TM30: “It’s really not that hard”, immigration official tells foreigners

[Sonhia]

Typical Thai response.

 

Terrorism, that old chestnut again, used by many nations as simply an excuse.

 

Thai immigration law is not helping the Thai nation, that is obvious to see, plus it is not uniform, consistent, fair, in line with inflation and very unfair!

For example, free tourist visas to Chinese and Indians but the main spenders, Westerners, are basically told to F off. Racism without a doubt. If only my Government treated Thai in that manner...

 

 

[gunderhill]

2 minutes ago, crazykopite said:

Laws are laws and we must respect them or face the consequences.

While so many Thais blindly  dont right to the top

[wealthychef]

27 minutes ago, gunderhill said:

see  it  a  lot  in  Thailand often  years  later

 

I can't imagine it goes well no matter when it shows up. 

[peter14]

 Leaving  and more are leaving ... 

[holy cow cm]

4 minutes ago, Muhendis said:

Sadly I think all this fuss from expats regarding TM30 has only served to reinforce the correctness in the idea of controlling long term visitors to Thailand.

Has zero effect. It would be the same or as now getting worse. They never change but seem to only add more to inflict.

 

Better to put it directly up on their table as is a concern by the foreigners who long stay and who do contribute to the welfare of Thais and the economy. All their Thai citizens are treated far better in Western and EU countries. Even when the Elite and their family visit or long term stay they are treated far better. How would they feel if the tables were turned on them? 

[thaibeachlovers]

3 minutes ago, RBOP said:

Good for you. But for the vast majority of long stayers who either work or live far away from immigration taking a half day or sometimes a full day to go report isn't feasible. I want to go visit my weekend condo in another province so will have to report 104 times a year. Oh wait, my wife and child live with me so I will have to file their TM30 too so that's 312 reports a year. Oh wait, have to add in 90 day reporting for the 3 of us (12 times/year) and spend a full day once a year sitting in immigration for annual extension.  Takes me 1 1/2 hours one way to get to CW so your one of the very few privileged that TM30 doesn't seem to be bothered by. 

Considering that I used to get to the office at 4 am just to be able to get an appointment I don't think that I wasn't bothered. What I'm saying is that it is what it is and we either abide by it or leave LOS. Bitchin' on here isn't going to make them change their minds. There are thousands of farangs living on extensions and only a few dozen on here. Most are not complaining.

 

Your situation seems unfortunate, but it is of your own choosing. No one forced you to buy a condo in another province and unless you bought it before TM 30 existed you would have known of the implications. Just because TM 30 was not enforced did not mean that it never would be.

I was doing TM 30 many years ago so my wife didn't have to take time off work.

[cmsally]

Did the officials at any time in the meeting admit it is the duty of the house owner and as such if the house owner does not comply then the person in question should not be fined. I think that is a very important point. It is categorically wrong to punish a tenant in lieu of a landlord.

I know there are cases of condo owners and wives that own, but they should be addressing the point on landlords.

[MaxLee]

What about the foreigners who have a work permit, do they need to do TM 30, too?

[fittobethaied]

I worked for years as a cemetery manager for the world's largest conglomerate in the death care industry. We were compelled by management to call up all property owners and schedule in-house appointments to update their records, which could have been done on the phone, but if we were face-to-face with them we could find a way to sell them more cemetery products or even pre-arrange a funeral for them. For that we needed a captive audience, and it proved to be a very successful marketing campaign year after year. 

 

This is the same kind of racket that Immigration is promoting. They don't want their websites to work because that limits the number of opportunities they will have to extort money from foreigners. They will not discontinue the TM-30 because it's a huge moneymaker for them, plus the face-to-face interviews give them more opportunity to figure out other ways to extract money from us....plain and simple! 

[HaoleBoy]

12 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Just whom should we be pushing? These regulations that irk us are made by people that none of us will likely ever meet, and the minions merely carry out the policies their superiors tell them to enforce, or not. The immigration officer we see has no power over regulations.

I hear the same thing from Thais regarding new laws for big motorcycles.  We can't change anything. 

