Phuket Immigration Crackdown Announced

[ivowatson]

I have just read this entire thread and come to this conclusion.

No wonder thailand looks down on the farang, If you show the same lack of intelligence on the streets as some show on here.

Just mho

Agreed.

Wouldn't mind if some morrons would be kicked off TV.

To the powers that be:

Don't worry about the commercial value going down. they will re-register again soon but as newbie, which will really hurt them.

Just a thought.

[Tafia]

Tafia, I think some posters on here cannot see the wood. The tress are obsuring their view

Its mass paranoia, scare mongering and another opportunity to kick the Thais.....

If they read the post properly they would know

This is already the law and the notice was to say they are cracking down on those not complying.

That this has nothing to do with the tourist, expat or any other visitor its levelled at the hoteliers and landlords

Registering your deatils is something that happens at every country whether it be at the border or at the hotel tho Ive yet to visit a hotel in a country that doesnt require my passport and not for me to register my details....as you say woods and trees Amazing!!

Im waiting for a post to say 'Its the rainy season', another knife in the back of tourism

Edited June 24, 2009 by Tafia

[Mario2008]

I have deleted 2 post as being off topic.

I concur with Tafia that one will do well to read the thread first before commenting, as a lot of the comments seems to be misguided about what the isue here realy is.

[cyborg22]

Tafia, I think some posters on here cannot see the wood. The tress are obsuring their view

Its mass paranoia, scare mongering and another opportunity to kick the Thais.....

If they read the post properly they would know

This is already the law and the notice was to say they are cracking down on those not complying.

That this has nothing to do with the tourist, expat or any other visitor its levelled at the hoteliers and landlords

Registering your deatils is something that happens at every country whether it be at the border or at the hotel tho Ive yet to visit a hotel in a country that doesnt require my passport and not for me to register my details....as you say woods and trees Amazing!!

Im waiting for a post to say 'Its the rainy season', another knife in the back of tourism

I have just come back from paris, I stayed in 5 different hotels during my stay. Each and everytime i was asked to show my passport and they made a copy of it. That was together with filling in the registration details, so whats new in Thailand?

Edited June 24, 2009 by cyborg22

[bina]

i work in a hotel (on my kibbutz) and yes, foreign visitors must show and fill out passport info; i suppose if there is a problem, it is for the immigration police/regular police since i know we dont check up in any secret files in our computer for blacklist stuff. also, to register in our hotel, any citizen/resident whatever is usually asked for their id number (its the social security type number used in the states, only here, everyone has to have either a passport or an id card of some sort- depending on your status);

and yes we have discrete day use but they still have to fill in the id cards (no mister and mrs smith)...

i dont think the rule applies for people visiting at private homes, but anyone that has ever gone thru the non citizen part of our immigration control knows that it takes a while, and u get asked a lot of questions...

and the thai are not morons for not knowing about the holocaust... it just was never part of their own history so no need to get knickers twisted; as for stars... get a grip.....really

i was told by my mother (in the states ) that my dual citizen daughter would need to show her passport also on internal flights now in the states

tempests in khao lao ...

bina

israel

[Grey11]

An old friend of mine will be coming over and stay with us in our house for a few day. Do I have to report him to the Police?

And what kind of suspicious behavior should I report?

- Not chasing girls?

- Not drinking "lao"?

- Driving politely?

- Giving a big tip?

If he talks into his shoe and speaks in foreign tongues, that would be a clue...

"Owners of hotels, guesthouses and other commercial accommodation establishments who fail to report guests are subject to fines ranging from 2,000 baht to 10,000 baht, he said."

I bet the Thai owned hotels will have great fun with this one. Similar scenario to the Thai bar owner reporting the farang bar owner to immigration for "working", just because his bar is more popular. Now you will get the same with guesthouses with the farang being reported for having guests who have not been reported to the immigration.

I feel this will be a lot of reporting and huge amount of work for the immigration, they will surely lose interest in this one very quickly.

