Thai Immigration Introduces New TM-card

[uncletom]

It looks to me that everyone is certainly interested and concerned about this new thing (TM CARD) that has been sprung upon us..It seems to be one thing after the other nowadays with the GOVERNMENTS implementations of Thaskinnomic laws. First, one thing is put into place then it is carried out to the end ( it ends when the gov is pleased with the end result) ,and to me it looks like there is a end to the means for everything implemented.. How far the means is on this one ,we will have to wait and see. Everything on the TM card is tapped into their immigration computer under our own little personal section titled " our passport #,country and name , thai address"..If nothing happens as of right now about the income ( not filling it out ) it could be such as that, they maybe don't have the new computer program installed yet and can't record all the info, but they still needed to get the ball rolling on the new year to say it is going. They have all the time on their hands, and this new thing will probably be used to kill more birds with one stone...AFter the new election, things will get ripping. It looks like this countries name should eventually be changed to Thailanpore. THERE IS A ENDS TO THEIR MEANS< JUST WAIT!

uncletom

[uncletom]

THE SKY IS FALLING, THE SKY IS FALLING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jef]

3. The new card has an entry for "Yearly income" on the back of the arrival part of the card:

a) under 20,000 US$

20,000 - 40,000 US$

c) 40,001 - 60,000 US$

d) 60,001 - 80,000 US$

e) 80,000 and over

f) No income

USD he, represents the majority of tourists visiting Thailand....

All the other nationalities sure know how to convert their yearly income

What the heck.....

If you dare fill in a) or f) you're on a (free?) return flight.... and if you fill in b you are classified Cheap Charly and can't stay more than one week???

[Felt 35]

I would like to see what we in the west would produce in the Thai language !!!!

Agree with you on that one, but on the other hand if 10-30% of BNP in as example USA come from Thai speaking tourists I belive it had been in their interest to be very clear in their info to the same people.

However, I do not think that this new arrival/departure form will mean much difference for foreigners on holiday here or living here.

Actually, yeah they are. Check out the Australian Tourism Commission webpage for a study that was done on this topic a couple of years ago. The average smelly backpacker stays longer and spends more money than the average 'high end tourist'. Due to the nature of their travel activities, the money they spend benefits the the economy more, as it is fed into small businesses, rather than multinational companies.

Sure, thats just the same as with most of people living here.

Who spend most of one tourist who are her two weeks annually, (here I guess 200K) and one person who recide here and spend at least 10months here a year. (Here at least 800K)

Impossible to understand for people hooked on greed!

[gievali]

Toxin and his gang are a bunch of stupid but dangerous fascist phuckers.

Dear Thai people i strongly suggest U do NOT vote for Toxin and his gangstermob called TRT

[samran]

I read this thread and 3 words come to mind:

Grumpy Old Men.

[bubba]

Maybe I am being paranoid, but I would be careful about which income box you tick if you have a work permit and are paying taxes in Thailand. Thai tax law apparently requires one to pay income tax on all income that is earned or brought into the country. I know quite a few expats whose deal is to get paid a basic salary in Thailand (perhaps the minimum wage for their country) and the rest in their home currency, deposited to a home bank. And they are not living a 50,000 baht/month lifestyle!

Immigration is certainly getting computerised, and it would not be such a complicated database task to run a comparison of stated gross income in a tax return against the income stated on the immigration form. The immigration form fields are clearly set up to be entered into a database of some sort.

[jef]

Immigration is certainly getting computerised, and it would not be such a complicated database task to run a comparison of stated gross income in a tax return against the income stated on the immigration form. The immigration form fields are clearly set up to be entered into a database of some sort.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Bubba,

Seems you never worked in IT do ya?

Linking databases (if they know what that looks like) from TWO computer systems???? 55555555555555

Edited January 15, 2005 by jef

[boris]

Maybe I am being paranoid, but I would be careful about which income box you tick if you have a work permit and are paying taxes in Thailand. Thai tax law apparently requires one to pay income tax on all income that is earned or brought into the country. I know quite a few expats whose deal is to get paid a basic salary in Thailand (perhaps the minimum wage for their country) and the rest in their home currency, deposited to a home bank. And they are not living a 50,000 baht/month lifestyle!

