Tabien Baan - Do I Need It?

[arunsakda]

I purchased a small condo in Chiang Mai last year but I'm only residing here for one to three weeks every couple months as I am still working overseas. I don't plan on retiring very soon. I have the blue Tabien Baan from the previous owner. When I inquired about getting a yellow one in my name at I was told I would have to get a letter from immigration to have it processed, and maybe they would not help me as I am always in Thailand on a 30 day visa waiver. So, what is the purposed of this document, how do I get one, and is it even worth the hassle at this time?

Edited November 7, 2009 by arunsakda

[SM7WGP]

You dont mean he gave you the Blue house book really, Because without that in Thailand you are more ore less out in the cold.

The yellow one is no problem to get so if you are owner of the condo get one.

[bluweyze]

To get the yellow book you need to get a residency letter from immigration. I think on a 30 day visa you might find it difficult, it is not easy at the best of times depending upon the efficiency of your local office.. I am not sure there is any need for you to have one because you can suffice on most things getting letters from immigration, although at 500 baht a time the cost of this adds up.

[SwaziBird]

To get the yellow book you need to get a residency letter from immigration. I think on a 30 day visa you might find it difficult, it is not easy at the best of times depending upon the efficiency of your local office.. I am not sure there is any need for you to have one because you can suffice on most things getting letters from immigration, although at 500 baht a time the cost of this adds up.

Here's the LATEST news on Yellow Books.

About 2 to 3 months back a new regulation was promulgated and circularised to various ( probably all ) Thambon Offices to say that Yellow Books were no longer to be issued ! End of Story.

I was shown the official document which, of course, I was unable to read.

This being the case there must obviously be some other method of proving residence ownership without having to continually resort to Certificates issued by the Immigration Dept .and which only have 90 days validity. I have no idea of what that might be !

Blue Books, as you know, are not very useful since your name is not inscribed on the document.

What value there will be in the Yellow Book in the future when no more are being issued remains to be seen.

Oh! the joys of bureaucracy - or might we say, bureaucrazy !

Cheers.

Edited November 8, 2009 by SwaziBird

[neilrob]

Interesting. I got a yellow tabian baan on 21st August, which may therefore be among the last issued.

[gotlost]

I have yellow Tabien Baan. Do I need it, NO. its another form of ID and it will most the time eliminate the certificate of residence from immigration if required. As I say this if you can get a Tabien Baan go for it. Rememberer regiments very from Amphor to Amphor

[cm das]

I just got my tabien baan/yellow book today, from the amphur office in the old city. The process was very simple (especially since my lovely wife filled out the forms for me). All I needed was copies of my passport, visa, entry stamp and marriage certificate, along with the certificate of residence from Immigration and my wife's ID & blue book (for the house we share). It cost 100 Baht for the yellow book and took about 10 days. The woman at the amphur office was very friendly and helpful. I'm certainly glad that from now on I won't have to drop 500 Baht at Immigration each time I need to document my residence. One interesting thing we noticed - the yellow book lists a national ID number in my name. I don't know if that has any practical meaning for me but I'd like to find out.

[SantiSuk]

To get the yellow book you need to get a residency letter from immigration. I think on a 30 day visa you might find it difficult, it is not easy at the best of times depending upon the efficiency of your local office.. I am not sure there is any need for you to have one because you can suffice on most things getting letters from immigration, although at 500 baht a time the cost of this adds up.

Here's the LATEST news on Yellow Books.

About 2 to 3 months back a new regulation was promulgated and circularised to various ( probably all ) Thambon Offices to say that Yellow Books were no longer to be issued ! End of Story.

I was shown the official document which, of course, I was unable to read.

This being the case there must obviously be some other method of proving residence ownership without having to continually resort to Certificates issued by the Immigration Dept .and which only have 90 days validity. I have no idea of what that might be !

Blue Books, as you know, are not very useful since your name is not inscribed on the document.

