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

[Absolut]

 

 
"Hua Hin Immigration is from today also enforcing the requirements that you and your landlord (condominium owner, house owner etc) must report to Immigration within 24 hours of moving in to a new address. On your arrival card you already reported your place of stay, and if that changes you need to visit Immigration and report your new address."
 
 
......kind of a hassle for those on a tour of Thailand?

It is basically the end of the tour and most tourism.
If you touring around Thailand and sleep every night in a different location your holiday will be spending almost all your time in inmigration offices.

 
If you stay in hotels, you don't have to do a thing.  They do it for you.  That reporting requirement won't affect 95+% of tourists at all.
 
If you're not staying in hotels, they're probably wondering if you're a tourist or a resident.  But that topic is done to death on dozens of other threads.  
 
Perhaps it will be a PITA for legitimate long stay folks- I don't discount that possibility, but it won't be the end of tourism.
 
For the ID, they say a copy of your passport stamped by immigration is acceptable.  If I were coming in with no TDL, I'd ask the immigration guy who stamps my passport in to also stamp a copy of my passport that I had the foresight to print before I left for Thailand.  Maybe they will.  Maybe they won't.  Can't hurt to ask politely.

Agree totally, I'm back next week and that's exactly what I plan to do, bring a copy with me and asked to have it stamped on my way in.

This might work for me, and only because I read TV, unfortunately the vast majority of tourists don't so wouldn't think to get anything arranged on the way in.

I wonder if it will be made clear to incoming passengers they need to carry their passport at all times or have a copy certified. The earlier suggestion of a copy being done and certified upon entering by Immigration is a very good idea, could even earn Immigration a nice bit of coin over time.

[iamariva1957]

dagobert... you are right but if you add a color copy of your visa and/or one of your entry 'card' you should be sorted. The local Plod will accept them with or without them being certified by immigration. Well that is the idea anyway. The suggestion to use a passport card wass simply to keep things safer for the average traveler. Losing ones passport is beyond just a headache.  

[rebeccax28]

[quote name="Maestro" post="8169407" timestamp="1406648183"][quote name="Pattaya46" post="8169026" timestamp="1406642224"]Could someone please explain these terms from the OP ?

1- "moving in to a new address" (ThaiVisa words)

2- "change of residence" (Hua Hin document words)

3- "temporary entry permit" (as only aliens with such "permit" must report)


- For me when I travel to see a friend 3 or 4 days, I have a "change of address" but not " a change of residence"

- Are owners of Tourist Visa or non-Imm Visa concerned? (temporary permit?)[/quote]
 
1. This appears to refer to section 38 of the immigration Act and form TM.30 applies.

Section 38 : The house – master , the owner or the possessor of the residence , 
or the hotel manager where the alien , receiving permission to stay temporary in 
the Kingdom has stayed , must notify the competent official of the Immigration 
Office located in the same area with that hours , dwelling place or hotel, within 24 
hours from the time of arrival of the alien concerned. If there is no Immigration 
Office located in that area , the local police official for that area must be notified.
 In case the house , dwelling place , or hotel where the alien has 
stayed under provision of Para.1 is located within the Bangkok area , such 
notification must be reported to the competent official at the Immigration 
Division.
 Making notification , in reference to the Para 1 and 2 of this Section , 
must comply with regulations prescribed by the Director General.

 
2. I cannot find the text "change of residence" in the document Prachuabkhirikhan Immigration Notice attached to the OP, but there is the text "change in residence" in the quoted English translation of section 37, clause 3 of the Immigration Act, Form TM.28 applies.

Section 37 : An alien having received a temporary entry permit into the Kingdom 
must comply with the following :

3. Shall notify the police official of the local police station where such 
alien resides, within twenty – four hours from the time of arrival. In the case of 
change in residence in which new residence is not located the same area with the 
former police stations , such alien must notify the police official of the police 
station for that area within twenty – four hours from the time of arrival.

