What exactly is a Thai pink ID card?

[Packer]

The advantages are obviously for those people not working here with work permits. 

 

For those that live here without working, it offers a lifetime of ease whenever some desk clerk or officer says a Certificate of Residence is needed.

 

This seems to upset some people. I'm not sure why. 

[DrJack54]

10 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

Valid point - My renewal is due this year...  Its entirely possible that at DLT Area 3 BKK (where I go), that the rules have changed.

This attached thread is transport office you mentioned. 

As far as I'm aware they are only transport office in Bangkok that allows TDL renewal with yellow book/pink card. 

 

[richard_smith237]

2 minutes ago, Packer said:

This seems to upset some people. I'm not sure why. 

 

In the past, some posters have expressed that individuals possessing the pink ID often portray it as something exceptional - a mark of distinction that supposedly confers special status. Consequently, these critics tend to react quite negatively to any mention of the pink ID, at times even resorting to misinformation in an effort to legitimise their apparent disdain for it.

 

Why some become so agitated remains unclear - yet they do.

 

It’s reminiscent of the perennial debates around digital versus cash transactions: opposing voices frequently offer arguments so fundamentally flawed they verge on the absurd, all in an effort to justify their position. In truth, a more balanced perspective is invariably the wiser course.

 

[roo860]

22 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

Not interested Specifically about CM. 

If transport office accepts pink card for TDL renewal then fine. 

Some will require a COR. 

BTW when was last time you renewed you TDL in CM. 

What did you provide the transport office? 

 

22 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

 

3 months ago, yellow book for proof of residence for TDL.

This topic is about the uses of a pink card, I needed one to buy and sell a motorbike in Chiang Mai.

[richard_smith237]

2 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

This attached thread is transport office you mentioned. 

As far as I'm aware they are only transport office in Bangkok that allows TDL renewal with yellow book/pink card. 

 

 

Possibly - this is the one I always use (and have used my Pink ID / Yellow Book).

 

It would actually make for an interesting list where forum members have had first hand experience of successfully using their Pink ID / Yellow Book you renew their licenses.

 

- I travel too frequently to ever do a 90 days report.

- As such, I am unable to get a CoR (from Chaeng Wattana Immigration - unless something has recently changed)

- UK Consulate Notary services are ridiculously expensive (2000 baht for an Affirmation of Address, I think).

- UK Consulate Notary services are also somewhat 'wishy-washy' about the Elite Visa being what they call a 'long term visa' (even though its 5 years (and I have membership for life) - I've had discussions with them on this issue in the past (more than 10 years ago).

 

Thus: With certainty, the Pink ID / Yellow Book has helped out a lot for my personal situation at DLT Area 3 in BKK.

[DrJack54]

4 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

- I travel too frequently to ever do a 90 days report.

- As such, I am unable to get a CoR (from Chaeng Wattana Immigration - unless something has recently changed)

Indeed... Previously CW required you to have done a TM47 with that office in order to obtain a COR. 

That was recently changed and having done a 90 report no longer required to obtain COR

[dinsdale]

On 5/17/2025 at 2:32 PM, Ralf001 said:

 

Have lived and worked here 20 years.

 

Not yet seen a reason why having a pink card is beneficial.

Card in wallet vs passport. There you go. One benefit.

[scorecard]

On 5/17/2025 at 1:15 PM, unblocktheplanet said:

Rajadamri. They changed them a few years ago which was a bit of an adventure. The trick is NEVER give up your card if they harass you. I've been hassled just twice (Phayathai & Phrom Pong).

 

At Phayatai, a BTS gal & security ran up to the platform; all smiles whenI showed then pink ID (and I don't even look Burmese!). At Phrom Pong, security tried to grab my arm & I screamed bloody murder in Thai & the whole station just stopped. Helps to tell them to call in BTS lawyers.

 

I also carry a copy of the passages in the Thai Constitution which prohibit discrimination on the basis of age or nationality.

 

I'm so invested in equality, I'm fully prepared to tell them to call in the BiB and have me arrested for theft of services. Somehow, I doubt they will!

 

Further advice: pick an out of the way station for top-up. I usually keep B500 on mine.  

 

"...I usually keep B500 on mine.  ..."   What card are you talking about?

[Packer]

1 hour ago, richard_smith237 said:

Why some become so agitated remains unclear - yet they do.

 

The same grumps that go ballistic at hearing about Westerners learning Thai, or going for Thai citizenship, I suppose. 🙂 

[scorecard]

About 4 years back I presented a photocopy of an AirAsia domestic flight booking and my pink card at AirAsia check-in in Chiang Mai.

 

Unpleasant check-in girl threw a fit and said 'foreigners cannot have cards like this and said she was calling the police.