This is crap I think.  If all the people in the HOG (Harley Owners Group) groups from the 9 HD dealers in Thailand signed a petition and Harley Thailand got behind it then something might be done.  How many high level officials - government / military - ride Harley's?  Quite a few I think.  Farangs only make up about 3% of Harley owners here in Thailand from what I've been told.

[gunderhill]

15 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

The immigration officer we see has no power over regulations.

But they do "all at their discretion" hence  everyone of thems  "little  kingdoms" and as a  BONUS  wave some cash and see the rules  disappear....pffffft in a  puff of  smoke

[peter14]

ID Card with chip  like in all other Asian country !!! Thailand is paer freak ...  an embarrassment 

[rkidlad]

Just now, thaibeachlovers said:

LOL.

Just because it's not on the "list" means nothing. If you think that Thai immigration offices confine themselves to what is on a "list" you have not been in LOS long enough.

There is an immigration office that apparently makes expats have a medical to get an extension. Is that on your list? It certainly wasn't on the Chiang Mai list when I last did an extension. '

Every office is free to add anything they like, regardless of some "list".

Again, I can only go on what they state on their website. I did that and they never asked for a TM30. They never stated they wanted it. You say ignorance is no excuse for breaking the law, well neither is incompetence on their behalf. The onus of professionalism is on immigration. I just do as I'm told. 

 

I followed the list they stated on their official website and they've accepted every extension for the last 5 years. Your best excuse for this whole clusterf*** is that 'farangs' must be the responsible ones?. Not immigration?. I believe we call that 'the soft bigotry of low expectation'. 

[TG911]

7 minutes ago, crazykopite said:

I wouldn’t sign the petition as I felt it was the wrong way to go about it . Thai officials resent been told what to do I now believe that they will make it even more difficult by being inflexible when it comes to TM 30 . 

I agree with you. In essence ... now it's like there's been a stick shuffled right up into the hornet's nest. 

 

On the bright side, with short focus & attention span and future changes of commands, it might cool down ...

 

[moe666]

5 hours ago, Mango Bob said:

Immigration will look you in the face and lie how the TM 30 keep us safe.  They are only saying this crap because they boss wants to keep it and no other reason.   The good guys do the form the bad ones don't.    You also give us a piece of crap website to us and try to convince us it works and we are doing it wrong not them.  Just hope other countries will do the same thing to the Thai people as they do to us.

I guess you never went with a Thai who tries to do business with the government.

[wealthychef]

26 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

It wasn't my idea, but I agree that Thais should be subject to the same inconveniences in our countries as they visit on us in theirs.

That's hardly revenge. 

I used to get 90 days visa exempt at the Thai border with unlimited back to back entries. Thailand cancelled that when my country cancelled Thai visa exempt entries there. Tit for Tat.

 

It sounds like the treaty between the Thai government and your country was renegotiated, which is why both changed.  It was probably not because of some weird "tit for tat."  

But even if it were, it's strange for you to bring it up after claiming you are not going after revenge.  Either the new Thai policy is good for your country to adopt or not.  To adopt it for some revenge motive would be idiotic.  Thus my original comment.   

[holy cow cm]

2 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Considering that I used to get to the office at 4 am just to be able to get an appointment I don't think that I wasn't bothered. What I'm saying is that it is what it is and we either abide by it or leave LOS. Bitchin' on here isn't going to make them change their minds. There are thousands of farangs living on extensions and only a few dozen on here. Most are not complaining.

 

Your situation seems unfortunate, but it is of your own choosing. No one forced you to buy a condo in another province and unless you bought it before TM 30 existed you would have known of the implications. Just because TM 30 was not enforced did not mean that it never would be.

I was doing TM 30 many years ago so my wife didn't have to take time off work.

There are almost over 5000 and climbing who signed the petition! Is that relevant as in complaint enough?

[thaibeachlovers]

1 minute ago, gunderhill said:

But they do "all at their discretion" hence  everyone of thems  "little  kingdoms" and as a  BONUS  wave some cash and see the rules  disappear....pffffft in a  puff of  smoke

Good luck with that:-)

[gunderhill]

13 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

LOL.

Just because it's not on the "list" means nothing. If you think that Thai immigration offices confine themselves to what is on a "list" you have not been in LOS long enough.

