What on earth is TM30 ?!

[AndrewMciver]

Guys we are in Thailand, with  my partner and 3 kids (all under 10). 

 

We have arrived and stayed in an airbnb. We qualified for visa exemption. We plan to get an extension in the coming days for another month. Before we get our education visas. 

 

However, i now keep hearing about TM30 ?! What on the dog feacal matter is this ?! Will my airbnb host have registered me ?!

 

My question is i don't think the owner of the airbnb has ever asked about my children? Have they been registered with a TM30 ?!

 

[FriendlyFarang]

https://www.immigration.go.th/en/?p=14721

 

13 minutes ago, AndrewMciver said:

Will my airbnb host have registered me ?!

Probably not

[AndrewMciver]

6 minutes ago, FriendlyFarang said:

https://www.immigration.go.th/en/?p=14721

 

Probably not

 

 

UPDATE - just contacted him. He hasn't registered me. 

 

Now what ? Do i go straight to the goolags and how does this effect my visa extension i planned on getting ?

[Middle Aged Grouch]

Same issues in those swanky pool-villa developpments in Hin Lek Fai - HUA HIN. The managers rarely or never submit the TM30 online or paper, when their foreign owners come over for a few months. Quite easy to always put the blame on the foreigner-house owner. But if a developpment is making good money, cashing exorbitant monthly "common fees" etc, such a service must be provided. Another good reason not to blindly go and rent those swank pool villas in Hua Hin, with the risk of getting into hassles with some zealous officer on leaving.

 

Hotels are dead chep, far safer and the best place for tourist visits.

[DrJack54]

OP stop your rant.

For someone bringing family to Thailand without looking into 30 day extension requirements is reckless..

 

You need to provide TM30 for immigration

One solution , to check into a hotel (one night) making sure they can provide you screenshot of a TM30.

 

Your children being under 15 are not subject to overstay laws.

 

Good luck with Ed visas.

There are better options with dependant children attending school. 

[Hummin]

30 minutes ago, AndrewMciver said:

 

 

UPDATE - just contacted him. He hasn't registered me. 

 

Now what ? Do i go straight to the goolags and how does this effect my visa extension i planned on getting ?

I have been here on visa exempt, tourist visa, a few years on retirement, and back on exempt, and now for first time we called in at emigration for tm 30, and we could meet up on monday if that suited us. Never done it before, but once and awhile got a heads up from them, next time I have to do. The owner have to bring the housebook, and bring your copy of first page passport and your visa exempt/visa, or he register online. 

 

 

[GypsyT]

Bring CASH.

[AndrewMciver]

Hmmm very disappointing this

[2baht]

7 hours ago, AndrewMciver said:

What on the dog feacal matter is this ?!

It's Big Brother following your movements, showing you just who's in charge here! 

[Skipalongcassidy]

@OP... and you are coming to Thailand to teach...555

[Red Phoenix]

TM-30 is the name of the form used to notify local Immigration that a foreigner is staying at an address in their province.  According to Thai law this has to be done within 24 hours of the foreigner arriving at the premises.

That TM-30 notification is a pain in the a$$, as the Immigration Office will not provide you with any service when it was not done.  Contrary to what you might think it is not the 'responsibility' of the owner of the house/landlord to notify Immigration (although they can be fined when not having done it).  Immigration also considers it the responsibility of the foreigner to ensure that the place where he is staying, has been notified to Immigration.  So if you are in need of an Immigration service (e.g. applying for a 30-day extension of stay or applying for the 90-day Non Imm O Visa or any other service for that matter) and the owner of the place where you are staying has not done it, you are in a conundrum.  

For tourists the solution to that problem is simple > they can simply check into a cheap Hotel and ask the reception to provide them with a copy of the TM-30 that the Hotel is required to make.

But for those that intend to stay long term in Thailand and want to apply for the 90-day Non Imm O Visa or the 1-year extension of such when they got such Non Imm O Visa abroad, the Hotel/Guesthouse solution will not cut it.  Because in that case Immigration wants that they are provided with additional documentation (e.g. housebook, signed copy of Thai ID-card of owner, copy of rental or lease agreement - it will depend upon the specific situation what Immigration requires) that the address will be where you will be staying long-term (and you might get a house visit by Immigration to check whether you are really staying there). 

