1 hour ago, OJAS said:

But is it likewise possible to use a pink ID card in order to update one's SIM card registration on a one-off basis (based on the last 4 digits of the pink card's number)? This is something else which normally needs to be attended to at passport renewal time these days.

What would be of greater interest to me personally, though, is whether I could use my TIN card for these purposes (I don't have a pink ID card).

Just to clear out a few things here. In both of these instances: 1 opening a bank account, 2 registering a new sim card the answer is same. The ID foreigner must use is the passport. Passport is the only official ID they can have in Thailand.

Certainly it will help to have TB and pink ID if you want to open bank account but you will still need to present your passport. Adding your pink ID number is additional and actually doesn't change or help anyting. I know because I have done that. NO bank will give you access to your own account if you didn't bring the passport. If the passport has been renewed and there is a new number, no big deal, it can be updated but there has never been an issue with bank service, eg. mobile banking if the old passport expired.

I have never had issue with my sim card either even the passport has expired a decade ago. How were you informed of the issue regarding expired passport number regarding your mobile number?

1 hour ago, patman30 said:

Thanks, that is the first time anyone has commented their requirement for something.

I have also opened bank accounts, in several banks actually, using TB and only 30 day free entry stamp in passport but this does not mean it can be done in every bank nor even in every branch of the same bank.

Lately, after the latest visa rules regarding bank accounts, I have not heard anyone doing that with out a yearly stay permit in their passport. So regarding bank accounts all we can agree on is that the requirements vary greatly.

On 3/27/2026 at 7:00 AM, MikeWill said:

I was talking to some other expats recently and it was suggested I should get a foreigner ID card? I think its also called the Pink ID card.

So, does anyone here have one, do you find it handy to have?

Thanks

I use my Pink ID .... hospital / doctor / hotel check in train tickets etc my tax id is a diff # b but being a US citizen and only declaring US Soc Sec $$ no taxes anyway

56 minutes ago, zhangxifu said:

Lately, after the latest visa rules regarding bank accounts, I have not heard anyone doing that with out a yearly stay permit in their passport.

It's still possible to open a bank account on a non-immigrant visa entry (90 days), which can be a requirement for getting a 1-year extension (retirement, marriage).

On 3/27/2026 at 7:59 AM, Andrew Dwyer said:

Asking on here you will receive varying information and opinions, visit your Amphur

The amphur will not answer his question , which was, "is it worth having" they will only advise as to what paperwork is required.

Personally I don't see the point in having either the yellow book or the card at present, But, that may well change in the future, and if it does I can imagine the requirements to be met in order to obtain them will invariably become more difficult,

So It could actually be a good move to get one now before things get more tricky

3 minutes ago, Caldera said:

It's still possible to open a bank account on a non-immigrant visa entry (90 days), which can be a requirement for getting a 1-year extension (retirement, marriage).

Yes that is correct as I did so in February this year at Kasikorn Udon Thani.

My wife suggested that I get the yellow book and ID card "to make things easy". I didn't really care either way but off to the district office we go, where they give us their requirements....not too hard so ok, let's do it.

Nearly a year later, after much much faffing around and extra stuff needed, the mayor himself gave me the yellow book, and the card about 10 minutes later. One of the hoops to jump through was getting immigration to confirm that the address was correct and I really lived there (as well as puu yai baan saying so). Then a few weeks later it was time for my visa extension, when Ubon immigration told me that the yellow book was not good enough for proof of address ! What ? you guys confirmed to the district office that I lived there and now it's not proof ? ( OK, that was all in my head, not verbal!)

I've been told that Ubon DLT don't accept it for license renewals either, so IMHO unless you are lucky enough to live somewhere that hands out yellow tabian baans an pink IDs easily, they are not worth the trouble.

On 3/26/2026 at 5:58 PM, roo860 said:

In Chiang Mai I needed one to sell a motorbike and change ownership of a another bike, that was a couple of years ago, I had the yellow book as well, seemed like this rule was only in Chiang Mai province. Was an easy process to get the pink card, cost me 70bt, have to take a Thai witness as well.