There is an immigration office that apparently makes expats have a medical to get an extension. Is that on your list? It certainly wasn't on the Chiang Mai list when I last did an extension. '

Every office is free to add anything they like, regardless of some "list".

and  dont be "ignorant"  of  the  rules.............they make up on the  day

[KC 71]

To be honest i don’t really mind the reporting
( the border is 12 miles away from here)
I fully understand it might not be so simple for you
Depending where you reside
Whats getting me down these days is :
1- proof of cash in the bank - which is virtually untouchable and
2- only a single 90 day Non Immigrant O visa( No more more multiple )



Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect

[gunderhill]

Just now, thaibeachlovers said:

Good luck with that:-)

Works in BKK amongst others, fine 800 baht no receipt or would  you like 1600 with receipt "sir"

[manchega]

nothing does incompetence like government

 

as with other situations throughout the system - there is no incentive for any worker to actually improve efficiency of the system on any side, these civil servants will work at much the same pay throughout their careers, ok you get the occasional super star who may be up to 80 k before tea money but they are rare,

the rest will be waiting for someone to die before they are promoted.

 

if you earn your salary with a guaranteed job for life why bother improving it.

[geoffrobbo]

Yes, the TM30 form is not difficult. The only problem is the 2 to 3 hours you have to spend at the immigration office for submission

[gunderhill]

Just now, manchega said:

nothing does incompetence like government

 

as with other situations throughout the system - there is no incentive for any worker to actually improve efficiency of the system on any side, these civil servants will work at much the same pay throughout their careers, ok you get the occasional super star who may be up to 80 k before tea money but they are rare,

the rest will be waiting for someone to die before they are promoted.

 

if you earn your salary with a guaranteed job for life why bother improving it.

If you  follow the stupid  rules for  longer you get promoted  to make the stupid  rules as only time served not competence  rules in Thailand

[TG911]

12 minutes ago, holy cow cm said:

There are almost over 5000 and climbing who signed the petition! Is that relevant as in complaint enough?

No it's not relevant, because 5000 people are barking up the wrong tree. Maybe not even the wrong tree. But in a wrong way.

 

You can see it, and read the response, right in front of your eyes

[gunderhill]

2 minutes ago, manchega said:

why bother improving it

When the time could be spent dreaming  up ways to milk it instead

[thaibeachlovers]

1 minute ago, wealthychef said:

 

It sounds like the treaty between the Thai government and your country was renegotiated, which is why both changed.  It was probably not because of some weird "tit for tat."  

But even if it were, it's strange for you to bring it up after claiming you are not going after revenge.  Either the new Thai policy is good for your country to adopt or not.  To adopt it for some revenge motive would be idiotic.  Thus my original comment.   

My country had bilateral agreement for visa free 90 day entry with Thailand. My country cancelled it unilaterally for reasons I don't want to put on here, so the Thai government reciprocated.

Fair enough in my opinion, though I was sad to lose the ease of entry.

If it's good enough for the Thais to put hurdles in our way living in LOS, I can't see why it would be bad to put them on Thais in western countries. 

Nothing to do with "revenge". More about fairness.

[BimBoon]

A 140km round trip is a huge inconvenience. But then again they only enforce laws when it comes to foreigners. When it comes to there own you find the police at the local gold shop doing selfies or asleep in there station while motorcycle after motorcycle rider passes without a helmet.

[Wiggy]

18 minutes ago, MRToMRT said:

Its suffice, I registered (CW) with just that.

Thanks.

[dutchweller]

2 hours ago, rkidlad said:

This is based off what? Real experiences or wishful thinking? 

Right, but on the website you inform users that their information is being processed. You state this will take seven working days. So, why does mine still say “waiting for approval” after three weeks? If I submitted the wrong documents (I submitted the ones you asked for) you should have checked within the seven days you stated and changed my status to “failed - incomplete or wrong documentation”.

 

If you have a full-time job and a life, if you like to travel around Thailand and spend money in hotels, etc, the one thing they seem to want people to do. If you have applied for a username and password and your status hasn’t changed, how on earth is any of this really not that hard?

 

 

We are in the same boat 

We applied 12 weeks ago 

I checked the status today to see it was declined due to chonburi immigration processing it not chengwattana that should have..

Now we have to start all over..

And YES we applied with all the correct details and the correct district was chosen..