If it does catch on it will be purely for the purpose of money (fines) and nothing else. Arrivals are down, so the immigration need to think up some other ways to get some money in the kitty !

As for the immigration looking out for foreigners behaving suspiciously, will this include the timeshare touts and Nepalese tailors ? I bet it wont !!

This includes Burmese who have slipped into the country and may be staying anywhere. Burmese workers need to be watched. Some of them actually stole and ate two of our kittens at our home in Phuket. Every country has the right control illegal immigration.

[rilly]

I own a guesthouse and this simply looks like trouble. If they want me to comply with reporting all guests of my establishment it better not be those lengthy and seemingly pointless "90-day notification" forms.

I believe this is just another one of those "crackdowns" put in place to impress the upcoming political visitors and it will quickly be forgotten once the summit is over and immigration finds out how impossible it is to enforce.

The Immigration Act where this requirement comes from was written in 1979 so this is nothing new.

You can find info here about reporting requirements and download the forms also.

http://www.immigration.go.th/nov2004/en/ba...?page=alienstay

Edit: Also see section 38 of the Immigration Act. http://www.immigration.go.th/nov2004/en/do...gration_Act.pdf

ok but there have been, in my six years of operation exactly 0 requests for the piles of information i have regarding this law. There are many "laws" in thailand that are not enforced. This is P.R. nothing more. i don't believe anything will come of it.

Just like most of the things that we talk/argue about here

[rilly]

I own a guesthouse and this simply looks like trouble. If they want me to comply with reporting all guests of my establishment it better not be those lengthy and seemingly pointless "90-day notification" forms.

I believe this is just another one of those "crackdowns" put in place to impress the upcoming political visitors and it will quickly be forgotten once the summit is over and immigration finds out how impossible it is to enforce.

You should have being complying with this law long ago, If you have not then i suspect you are guilty of numorous offences.

This is not a new law in thailand it has being in force since the early 80s.

I travel the world on a regular basis and am often asked to provide my passport at hotels, I cannot see the problem with it.

you've gotten the wrong impression. We record all of our guests details and always have because i am well aware of the "laws"... but after 6 years of stacks upon stacks of these papers being placed in my files (which have become old television boxes filled with these papers,) nobody at immigration, the tax office, or the T.A.T. office has any interest in them... which further reinforces my belief that this is just news for the papers and perhaps something to get the thaivisa.com posters active, but nothing more.

Watch the news for the time being... i really believe this will be the last you ever hear about this "crackdown." It simply can't go anywhere if there isn't an organized system for giving these stacks of papers to someone, somewhere, that is actually going to use them for something.

[andyc2006]

If I remember correctly, this is common practice across the western world.

In the US I had to show my passport at every hotel I checked in, as in France, Suisee, Austria ...

Even if I don't know what the data is used for, I'm used to goverments/states tracking me via my passport for a long time.

The Western hotels check your passport to protect their property and profits. They don't report it to their respective governments.

Huge difference, and it shoots your analogy to pieces.

The US govt only tries to track your entry and flights. Once you're in, they have no clue what you're doing, specifically, in which hotels you're staying. US hotels aren't reporting you to the US govt.

[Notnaest]

Why not just tattoo a number on the arm's of all foreigners to keep track of them .... I can't believe this ....

Don't the Thais have the right to ensure those who come into and stay in the country are ligitimate? Many countries in the world have registration systems to provide information on who is living where and for how long. What's the problem?

It's no hardship for the foreigner, it's the guesthouse or hotel that has to provide the info and like i say many other countries do the same.

With the security situation in Thailand and the world the way it is ithink it's well over due!

================================================================================

=======================

HEY MISTER PANIC-PERSON (and you're obviously not the only oe on this litle forum !) : Why don;t you slow down and relize a few things:

1. We ARE all guests in this brilliant country

2. Last time in Pattaya, no measures (security) to speak of, were taken and look what happened there

3. Whenever you write your comments; PRETEND hat some Thai people are reading this forum too . . . . .

"Yellow-Stars" and "Tatoo'd Numbers-on-arms", what a bunch of super rude and extremely infantile suggestions; certainly show the level of thought some of these people are (only) capable of.