Immigration is certainly getting computerised, and it would not be such a complicated database task to run a comparison of stated gross income in a tax return against the income stated on the immigration form. The immigration form fields are clearly set up to be entered into a database of some sort.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The practice you refer to is tax evasion (as opposed to avoidance) and is subject to the full weight of Thai law if detected.It is not illegal to have part of one's salary paid off shore but it, together with the local component, is taxable under the Thai Revenue Code.It's quite interesting how tax evasion is taken so lightly by expatriates here who wouldn't dream of knowingly breaking US or UK law.It's only Thailand they reason and everyone else is doing it.I think that attitude stinks.Actually the Thai Revenue Department is smarter than the tax evaders think and have a fairly good idea of what is the going expat rate for any given job, and what is more, has and will act on tip offs.And going back to your question yes you are being paranoid,The TM form question has a totally different objective as I have pointed out elsewhere.

[Axel]

As in any country, stay clean with the authorities.

Let's assume that nobody is evading taxes, than just delare on the TM-form the same amount you delared in your tax-return.

I agree, that request comes from a wish to get information on the buying power of visitors and probably cannot be linked with the revenue office.

OTH, I know of two cases in the 70ies, without computers in Japan. Following a disputes, the tax-authorities presented all kind of documentation to proof two expatriates had evaded payment of taxes and underdeclared their income(s).

This did include credit-card payments, airline tickets for the families (home leave is an additional income) etc. showing that their spending by far exceeded their declared income.

I give the Thai revenue dept. credit to the effect, they can do the same, if they have a case to follow. One investigator just might get the idea to check the details given at immigration and doubt this will be data-protected.

So just be honest, it's easier than to remember to who you declared what.

[astral]

I arrived back last night.

As I am non-thai and do not have a residence permit,

I ignored the questions on the back of the arrival card.

I do have a Non Imm O visa based on marriage and would be delighted

if that entitled me to a residence permit, but is does not. Not yet anyway.

So the Thai Immigration does not consider me to be resident, do they?

If they meant "visitors", then they should say so.

There was no comment made at the immigration counter

[Loose Cannon]

I arrived back last night.

As I am non-thai and do not have a residence permit,

I ignored the questions on the back of the arrival card.

I do have a Non Imm O visa based on marriage and would be delighted

if that entitled me to a residence permit, but is does not.  Not yet anyway.

So the Thai Immigration does not consider me to be resident, do they?

If they meant "visitors", then they should say so.

There was no comment made at the immigration counter

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Same here. I returned yesterday (Don Muang) and didn't fill out anything on the back.

[tracer0]

while I think that my income is something which is none of their business, especially in Thailand where they try to make life more difficult for farangs, my question isw, I HAVE a year visum, I HAVE a workpermit and being from Europe, I cannot fill in anything else than the 55000 baht per month mr T wants us to earn.

I KNOW I am lying, everybody else knows but one has to be consistant...

Anyway forms are forms, as fart as I am concerned fill them in and they havent got the time and resources to look at details anyway... At least not unitl they learn how to use the computers they store the data in..

Much more interesting in my case is, I live in Phuket, Kamala and got flooded out.

3 meter water in my shop and I had to swim to second floor to escape...

Orbotor seems to give almost everybody on their list 5000, 10000 or 15000 baht to restart their business which obviously is enough to restart a noodle shop but not much else... My real income has dropped significantly, not really because of damage but due to no business. Will this have impact on visum???

Also there seems to be a lot of farang money around which was given to local farangs to help the victims, but privately as Mr T didnt want them to help and secondly as donors donot trust the Thais to give where required...