 
3. I see this as a reference to "the alien , who entered to stay temporarily in the Kingdom under Section 35, to remain in the Kingdom under any prescribed conditions". This includes every foreigner who does not have a Certificate of Residence, ie who is not a Permanent Resident, as per Chapter 5 of the Immigration Act. Therefore, foreigners with a "temporary entry permit" are all foreigners who have a permission to stay for a limited period, which includes all who arrive visa-exempt, with a visa of any kind other than an immigrant visa, or with a re-entry permit based on a permission to stay for a limited period.
 
Are owners of Tourist Visa or non-Imm Visa concerned? The OP says they are, with the text "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."  This is a clear reference to Section 37, clause 4 of the Immigration Act, but erroneously mentions a stay of more than 48 hours instead of 24 hours as shown in the law.

Section 37 : An alien having received a temporary entry permit into the Kingdom 
must comply with the following : 
...

4. If the alien travels to any province and will stay there longer than 
twenty – four hours , such alien must notify the police official of the police station 
for that area within forty – eight hours from the time of arrival.

 
However, section 37 also says the following:

The provision of ( 3 ) and ( 4 ) shall not apply to any cases under 

Section 34 by any conditions as prescribed by the Director General.

 
It was good of the Hua Hin immigration official to give the participants in the meeting a document quoting the text of sections 37 and 38 of the Immigration Act, but unfortunately this document does not also include the text of the the above-mentioned "conditions as prescribed by the Director General", whom the Act defines as the Director General of the Police Department.
 [/quote]


So does this mean if I'm staying in my Thai partners rented accommodation, when I get there I have to go to immigration in Phuket and my Partner has to tell them I am staying with her? I have not done that before after being together 4 years, even though I'm staying 3 weeks.


Sent from my i-mobile i-STYLE 7.5A using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[AYJAYDEE]

So does this mean if I'm staying in my Thai partners rented accommodation, when I get there I have to go to immigration in Phuket and my Partner has to tell them I am staying with her? I have not done that before after being together 4 years, even though I'm staying 3 weeks.


Sent from my i-mobile i-STYLE 7.5A using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

 

my wife reports when we come every year to stay in our house

[rebeccax28]

So does this mean if I'm staying in my Thai partners rented accommodation, when I get there I have to go to immigration in Phuket and my Partner has to tell them I am staying with her? I have not done that before after being together 4 years, even though I'm staying 3 weeks.


Sent from my i-mobile i-STYLE 7.5A using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app
 

my wife reports when we come every year to stay in our house

Can I ask how she does it? And when?

Sent from my i-mobile i-STYLE 7.5A using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[OumarhindaOunsingha]

If Thailand continues walking on this path, soon there will zero tourists in the country. Doesn't 'Thailand' mean 'Land of the Free'?

 

I will ignore most of it. More and more rules, changing all the time, sorry, but my brain can't take it, can't follow it. I choose the 'don't think' road.

 

You guys really take all these new enforcements seriously??? Omg!

 

Good luck to everyone with the New Thailand :D

[sustento]

Can't we set all these posts to music? We could call it 'The Whine of Entitlement'.

[dagobert]

Yeah the passport card is a very good idea! but its only ID same as a DP although
it would be wise to have a copy of the visa aswell colour or what it dont matter as it
is dated.

Sent from my GT-P3100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[bbbbooboo]

Nearer and nearer to a police state....I'm going somewhere else to spend my money

[dagobert]

In this situation your Thai partner would need to contact the house holder to report on
your behalf as your partner is only the lease holder and not the house holder.

Sent from my GT-P3100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[hawker9000]

Another "get tough on tourists" announcement from an immigration minion.  Well, it's a Hua Hin official, so maybe not a national "crackdown".  Somebody obviously stirred this guy's pot.  'Guess he must've decided there were a bit too many of those nasty foreigners wandering around his burg.  Maybe this'll help.  My profound sympathies to those who get their passports stolen because of him.

[Noi657]

They were talking not so long ago about attracting 'quality tourists'.... Good luck with that one!

[Arandora]

The vast majority of tourists who now come on holiday to Thailand are being tarred with the same brush as the serial Visa Abusers that have caused this mess.

[John1thru10]

Can't we set all these posts to music? We could call it 'The Whine of Entitlement'.

 

Or posts like yours, we could call song of the facsist's lacky?

