at http://reform-thai-immigration.com/

 

The organisers aim to get 10,000 people to sign the petition. 

 

Once the target is reached, the petition, along with the letter below, will be sent to the Prime Minister of Thailand, the Head of the Immigration Division of Thailand and Head of the Foreign Affairs Newspaper, the site says.

 

The letter reads:

 

To:

The Thai Government and Thai Immigration

 

We are a representative group of foreign and Thai people living in Thailand with Thai spouses or partners and Thai children. We work here, contribute to the community and the economy of the country.

 

We love Thailand and do our best to stay compliant with local laws. Recently, the new rules applied at

immigration are causing huge problems for the foreigner community and some of whom who have lived here and have caused no problems at all with the Thai authorities.

 

Under Article 37, any foreigner residing in Thailand who visits another province for more than 24 hours must report to immigration. There are 77 provinces in Thailand. This means if a foreign teacher lives in Buriram and decides to spend a weekend in Surin, on Monday morning, he can’t teach. He must report to immigration. Even if he stays with his wife and children, and the landlord (his wife) must also report to immigration with a form TM30. Immigration already has records of all foreigner’s addresses. Any foreigner must provide his/her address via the form TM47 if he stays in Thailand for 90 days.

 

We completely understand the reasoning behind the form TM47 and many have welcomed the online reporting. This is the case in most western countries. We must also apply for a one-year visa extension.

Up until 2018 the use of form TM30 has never been strictly enforced. But now foreigners and Thai people are being fined for not having filed the form TM30 on returning to their home address following a weekend in another province. This reporting also applies to tourists but it is the duty of the hotels to report these foreigners to immigration. What happens to people residing in AirBNB accommodation?

 

Or living in houses with Thai landlords or even their Thai family as landlords? Many tourists are becoming increasingly frustrated with the new TM30 rules being applied.

 

Collectively the group of people signing this petition would like to see a change in the law which would lead to the form TM30 being abolished altogether. This Immigration law has been in place since 1979.

 

Laws can change and evolve to stay in line with today’s technology. We strongly believe that the form  TM30 is outdated and causes far too many problems which would did not exist in the past. Tourists and expats arriving in Thailand are also screened at airports or immigration points. Technology has become better and better, reporting addresses on paper, in person, is not efficient and counterproductive.

 

The use of the Form TM 30 does nothing to help or minimize terrorism, and it presents an obligation to Thai landlords because it is them who must report their foreign guests. As the form TM28, it is also inefficient as most police station don’t even know what it is is and often won’t accept it even though it plainly says it can be submitted to a local police station (See clause 37 (4) of the Immigration Act). So there are many modifications that could be done to clauses 37 and 38 of the Immigration Act of Thailand.

 

Respectfully, we appeal to the Thai government to modify the Immigration Act, or as before 2018, do not enforce the form form TM30 so rigorously (maybe it was in Phuket but really not everywhere and not uniformly). We, as a group, believe that strict enforcement of the form TM30 will only serve to create more problems and ultimately show a massive downturn in tourism, foreign investment and the existence Thai families living with foreigners. We request this in the interests of Thailand.

 

This is our solemn plea on behalf of every foreigner residing in or travelling around our beloved Thailand. Please accept this letter as a suggestion and as a means to resolve one issue, which we believe could only serve to add more pressure upon and eventually become a negative influence on the Thai economy.

 

Yours respectfully.

 

Long live the king.

[Your name]

The petition can be found at http://reform-thai-immigration.com/

[z42]

Good luck and all power to them. The requirements are cumbersome at best and completely unnecessary at worst.

I spoke to my provincial office on behalf of a number of foreign workers in mg province, and in all fairness the officers weren't thrilled with the arrangement but were duty bound to enforce and show results.

 

Again it'll be Thais complaining about excessive enforcement that'll have it reined in. But i can't envisage that happening for a while yet.

 

So the shit show will continue unabated

[mike787]

Good luck!!!  Second coming of christ maybe more likely before that happens.  Can't hurt to try.  

[mike787]

Suggesting a micro chip or sexy ankle bracelet as an alternative might be a good trade off seeing who you're dealing with.

[jackdd]

12 minutes ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

Under Article 37, any foreigner residing in Thailand who visits another province for more than 24 hours must report to immigration.

