Does Thai Wife Have To Do Foreign Stay Report For Husband?

[rawhod]

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/629542-phuket-immigration-warns-of-drive-on-foreign-stay-reports/?utm_source=newsletter-20130330-1039&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=news

Have read this report I am not clear if my wife has to make a Foreign stay report for me. I am on a retirement extension of stay and make 90 day reports.

[lopburi3]

If she owns the house she should report but believe it would be highly unlikely to become an issue if just you staying there. It is really the commercial lodging and landlords with tenets that is of prime interest to immigration police as many have not been reporting as is required.

[hmj]

lopburi3

"If she owns the house she should report but..."

How often does the wife have to report in case of "retirement extension of stay
and reporting every 90 days?

I am single and on extension of stay based on retirement. I live in rented

accommodation and I have a one year rental contract. How often does

my landlord have to report me?

[Mario2008]

You would need to report and be reported every time you return there after spending the night elsewhere and being reported at that address.

So report your current address, go and spend the night at the wife's family house report your stay there and report again when you stay at home.

Somehow I don't think both immigration and the local police office are not going to like strict enforcement of the rules.

[rct99q]

I posted this on another thread but I asked immigration in Nong Khai what they wanted me to do. I have a Imm- O - M (marriage visa) so I must re-enter every 90 days. I have a permanent residence with my wife. We travel within Thailand fairly frequently (at least once a month or more).

They advised me to register my main residence the one time. When I travel within Thailand no need to re register with them if we are not gone more than 30 days. Whenever I leave the country for the next 90 days on my visa, technically, I am to re register with immigration. However they told me that if I remain at the same residence then no need to re register IF my stay outside of the country is less than 24 hours. If my stay outside of the country is greater than 24 hours then I need to re register with them.

Clear as mud. But basically they do not want to deal with all the paper work I assume. I took me 5 minutes to get the form filled in and then they staple your portion into your passport and that is what you need to produce if asked where you are staying by officials.

[sugar2009]

well what about the new rules re key master form from immigration as of tomorrow the fine goes up to 8,000 per day so to help all lets clarify

if tourist come here on holiday they register at a hotel ,motel ,guest house ,that form goes to immigration if however a foreigner is visiting and stays at a rental apartment the owner of the apartment/condo has 24 hours to fill out a key master form have a copy of the foreigners passport handed to immigration they in turn give part form back now the part is copied one for the condo owner and one to be clipped into the passport of the foreigner thus the law is satisfied should this not be done the land lord or even a Thai wife of a foreigner will be subject to a fine now increased to 8,000 bahts per every 24 hours that passes until that form is completed and handed into Immigration.

An English friend had this problem went to do his 90 days they pulled his wife (of 25 yrs married ) because it was her home he lived in so she had to register him as living in her house so she was fined 2000 bahts well now that's gone up as of tomorrow to 8,000 but now for each and every 24 hours till registration of the person is done at the immigration office please note it is the foreigners job to visit for his or her 90 days not his wife her job is to ensure he is listed as living in the house she is the owner of and she fills out the key master form which is available online using her Thai ID card Her house book etc and a copy of the foreigners passport if accommodation is rented then its the landlord who fills out the key master form in addition if a holiday takes place going overseas or across the border but actually leaving Thailand then he must or she must on returning re register within 24 hours of arriving

[Mario2008]

The maximum fine is 2,000 baht per person and I don't believe it is per day. Only for hotels, guesthouses etc is the fine a maximum of 10,000 baht and Phuket immigration announced they will fine 8,000 baht and not the maximum fine.

Hotels and such will have a password to submit the data online, if you stay with family or friends they must report at the local police station in person, as they will not have a login code.

[asiaexpat]

My wife keeps a completed TM30 leaving out the date and TM6 number on the computer so that every time we return from travel she can mail a new report in to Immigration. They return the bottom portion showing the report was made as long as she includes a self addressed and stamped envelope. I usually put a reminder on the computer calendar so she will not forget. We also report family that visit to be in compliance.

[maprao]

Maybe this is another use for having a "Yellow Tabien Bahn". This is your registered address. You do not have to report staying at your "registered address"

Edited March 30, 2013 by maprao

[sugar2009]

sad you pass on information that was published on thai visa with the new checks begining in Phuket and then country wide and its still questioned well we know it was a 2000 baht fine so I asked my neighbour who is working at a Government office the fine and radom checks will begin in April 2013

will cover hotels motels guest houses rented condo,and private properties as well, and sadly the increase fine levels applies to all persons flouting the law of the land re being registered using a keymasters forms all Immigration concerns are that they are able to account for all tourist and long stay foreigners where abouts within the kingdom

[Maestro]

The article in a Phuket newspaper gave the impression that the fine is 8,000 Baht for all and that this fee would be per night but neither a newspaper article nor your neighbour can change section 77 of the Immigration Act, only parliament can.

Section 77 : Whoever fails to comply with the provision of Section 38, shall be
punished with a fine not exceeding 2,000 Baht. If said person is a hotel manager,
he shall be punished with a fine from 2,000 Baht to 10,000 Baht.

[rawhod]

This is the guidance on the Chiangmai immigration site under "Notification of residence of foreigners for businesses"

http://www.chiangmaiimm.com/en/notification-of-residence-of-foreigners-for-businesses.html

However, it does refer to:-

"According to section 38 of the 1979 immigration act, "House owners, heads of household, landlords or managers of hotels who accommodate foreign nationals on a temporary basis who stay in the kingdom legally, must notify the local immigration authorities within 24 hours from the time of arrival of the foreign national."