[JLCrab]

 

Can't we set all these posts to music? We could call it 'The Whine of Entitlement'.

 

Or posts like yours, we could call song of the facsist's lacky?

 

Or we could call another song "Don't They Realize ,,,?"

[paz]

Passport card is proof of ID not visa status.

Sent from my GT-P3100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

 

Neither a (Thai) driver license is. The claimed point is providing reliable proof of identity. The practical point is for some local chief to look good at his/her next meeting with superiors.

[sustento]

 

Can't we set all these posts to music? We could call it 'The Whine of Entitlement'.

 

Or posts like yours, we could call song of the facsist's lacky?

 

Fascist's lackey?

[AYJAYDEE]

 

 

So does this mean if I'm staying in my Thai partners rented accommodation, when I get there I have to go to immigration in Phuket and my Partner has to tell them I am staying with her? I have not done that before after being together 4 years, even though I'm staying 3 weeks.


Sent from my i-mobile i-STYLE 7.5A using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app
 

my wife reports when we come every year to stay in our house

Can I ask how she does it? And when?

Sent from my i-mobile i-STYLE 7.5A using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

 

as we live 60+ km from an immigration office, we go to our local police station the day after we arrive.

[John1thru10]

When I think about back home in the US, where the governments, state and federal, give illegal aliens driver's licenses, free education, free medical, identification access with Mexican matricula consular ID cards, homeowner loans, taxpayer IDs, and free money with Earned Income Tax Credits, I can understand why Thailand wants to protect itself.

 

When I think about back home in the US, I think about guys like you who believe any right wing propaganda they hear on television and then repeat it all the time.

[MyFriend You]

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?

 

One  of the listed ID's  -  its been this way for over Thirty years, just never enforced, and it is Country Wide

the popsted jjust printed a news clip from  Hua Hin  

 

Valid ID's are:

 

- Thai Drivers Licence

- Passport original

- Copy of passport verified and stamped by Hua Hin Immigration

 

 

I always carry a Certified Copy of my Passport, and a valid drivers license, never fails.

 

[nycjoe]

2000 baht. Restraint of pen and tongue.

[rebeccax28]

 

 

So does this mean if I'm staying in my Thai partners rented accommodation, when I get there I have to go to immigration in Phuket and my Partner has to tell them I am staying with her? I have not done that before after being together 4 years, even though I'm staying 3 weeks.


Sent from my i-mobile i-STYLE 7.5A using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app
 

my wife reports when we come every year to stay in our house

Can I ask how she does it? And when?

Sent from my i-mobile i-STYLE 7.5A using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app
 

as we live 60+ km from an immigration office, we go to our local police station the day after we arrive.

m

Ok thanks, I don't stay too far from an office, I'll get myself there the day after I arrive


Sent from my i-mobile i-STYLE 7.5A using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[rhythmworx]

Passport will be in my shoe from now on, so it doesn't get lost.

 

Hope they will enjoy peeling through the pages.

[hawker9000]

 

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?

 

One  of the listed ID's  -  its been this way for over Thirty years, just never enforced, and it is Country Wide

the popsted jjust printed a news clip from  Hua Hin  

 

Valid ID's are:

 

- Thai Drivers Licence

- Passport original

- Copy of passport verified and stamped by Hua Hin Immigration

 

 

I always carry a Certified Copy of my Passport, and a valid drivers license, never fails.

 

 

 

And there's a REASON this particular rule hasn't been routinely enforced!   Most tourists DON'T have Thai DLs of course, but DO have some dim awareness that having one's passport lost or stolen is something that's more likely to HAPPEN than it is to be a pleasant or convenient experience!  This is the first time I've heard the option of a visit to an immigration office to have a copy "verified & stamped" ever mentioned, and I wonder just how most immigration offices around the country would actually handle such an off-the-wall request.  'Something I'm sure most tourists would love to add to their list of things to do in Thailand.  Would you have to repeat the process for every place in Thailand you go?   Anyone here ever actually DONE this?  

 

Rather than address the pickpocketing, the authorities choose to persecute the tourists!   Yet another poke in the eye.

 

The whole thing just sounds like an easy 2000 baht to me. 