I sold a car in Chiangmai about 18 months ago and I didn’t need a pink card or yellow book, just a certificate of residence was needed. But I don’t live in Chiangmai anymore so what do I know.

On 3/27/2026 at 5:59 AM, DrJack54 said:

Indeed. The chap you quoted did very clear OP in this thread pointing out he used Pink ID card and yellow book.

My experience was 2 years ago and was with a USA guy. He was not successful with his Pink ID.

https://aseannow.com/topic/1389344-renewed-my-5-years-thai-driving-licence-at-chatuchak-march-2026/

While AI can be not accurate here is that answer.

"Alternative to COR: A valid Work Permit or a Yellow House Book (Yellow Tabian Baan) can sometimes be used instead of a COR, depending on the DLT office."

Would seem it varies.

Jack - you really can't leave the door wide open like that... 👌🍆

On 3/27/2026 at 5:59 AM, DrJack54 said:

My experience was 2 years ago and was with a USA guy. He was not successful with his Pink

2 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

you really can't leave the door wide open like that...

My first hand experience at Chatuchak transport office was in the main based on direct question to official there.

"Can I use pink ID".. Answer no.

Need COR.

Perhaps lost in translation.

Fact is reports at various offices a COR is required.

I'm aware Bang Chuk accept pink card.

On 3/27/2026 at 8:04 AM, Dcheech said:

You might have more ID on you than you realize.

Add Tax ID card.

15 hours ago, zhangxifu said:

How were you informed of the issue regarding expired passport number regarding your mobile number?

Through this thread:

https://aseannow.com/topic/1359645-does-your-sim-registration-and-bank-details-match/

20 hours ago, Gecko123 said:

I thought hotels were required to report to immigration when a foreigner checked in/checked out. How would they be able to do this without a passport number? If the pink ID card does not contain your passport number, then the hotel must be registering you as a non-foreigner, possibly in order to circumvent the TM-30 reporting requirement. That is an incentive for hotels to accept the pink card in lieu of a passport, but I wonder if that practice is considered kosher from immigration's standpoint, and if some hotels in some areas have been fined for doing this, which might explain why there is inconsistency about whether pink ID's can be used universally to check in to hotels.

20 hours ago, Gecko123 said:

I thought hotels were required to report to immigration when a foreigner checked in/checked out. How would they be able to do this without a passport number? If the pink ID card does not contain your passport number, then the hotel must be registering you as a non-foreigner, possibly in order to circumvent the TM-30 reporting requirement. That is an incentive for hotels to accept the pink card in lieu of a passport, but I wonder if that practice is considered kosher from immigration's standpoint, and if some hotels in some areas have been fined for doing this, which might explain why there is inconsistency about whether pink ID's can be used universally to check in to hotels.

20 hours ago, Gecko123 said:

I thought hotels were required to report to immigration when a foreigner checked in/checked out. How would they be able to do this without a passport number? If the pink ID card does not contain your passport number, then the hotel must be registering you as a non-foreigner, possibly in order to circumvent the TM-30 reporting requirement. That is an incentive for hotels to accept the pink card in lieu of a passport, but I wonder if that practice is considered kosher from immigration's standpoint, and if some hotels in some areas have been fined for doing this, which might explain why there is inconsistency about whether pink ID's can be used universally to check in to hotels.

Some Thai organizations do accept the foreigners pink ID as their official ID.

E.g. K Bank prefers to add your pink card number rather than a new passport number. It only needs to be recorded once. BBL the same.

Also the Thai Social Security Fund uses the citizen ID number on the pink ID card. some time back viisited my preferred hspital, I offered my passport and pink ID car. receptionist took the pink ID card.

14 hours ago, Bday Prang said:

Personally I don't see the point in having either the yellow book or the card at present, But, that may well change in the future, and if it does I can imagine the requirements to be met in order to obtain them will invariably become more difficult,

So It could actually be a good move to get one now before things get more tricky

What also needs to be taken into account in determining whether or not to apply for a yellow tabien baan or pink ID card IMHO is whether it is now really worth the effort given that the circumstances in which they can be used appear to be on a downward trend, as this thread, I think, graphically illustrates.