 

She didn't know her supervisor was standing behind her. Supv'r grabbed the card and said quickly "why would you call the police, this card is valid and legal and AA accepts it as ID".

 

Check-in girl was shocked, but continued and asked me "did you steal this card?"

 

Supervisor pushed her aside with some abuse and looked at me and said "I apologize, give me ten seconds and I'll give you your boarding pass.

 

I got the boarding pass and the pink card and started to walk away.

 

As I did the supv'r was giving the check-in girl a serious blast and a warning. 

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I got the Thai 13 digit ID number when I received Thai PR, some 28 years ago. This was at the Pattaya Amphur office when I received my PR book.

 

About 8 years ago I went to the big Chiang Mai Amphur office, I presented my PR book, Tabien Baan book (*dark blue cover), RED police reg. book and passport. (*PR holders are entered in the standard dark blue Tabien Baan (TB) book, not a yellow TB book.)

 

Very pleasant your man looked at my docs and said "Yes we can issue you the pink card, but at this office we issue many standard Thai ID cards every day then 10 or 20 minutes before closing time we change the cards in the card issuing machine to pink cards. So would be convenient for you to please come back later this afternoon?

 

I agreed, went back, young officer gave me a big smile and a big wai and took me quickly to the photo area. Fifteen 5 minutes later I walked out with my pink card and with apologies for having to come back later in the day. All very pleasant.

[oldcpu]

I have a pink ID.  It is NOT necessary but it has proven itself useful on more than one occasion.

 

When I first obtained it, my wife's family split a gut laughing,  as they noted it was a ID that many of the very VERY low paid foreign laborers had to get.  They thought that funny given my visa is an LTR-WP visa.

 

The Pink-ID has been useful in obtaining Thai price at some Thai national parks, but not at others.

 

When asked for passport at dentist office  (they should NOT need a passport) I provided my pink-D.

 

I used it to successfully register online for COVID jab during COVID times, ...I have no idea if it sped up my getting a jab.

 

I nominally (when traveling within a couple of hours of my condo) don't carry my passport.  I carry my pink ID.  However the Banks so far for me still insist on seeing my passport.

 

My pink-Id and yellow book enable me to renew my Thai drivers license without having to get a residence letter (COR) from the local immigration.  That was handy.

 

When applying for the LTR visa, I needed to buy some Thai government bonds as part of my investment in Thailand.  Two banks refused me.  Finally Bangkok Bank branch manager stated he would allow me to buy Thai government bonds through his branch ONLY if I had a yellow book and Pink-Id.  When buying the government bonds, the computer form had a place where one must enter their Thai tax-ID.  I had no Thai tax-ID.  Instead the bank entered my pink-ID number (in the Thai tax number field), and the Thai bond order proceeded successfully. If left blank the bond order would not proceed.

 

I could NOT do this with just a passport!!

 

The BIGGEST benefit, by far (worth a few hundred thousand dollars) was I was able to use it to unfreeze a foreign trading account. The foreign institution wanted my Thai taxation number to unfreeze my foreign account (which had a significant amount of money it).  I applied for a Thai ID but I was refused. Previously, when applying for the Thai Tax ID, the tax government official noted my pink-ID number could end up being my tax ID number, after it was activated (but he was not yet going to activate it).  

 

In case curious, the reason I was denied a tax ID is I have no Thai income, and I am bringing no money into Thailand.  Rather years back, when I was not a resident of Thailand, I brought a very large amount of money into Thailand and I live off of that. Since I have no income remitted to Thailand, nor income earned in Thailand, the official did not see the point to give me a Thai tax ID.  

 

So I passed the Pink-ID number to the foreign financial institute, advising them it was not yet activated as the tax ID.  They were happy with that and they unfroze my account.  I was immediately then able to trade equities again, and fortunately with the unfrozen assets picked an equity that within 6-months earned me a few hundred thousand US dollars.

 

Could I have done this without the Pink-ID? Possibly. possibly not.  For certain I could not do this with just a passport !!

 

I note that when applying for a tax ID that the Thai government tax official did not seem to care that I needed a Thai tax ID for foreign account reasons. I debated with him a bit, but not too much. I did not want him to lose face.  I might have had to go over his head at the tax department, which I did not want to do.  Fortunately the Pink-ID worked.

 

My cases are obscure.  Clearly very obscure.   But in life one never knows. 

 

The pink-Id (and yellow book) were, I recall, a MAJOR pain to get.  Getting such for me worked out, but for sometime I was annoyed at how much effort needed.

 

I think clearly for most expats a pink-ID will have little benefit (except to make one's Thai friends and Thai family laugh).

[mogandave]

20 hours ago, Ralf001 said:

 

I did not have to show passport either.

Did you need a certificate of residence?