Phuket immigration demands title deeds and home walk-through for foreigners.

[xylophone]

A friend of mine who has recently left Thailand for a visit to Malaysia has sent me this link and asked me if I've heard anything about it, and I haven't..........Having said that, I do recall that Phuket immigration required a photograph of the foreigner standing in front of his residence, so how true is this latest snippet/headline? Or is he  misunderstanding what is being said??

 

https://www.thephuketnews.com/phuket-immigration-demands-title-deeds-home-walk-throughs-for-permit-to-stay-extensions-88012.php

[Sigma6]

video walkthroughs of your home..?

More over reach by the idiots that are immigration here.

 

Is it to push you to use agents?
 

[oldcpu]

Possibly some exaggeration in the article?

 

When I applied for a 90-day Type-O visa in Phuket in late October last year, I was asked for a copy of pages out of the Chanote of the condo unit I own (which I passed to them) and I was also asked for copies out of pages of my Blue book for my condo (instead I gave them copies of pages out of my Yellow book - which they accepted). 

 

I was also asked to call them via Line social media app (they gave me a phone number for Line) at a specific time in the next couple of days, which I did. While on the video call they had me walk to my condo unit door so they could see the unit number, and then had me walk to the street so they could see the condo complex street sign.  All easy and quick to do. There was no requirement to go to one of my condo's bedrooms. That's a bit bizarre ?

 

Then in January this year when I went for a 1-year extension (at Phuket immigration) for reason of retirement on that Type-O Visa, I provided them again copies of my Chanote and Yellow book. This time they did NOT ask to do a video call.

 

Of course that was January this year. This is May now so maybe requirements for extensions have changed?

[zzzzz]

if you read the article it applied to a farang working and living with his thai wife ( for reason why he has a 1 year extension)
NOT for those on retirement extensions.

friend of mine recently applied for his extension based on marriage> He had to provide 3 photos, 2 weeks ago of inside the house an outside.
Week later they called him and told him they would be at his house in 10 minutes<  he was 30 minutes away
so they arranged a video call later in the day  
so that part is nothing new<

Copy of the land title is.
 

[xylophone]

15 minutes ago, zzzzz said:

if you read the article it applied to a farang working and living with his thai wife ( for reason why he has a 1 year extension)
NOT for those on retirement extensions.  
 

You may be right, however that's not how the article reads (to me anyway) because it says the following: –

 

"The requirement for a foreigner to provide a copy of the Chanote title for a property the foreigner does not own appears to be an attempt by Phuket immigration to hold foreigners staying in Phuket responsible under "section 38 of the immigration act" which applies only to landlords and householders".

 

So my understanding of this is that they are applying section 38 of the immigration act to this guy who rents a house, and this section only applies to landlords and householders?

 

Not altogether clear, but then again, TIT.

[pagallim]

Below is a post that I made on the 26th April, having completed my Marriage extension in Phuket on the 21st April.   You'll note that the circumstances and requirements are exactly the same as that described in the press article, i.e. photos and a 'Line' video walk through.   Our home is in my wife's name, so only the house book copy required, not the Chanote.   If the house was rented, a copy of the owner's ID card, house book, lease agreement etc would be needed.   My wife explained to me that some owners have several properties, and they would only appear in one house book, not all.   If that were the case, copies of the actual Chanote would be needed.   The requirements from the Phuket Immigration Volunteer website:   http://piv-phuket.com/long-stay-extensions/marriage-m/

 

"OK, I'll bolt onto this thread for my recent experience, albeit this was in Phuket Immigration on Friday 21st April.   Not unlike the OP, married for 13 years, though only the last 5 (of 15 extensions) have been Marriage, the remainder Retirement.

 

Anyway, for the previousl 5 Marriage extensions, used the same photos (1 of us both at house gate showing number, another inside the house - in our case sat together at a dining table).   I keep copies of all documents on a computer, so it's just a case of printing two sets out each time, except for updates of my bank book and a new KorRor 2.

 

Everything went great, but they now want two different photos outside, one showing us full length (which we had), the other from the waist up).   Likewise, they specifically wanted photos of us together in both our bedroom and our kitchen.   I was given the 'under consideration' stamp and passport returned, and my wife was to return on Monday/24th with the extra photos (done).

 

Another odd one, they asked for my wife to make a Line video call to the IO once we got home on the Friday, and we did a walk through showing us at the front gate, kitchen and bedroom.   We have never had a home visit, so can only assume that this was in lieu of one.