Just because a web-site forum is a "printed" media, doesn't mean that you can just write anything (like the super-insults which appeared here), only morons of epic proportions do this; I just bet your mouths aren't half as big, when it comes to person-to-person communications.

Let's all behave ourselves.

BTW; this system of ospitality Industry reporting excists in many other civilized countries; maybe check out your own country, before criticizing the one you have chosen to live in ?

[hardy1943]

Why not just tattoo a number on the arm's of all foreigners to keep track of them .... I can't believe this ....

They probably screw that one up too and give the same number to several people

[cyborg22]

13:19:44']I own a guesthouse and this simply looks like trouble. If they want me to comply with reporting all guests of my establishment it better not be those lengthy and seemingly pointless "90-day notification" forms.

you've gotten the wrong impression. We record all of our guests details and always have because i am well aware of the "laws"... but after 6 years of stacks upon stacks of these papers being placed in my files (which have become old television boxes filled with these papers,) nobody at immigration, the tax office, or the T.A.T. office has any interest in them... which further reinforces my belief that this is just news for the papers and perhaps something to get the thaivisa.com posters active, but nothing more.

Watch the news for the time being... i really believe this will be the last you ever hear about this "crackdown." It simply can't go anywhere if there isn't an organized system for giving these stacks of papers to someone, somewhere, that is actually going to use them for something.

I am sorry if i misinterpreted your post Rilly, When you stated as the top quote from you that it looked like trouble. I took it as you not knowing about this law. The reason no one has asked to see these papers are that they have had no reason to request a view of them. If you had someone a farang die in your vicinity and they could not trace his/her indentity to another hotel or guest house, then they may well contact you to check. The boxes of records you have you must (as i'm sure you know) keep them for 10 years.

There was an earlier posting about a friend visiting for a day or so? (not sure if it answered) Also not sure if all the details were posted. But here is a scenario. A farang visits thailand giving immigration an address of a hotel where he is staying for the duration of his holiday. But decides to visit a friend for lets say 2 days. If he doesn't check out of the hotel and stays registed there, Then in theory he need do nothing else (unless he meets with some form of accident) Then there might be some questions asked. But if he/she checks out of the hotel (Possibly to save money) then they must inform immigration of the new address.

If i need to be corrected on a few points by the admin it would be more than welcomed

[skooldaze]

An old friend of mine will be coming over and stay with us in our house for a few day. Do I have to report him to the Police?

And what kind of suspicious behavior should I report?

- Not chasing girls?

- Not drinking "lao"?

- Driving politely?

- Giving a big tip?

If he talks into his shoe and speaks in foreign tongues, that would be a clue...

-----------------------------------------------------------------

If Thailand has problems, and Thailand wishes to address them in certain ways.

I think it is fair to let them.

All countries that I know of, is trying to keep track of

their foreigners..

Glegolo

Keep your head in the sand Glegolo. One day you'll be rounded up on a cattle car and wonder why

[cyborg22]

Keep your head in the sand Glegolo. One day you'll be rounded up on a cattle car and wonder why

Was there any need for that post?

Quite derogatory really

[ianh68]

Accusations of mass paranoia may be justified. But if mass paranoia exists, however unjustified, I'd be interested to learn why.

[SoftWater]

What's all the fuss? It won't have any effect on tourism -- tourists don't have to do anything.

Don't you want to discourage terrorists, human traffickers and other lowlife?

Or maybe you are lowlife, so let's all hope you get reported and caught before you do something nasty.

think before you drink before you write...

[gpdjohn]

Yea know I read Thai Visa all the time and

It would be nice sometime to read some intellegent comments. But I guess thats a dream.

Too funny

[tomo22]

Internet quetionare now this news and Thai Visa asks you to join SMS service.

Reporting in Thailand is as is. We live here just take no notice.