NOTE: Some posters will respond to the above that they never issued a TM-30 form to Immigration and were not asked for it, and still were provided with the service they required.  That's due to the misunderstanding that the FORM needs to be provided, while it are in fact the 'underlying documents' that need to be provided to Immigration.  E.g. if you provide Immigration with a copy of the rental/lease agreement, they will often do the TM-30 process for you as you provided them with the required evidence of the address where you are staying.

[pomchop]

It is yet another form that you will be required to provide to immigration to get an extension...if you do not have it you will be sent away and told to come back when /if you get it.

 

Thais and many other governments love forms and paperwork...gives them more things to stamp and stick in a folder til all taken out back and burned.

[Yeah rightio]

2 hours ago, AndrewMciver said:

Hmmm very disappointing this

Why?

Is it outside of your comfort zone..... 

[owl sees all]

Been here 16 years. Travelled a good deal. Stayed in dozens of places. Never even knew about a TM30. And certainly never been pulled up for one.

 

When do these TM30s kick in?

[Hummin]

3 minutes ago, owl sees all said:

Been here 16 years. Travelled a good deal. Stayed in dozens of places. Never even knew about a TM30. And certainly never been pulled up for one.

 

When do these TM30s kick in?

Did you ever had your own place or in your or wife name? 

 

We havent done it either, but this time Im going to have a new retirement visa, and we have our own place, so therefor we do it now just to make sure. Had a few warnings from before when I renewed my visas, so better do it now ????

 

 

[DrJack54]

3 minutes ago, Hummin said:

Had a few warnings from before when I renewed my visas, so better do it now

Any time you enter Thailand with a new visa you are required to do a TM30.

 

[Hummin]

4 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

Any time you enter Thailand with a new visa you are required to do a TM30.

 

Useally my first TM30 is on hotels, and back home have really nit bothered, but Im aware of the rules yes, and therefor as described, will start doing it from now with new visa application.

[daveAustin]

20 minutes ago, owl sees all said:

Been here 16 years. Travelled a good deal. Stayed in dozens of places. Never even knew about a TM30. And certainly never been pulled up for one.

 

When do these TM30s kick in?

You know when you hand over your passport at a hotel and they fill in your details?, that is regarding TM30 ????

You’ll know about it if you need to extend your visa or try to obtain cert of residence for whatever reason etc. 

[lordblackader]

1 hour ago, owl sees all said:

Been here 16 years. Travelled a good deal. Stayed in dozens of places. Never even knew about a TM30. And certainly never been pulled up for one.

 

When do these TM30s kick in?

Depending on the Immigration office, you can't do anything without one on file. It has been law since 1979 and enforced since about 2016 at some offices - Chiang Mai in particular. 

[homeseeker]

I notice at CW immigration(BKK) at the check in area there are  counters marked "TM 30".

[Rimmer]

A post contravening our Community Standards has been removed.    

[bbko]

11 hours ago, AndrewMciver said:

 

 

UPDATE - just contacted him. He hasn't registered me. 

 

Now what ? Do i go straight to the goolags and how does this effect my visa extension i planned on getting ?

Put some fire under his butt (in a polite/respectful way)  and tell him if he doesn't help you file your TM 30 (as required by Thai law), you will be forced to move to another place that will file your TM 30.

[Pib]

5 minutes ago, homeseeker said:

I notice at CW immigration(BKK) at the check in area there are  counters marked "TM 30".

Yea...and in mid 2019 when doing my 11th retirement extension of stay I spent approximately 4 hours in the CW TM30 counter queue because the immigration officer processing my retirement extension in the Long Term L section wouldn't approve it until I could show a TM30 which I had never done since retiring to Thailand 11 years earlier.  So IO sent me over to the TM30 section to resolve the issue...once resolving the issue (i.e., providing a copy of a TM30) I was to come back to the L section to finish processing of my annual extension.

