Hotels: Copy of Passport

[swissie]

Friend of mine just came to visit me, as he does every time when vacationing in Thailand. Before he spent a week in Pattaya. Came up with this story: Checking into the Hotel, he noticed that it took a long time to make copy of his passport in the backroom. After asking why it took so long, the reply was something like: "Must copy everything for immigration because of many "overstay-people". ! ?

For the copies, he was charged an additional 50 Bht.

I just wonder if this is just a "commission" for the receptionist or is immigration wanting to find "Overstay-People" this way?

= If I was on overstay, I would probably not be living in a hotel anyway.

Cheers.

[MJCM]

Maybe they go in the backroom, have a cig or 2 and then only copy the face page and the TM card and hand it back to him and just tell him "Must copy everything for immigration because of many "overstay-people"

Easy 50 THB

[Pattaya28]

Sounds madness.

Are immigration really going to check tens of thousands of hotel records ?

I doubt it.

Immigration have all the details anyway.

Are they going to try track tourists this way ?

The only obligation a hotel has, is to take a copy of the passport.

[BB1950]

Owners/Managers of hotels, guesthouses, mansions, apartments and rented houses do have a requirement to report within 24 hours.

Notification of residence of foreigners for businesses
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." If there is no immigration office in the province or locality of the respective house or hotel, the notification is made to the local police station. In Bangkok the notification is made to the Immigration Bureau. The notification of residence of foreign nationals is made by the manager of licensed hotels according to the hotel act, owners of guesthouses, mansions, apartments and rented houses using the form TM. 30.
The notification of residence of foreign nationals within 24 hours can be made in a number of ways to make the notification as convenient as possible:
In person at the respective office, or
Through an authorised person at the respective office, or
By registered mail, or
Via internet.

The Chonburi Immigration office in Pattaya has a special table setup for this. They enter the details in the computer upstairs

As for the 50 baht fee to make copies. That's probably the requirement of that establishment.

Edited October 20, 2013 by BB1950

[swissie]

Sounds madness.

Are immigration really going to check tens of thousands of hotel records ?

I doubt it.

Immigration have all the details anyway.

Are they going to try track tourists this way ?

The only obligation a hotel has, is to take a copy of the passport.

Well, according to BB1950 (post # 4), they actually must be checking 10 thousands of hotel-records. They don't seem to "catch" many overstayers that way though.

Cheers.

[moonseeker]

Hotels etc. are obliged to report every check in with complete details within 24 hours. Can be done online 24/7. As for the 50 baht charge, a rip-off. TIT

[petercool]

The hotels need one copy for their own records and since the stricter enforcement of the requirement to notify immigration they will need additional copies. Charging you for that seems extreme and certainly at that cost. I will get copies made at 25 satang and keep a few for when next checking into a Thai hotel .....

[hanno]

Beats Vietnam where the hotels take the passport. And the Vietnamese do keep track.

Of course immigration will not catch many overtsayers in hotels; I assume that most of them will have found alternative accommodation.

[Basil B]

I do not think they have to copy every page, just the Photo page, The TM slip and associated stamp in passport,.

as for small guest houses, and private lets, etc. they are probably supposed to but most do not, I suspect that if they really want to crack down on overstayers all they need do is when they pick up an overstayer and they find out where he was staying would be to come down hard on the person renting out the room, + a check on the visa status of everybody staying at the same address.

[BB1950]

I doubt it's very useful in catching overstays. The reporting requirement is only required for those who've checked in within the last 24 hours. Most overstays would have been here over 30 days and hence would already have a place to stay.

I think it's more useful for them catching international criminals who have recently arrived and are suspected to be staying somewhere in Thailand.

[bazmlb]

I only let them copy my drivers license and most seem to accept this

Sent from my GT-I9500 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[NanLaew]

Beats Vietnam where the hotels take the passport. And the Vietnamese do keep track.

It's been years since I have had my passport 'held' at a hotel front desk in Vietnam. They are same as Thailand; make a copy of the face page and give it back to you before going to your room.

[Maestro]

Sounds madness.

Are immigration really going to check tens of thousands of hotel records ?

I doubt it.

Immigration have all the details anyway.

Are they going to try track tourists this way ?

The only obligation a hotel has, is to take a copy of the passport.

The hotel has no obligation to take a copy of any page of your passport. They are not required to send any such copy to immigration. The obligation they have is to copy certain details from your passport onto a form for submission to immigration or enter it online on the computer for electronic transmission to the immigration office.