[tracer0]

The practice you refer to is tax evasion (as opposed to avoidance) and is subject to the full weight of Thai law if detected.It is not illegal to have part of one's salary paid off shore but it, together with the local component, is taxable under the Thai Revenue Code.It's quite interesting how tax evasion is taken so lightly by expatriates here who wouldn't dream of knowingly breaking US or UK law.It's only Thailand they reason and everyone else is doing it.I think that attitude stinks.Actually the Thai Revenue Department is smarter than the tax evaders think and have a fairly good idea of what is the going expat rate for any given job, and what is more, has and will act on tip offs.And going back to your question yes you are being paranoid,The TM form question has a totally different objective as I have pointed out elsewhere.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ok, luckily they havent got much idea how to use their data in the computers.

As an expert in databases I could clean Thailand out in a few weeks of most illegal workers.... asuming the police would pick up those coming out as not working legally...

I work here, have my own company, donot even make the minimum amount I am supposed to earn, Thais donot mind as long as you pay the tax etc.

As most of my customers are farangs it doesnt matter...

Now as far as I know there isnt anything illegal in having part of income going to a bank if made outside Thailand.

I have seen that years ago in Tax book here and had interesting talk with lady in tax office about it. You take money to Thailand its taxable if its income. SAVED money isnt so just leave it outside Thailand... and its secure from their sticky hands...

[Digger]

Maybe I am being paranoid, but I would be careful about which income box you tick if you have a work permit and are paying taxes in Thailand. Thai tax law apparently requires one to pay income tax on all income that is earned or brought into the country. I know quite a few expats whose deal is to get paid a basic salary in Thailand (perhaps the minimum wage for their country) and the rest in their home currency, deposited to a home bank. And they are not living a 50,000 baht/month lifestyle!

Immigration is certainly getting computerised, and it would not be such a complicated database task to run a comparison of stated gross income in a tax return against the income stated on the immigration form. The immigration form fields are clearly set up to be entered into a database of some sort.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The tax office already regularly investigate foreigners - in particular they have focused on Japanese in the past working for MNC's who have declared salaries around 50-100,000 baht. When my employer moved me here 5 years ago, the accountants they used (Deloittes) advised against any kind of offshore arrangement unless you genuinely were travelling in and out very often and had 2 contracts structured for work in Thailand and the work outside, which would be paid from another country and not paid into Thailand. They advised that many many Japanese thought they could get away with underdeclaring salary, not doing any or little travel (so there full working time is in Thailand essentially) and many of them have been hit with HUGE tax bills.

I have been tax investigated and was staggered at just how much information the Thai tax authorities have at their fingertips. They had all my movements in and out of the country - over 4 passports I might add. All my foreign remitances into the country (from 3 different banks) and knew which companies I was a director of. The pile of papers was about 6 inches thick. Forget databases this was all hard copy. After some questions to dot some i's and cross some T's they were satisfied that my tax payments were correct. Thanked me (via my lawyer/accountant) and went on their way. Seemingly some jealous farang had given my name as a possible evader of tax on a house rental income and they investigated from there. Moral of the story is that foreigners DO stick out like a sore thumb and are an easy target for investigation, so beware and play by the Thai rules.

[bobmmm]

MNC's?

[lopburi3]

MNC's?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

My guess would be multi national companies but not being a corporate type have also not seen it before.

[tonybuxton]

Here we go again -- several failures of logic and of English -- but the income question is appalling. What a bloody nerve! I'm going to ignore it and see if they notice, but have the least nuisance-making (for myself) answer ready if necessary.

The old card was atrocious -- tiny print, not enough space, etc  -- so at least this one is clear and well-spaced. However, after god knows how long they must have been preparing this thing, it's still full of errors, mostly on the "non-Thai resident" page.

For a start, what does that phrase mean? Logically, it means a resident who is not Thai, and implies a resident of Thailand who is not Thai. Of course, what  they mean and what it should say is "non-resident of Thailand", or if they really wanted to be clear, "non-Thai national who is not a resident of Thailand".  So simple to get right, if Immigration just employed a competent editor; instead, confusion will reign amongst  most new visitors when they read this, for years to come.