 

That day at CW "many" people applying for annual renewal of their retirement/marriage/long stay extensions were being required to show a TM30 which most had never accomplished (or possibly heard of)  just like me.   I was in the TM30 queue for 4 hours (not counting the intervening lunch break)  before being called...the end result was completing paperwork for a TM30, paying a Bt800 fine, and being issued a TM30.   

 

I then went back to the L section with TM30 in-hand....in about another 30 minutes L section finished approval of my extension.....I'm done.   Where typically my annual extensions only took a few hours and I was done well before lunch for my 2019 extension the "copy of my TM30" requirement monkey wrench turned my CW visit into pretty much an all day affair.   Around 2019 is when the Thai govt got anal about TM30 being accomplished due to a lot of high profile, media grabbing attention on overstays, expat criminal activity, etc., which the govt framed as national security related. 

 

 

[DrJack54]

25 minutes ago, Pib said:

.......the immigration officer processing my retirement extension in the Long Term L section wouldn't approve it until I could show a TM30 which I had never done since retiring to Thailand 11 years earlier

In approx 2019 there was a change in boss of immigration.

Big Joke exit and Big Oud new boss.

The TM30 was a show of doing something.

Thought for first time ever I would need to do a TM30.

However this all fizzled out and in Nov 2019 did annual extension CW without TM30 

[Pib]

1 minute ago, DrJack54 said:

In approx 2019 there was a change in boss of immigration.

Big Joke exit and Big Oud new boss.

The TM30 was a show of doing something.

Thought for first time ever I would need to do a TM30.

However this all fizzled out and in Nov 2019 did annual extension CW without TM30 

Now for the my 2020 extension I included a copy of my TM30 with my extension paperwork....in 2021 I didn't include a TM30 copy and the IO asked for it and I provided it....in 2022 I started just including it again to avoid the IO from possibly asking for it and since providing a copy is cheap & easy.   Just another example of how people's experiences vary from immigration office to office and even at the same office.

 

[DrJack54]

1 minute ago, Pib said:

Now for the my 2020 extension I included a copy of my TM30 with my extension paperwork....in 2021 I didn't include a TM30 copy and the IO asked for it and I provided it....in 2022 I started just including it again to avoid the IO from possibly asking for it and since providing a copy is cheap & easy.   Just another example of how people's experiences vary from immigration office to office and even at the same office.

 

Indeed.

BTW did your paperwork include a Lease.

[GypsyT]

"Any time you enter Thailand with a new visa you are required to do a TM30."

 

PLUS; "every time you change hotel!" I was told @ Jomtien immigration... A new report within 24h.

 

I travel a lot and stay maybe in 8-12 places during 3-4mo vacation. Most are far away from nearest Immigration.

It's unreasonable to think they (hotels) make so many reports. They don't so before my trip I stay at my reputable hotel knowing they do report and return to the same. That way it, hopefully, looks I've been staying there all the time.

Time will tell if it works and how long.

What do you think?

[mokwit]

12 hours ago, AndrewMciver said:

Guys we are in Thailand, with  my partner and 3 kids (all under 10). 

 

We have arrived and stayed in an airbnb. We qualified for visa exemption. We plan to get an extension in the coming days for another month. Before we get our education visas. 

 

However, i now keep hearing about TM30 ?! What on the dog feacal matter is this ?! Will my airbnb host have registered me ?!

 

My question is i don't think the owner of the airbnb has ever asked about my children? Have they been registered with a TM30 ?!

 

It is because of people staying [often illegally] in condos that we all have to do a TM30.

[KhunLA]

@AndrewMciver

 I'm thinking easiest would be, IF landlord is allowed to rent, is backdate a lease, then have landlord submit the TM30.  Pay the fine (฿1000 or used to be), to give landlord motivation to.  Really no bid deal for anyone involved, unless of course the landlord is renting illegally.

 

Can't hurt to ask.   Lease <3yrs and landlord doesn't have to worry about registering it with land office and being taxed in advance.

[mokwit]

1 hour ago, Pib said:

That day at CW "many" people applying for annual renewal of their retirement/marriage/long stay extensions were being required to show a TM30 which most had never accomplished (or possibly heard of)  just like me.   

They're so thoughtful.