Section 37 = form TM28 not TM30

Foreigners who entered Thailand under section 34, this is probably everybody here, are exempt from this 24 hours reporting when going to another province under section 37.

 

The author should understand the laws before making a petition about them.

[NCC1701A]

Thanks Jonathan for putting this out. 

 

here is Richard Barrows input.

 

http://www.richardbarrow.com/2019/07/sign-the-petition-to-reform-thai-immigration-and-article-37/

[RotBenz8888]

Will the letter be translated to Thai?

[NCC1701A]

Just now, RotBenz8888 said:

Will the letter be translated to Thai?

yes it is in Thai

[racket]

Website down?

[manarak]

let's all sign this.

TM 30 is absolute nonsense.

[manarak]

Just now, racket said:

Website down?

yes...

I get a 503 unavailable

must be a pretty small webhosting

[SammyT]

This is awesome. Whether or not they're successful, at least they're doing Something other than just moaning about it online or to their friends.

[NCC1701A]

this should be pinned in a banner on the top of every page on Thai Visa. "Sign the petition for immigration reform."

 

this web site can make it happen.

[madmen]

4 minutes ago, racket said:

Website down?

That would immigration blocking it..can't rock the boat to much

[lkv]

4 minutes ago, manarak said:

yes...

I get a 503 unavailable

must be a pretty small webhosting

Greenland has issues handling too many requests? ????

 

Datacenter: Key-Systems GmbHServer IP: 185.247.61.32

Location: Greenland

City: Nuuk

Nameservers: ns11.globehosting.net, ns12.globehosting.net

[manarak]

7 minutes ago, racket said:

Website down?

give it another try, I just successfully signed the petition

 

[lkv]

5 minutes ago, madmen said:

That would immigration blocking it..can't rock the boat to much

Actually no. I get the same and I am in Europe. Most likely due to cheaper hosting.

[NCC1701A]

6 minutes ago, manarak said:

yes...

I get a 503 unavailable

must be a pretty small webhosting

works for me right now.

[BestB]

This is the funniest part. 

 

On daily basis , every few mins people bitch and moan about immigration rules and changes.

 

Someone for a change has decided to do instead of moaning and all it gets is “ good luck” “fat chance” and all the rest .

 

Here is a thought , stop bitching and moaning, sign the petition and show some support for people who actually got off their butts trying to make a change for all concerned.

 

if it fails , then be it , but at least tried, and all it takes is 14 seconds of your time. 

[lkv]

Just now, NCC1701A said:

works for me right now.

Yep back online.

[BestB]

2 minutes ago, manarak said:

give it another try, I just successfully signed the petition

 

I am guessing possible overload with people clicking at the same time. Also had no problems signing but it was before it went viral on thai visa 

[Roy Baht]

4 minutes ago, NCC1701A said:

this web site can make it happen.

No it can't. The Thai government bowing to pressure from foreigners? It would cause loss of face and set a dangerous precedent. If anything, it will make them enforce the law more strictly.

[BestB]

Just now, Roy Baht said:

No it can't. The Thai government bowing to pressure from foreigners? It would cause loss of face and set a dangerous precedent. If anything, it will make them enforce the law more strictly.

And how exactly do you know what the outcome would be ? Have you done something like his before ? 

[RotBenz8888]

35 minutes ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

The organisers aim to get 10,000 people to sign the petition

Shouldn't be hard.

[Myran]

Nice move, will sign for sure. But they should've let someone proofread the letter beforehand. It's a bit of a mess.

[Bangkokhatter]

1 minute ago, Myran said:

Nice move, will sign for sure. But they should've let someone proofread the letter beforehand. It's a bit of a mess.

Agreed it is a bit of a mess, still will sign also.

[Roy Baht]

4 minutes ago, BestB said:

And how exactly do you know what the outcome would be ? Have you done something like his before ? 

I've been dealing with Thai bureaucrats for 30 years. They will not respond to pressure from foreigners, particularly foreigners living in Thailand.  More likely the strict enforcement will fade away on its own after a year or two.  Remember when you told the head of your favorite taxi company in Pattaya "who you were" and he had zero response? That will be Thai Immigration's response to this petition.

[Just1Voice]

Signed. 

[lkv]

2 minutes ago, Roy Baht said:

They will not respond to pressure from foreigners

Maybe it would be good if Thai landlords and agents would be signing this, they don't like it any more than foreigners do.

[ChipButty]

power to the People