ThaiVisa does not allow "naming and shaming" on the forum but giving the name of this hotel will not be shaming but providing useful information to the members so that they may calculate this extra "copying fee" into the cost of their stay if they plan to stay at this hotel.

[scorecard]

Beats Vietnam where the hotels take the passport. And the Vietnamese do keep track.

It's been years since I have had my passport 'held' at a hotel front desk in Vietnam. They are same as Thailand; make a copy of the face page and give it back to you before going to your room.

My experience in Vietnam same.

[scorecard]

Sounds madness.

Are immigration really going to check tens of thousands of hotel records ? alt=cheesy.gif width=32 height=20>

I doubt it.

Immigration have all the details anyway.

Are they going to try track tourists this way ?

The only obligation a hotel has, is to take a copy of the passport.

The hotel has no obligation to take a copy of any page of your passport. They are not required to send any such copy to immigration. The obligation they have is to copy certain details from your passport onto a form for submission to immigration or enter it online on the computer for electronic transmission to the immigration office.

ThaiVisa does not allow "naming and shaming" on the forum but giving the name of this hotel will not be shaming but providing useful information to the members so that they may calculate this extra "copying fee" into the cost of their stay if they plan to stay at this hotel.

Copy the said pages beforehand, if convenient, kill the 50Baht charge. And at the same time keep control of how many copies the hotel etc., have.

Also, in most instances the hotel / shop etc., will ask you to sign the copy of your passport. Do what many Thai people do, scribe 3 or 4 lines across the document then sign it.

My adult Thai son (and many others) go one step further with copies of his Thai ID card or sometimes he uses his passport. He politely insists on being given every copy then he scribes 3 or 4 lines across the copy them he writes in Thai, .........for withdrawal at ABC bank yyyyy (branch) at 00.00 (time) on xx/xx/xxxx (date).......... etc.

Why? Misuse of other peoples identity documents is quite common. Several years back one of my son's friends lost he Thai ID card, then a couple of days later it suddenly reappeared.

Several months later she discovered he 'best friend' had stolen then returned her ID card. Why? 'best friend' is an insurance salesperson. She 'borrowed' the card as part of a scam to cheat on health insurance.

[ROBINPATTAYA]

Beats Vietnam where the hotels take the passport. And the Vietnamese do keep track.

It's been years since I have had my passport 'held' at a hotel front desk in Vietnam. They are same as Thailand; make a copy of the face page and give it back to you before going to your room.

Your drivers licence has your passport number on it so it's the same as a passport.

All your details are already recorded in the system if required.

[BB1950]

The hotel has no obligation to take a copy of any page of your passport. They are not required to send any such copy to immigration. The obligation they have is to copy certain details from your passport onto a form for submission to immigration or enter it online on the computer for electronic transmission to the immigration office.

I just downloaded the TM 30 form on ThaiVisa to see what is reported on the form.

It shows the following information to be submitted:

Name and Surname

Nationality

Passport No.

Date of Arrival

Type of Visa

Expire date of stay

Point of entry

Arrival Card TM No.

Relationship

[Suradit69]

Hotels etc. are obliged to report every check in with complete details within 24 hours. Can be done online 24/7. As for the 50 baht charge, a rip-off. TIT

Something tells me there weren't a large number of stars following the hotel's listing.

Incidentally, the expression "being nickel and dimed to death" doesn't refer to the Thai currency for a good reason. The scramble to hit people for fees is hardly a TIT event. Ryanair, for example, was tossing about the idea of charging ₤1 to use the loo ... according to them the, as yet to be implemented, idea was to "change the behavior of passengers ... because behavior modification is a corporate goal ???

"By charging for the toilets we are hoping to change passenger behavior so that they use the bathroom before or after the flight," Ryanair spokesman Stephen McNamara told London's Daily Mail.

Right. Absurdity is alive and well outside the Thai borders (or as many of the TV intelligentsia would write, "the Thai boarders.")

Edited October 21, 2013 by Suradit69

[hanno]

Beats Vietnam where the hotels take the passport. And the Vietnamese do keep track.

It's been years since I have had my passport 'held' at a hotel front desk in Vietnam. They are same as Thailand; make a copy of the face page and give it back to you before going to your room.

Agreed, most larger hotels do not do it anymore as they are linked to the police station.

I was asked as late as 2 weeks ago to leave my passport overnight; some of the smaller hotels in the provinces still have to bring the actual passport to the local police station. Also rules in places like Lao Cai or Chau Doc, near borders, tend to be considerably stricter (lived and worked in the hotel industry for 15 years and have a faint idea how it works).