If I was to follow the rules. We have 2 houses one in My wifes name the other in her mothers name. Yes they own the land I own the property. 100%.

But they have to report when I am staying there 2000 baht fine. We know all the police do they want a report every 4 hours sometimes its like that. No they would not have the papers to do it.

Policeman Thailand recent event. Got very drunk smashed up two cars destroyed two shops four market stalls. Was he sacked no he is being sent to a new area far away from where we live.

The police in any country need to be seen to be above this type of thing yet it happens all the time here.

If the average person see this going on then they follow.

After reading the news headline I expect it to be important for the average peron resident in Thailand

Anyway that policeman will be back in a couple of years time to do the same again.

Live here accept it remeber a few Baht goes a long way. Get to know the head of the local government office, make sure you Know the Mayor and get to Know the Chief of Police. Its not what you Know it who you Know.

Buy for now. Time for some food.

[Maestro]

Two posts and the replies to them have been deleted for the following reasons:

• screaming (all capital letters)
  
• all text in irregular font and blue colour
  

From the forum rules' link to netiquette:

Please do not post in all capital letters, bold, unusual fonts, sizes or colors. It can be difficult to read.

--

Maestro

[bungy007]

An old friend of mine will be coming over and stay with us in our house for a few day. Do I have to report him to the Police?

And what kind of suspicious behavior should I report?

- Not chasing girls?

- Not drinking "lao"?

- Driving politely?

- Giving a big tip?

If he talks into his shoe and speaks in foreign tongues, that would be a clue...

-----------------------------------------------------------------

If Thailand has problems, and Thailand wishes to address them in certain ways.

I think it is fair to let them.

All countries that I know of, is trying to keep track of

their foreigners..

Glegolo

Except the UK who lets them in and then allows them freedom of the country - even after they've spent a spell in nick!

[cblunt]

It simply can't go anywhere if there isn't an organized system for giving these stacks of papers to someone, somewhere, that is actually going to use them for something.

Its the same with all those immigration arrival forms that most countries require you to complete while on the aircraft. I always wonder what actually happens to all those pieces of paper. Every passenger spends time filling them in but I wonder if anybody ever makes any use of all that information they are gathering. Most of the details they ask you for is already available in machine-readable form on your passport anyway, so why ask the passenger to duplicate it in writing in the first place? Even if they did have a need to retrieve some information later on, the sheer volume of paper would make it almost impossible to identify and retrieve what they wanted anyway.

Chris

[vzk]

Really ?? name any modern / first world country that has to report foriegners details checking into a hotel ??

Germany (which is my home country)

[jb5music]

In Los

Angeles you do not have to show your passport to every hotel you have

to check into. In Los Angeles you can live there for 40 years and never

see an immigration officer. In Los Angeles 2 million illegal mexicans

can gather downtown and demand this or that or the other. No passports

, no stamps. 2 MILLION! In Los Angeles they just had an article about

illegal alien drug abusers completing new effective drug diversion

courses which is to say that you can be arrested for felonies and the

LAPD does not check to see if you are from USA. Again there is no

immigration officers, or offices in site.

There's a little red brick

building over there in west LA somewhere. I think the Thai Embassy is

in there Too. In Los Angeles there isn't a cadet lookie loo population

that does nothing but make as big a spectacle out of the difference

between there nationalistic selves and the highly detectible

"foreigners" because in LA you cannot tell for the life of you who is a

foreigner and who is from LA because in Los Angeles everybody IS a

foreigner. So they don't ask for your passport when you rent a hotel

room.

[Maestro]

Really ?? name any modern / first world country that has to report foriegners details checking into a hotel ??

Italy, France, Switzerland.

--

Maestro

[ilgitano]

Who gave them the right to record my passage?

Who gave that rat the right to share my kitchen?

Who gave me the right to complain?

Edited June 30, 2009 by ilgitano

[poldebol]

Really amazed that so many people do not seem to know that extra national tourists are monitored in most countries. I do not know whether in European countries the system for registering tourists is linked to the tax system, it might very well be. Imagine the Thai authorities mining that opportunity, now that income form tourism is down. Untill the 1970's in France and Belgium tourists had to pay a special tax for every day they stayed in a hotel or holiday home.