 

One final thing, given the amount of extensions happening in Phuket at the moment, I decided to use their on-line appointment system.   This worked well, and was given 2.00 p.m. Friday/22nd.   I printed out the appointment email and had it with me at the due time, and we were ushered to the appropriate IO straight away."

[alphason]

I did marriage extension last month (still under consideration), on the day I went there was a ceremony outside as someone new had just arrived that day.

 

I knew beforehand that there were new photo requirements from the volunteers, an extra photo in bedroom and kitchen and the front house pic should be one close up so the house number is visible and one wider shot full body.

 

The video call was the same as we did last year, the IO showed me on his phone what he needed and its just recreating the photos you have supplied, not really a walkthrough. They take a screen shot from the video call with the small window of the IO in the photo - in lieu of a home visit (only had home visit once on the first extension) takes around 2 minutes no trouble at all. Polite and friendly IO

 

There was no mention of Chanote, just the usual house owners house book, id, rental agreement. He did pay more attention than usual to the documents, he noted our rent agreement was drawn up 10 years ago and had no end date, he accepted it as have done other times but said it would be better if it said unlimited or no expiry date on it.

[DrJack54]

The article mentioned "new head guy"

This is just the usual song and dance with Thai immigration.

When Big Joke was removed even CW did a crackdown on TM30.

That lasted about one month.

 

All new kids on the block (immigration appointments)  need to make a splash.

Suggest all take deep breath on this. 

[FriendlyFarang]

13 hours ago, xylophone said:

"The requirement for a foreigner to provide a copy of the Chanote title for a property the foreigner does not own appears to be an attempt by Phuket immigration to hold foreigners staying in Phuket responsible under "section 38 of the immigration act" which applies only to landlords and householders".

 

So my understanding of this is that they are applying section 38 of the immigration act to this guy who rents a house, and this section only applies to landlords and householders?

The foreigner is renting the place, making him the householder/possessor, so section 38 of the immigration act applies to him. The article is portraying this wrong.

[herfiehandbag]

16 hours ago, Sigma6 said:

video walkthroughs of your home..?

More over reach by the idiots that are immigration here.

 

Is it to push you to use agents?
 

Well expecting/taking informal renumeration from Visa applicants is frowned upon, and perhaps carries with it both the opportunity to work "on one's own account" and the risk of disciplinary action if you do so and fail to enter said renumeration into the informal yet no doubt highly effective accounting and share out system.

 

Splitting the agents fees is much neater all round.

[kingstonkid]

15 hours ago, xylophone said:

You may be right, however that's not how the article reads (to me anyway) because it says the following: –

 

"The requirement for a foreigner to provide a copy of the Chanote title for a property the foreigner does not own appears to be an attempt by Phuket immigration to hold foreigners staying in Phuket responsible under "section 38 of the immigration act" which applies only to landlords and householders".

 

So my understanding of this is that they are applying section 38 of the immigration act to this guy who rents a house, and this section only applies to landlords and householders?

 

Not altogether clear, but then again, TIT.

Does he rent the house. There are so many different ways to read the article.  

The one thing I am not clear on why were the news there and was it just coincidence that this reporter was there at the same time and had this issue.

 

I have to wonder if this was them giving the middle digit to a pain in the asset 

[Tropposurfer]

15 hours ago, zzzzz said:

if you read the article it applied to a farang working and living with his thai wife ( for reason why he has a 1 year extension)
NOT for those on retirement extensions.

friend of mine recently applied for his extension based on marriage> He had to provide 3 photos, 2 weeks ago of inside the house an outside.
Week later they called him and told him they would be at his house in 10 minutes<  he was 30 minutes away
so they arranged a video call later in the day  
so that part is nothing new<

Copy of the land title is.
 

I'm with you zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. I've heard zip about this.

My experience on an Elite retirement visa is that my Elite concierge, if there was any uptick in reporting evidences, would have called me direct asap.

I (and a few of my neighbours also have same experience as me) haven't been required to show images or update images, hold video calls, have I.O. visit our houses since my/our initial visa application/s were processed.

For me they came about a month after the house was completed and I, "she who must be obeyed", and our belongings arrived. They took, literally, one look at the house, met my darling amour, promptly waied me a lot then left toot-sweet never to return.

 

Perhaps it was the fresh coffee, home made biscuits, and weighty brow envelope under their coffee cups that had some bearing on their behaviour and subsequent marked reappearance (jibe/joke) LOL ????

