TM6 still being used?

[MarcelV]

Last weekend I re-entered Thailand at the Ta Ba border crossing and, to my surprise, I was asked to fill out the arrival card (TM6) again. 

Have they been reinstated? I thought they had been scrapped.

[KhunBENQ]

They are still issued at land borders while they have been abolished for flight arrivals. I have one from Nong Khai.

Makes any sense? No.

Edited December 13, 2022 by KhunBENQ

[thecyclist]

5 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

They are still issued at land borders while they have been abolished for flight arrivals. I have one from Nong Khai.

Makes any sense? No.

Should be scrapped for good, but the reasoning behind it is probably that there are often long lines at the airports, where the big spenders arrive (you want to make a good first impression there). Land border lines tend to be shorter, and no need to impress the cheap Charlies on visa runs. The more they get hassled the better. 

[Guderian]

Is the new online 90-day reporting system aware that expats who've arrived back here by air over the last few months don't have a TM6, so they can't fill in the arrival card number on the online form? Given Thai officialdom's genius for creating deficient IT systems, It wouldn't surprise me at all if the system simply tells you to fill in the TM6 number or bog off. I don't suppose it's been tested yet, as the first 90-day report after returning has to be done in person anyway (at least I assume that's still true), so someone would have had to have been here for six months after arriving without a TM6 to be able to test the system, and I think it's a bit less than six months since they stopped issuing them isn't it?

[DrJack54]

17 minutes ago, Guderian said:

......so they can't fill in the arrival card number on the online form?

There is no space for TM6 on the new online form 

[Guderian]

1 hour ago, DrJack54 said:

There is no space for TM6 on the new online form 

Thanks for that info. My in-person report is due in January, so the next online one won't be until the start of April. I hope they don't reinstate it by then, lol.

[DrJack54]

39 minutes ago, Guderian said:

I hope they don't reinstate it by then, lol.

They did say it was "temporary" and only suspended at airports to speed up immigration control upon entry.

Many of us shake our heads.

For expats they have our 90 day reports confirming address.

 

As for most tourists they move around a lot and an arrival card seems foolish. 

 

Hopefully 90 day reports will one day be eliminated. Serves zero purpose. 

 

Edited December 13, 2022 by DrJack54

[Rumpelstilskin]

On 11/16/2022 at 12:27 AM, GammaGlobulin said:

I grew up in a household in which television sets were completely banned. 

 

This resulted in having far more time for reading, introspection, and reflection about almost anything. 

 

We were permitted to listen to the radio, even to listen to guys like Thelonius Monk, such a felon of jazz. 

 

The problem with Social Media is that it dumbs down society, as a whole. 

 

When I spend time watching social media, I get this sick feeling in my gut. 

 

But then, when I read beautiful sentences written by Philip Roth, I realize that he is a true maniac, and my time reading him has not been ill spent. 

 

We have only a finite amount of time here. My time with guys like Roth has been well spent. 

 

It doesn't matter if you might prefer reading about dialectical materialism or stories about the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. 

 

It only matters that, somehow, we will find a way to forsake Fkrbergerger's zombie vision for our New World, and, somehow get back to the garden of books, introspection, and thinking. 

 

*Books are the key to a better life, for you and me. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4 hours ago, Guderian said:

Is the new online 90-day reporting system aware that expats who've arrived back here by air over the last few months don't have a TM6, so they can't fill in the arrival card number on the online form? Given Thai officialdom's genius for creating deficient IT systems, It wouldn't surprise me at all if the system simply tells you to fill in the TM6 number or bog off. I don't suppose it's been tested yet, as the first 90-day report after returning has to be done in person anyway (at least I assume that's still true), so someone would have had to have been here for six months after arriving without a TM6 to be able to test the system, and I think it's a bit less than six months since they stopped issuing them isn't it?

Arrived at Suwanabhumi Dec 4, no TM6, otherwise easy as my Thai wife told the IG I was her hubby so all the lines were skipped.  Always use mail and PPE for 90 days -- why not and ez.  My next time at Immigration will be 3/1 , have to get stamped in.