[poldebol]

Today I went to the amphoe to register as a farang. I stay in the house of the parents of my Thai gf. We are not married, but live together since 4 years. I have a non O visa 1 year 850K rule and am Belgian.

I wanted to register, because I know it is the law in Thailand, I did not want to cause problems to the parents of my gf and most of all, having proof of living together might be an additional asset when my gf asks for a visum to Belgium.

We went in the morning but had to come back with new pictures of me. When we came back in the afternoon, the household book which the mother of my gf. had left there, had disappeared. No problem, we got a new one. We even got two, a blue one (tho ro 14) for my gf and her family and a yellow one (tho ro 13) all for me alone.

Since I expected the registration to be the equivalent of a registration in a guesthouse, I am somewhat amazed to have a household book on my own. I hope this does not mean I am registered in Thailand now. I had to sign one paper tho ro 25.

Anybody can explain more about my actual status?

[ubonjoe]

Today I went to the amphoe to register as a farang. I stay in the house of the parents of my Thai gf. We are not married, but live together since 4 years. I have a non O visa 1 year 850K rule and am Belgian.

I wanted to register, because I know it is the law in Thailand, I did not want to cause problems to the parents of my gf and most of all, having proof of living together might be an additional asset when my gf asks for a visum to Belgium.

We went in the morning but had to come back with new pictures of me. When we came back in the afternoon, the household book which the mother of my gf. had left there, had disappeared. No problem, we got a new one. We even got two, a blue one (tho ro 14) for my gf and her family and a yellow one (tho ro 13) all for me alone.

Since I expected the registration to be the equivalent of a registration in a guesthouse, I am somewhat amazed to have a household book on my own. I hope this does not mean I am registered in Thailand now. I had to sign one paper tho ro 25.

Anybody can explain more about my actual status?

You just got very handy thing to have. It is often called a yellow house book.

There are no consequences for having it. A lot people jump through a lot of hoops to get one.

You can use it to prove your address for a drivers license buying a vehicle and etc.

Next time you get your extension give immigration a copy.

[Maestro]

... do not know whether in European countries the system for registering tourists is linked to the tax system, it might very well be. Imagine the Thai authorities mining that opportunity...

According to this post in another topic, in Thailand the number of consecutive visa-exempt entries on land borders is currently used as a profiling tool to filter out tourists who might warrant closer attention regarding the possibility that they might be working illegally in Thailand:

...Then he tells me "Yes, it is true. There is a limit. But you are allowed four, and on the fifth one you will be allowed to leave as well as come back, but I will be required to create a report in the computer and immigration will follow up by checking out the address where you live to see if you are working and should have a work permit."...

--

Maestro

[poldebol]

Today I went to the amphoe to register as a farang. I stay in the house of the parents of my Thai gf. We are not married, but live together since 4 years. I have a non O visa 1 year 850K rule and am Belgian.

I wanted to register, because I know it is the law in Thailand, I did not want to cause problems to the parents of my gf and most of all, having proof of living together might be an additional asset when my gf asks for a visum to Belgium.

We went in the morning but had to come back with new pictures of me. When we came back in the afternoon, the household book which the mother of my gf. had left there, had disappeared. No problem, we got a new one. We even got two, a blue one (tho ro 14) for my gf and her family and a yellow one (tho ro 13) all for me alone.

Since I expected the registration to be the equivalent of a registration in a guesthouse, I am somewhat amazed to have a household book on my own. I hope this does not mean I am registered in Thailand now. I had to sign one paper tho ro 25.

Anybody can explain more about my actual status?

You just got very handy thing to have. It is often called a yellow house book.

There are no consequences for having it. A lot people jump through a lot of hoops to get one.

You can use it to prove your address for a drivers license buying a vehicle and etc.

Next time you get your extension give immigration a copy.

Thanks a lot.