Rather confusing...

[ThaidDown]

This is the guidance on the Chiangmai immigration site under "Notification of residence of foreigners for businesses"

http://www.chiangmaiimm.com/en/notification-of-residence-of-foreigners-for-businesses.html

However, it does refer to:-

"According to section 38 of the 1979 immigration act, "House owners, heads of household, landlords or managers of hotels who accommodate foreign nationals on a temporary basis who stay in the kingdom legally, must notify the local immigration authorities within 24 hours from the time of arrival of the foreign national."

Rather confusing...

Seems ok, but what if House owners etc. accommodate people staying in the Kingdom illegally? Seems to me you do not have to report them, according to above !

Many years ago we had visit from Rayong Immigration (pre Maptaphut days) the younger guy asked my wife if she had registered me as living at her house. She basically called him an idiot and said 'where else would he live as we were married'. He said you have to fill in TM30. She said 'if you want it fill it in yourself'. He did, and she signed it, no fine levied, and yes I still got my extension. In fact over the next couple of years he was very pleasant to us when we visited immigration.

[IMA_FARANG]

In practice, at least in Bangkok, a Thai trying to report a relative or even a renter who lives in their house (renting a room let's just say) will find the police would just rather not hear about it.

And they will tell that to the Thai renter in Thai ..... please don't bother us.

Not sure how it actually works up country, but in Bangkok they would just rather not know.

[ubonjoe]

The immigration act says police but in reality I don't think any police station will accept the reports because it is considered immigrations job.

[IMA_FARANG]

The immigration act says police but in reality I don't think any police station will accept the reports because it is considered immigrations job.

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

Yes I agree.

I have been on a retirement visa/extension for 3 years.

I always giveimmigration my house address and also on my 90 day reporting at immigration.

They always ask for my telephone number.

Never once in over three years have they ever called me or my Thai girlfriend .

But it's always on the reporting form.

I realise that COULD change, they could start a "crackdown" on non-registered foriegners .... but so far they seem to have no real interest.

It's just another form to file and forget.

In contrast, when I lived and worked in Turkey several years ago, there was a person on just about every block where your landlord would take you to complete the reuired registration form as the final step of your rental agreement.

That form was then turned in to the local police so they had your address on file.

[ubonjoe]

Most immigration offices would consider 90 day reporting enough to meet the requirements.

[gmac]

This looks like a potential huge can of worms! It now appears that in addition to filling in your TM6 landing card and providing TM47 90 updates it seems that you also have to have your arrival in the country confirmed by your landlord, as well as every journey within the country lasting over 24 hours. Do immigration really want this? Last time I changed my address I tried to advise Jomtien immigration, as required, within 24 hours and they just told me to report it on my next 90 day check in!

Wouldn't it be nice to have a little clarity about what is actually required, rather than a lot of bluster about periodic crackdowns and threats of fines for non-compliance.

[OJAS]

This is the guidance on the Chiangmai immigration site under "Notification of residence of foreigners for businesses"

http://www.chiangmaiimm.com/en/notification-of-residence-of-foreigners-for-businesses.html

However, it does refer to:-

"According to section 38 of the 1979 immigration act, "House owners, heads of household, landlords or managers of hotels who accommodate foreign nationals on a temporary basis who stay in the kingdom legally, must notify the local immigration authorities within 24 hours from the time of arrival of the foreign national."

Rather confusing...

Seems ok, but what if House owners etc. accommodate people staying in the Kingdom illegally? Seems to me you do not have to report them, according to above !

Many years ago we had visit from Rayong Immigration (pre Maptaphut days) the younger guy asked my wife if she had registered me as living at her house. She basically called him an idiot and said 'where else would he live as we were married'. He said you have to fill in TM30. She said 'if you want it fill it in yourself'. He did, and she signed it, no fine levied, and yes I still got my extension. In fact over the next couple of years he was very pleasant to us when we visited immigration.

Which reminds me: when my wife & I went to Rayong Immigration (now at Maptaput) 4 years ago for my first 90-day report after I had moved out here, the IO did hand her a blank TM30. And, not knowing what to do with it, she did absolutely nothing apart from binning the form. Despite that criminally treasonable act on her part, the pigeons have not (to date, at any rate) come home to roost since then at 90-day reporting and annual extension of stay time.

However, now that I do my 90-day reporting to Maptaput by mail, maybe next time I should also get the wife to complete a TM30 and mail it in with my completed TM47, particularly since I'll have made a 40-day trip abroad in the meantime. This assumes, of course, that we don't get that dreaded 3AM knock on our front door first from the Immigration Gestapo

[Maestro]

This is the guidance on the Chiangmai immigration site under "Notification of residence of foreigners for businesses"

http://www.chiangmaiimm.com/en/notification-of-residence-of-foreigners-for-businesses.html

However, it does refer to:-

"According to section 38 of the 1979 immigration act, "House owners, heads of household, landlords or managers of hotels who accommodate foreign nationals on a temporary basis who stay in the kingdom legally, must notify the local immigration authorities within 24 hours from the time of arrival of the foreign national."

Rather confusing...

Seems ok, but what if House owners etc. accommodate people staying in the Kingdom illegally? Seems to me you do not have to report them, according to above !

...

Section 38 of the Immigration Act makes no distinction between foreigners staying legally and those staying illegally. This law has precedence over the guidance posted on the website of the Chiang Mai immigration office.