On 3/27/2026 at 7:43 AM, NE1 said:

Then again the Pink card and the Yellow book means nothing to renewing a TDL in some areas.

Surely the old TDL should suffice.

11 hours ago, MikeN said:

My wife suggested that I get the yellow book and ID card "to make things easy". I didn't really care either way but off to the district office we go, where they give us their requirements....not too hard so ok, let's do it.

My local Amphur in Bang Rakam INSISTED that we be married before Yellow Book/Pink Card issued. I questioned this many times and eventually the Boss of our village went with us and insisted they issue them. 30 minutes later I had both, which I have used for hotel check ins.

5 minutes ago, wil iam not said:

Surely the old TDL should suffice.

It is like everything else here , they think you could have moved with in the last X amount of months , years......No , it has to be the COR from Immigration

1 minute ago, NE1 said:

It is like everything else here , they think you could have moved with in the last X amount of months , years......No , it has to be the COR from Immigration

They accepted my Pink Card and old TDL for renewal here in my place.

Also it has my TIN, so used it for my tax return, the Officer never even looked at it as it is the third time I did it.

22 minutes ago, CFCol said:

If you own a house then the yellow book has your name in it whereas the blue book does not. On Samui you can use this and the pink card instead of a cor to renew your tdl.

wow thats great!!!
all the hassle vs getting a cor every 6 years

11 hours ago, ArchieBunker said:

I sold a car in Chiangmai about 18 months ago and I didn’t need a pink card or yellow book, just a certificate of residence was needed. But I don’t live in Chiangmai anymore so what do I know.

sell it in phuket< cor not needed to sell car , only to buy and register in uir name

On 3/27/2026 at 7:00 AM, MikeWill said:

I was talking to some other expats recently and it was suggested I should get a foreigner ID card? I think its also called the Pink ID card.

So, does anyone here have one, do you find it handy to have?

Thanks

The first time I went along to the cancer hospital I used my passport. I was sitting in the waiting area and a nurse walked past with an arm full of documents and I noticed a passport fall on the floor, being the only foreigner it had to be mine. Fortunately the nurse behind didn't walk on it, just picked it up. Next time I went I changed registration to pink ID and they did the same as everyone else. Slipped the ID card into a plastic sleeve and stapled the sleeve to the documents. Useful or not, up to you.

When covid came along the hospital registered me on Mor Phrom and arranged the vaccination.

Useful or not?

Been other benefits over the years but I appreciate those on private healthcare may not see it in the same light.

18 minutes ago, wil iam not said:

Also it has my TIN, so used it for my tax return, the Officer never even looked at it as it is the third time I did it.

Your Pink Card will carry the same number as your Thai TIN, but it is not actually your TIN unless registered with the Tax Authorities.You may well have done this already but the point is worth making - the Pink Card doesn't automatically provide you with a TIN.Having said that there's every possibility at local level nobody will check (or care) especially if the amounts involved in the tax return are small.I think the risk, such that it is, would arise with giving a fictitious TIN to foreign banks - but probably not much risk there either.

4 minutes ago, wil iam not said:

My local Amphur in Bang Rakam INSISTED that we be married before Yellow Book/Pink Card issued. I questioned this many time and eventually the Boss of our village went with us and insisted they issue them. 30 minutes later I had both, which I have used for hotel check ins.

The dynamic you described above between either the puu yai or even a kamnam and the officials at the amphoe office is quite different from what I have observed locally. Basically it sounds like you are in some jurisdiction with few foreigners and lax procedural adherence. Lucky you!

I just went through a failed attempt at obtaining a yellow book (to satisfy BKK bank) at the amphoe office, and on several occasions an assistant to the Amphoe District manager, picked up the phone and basically summoned my puu yai to come down to the district office (16 km away) at the drop of a hat. I had the impression that the puu yai had little choice in the matter, and that the puu yai's relationship with the assistant district office official was highly subordinate, with the puu yai showing an almost servile deference to the district office official.