Then you have "Schedule" instead of "Scheduled", no question marks after 

"First trip to Thailand" and "Traveling on a group tour", "Others" instead of "Other" (twice), "Conventions" instead of "convention", and "Exhibitions" instead of "Exhibition". (These are small mistakes, of course, but why the bloody ###### are there any on a form which is going to be used tens of millions of times every year for many years to come? TIT, of course.)

Finally, what does "Next city/Port of disembarkation" mean? "To disembark" is to get off a plane, a boat, etc. Do they mean "next foreign destination" or do they mean "port of departure"? Or what?

Well done, Immigration, once more Thailand shows how to cock up the simplest of bureaucratic forms.  Look out for two decades of confusion and hold-ups at immigration  as even native speakers of English mess up their forms, let alone those with a less than competent grasp of English, which means most visitors to Thailand.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well quite an amazing tirade! I assume you are not a native English Speaker and certainly must still be in nappies. Next Port of Disembarkation has been on immigration forms since the 1930's, and is good old fashioned correct terminology.

There is nothing wrong with Conventions or Exhibitions, many visit more than one so the question is still technically correct., as is others. I am sure I do not have just one OTHER accomodation, I'm going to travel around and stay in a number of OTHERS not OTHER.

Before writing this tirade of unwarranted abuse, complaining that they are asking for your salary on the rear of the form, perhaps you would be better to put the same energy into checking your bloody ###### facts. The reason they ask for your income on the rear is that under the new immigration ruling you are supposed to prove that you are arriving with sufficient funds for your stay. Foreign Embassies here are fed up with backpackers and chancers coming to Thailand with hardly any money, spending it all and then trying to get a handout from the Embassy. Some foreigners have even been begging on the street.

The new Regulation states that you have to carry around B40,000 when you arrive and not in the form of credit cards either. It seems that the Immigration department have been kind to us and if you enter an income figure which indicates that you are likely to be able to support yourself then they will not shake you down. If you do not fill the form in, then you are could be asked to show enough cash instead.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[samran]

Maybe I am being paranoid, but I would be careful about which income box you tick if you have a work permit and are paying taxes in Thailand. Thai tax law apparently requires one to pay income tax on all income that is earned or brought into the country. I know quite a few expats whose deal is to get paid a basic salary in Thailand (perhaps the minimum wage for their country) and the rest in their home currency, deposited to a home bank. And they are not living a 50,000 baht/month lifestyle!

Immigration is certainly getting computerised, and it would not be such a complicated database task to run a comparison of stated gross income in a tax return against the income stated on the immigration form. The immigration form fields are clearly set up to be entered into a database of some sort.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The tax office already regularly investigate foreigners - in particular they have focused on Japanese in the past working for MNC's who have declared salaries around 50-100,000 baht. When my employer moved me here 5 years ago, the accountants they used (Deloittes) advised against any kind of offshore arrangement unless you genuinely were travelling in and out very often and had 2 contracts structured for work in Thailand and the work outside, which would be paid from another country and not paid into Thailand. They advised that many many Japanese thought they could get away with underdeclaring salary, not doing any or little travel (so there full working time is in Thailand essentially) and many of them have been hit with HUGE tax bills.

I have been tax investigated and was staggered at just how much information the Thai tax authorities have at their fingertips. They had all my movements in and out of the country - over 4 passports I might add. All my foreign remitances into the country (from 3 different banks) and knew which companies I was a director of. The pile of papers was about 6 inches thick. Forget databases this was all hard copy. After some questions to dot some i's and cross some T's they were satisfied that my tax payments were correct. Thanked me (via my lawyer/accountant) and went on their way. Seemingly some jealous farang had given my name as a possible evader of tax on a house rental income and they investigated from there. Moral of the story is that foreigners DO stick out like a sore thumb and are an easy target for investigation, so beware and play by the Thai rules.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Add to the fact that many of the people who work at the Ministry of Finance/Revenue department are actually very bright cookies (smarter than many farangs seem to give them credit for), who have been foreign educated on a various types of government scholarships, who are not in the main corrupt in any sense of the word, and who are very keen to do their job properly.