 

That was 3 years ago for me and 2 and 5 years for the other two residents I have conversations with.

Seems I.O., like they do in many other areas of visa processes, 'chop-and-change' as we say in Oz, at a whim.

 

[brianthainess]

Not all land titles are Chanote, so what happens then, should just be blue house book. 

[alphason]

45 minutes ago, kingstonkid said:

Does he rent the house. There are so many different ways to read the article.  

The one thing I am not clear on why were the news there and was it just coincidence that this reporter was there at the same time and had this issue.

 

I have to wonder if this was them giving the middle digit to a pain in the asset 

I think the reporter and the applicant are one and the same person, or its the foreigner with a Thai employee to help? from the article... "the foreigner, who works in local media".

 

Maybe the IO is not a fan of the media outlet he works for "Col Thanet said It's back to the question of what job he [the foreigner] does... It is case by case"

[pagallim]

46 minutes ago, brianthainess said:

Not all land titles are Chanote, so what happens then, should just be blue house book. 

Agreed, however, I believe than an individual can only appear in one blue house book as that is used for other forms of registration.   If somebody is renting out a property they own, it's higher than probable they will be in the blue book of their primary residence, hence the need of the visa extension applicant to get a copy of whatever land deed document showing the actual owner.   Now of course we get into muddy waters, as it may not be the actual owner who is the actual leassor/landlord, it could be sub let.   There's often reluctance on the part of Thai property owners to become 'official landlords' as there's the potential of being liable for income tax.

[xylophone]

2 hours ago, kingstonkid said:

Does he rent the house. There are so many different ways to read the article.  

According to the article, yes he does rent the place and has done for about 12 years, and that brings in another factor – – would the owner of the house (the renter) willingly give over his/her Chanote to a foreigner to take to immigration?

 

Never been the case in the rented places in which I have lived, and even when I owned a house, as far as I recall, immigration didn't want to see the Chanote (memory might be a bit hazy on this though).

 

Very puzzling.

[kingstonkid]

7 hours ago, xylophone said:

According to the article, yes he does rent the place and has done for about 12 years, and that brings in another factor – – would the owner of the house (the renter) willingly give over his/her Chanote to a foreigner to take to immigration?

 

Never been the case in the rented places in which I have lived, and even when I owned a house, as far as I recall, immigration didn't want to see the Chanote (memory might be a bit hazy on this though).

 

Very puzzling.

I may be jaded but I think this is a media hack looking for relevance and he has gotten immigration upset at him.  Never knew an immigration office that had to send an application to higher people outside of there office.

[stevenl]

I was asked the same when I did my extension in I think October.

[oldcpu]

3 hours ago, kingstonkid said:

I may be jaded but I think this is a media hack looking for relevance and he has gotten immigration upset at him.  Never knew an immigration office that had to send an application to higher people outside of there office.

I am not sure if I correctly understood the quote, but its commonly known that for some Visa applications and extensions, Phuket immigration does send the applications out of province.  That has been posted on this forum before.

 

The cases I know of in Phuket immigration are:

(1) 1-year marriage extension on a Type-OA visa - after filling in all the paperwork and providing such to Phuket immigration, ... Phuket immigration would then send the paperwork out of province for approval.

(2) initial Type-O 90-day Visa application (made when one was in Phuket on a Tourist exempt)  - again after filling in all the paperwork and providing such to Phuket immigration, ... Phuket immigration would then send the paperwork out of province for approval.

 

There may be other examples as well - although possibly I misunderstood what I quoted (apologies if that is the case).

 

[DrJack54]

7 minutes ago, oldcpu said:

I am not sure if I correctly understood the quote, but its commonly known that for some Visa applications and extensions, Phuket immigration does send the applications out of province.  That has been posted on this forum before.

 

The cases I know of in Phuket immigration are:

(1) 1-year marriage extension on a Type-OA visa - after filling in all the paperwork and providing such to Phuket immigration, ... Phuket immigration would then send the paperwork out of province for approval.

(2) initial Type-O 90-day Visa application (made when one was in Phuket on a Tourist exempt)  - again after filling in all the paperwork and providing such to Phuket immigration, ... Phuket immigration would then send the paperwork out of province for approval.

 

There may be other examples as well - although possibly I misunderstood what I quoted (apologies if that is the case).

 

All applications for extensions based on marriage will be sent to other province for approval. 

 

For extensions based on retirement that is not the case. 