The procedure for obtaining a yellow book which was outlined to me at the district office level included having the biometric page of my passport professionally translated, getting a letter from my embassy certifying that the passport was authentic, and then sending my passport to the Thai Foreign affairs office in Bangkok for them to also certify the authenticity of my passport. The district office officials I was dealing with seemed to relish making the process as difficult as possible, almost as if issuing a tabian ban to a foreigner was a sacrilege of some sort. At several junctures the puu yai would have had to be present for signing certain documents, so the entire process was quite laborious and time consuming, and I ultimately abandoned the effort, and changed to a bank which did not require a yellow book to open an account.

11 hours ago, MikeN said:

One of the hoops to jump through was getting immigration to confirm that the address was correct and I really lived there (as well as puu yai baan saying so). Then a few weeks later it was time for my visa extension, when Ubon immigration told me that the yellow book was not good enough for proof of address ! What ? you guys confirmed to the district office that I lived there and now it's not proof ? ( OK, that was all in my head, not verbal!)

Like many things here there is a great deal of inconsistency and a problem somewhere cannot be a deterrent to those elsewhere.

When I did mine nothing had to be supplied, other than a photo, but I had to wait 6 weeks to get the book while they did a police check.

Then when I did my first 12 month extension, one of the first things immigration asked was did I have a yellow book.

10 minutes ago, Gecko123 said:

Basically it sounds like you are in some jurisdiction with few foreigners and lax procedural adherence. Lucky you!

You have hit it on the head, few Falangs, and lazy (lax) officers.

No Passport translation, no waiting for Book and Card. Yes, I am lucky.

My experience 2 years ago renewing a Thai driver's license which can be done at the

Bangkok Land Transport Office Area 3 (Phra Khanong) (near Sukhumvit 62/1) was Yellow Book no longer sufficient, also need Pink ID card. Showed card. OK.

1 hour ago, wil iam not said:

They accepted my Pink Card and old TDL for renewal here in my place.

and they used to accept the Yellow Book / Pink card at ours , but not any more.

There is a bit about this in earlier posts.

On 3/27/2026 at 7:00 AM, MikeWill said:

So, does anyone here have one, do you find it handy to have?

I don’t have one, but a week ago I tried to open an account at KBank. They gave me a few options for documents needed for opening a new account. One of them was pink ID+pp, but I don’t have one. I opened an account by my rental contract, CA drivers license and PP. For 1st time I saw that they are capable to scan pp information from embedded cheap inside pp 🤔. Perhaps fake IDs out there and they don’t accept pink IDs at some places anymore.

On 3/27/2026 at 12:01 PM, zzzzz said:

seems nobody has mentioned that not just anyone can get a pink id card or a yellow book.
You need show ownership of ur condo / house to get the yellow book
Even when i owned a house here for 12 years, never bothered with trying to get one
so no reason to
how often do i need a cor?
once every 6 years to get my thai license, once every blue moon when i buy a car or bike
otherwise my thai license an passport are just fine for the past 40 years

Do you have a tin number? When I was going to register my tin number in the bank, they could not do it, because they choosed my driving license as id, and when i got my tin number, they used my pink card. So, there is obstacles around every corner. However my old Bangkok Bank Branch, had no problem to register my tin number.

12 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

14 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

you really can't leave the door wide open like that...

My first hand experience at Chatuchak transport office was in the main based on direct question to official there.

"Can I use pink ID".. Answer no.

Need COR.

Perhaps lost in translation.

Fact is reports at various offices a COR is required.

I'm aware Bang Chuk accept pink card.

I was referring to the 'experience' you had with a USA guy two years ago !!... 🙊

50 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

I was referring to the 'experience' you had with a USA guy two years ago

?? Yes my post was referring to 2yrs ago when I was at Chatuchak.

I was making appointment for TDL and had a COR.

The USA guy with pink card was knocked back.

I see in this thread a post of chap had no problem at that transport office with Pink Card.

It's certainly not universally accepted throughout Thailand.

Believe years ago it was.