Phuket Immigration confirms 24-hour reporting lifted for more foreigners, 90-day reports remain unchanged

By The Phuket News

 

An officer explains immigration requirements to a foreign woman at the Phuket Immigration office in Phuket Town today (Feb 21). Photo: Tanyaluk Sakoot

 

PHUKET:-- Phuket Immigration today confirmed that the categories of foreigners who are no longer required to complete 24-hour reporting requirements has been expanded.

 

The news follows a notice posted on the Immigration Bureau official website that is marked as posted online last Friday (Feb 14), but not noticed by the public until today (Feb 21).

 

Lt Col Udom Thongchin, Deputy Chief of the Phuket Immigration Office, told The Phuket News today that most of the order repeals the old law and formalises changes already confirmed in September last year. 

 

Full Story: https://www.thephuketnews.com/phuket-immigration-confirms-24-hour-reporting-lifted-for-more-foreigners-90-day-reports-remain-unchanged-74942.php

 

-- © Copyright Phuket News 2020-02-21

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So they are profiling foreigners now?  Deciding who is naughty and who is nice?

 

Constantly moving target...

for tourism - exempt

Which one is the Immigration Officer? In Khon Kaen Immigration, all officers wear uniform and look extremely smart! 

1 hour ago, graemeaylward said:

Which one is the Immigration Officer? In Khon Kaen Immigration, all officers wear uniform and look extremely smart! 

Fascinating but this is PHUKET, where the IOs have dress down days and the civilian staff don't wear uniforms.

Has Phuket immigration yet again misunderstood the difference between the TM28 and the TM30? 

 

 

AS clear as mud!

The latest order – marked as effective as of January 28, 2020, but signed by Royal Thai Police Commissioner General Pol Gen Chakthip Chaijinda on January 14, 2020 (see here) – repeals Section 37 of the Immigration Act B.E.2522 (1979).

However, the new order simply repeats the definition previously defined by Section 37 with the exact same provisions?????????

2.3 If travelling to any province and staying there longer than twenty-four hours, such alien shall notify the police officer at the local police station within forty-eight hours from the time of arrival.

The new order also lists which foreigners are still required to complete 24-hour reporting,

 

 

My answer is I wont travel internally in Thailand as this act is just so hard to understand. Meh, saves me money on not buying rubbish I dont want later.

 

 

 

Don't cheer too quick!  Basically NOTHING has changed.

90-day reporting as well as TM 30 compliance, nothing changed and still required.

Some irrelevant fiddling around with TM-28 and TM-27, is what this is all about.

A 'fart in a bottle' as they say in my home-country...

i will nolonger put any energy in this matter !

4 hours ago, Peter Denis said:

Don't cheer too quick!  Basically NOTHING has changed.

90-day reporting as well as TM 30 compliance, nothing changed and still required.

Some irrelevant fiddling around with TM-28 and TM-27, is what this is all about.

A 'fart in a bottle' as they say in my home-country...

Not sure why you say that? Clearly states that I now no longer have to do the reporting as of having a child and Thai spouse etc. 
The 90 day reporting is unchanged indeed but easy to do Online already, many leave within 90 days on multi re-entries too. 

Most people when reading the article and even the regulation to which it links, will cheer as they mistakenly think that it refers to the TM30 requirement which stipulates that the owner/possessor of a place where a foreigner is staying, must file a TM30 within 24 hours of the foreigner arriving at the premises.  So if you live in your own (or your girlfriend's) house/condo or a rental condo, it is the landlord or your girlfriend/yourself that have to file such a TM30.  And for many long-stay retirees TM30 was a pain in the a##.

But unfortunately, the changed regulations do not refer to TM30 compliance, which remains still mandatory.

The article and the amended regulations actually refer to the TM28 form which is used to report a change of address (when you move/relocate to a different place), and indeed some categories of foreigners have been exempted from that duty.  So there is still a small reason to cheer about, you would say.  Not so fast.  Yes the TM28 has been made almost redundant by exempting almost all categories of foreigners, but instead they re-instated the TM27 form.

Hence my comment that virtually nothing has changed and the whole thing is nothing more than a 'fart in a bottle'. 

Edited February 22, 20206 yr by Peter Denis

I have my own condo, I'm 55 years old but come often now on a tourist visa for 60 days , eventually extended 30 more days...

I year ago, they fined me in Jomtien 1600 TB (!) before to be able to pay 1900 THB more for my 30 days extension...which I needed by the for only 10 more days...(because they started to enforece a old "law" (TM30) even for owners in their own condo !!) and that never happenned in 10 years ...So imagine how unfair I felt it was...really fed up..

Has anything change there or although they already have my adress 2 times (1 time when filling the visa in Belgium and 1 time when filling the TM6 in the plane before to land to pass imigration), am I still required to go to immigration 24 or 48 or 96 hours after my arrival in my own condo ??..which is really a pain in the....and makes me think to sell my condo, It's even so difficult to rent because in this case after all, I am also responsible to declare the foreigners inside and as it is in Nirun condo, if I had to pass through a thai agency, it's not even worth it...I prefer then to keep it free for me to come randomly when I can.

CW did not seem interested last time I was there, but as we know, it can depend on which IO you get. TiT.

 

I would think they are as sick of it as we are by now. I asked the IO what time she thought she would leave work that evening, due to all the extra paperwork. I think that hit the spot!

Maybe what “hit the spot” with your question was she thought you were going to ask her for a date.

4 minutes ago, neeray said:

Maybe what “hit the spot” with your question was she thought you were going to ask her for a date.

Never NEVER date the IO. When the relationship ends you are declared persona non grata and deported. Also, some of em look like they might be into bdsm femdom. Yikes!

France is being visited by over 80 million tourists every year.
Imagine if those 80 million tourists would have to report their location every time, while travelling around in France.
Unthinkable, but reality in Thailand!
To circumvent reporting duties, a travelling Farang while visiting friends within Thailand, is best avised to book and pay a cheap Hotel nearby, so the "reporting" has to be done by the Hotel.

Question: Is there any other country that applies such "reporting-duties" (except Russia and North Korea?) Are you sure you want to retire in "The Kingdom of Thailand"?

Imagine if 35 million tourists had to report their location while travelling around Thailand. Guess what, tourists don't have that problem, somebody does that for them. I doubt any tourist would even be aware of the reporting requirements.

24hr reporting after returning from overseas is still in place.  I am on retirement extension and returned to Phuket from overseas yesterday, drove to the drive-through this afternoon, handed my passport to the IO.  Heard some "stamping sound" in the booth.  After receiving back my passport, I found a new date stamp on my address reporting slip.