Immigration: Foreigners must now carry valid ID at all times, report within 24 hours

[kkup]

An Alien with ID, that's different

[apiwan]

I have to say. There is definitely a trend here.

There's a big change on the cards in Thailand.

This is just paving the way.

Before the end of this year the retirement visa will change.




Sent from my SM-N9005 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

 
....and after that they'll start rationing, setting quota's of how many tourists every country can send each year, and only allowing a maximum of one hundred new retirement visa's each year, each going to the highest bidder, I'm certain they will.

If you look at it the elite card has surfaced again visa runners being stopped ed visas changing non o getting more difficult to obtain

come christmas they'll probably only be 2 week holiday people and a few others.




Sent from my SM-N9005 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[sabaii69]

 Drive em' crazy and carry a thai DL. I only give it to hotels and it makes them unhappy. Reports are in that hotels are going through 'surrendered' passports and giving info to immigration. e.g., hotel directly across from Big C north on second rd..

[ukrules]

Just because you're spending an amount of money doesn't give you right to stay in definitely in the country

 

Not entirely correct. If you spend 500k on the Thailand Elite Easy Access membership you get a 5 year visa which allows you to stay for 5 years without leaving.
 

[sgtsabai]

Bigfarang1948, At least Udonthani immigration people have been good folks, ah so far. If this keeps up I forsee a lot of Issan women losing their ATM's.

[wellred]

 

So are tourists here for two weeks now meant to take their passports to the beach, trekking through the jungle or in a soapy massage??

Or a copy certified by immigration. And don't forget to find a jungle police while trekking since you're changing your residence constantly. 

 

The immigration offices are going to get real cramped if all of this actually starts. The stock price for Double-A might skyrocket, though.

 

 

Can this be done when said tourist enters the country? If so I don't see the problem but I don't really want to be carrying around my passport everywhere.

[cyborgx]

Does this include everywhere else? 

 

Meaning I only have to carry my Thai Drivers Licencse - no need to keep my passport or a copy with me as well?

 

I thought the same, i.e. that we were supposed to ALWAYS be carrying our passports.  Obviously I haven't been doing that.

 

My Thai Driving Licence has sufficed in just about every situation where I have needed ID so far.

[sabaii69]

I carry my Australian Drivers Licence - based on what I've seen on the roads here, it shouldnt be too hard to get a Thai Drivers Licence, I assume I can pick one up at Big C for 2K baht or so ?

 

 You will learn: Aussie DL no good; will be fined. After you go through the process getting a Thai DL, call me and tell me how easy it was.

[rgs2001uk]

I will get slagged off for this, but never mind.

 

I never carry my passport and will gladly pay 2k baht fine for not having it on me.

 

Alternative, carry passport at all times and lose it or have it stolen, this is where the fun starts.

 

Go to local police station for a police report, now head off to embassay to get sorted out with a new one, now book a 50k return flight to the UK to send my new passport to the Thai consulate for a 90 day Non Imm O visa, now come back to LOS and apply for an extension of stay based on the Non O visa.

If I am lucky the whole scenaraio will cost me less than 100k baht.

 

Alternative keep paying 2k baht fines.

 

For once I am happy to read Thai drivers license is acceptable, I have one and would rather lose that and apply for a new one here.

 

Cheaper and easier for me to lose a DL than passport.

[Franky Bear]

Would an out of date Thai driving license work?

[ukrules]

 Drive em' crazy and carry a thai DL. I only give it to hotels and it makes them unhappy. Reports are in that hotels are going through 'surrendered' passports and giving info to immigration. e.g., hotel directly across from Big C north on second rd..

 

The driving license only contains your passport number, not the other important information like the place of issue and valid from / expiry dates.
 

[Frank James]

Right.

[kannot]

I drove round Thailand in my  mobile home, where and how  often do I report????

[sgtsabai]

You have 500,000 baht pocket change for an "Elite" card that may or may not be good tomorrow? Wow, I'm impressed and my Thai wife would be more than impressed if she found out I had 500,000 baht to throw away and didn't throw it away on her...lol.

[apiwan]

Just because you're spending an amount of money doesn't give you right to stay in definitely in the country

 
Not entirely correct. If you spend 500k on the Thailand Elite Easy Access membership you get a 5 year visa which allows you to stay for 5 years without leaving.
 

Not scaremongering.

But people used to get non o visa easily. Stopped.

Visa runners. Stopped.

Ed visas tightened up.

Etc. Things change quickly here. Without explanation.

Anyone who knows Thailand will not put down 500K.



Sent from my SM-N9005 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[ukrules]

You have 500,000 baht pocket change for an "Elite" card that may or may not be good tomorrow? Wow, I'm impressed and my Thai wife would be more than impressed if she found out I had 500,000 baht to throw away and didn't throw it away on her...lol.

 

That 5 year visa in my passport is good for 5 years regardless of what happens to the TE program.

[grantbkk]

These big changes are announced all the time by some minister or local official that have to be "clarified" hours or days later by there bosses. I'm sure the panic on social media will be addressed in the near future. One local popping off does not implement national policy. Meanwhile I hope no one has a stroke over this thread.