[Digger]

MNC's?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes, Multi National Company/Corporation

[janeny]

Well, there is a new arrival card and that's pretty much it. Just a little form, a &lt;deleted&gt;' piece of paper to fill in and surely no reason to get your blood steaming.

Here, how I see the entire subject:

- For non-Thai resident only

Don't just guess but read the Thai script instead. It translates "exclusively for foreigners". A foreigner is a person that does not hold citizenship of the country he is about to enter and/or resides in. So all of us non-Thais are concerned whether we are going to be on a short term (tourist, business trip) or long term (pensioner, supporter of family etc. - the holders of non-immigrant visas). Under these circumstances the term "non-Thai resident" is not so bad at all. An abbreviation for "staying (= residing) in Thailand as a foreigner (= not holding Thai citizenship = non-Thai) independant from the mission.

- Income

Income is not necessarily just a salary/wage obtained for work but money someone obtains by all kind of means to make a living (it can be a salary, wage, pension, money from renting out property, interest, dividends etc.)

- Question about yearly income

Most likely of interest for statistical reasons (for example of some value to TAT)  only and very unlikely for use of putting some stones into a foreigners attempt to enter Thailand or reside here.  The issue may, however, be brought up if a person gets into conflict with the law or features severe misbehaviour while in town. There are rumours that Thailand is not just a magnet to the Vienna Choir Boys but also to a lot of f...-ups of all kinds of nationalities but guess these are just  rumours particularly in a city that bears the name "City of Angels".    Under these circumstances let us just take it for granted that the information about income is for statistical reasons only.  A question, by the way, that is quite often raised may it be when you get surveyed on the street, apply for a credit card, fill in a questionaire by a hotel, a theme park, maybe even a McDonald restaurant when they asked their patrons whether they are satisfied with the service.

The modern world just loves statistics for whatever reasons and pulls out figures on any occasion whether it is approprate or not.

Conclusion: RELAX. Rather have a Singh or a Chang to flush down your paranoia and enjoy your time of residing in Thailand. Adopt an occasional "mai pen rai" or even a little bit of Thai "mag ngai" and the sky appears to get a little more pink colored shine.

Just my two tiny little satang.

Richard

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

i agree with you! HAKUNA MATATA (for those who are familiar with Lion King)

[Axel]

i agree with you!  HAKUNA MATATA (for those who are familiar with Lion King) 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Not sure who is the Lion King, but always say Hakuna Matata whe Khun wife is angry.

[Richard Hall]

Yep,....

"Hakuna Matata! What a wonderful phrase

Hakuna Matata! Ain't no passing craze

It means no worries for the rest of your days

It's our problem-free philosophy

Hakuna Matata!

Hakuna Matata?

Yeah. It's our motto!

What's a motto?

Nothing. What's a-motto with you?

Those two words will solve all your problems

That's right. Take Pumbaa here

Why, when he was a young warthog...

When I was a young wart hog

Very nice

Thanks

He found his aroma lacked a certain appeal

He could clear the savannah after every meal

I'm a sensitive soul though I seem thick-skinned

And it hurt that my friends never stood downwind

And oh, the shame He was ashamed

Thought of changin' my name What's in a name?

And I got downhearted How did ya feel?

Everytime that I...

Hey! Pumbaa! Not in front of the kids!

Oh. Sorry

Hakuna Matata! What a wonderful phrase

Hakuna Matata! Ain't no passing craze

It means no worries for the rest of your days

It's our problem-free philosophy

Hakuna Matata!

Hakuna Matata! Hakuna matata!

Hakuna Matata! Hakuna matata!

Hakuna Matata! Hakuna matata!

