Are hotels aware of the visa amnesty ?

[Denim]

I have a hospital appointment in Bangkok on Monday.  I usually use the same hotel every time I visit Bangkok and as they know us well , they never ask for my passport.

 

However, since my appointment is early I was thinking of using a hotel nearer to the hospital so as to avoid getting stuck in traffic.

 

Question is , that since my last Non-O entry stamp expired on June the 6th ( I'm using the amnesty ) and I have not yet been to immigration to apply for a 60 day extension , I am wondering if the new hotel will be aware that I am covered by the July 31st Amnesty. I was thinking to wait and see how things panned out before applying for the 60 days extension.

 

Thanks in advance.

[Matzzon]

What if they are not? They will probably still check you in a take advance payment. If they later wish to call immigration, that is just gonna be a loss of their face. ????????????

[USNret]

I don’t think they care. They just make a copy of the first page as a photo ID. They do not validate your immigration status. 

[Mama Noodle]

17 hours ago, Denim said:

Question is , that since my last Non-O entry stamp expired on June the 6th

 

If your non-o stamp is expired, and you're currently doing the amnesty, then you cant do this:

 

17 hours ago, Denim said:

I have not yet been to immigration to apply for a 60 day extension

 

17 hours ago, Denim said:

I am wondering if the new hotel will be aware that I am covered by the July 31st Amnesty.

 

Dunno, most hotels take a picture of your detail page AND the latest stamp. 

 

Best thing to do is call them on the phone and ask. 

[Mama Noodle]

8 minutes ago, USNret said:

They do not validate your immigration status. 

 

They do take a picture of the latest entry stamp, at least the hotels I stay at do, because im always flipping through my passport to show them as they can never find it in all the stamps. 

[Denim]

14 hours ago, Mama Noodle said:

If your non-o stamp is expired, and you're currently doing the amnesty, then you cant do this:

 

My Non O visa is good until September 15th.  It is only the last 90 day entry stamp that expired June 6th.

[Peterw42]

The amnesty is a visa/extension amnesty, not a TM30 amnesty.

Hotels dont check your Visa/extension status, they take 2-3 details from your passport and send it off to immigration as a TM30 report.

 

The Visa amnesty doesnt change the hotel TM30 process, makes no difference whether they are aware of it.

[gravity101]

Driving licence? Like most expats use at hotels? I never knew they actually checked visa status anyway, just photocopy passport number for their records and to report.

[fulhamster]

1 hour ago, Peterw42 said:

The amnesty is a visa/extension amnesty, not a TM30 amnesty.

Hotels dont check your Visa/extension status, they take 2-3 details from your passport and send it off to immigration as a TM30 report.

 

The Visa amnesty doesnt change the hotel TM30 process, makes no difference whether they are aware of it.

When I was in BKK last year, the hotel was only interested in checking my visa, hoping I was on overstay so they could call it in and get the commission.

They weren't too pleased to see I was completely ok

[Peterw42]

4 minutes ago, fulhamster said:

When I was in BKK last year, the hotel was only interested in checking my visa, hoping I was on overstay so they could call it in and get the commission.

They weren't too pleased to see I was completely ok

That is conspiracy theory rubbish.

Every hotel will check your passport for the information required to submit in the TM30 report, there is no reporting foreigners on overstay to get a commission.

[smutcakes]

Why the hell would the hotel even look or care?

[Max69xl]

3 hours ago, USNret said:

I don’t think they care. They just make a copy of the first page as a photo ID. They do not validate your immigration status. 

If they submit a TM30 report (as they should), they take more copies than just the first page. But they don't normally care about visa stamps or extensions. Especially now. 

[Caldera]

There isn't even any consistency in what hotels copy. Some only copy the data page while others look up (or try to look up) the latest entry or extension stamp.

 

I've printed a copy of the amnesty announcement in Thai language and keep that with my passport. If a receptionist ever mentions that my permission has expired, I'll show them this and invite them to call the 1178 hotline. So far, that hasn't happened yet.