That said if we got Elite Cards can they do the grunt work? Just kidding.

[MrWorldwide]

HEY - Come on TVF users!!  You are in a foreign country, so please understand that you have to carry an identification document 24/7.  How are the rules for foreigners in your country?

 

Raids on restaurants and sweat shops aside, I'm not aware of foreign nationals in Australia being stopped and asked for ID by the police despite our xenophobic border controls. Oz still has a problem with students who dont want to leave when  they finish their studies - various loopholes through the years have been ruthlessly exploited to the point where one university I worked at had dozens of Indian students who rarely attended classes because it clashed with their shifts at the local abbatoir. No idea how the Chinese owners of that place got around our labour laws but apparently they did for quite a few years until one of the unions tried to put a gun to their heads - they simply closed the abattoir and pulled their people out. 

[tboxcar]

I was on a night bus to Phuket about one month ago, it was 5:30 am and we pulled across the big bridge onto the island and stopped at the traffice police check point, the police climbed aboard and starting doing the ID check, I did not a passport and left it in BKK, I simple pulled out my Thai license, but he asked for passport, after looking at my license he looked like there was no problem and focused his attention on the Burmese couple in front of me.

[Maestro]

Since im an Earthling and not an Alien, i guess this doesnt apply to me.

 

Definition of "alien" in the Immigration Act, section 4, ie the definition that applies in the context of this topic:

 

“Alien” means any person who is not of Thai nationality under the 

nationality Act. 

 

 

[TechnikaIII]

 

The junta has made it clear they have an agenda to control criminal activity, if you are doing nothing wrong no problem. However if you are up to no good you need to be concerned, so what are all you posters of negative comments afraid of?

 

I travel all over the country and stay with friends, I do not wish to report to the local immigration or police every time I move.

 

" ... I do not wish to report to the local immigration or police every time I move." .. nor do I intend to!

 

I frequently cross from one province to another, and stay wherever it is convenient. Travelling by rail or cycling, to hell with searching for police stations. Carrying ID? ok .. I've done that for years in Norway.

Hey, wouldn't it be fun for a few hundred of us to storm a police station, blocking all exits until the poor unfortunate has processed all of our ... bullshit-whatever documents.

[phirho]

 

Just because you're spending an amount of money doesn't give you right to stay in definitely in the country

 

Not entirely correct. If you spend 500k on the Thailand Elite Easy Access membership you get a 5 year visa which allows you to stay for 5 years without leaving.
 

 

 

Incidentally, the elite card proper has the owner's name, photo and validity period (which is also the validity period of the visa) on it, so it technically confirms that the owner stays in Thailand legally. I wonder if this card will be an acceptable id under these regulations 

[DrTuner]

The Immigration Act was last changed in 1979. I reckon they still used ox carts to go around and didn't move like people do after the invention of low-cost airlines. They ought to scrap the Section 37 and replace it with something more modern.

[Time Traveller]

Immigration really are taking their anger out on the foreigners it seems. While carrying ID seems reasonable, the Failure to report the foreigner by the house master? Seriously what is this, the cold war? I guess my landlord will charge me an extra 2000 Bt when she gets the fine from immigration. 

Then there's stupidly pointless 90 day reporting. Don't we update our address whenever extending stays or moving address anyway? If the 90 day is so important why not make it 7 day reporting or daily reporting. 

[sustento]

Wonder how Thais would like it if similar rules were enforced upon them when living overseas. Thais in the UK can travel freely without any of this nonsense.

Thais have to carry their ID card all the time in Thailand...

[sgtsabai]

Wanna' bet that 5 year visa any good tomorrow, or the day after, or next year? For that matter any visa, extension etc.? The government can change the rules as they go along and nothing we can do about it. We live in uncertain times and it is always best to plan for the worst and hope for the best. Remember all the best laid plans of mice and men..... in Thailand all the best laid plans go out the window, time and time again.

[uptheos]

"There is also another reporting obligation, and this applies when a foreigner visits another province and stays for more than 48 hours. In that case the reporting of the new address must be provided to the police, or the immigration, within 48 hours".

 

For those showing a Thai driving licence if stopped in another province, remember your home address is on the back. 

 

A lot of people don't realise that if you move you should get your address changed too......just saying.

 

[sustento]

Since im an Earthling and not an Alien, i guess this doesnt apply to me.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_(law)

[Frank James]

It blows my mind that the more BS bubbles up out of this current "situation", the more some of you are lined up with your kneepads on saying Yes Yes, More, Please More!

[Time Traveller]

The Immigration Act was last changed in 1979. I reckon they still used ox carts to go around and didn't move like people do after the invention of low-cost airlines. They ought to scrap the Section 37 and replace it with something more modern.

To understand how outdated and out of touch with modern times the thai immigration is, the current Immigration Act from 1979 requires foreigners who have not been vaccinated against smallpox to be prohibited from entering the country.

I guess when the military get around to reading that part of the law there's going to be a mass cleansing of the evil foreign problem plaguing the country.