Hakuna Matata! Hakuna--

It means no worries for the rest of your days

It's our problem-free philosophy

Hakuna Matata!

(Repeats)"

I say "Hakuna"

I say "Matata"

Well, fully agree... Hakuna Matata!!!!!! Richard roared. Next month my visa and work permit are due for renewal Hakuna, hakuna, hakuna, matata, matata, matata...!

How can Suan Plu dare to deny when just arguing... Hakuna Matata!

The right recipe for all of us "Non-Thai residents"

Edited January 17, 2005 by Richard Hall

[alanw]

Arrived back home to Bkk today, this is the third time I've entered Bkk since the new TM card was intoduced. On all three ocassions I have ignored the boxes re income. No questions asked on all thre occasions. No questions asked.

[sprq]

Here we go again -- several failures of logic and of English -- but the income question is appalling. What a bloody nerve! I'm going to ignore it and see if they notice, but have the least nuisance-making (for myself) answer ready if necessary.

The old card was atrocious -- tiny print, not enough space, etc  -- so at least this one is clear and well-spaced. However, after god knows how long they must have been preparing this thing, it's still full of errors, mostly on the "non-Thai resident" page.

For a start, what does that phrase mean? Logically, it means a resident who is not Thai, and implies a resident of Thailand who is not Thai. Of course, what  they mean and what it should say is "non-resident of Thailand", or if they really wanted to be clear, "non-Thai national who is not a resident of Thailand".  So simple to get right, if Immigration just employed a competent editor; instead, confusion will reign amongst  most new visitors when they read this, for years to come.

Then you have "Schedule" instead of "Scheduled", no question marks after 

"First trip to Thailand" and "Traveling on a group tour", "Others" instead of "Other" (twice), "Conventions" instead of "convention", and "Exhibitions" instead of "Exhibition". (These are small mistakes, of course, but why the bloody ###### are there any on a form which is going to be used tens of millions of times every year for many years to come? TIT, of course.)

Finally, what does "Next city/Port of disembarkation" mean? "To disembark" is to get off a plane, a boat, etc. Do they mean "next foreign destination" or do they mean "port of departure"? Or what?

Well done, Immigration, once more Thailand shows how to cock up the simplest of bureaucratic forms.  Look out for two decades of confusion and hold-ups at immigration  as even native speakers of English mess up their forms, let alone those with a less than competent grasp of English, which means most visitors to Thailand.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well quite an amazing tirade! I assume you are not a native English Speaker and certainly must still be in nappies. Next Port of Disembarkation has been on immigration forms since the 1930's, and is good old fashioned correct terminology.

There is nothing wrong with Conventions or Exhibitions, many visit more than one so the question is still technically correct., as is others. I am sure I do not have just one OTHER accomodation, I'm going to travel around and stay in a number of OTHERS not OTHER.

Before writing this tirade of unwarranted abuse, complaining that they are asking for your salary on the rear of the form, perhaps you would be better to put the same energy into checking your bloody ###### facts. The reason they ask for your income on the rear is that under the new immigration ruling you are supposed to prove that you are arriving with sufficient funds for your stay. Foreign Embassies here are fed up with backpackers and chancers coming to Thailand with hardly any money, spending it all and then trying to get a handout from the Embassy. Some foreigners have even been begging on the street.

The new Regulation states that you have to carry around B40,000 when you arrive and not in the form of credit cards either. It seems that the Immigration department have been kind to us and if you enter an income figure which indicates that you are likely to be able to support yourself then they will not shake you down. If you do not fill the form in, then you are could be asked to show enough cash instead.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I stand by everything I wrote and none of your comments have any validity. You are both illogical and mistaken. As to being a native English speaker, I am -- the question is whether you are. I think you are, but are somewhat illiterate. There is no capital 's' on speaker, 'accommodation' is the correct spelling, it has no plural in British and many other varieties of English, and even if it did the correct form is the singular in this kind of question, and so on, and so on. You make too many mistakes of both English and logic for me to comment on here.