What value there will be in the Yellow Book in the future when no more are being issued remains to be seen.

Oh! the joys of bureaucracy - or might we say, bureaucrazy !

Cheers.

I see that nobody is corroborating your surmise about the death of Yellow Books. I went into my local amphur 3 days ago and was given a normal list of requirements, rather than a demise notice.

Edited December 28, 2009 by SantiSuk

[KevinHunt]

I have yellow Tabien Baan. Do I need it, NO. its another form of ID and it will most the time eliminate the certificate of residence from immigration if required. As I say this if you can get a Tabien Baan go for it. Rememberer regiments very from Amphor to Amphor

I've never had, or been on either a blue or yellow book and don't really know why I would need them. I've had about 18 one-year visas and a similar number of one-year work permits and I don't think anyone ever asked for one? Why specifically do you need them? That was what the question was about, by the way - Do I need one? 

Edited December 28, 2009 by KevinHunt

[cm das]

I've never had, or been on either a blue or yellow book and don't really know why I would need them. I've had about 18 one-year visas and a similar number of one-year work permits and I don't think anyone ever asked for one? Why specifically do you need them? That was what the question was about, by the way - Do I need one? 

You don't need one. But my understanding is that the yellow book will obviate the need for a certificate of residence from Immigration. So if you're buying/registering a vehicle, or getting/renewing a driver's license, or something like that, you won't need to trek down to Immigration & spend 500 Baht each time. It seems like it's about once a year that I need one of these documents & so the yellow book will save me that trip (and the effort of getting the necessary documents together). No, it won't make a huge difference in my life but I appreciate the convenience. For those who have work permits, I think they too will work to verify residence.

[SwaziBird]

To get the yellow book you need to get a residency letter from immigration. I think on a 30 day visa you might find it difficult, it is not easy at the best of times depending upon the efficiency of your local office.. I am not sure there is any need for you to have one because you can suffice on most things getting letters from immigration, although at 500 baht a time the cost of this adds up.

Here's the LATEST news on Yellow Books.

About 2 to 3 months back a new regulation was promulgated and circularised to various ( probably all ) Thambon Offices to say that Yellow Books were no longer to be issued ! End of Story.

I was shown the official document which, of course, I was unable to read.

This being the case there must obviously be some other method of proving residence ownership without having to continually resort to Certificates issued by the Immigration Dept .and which only have 90 days validity. I have no idea of what that might be !

Blue Books, as you know, are not very useful since your name is not inscribed on the document.

What value there will be in the Yellow Book in the future when no more are being issued remains to be seen.

Oh! the joys of bureaucracy - or might we say, bureaucrazy !

Cheers.

I see that nobody is corroborating your surmise about the death of Yellow Books. I went into my local amphur 3 days ago and was given a normal list of requirements, rather than a demise notice.

Well - what can I say ? It would appear that you just can't believe anyone here - least of all me !! Sorry for the confusion.

Glad to hear others are still getting their Yellow Books.

As a point of interest, like most of us, my five year drivers licences state my passport numbers. Since obtaining our Yellow Book my wife applied for her 5 yr. licence and hers does not show her passport number but, rather, her new Thai ID Number as granted and issued with the Yellow Book.

So, since there was joint ownership of the property, we now both have Thai ID numbers and I feel rather good about that.

[SantiSuk]

Well, today I tried to get my yellow book, but was refused as my Non O visa is only for 3 months, and apparently, I need a 1 year Non-O to get the yellow book. But before I can get the Non-O extension of 1 year, my Thai wife needed to change her address to be that of my condo, so she was the one with the new blue book today, not me. Now that she has he address changed, I will apply for the 1 year extension, and after that, I will try for the yellow book again. Sigh....

Likely to be a rule in your amphur, but not necessarily applied by all amphur. I've seen postings on TV.com from folk who got it on a tourist visa. Hope you are successful next time.