[Denim]

14 hours ago, Caldera said:

There isn't even any consistency in what hotels copy.

 

Agreed. I have checked into hotels where they have not asked to see my passport at all. I have also checked into hotels where they seemed to go through my passport with a fine comb and made copies of both the information page plus current visa page. As you say , like many things here , no consistency.

[Peter Denis]

As @Peterw42 already mentioned > The Hotel is supposed to issue a TM30 report of you - a foreigner - staying there.  All bonafide hotels do this, and hence they ask for your passport.

They will need your passport-number, ID-details and the TM6 entry/departure card number to do the on-line TM30 notification.  That's why they take a fotocopy of the first page of your passport and flip through it to look for the TM6 card-number (on the basis of those data they can do the TM30 notification afterwards, so you don't have to wait during your check-in for that admin routine).

Edited July 3, 2020 by Peter Denis

[Bob A Kneale]

1 hour ago, fulhamster said:

the hotel was only interested in checking my visa, hoping I was on overstay so they could call it in and get the commission.

Nonsense.  That "commission" facility doesn't exist.

[drbeach]

4 hours ago, Mama Noodle said:

 

If your non-o stamp is expired, and you're currently doing the amnesty, then you cant do this:

 

Apparently, according to many posters on here, the 60 day extension CAN be applied for during the amnesty after the original 90 day stamp has expired. The only question is whether they 1) backdate it or 2) it starts on the date of application or 3) July 31.

 

The consensus seems to be the second or third option but even if they did the first one, they would do it as long as the OP is still within the 60 day period after the expiration of his 90 day stamp. Under normal circumstances, I think they would backdate it, as I've seen that happen in person, at CW a couple of years ago. A guy on 4 days overstay did an extension of a tourist visa they backdated. He paid the overstay fine and the extension fee.

During the amnesty, obviously no overstay fines apply.

 

Granted, there is little point in doing the 60 day extension in the OPs case if they backdate it, since he would only receive 4 extra days after the expiration of the amnesty. Chances are it may be extended anyway, so the best thing he can do is wait. If necessary, he can go in late July and see what his options are.

[salsajapan]

9 hours ago, smutcakes said:

Why the hell would the hotel even look or care?

 

Clearly ! some people seem to like to find problems where there aren't any...

 

 

[Why Me]

If the OP is really worried he should download the image of the flier about amnesty put out by Thai Imm to his phone. Ubon Joe linked to it a couple of times in the Immigration forum and shouldn't be hard to find. It's in Thai and English with an official seal. 

[Denim]

So we checked into the Maruay Garden Hotel today with a booking in my wife's name. The receptionist asked no questions and declined the offer of my passport as she gave us the key.

 

As we were walking to the lift we were called back to reception by another member of staff who very politely began to ask my wife about me.

 

I interrupted and seeing that I spoke Thai he switched to me. He not only made a copy of the picture page but was going to copy every single page because he didn't understand the many full pages of stamps. I cut him short again and ask what he actually needed. He wanted a copy of my current visa and entry stamp which once taken he returned the passport. He also asked us a few questions pertaining to recent travel and if we had been abroad recently.

Once satisfied that I had not just arrived in Thailand we were done.

He apologized very politely for bothering us but said it was only a recent directive and he had to comply and that if we stayed at the hotel again we would not be thus interrogated.

 

I only mention this because I suspected it would happen at this hotel as it gets a lot of government employees as it is opposite Kasetsart university.

 

If I had used our usual hotel we would just have been given our room key and paid whenever but with an early morning hospital appointment I wanted to be within easy walking distance.

[merijn]

i Stay on almost a monthly basis in different of class hotels (cheap to very expensive) and never use my passport.

Normally i use my pink id card or Thai DL without problems.

Also as people living here on a long term visa or extension don't have to do the address (TM30) reporting anymore there is no need for your passport i guess.