[zzzzz]

Chanote  ( NS 4) is used here mostly to mean land paper>
I am sure a Nor sor sam ( NS 3) is good as well if the land is not yet been given a chanote

[kingstonkid]

16 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

All applications for extensions based on marriage will be sent to other province for approval. 

 

For extensions based on retirement that is not the case. 

Interesting thanks Jack

[Seeall]

On 5/4/2023 at 4:42 PM, oldcpu said:

Possibly some exaggeration in the article?

 

When I applied for a 90-day Type-O visa in Phuket in late October last year, I was asked for a copy of pages out of the Chanote of the condo unit I own (which I passed to them) and I was also asked for copies out of pages of my Blue book for my condo (instead I gave them copies of pages out of my Yellow book - which they accepted). 

 

I was also asked to call them via Line social media app (they gave me a phone number for Line) at a specific time in the next couple of days, which I did. While on the video call they had me walk to my condo unit door so they could see the unit number, and then had me walk to the street so they could see the condo complex street sign.  All easy and quick to do. There was no requirement to go to one of my condo's bedrooms. That's a bit bizarre ?

 

Then in January this year when I went for a 1-year extension (at Phuket immigration) for reason of retirement on that Type-O Visa, I provided them again copies of my Chanote and Yellow book. This time they did NOT ask to do a video call.

 

Of course that was January this year. This is May now so maybe requirements for extensions have changed?

there is no point in trying to track when and why.. same with what happend to  tom or dick or harry, they just do whatever enters their rattly excuse for a brain... like a whim of a 2 year old..... but it is rather impressive their  psychic abilities to ask for the one thing you forgot, and also not want what you have in your bag,...  are these advanced beings?  It baffles the laws of stastistics...

[pizzachang]

On 5/4/2023 at 4:42 PM, oldcpu said:

There was no requirement to go to one of my condo's bedrooms. That's a bit bizarre ?

It's not unusual - wife and I had this happen - IO wanted a photo of us sitting together on our bed!

[pizzachang]

On 5/5/2023 at 9:45 PM, DrJack54 said:

All applications for extensions based on marriage will be sent to other province for approval. 

I was under the impression that all O visa, 1 year extensions are sent to Bangkok. If this were not the case, then surely the Immigration Office's top officer could simply review that day's applicants, the interviewer's "notes" and approve the application. Immigration recommend 30 - 45 days before the expirations date - right?

[oldcpu]

19 hours ago, pizzachang said:

I was under the impression that all O visa, 1 year extensions are sent to Bangkok. If this were not the case, then surely the Immigration Office's top officer could simply review that day's applicants, the interviewer's "notes" and approve the application. Immigration recommend 30 - 45 days before the expirations date - right?

In the case of Phuket, I think 1-year extensions (on type-O and type-OA) based on marriage are sent out of province.  This statement is based on m experience with a Type-OA 1-year extension based on marriage.

 

But I believe (also in case of Phuket) that 1 year extensions (on a type-O) based on retirement are NOT sent out of province.  I base this on my experience, in Phuket (earlier this year) when I applied for a 1-year extension, based on retirement, on my type-O visa ....  it took only took 24 hours.  I don't think it can go to another province and back in that timeframe.

 

Note this is in contrast to my applying (last October) for my initial 90-day Type-O (based on retirement) that took about 6-weeks and clearly was sent out of province for approval.

[merijn]

On 5/9/2023 at 4:25 AM, oldcpu said:

In the case of Phuket, I think 1-year extensions (on type-O and type-OA) based on marriage are sent out of province.  This statement is based on m experience with a Type-OA 1-year extension based on marriage.

 

But I believe (also in case of Phuket) that 1 year extensions (on a type-O) based on retirement are NOT sent out of province.  I base this on my experience, in Phuket (earlier this year) when I applied for a 1-year extension, based on retirement, on my type-O visa ....  it took only took 24 hours.  I don't think it can go to another province and back in that timeframe.

 

Note this is in contrast to my applying (last October) for my initial 90-day Type-O (based on retirement) that took about 6-weeks and clearly was sent out of province for approval.

Extensions based on mariage are send to Had Yai for final approval. (therefore you need 2 sets)

Extensions based on retirement are not send away and approved at Phuket Immigration.

[xylophone]

13 hours ago, merijn said:

Extensions based on mariage are send to Had Yai for final approval. (therefore you need 2 sets)

Extensions based on retirement are not send away and approved at Phuket Immigration.

Good to hear from you again, Merijn.????