As to the income question, you are also completely wrong. Your income has nothing whatsoever to do with the funds you have available during your trip. This is a nosy tax-based question which is none of their business, as many other posters have said.

Why the tirade? Isn't it obvious? Didn't I say why? This is a form that will be used by at least a hundred million people if it lasts as long as the previous one and visitor numbers keep rising (now 10 million plus p.a.). That is an extremely important reason to get it right. If the local 7-11 girl can't speak English, fine, why should she be able to? If the Thai immigration department can't get an important form exactly right, then that is both shameful for Thailand's reputation and highly discourteous to every visitor to Thailand, besides being just plain inefficient and time-wasting for all concerned. But as I said, TIT.

[sprq]

QUOTE(chico @ 2005-01-13 09:45:06)

"non-Thai resident" I simply read it : not Thai citizen, but (Thai) resident

as opposed to "non Thai-resident" : all Thais plus foreigners with residency

and that's what they probably wanted to say."

my reading of 'non-thai resident' means anybody who is not a Thai residing in thailand on any long term visa, B, O etc. What does 'non-thai' means? To me, it refers to nationality.

if it reads 'Non Thai Resident', without the hyphen, it will mean all those who are not residing in Thailand, regardless they are citizens or not.

the statement is clear to me, not sure why it's confusing to others. The hyphen makes a difference.

Or, how about asking your gf/wives what the Thai characters mean. They often paint a better picture.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The very fact of this debate shows how bad the phrase is. The card is now in use. The phrase is intended to mean foreigners without residency in Thailand -- the Thai flight attendant confirmed this when I asked her on board my incoming flight last Saturday. It doesn't say that. It should.

[george]

Nobody cares if you fill in the back of the card or not. I travel a lot and just ignore the back. No pompems!

I will ask their printers if I we could have the thaivisa.com logo there instead

[sprq]

I've never seen so much hand-wringing about nothing in all my life.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I've just been to Cambodia. Their arrival/departure form is clear and unambiguous. It is an extremely poor country with low levels of education, yet they get it right.

The Thais are super-rich and well-educated by comparison, yet they produce a form that is muddled and offensive, which ten million plus people per year will have to puzzle over.

Wasting people's time and confusing them does matter.

[sprq]

Here we go again -- several failures of logic and of English --

DO YOU SPEAK THAI ????

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No. Why do you ask?

[cliffy]

Continued from here: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=24612

Thai Immigration introduces new TM arrival/departure card

BANGKOK: -- The Immigration Bureau has just introduced a new type of arrival/departure card. It is also known as the the TM6 card that all passengers have to fill in on arrival and departure at Thai airports and border check points.

The new arrival/departure card is in a different format, sized as a bank slip, apparently ready for optical reading.

Here is a preview (Download the new TM6 form below):

Some news to the new TM card:

1. Bigger space to write your address in Thailand. The old TM card had very limited space to write the address.

2. Visa number only. The old TM card had entries for date and place of the visa issued. Now you have to enter the visa number only. One has to becareful here when arriving on a re-entry permit, as the issue and expiry date are essential.

3. The new card has an entry for "Yearly income" on the back of the arrival part of the card:

a) under 20,000 US$

20,000 - 40,000 US$

c) 40,001 - 60,000 US$

d) 60,001 - 80,000 US$

e) 80,000 and over

f) No income

It is not  confirmed if this new information is meant for immigration or just for TAT statistic purpose.

4. On the back of the new TM card there is also a new field "Next city/Port of disembarkation".

5. The Immigration logo has changed.

6. No entry for your intended lenghth of stay. The old form has a place where you state your desired period of stay.

Below is a scan of:

1. Arrival card (TM6 front page)

2. Arrival card (TM6 back page)

3. Departure card (TM6 departure card)

Source: Thaivisa.com 2005-01-12

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yes much easier on the eyesight especially after long haul flight ..always hard to raed old one ,,,,,well done thai immigration!!