[Arandora]

A Thai DL is the best form of ID as it carries the holder's passport number also. So when stopped, the cop can take the DL over to the laptop in his car, key in the passport number and, voila, it will show the Visa status! Simples! ;-)

[hgma]

I always carry ID AND credit card with me in Thailand!!

[Strangebrew]

so retired farang can't travel and spend baht around the country with out daily stops at immigration? Well this puts my retiring there on hold.Maybe they ought to issue photo Id's to legal retirees so they can go about there life same for those who put money into Thailand .

[Maestro]

The English translation of the Immigration Act on this page of the website of the Immigration Bureau has, I believe, a better translation of the definition of "House Master" in Section 4 than the translation of samuiforsale.com from which I quoted earlier in this topic. Therefore, I am attaching now the translation I found on the website of the Immigration Bureau, and also the original Thai text from the same site for those who are good at Thai-English translation (which I am not).

 

[attachment=277190:Immigration Act 2522 en - immigration.pdf]

[attachment=277191:Immigration Act 2522 th - immigration.pdf]

 

Definition of "House Master"

“ House Master ” means any persons who is the chief possessor of a house , whether in the capacity of

owner , tenant , or in any other capacity whatsoever , in accordance with the law on people act.

 

Since "House Master" – the Thai word for which is sometimes also translated as "host" – is so clearly defined in section 4, which also contains the necessary definitions of 14 other terms, why does section 38 say that for a residence "The house – master , the owner or the possessor of the residence" must notify the arrival of an alien"?

 

It is my considered opinion that this was an error on the part of the lawmakers. "House Master" already having been defined as the chief possessor of a residence in any of a variety of capacities including owner, tenant or any other capacity, it is not only unnecessary but also wrong to use the term "House Master" not by itself but followed by part of what is included in the definition in subsequent sections of the law. A residence has only one House Master, in whatever capacity he may have this position, and therefore there can be only one person, this House Master, who has the duty to notify the arrival of aliens in this residence under section 38.

 

 

 

[retell]

 

And what about car and motorbike rentals who ask for passport deposit? Is this now illegal?

At least in my case it's always been illegal. I don't own the passport, it belongs to my native country and I'm not allowed to give it to anybody.

 
So when you leave you passport to a foreign consulate to get a visa you would be breaking the law ? 
No, is not so. Anywaycountries do not clearly stipulate who has property of the material passport book, so we're discussing on smoke. 

I see your point , fair would be when apply for a visa you pay the fee , they prepare everything and the next day come to pick up visa ,stick it in your passport and done, i do not see the need for an embassy or consulate to keep your passport , its not that you are gonna make a run for it ,whats the logic in that , you need the visa , take like Laos , you are also required to carry your passport/id all the time so thailand is forcing foreigners to break the law on their behalf . And what if your passport gets stolen while in their care ?

[retell]

The English translation of the Immigration Act on this page of the website of the Immigration Bureau has, I believe, a better translation of definition of "House Master" in Section 4 than the translation of samuiforsale.com from which I quoted earlier in this topic. Therefore, I am attaching now the translation I found on the website of the Immigration Bureau, and also the original Thai text from the same site for those who are good at Thai-English translation (which I am not).
 
Immigration Act 2522 en - immigration.pdf
Immigration Act 2522 th - immigration.pdf
 
Definition of "House Master"

House Master means any persons who is the chief possessor of a house , whether in the capacity of
owner , tenant , or in any other capacity whatsoever , in accordance with the law on people act.

 
 
Since "House Master" the Thai word for which is sometimes also translated as "host" is so clearly defined in section 4, which also contains the necessary definitions of 14 other term, why does section 38 say that for a residence "The house master , the owner or the possessor of the residence" must notify the arrival of an alien"
 
It is my considered opinion that this was an error on the part of the lawmakers. "House Master" already having been defined as the chief possessor of a residence in any of a variety of capacities including owner, tenant or any other capacity, it is not only unnecessary but also wrong to use the term "House Master" not by itself but followed by part of what is included in the definition. A residence has only one House Master, in whatever capacity he may have this position, and therefore there can be only one person, this House Master, who has the duty to notify the arrival of aliens in this residence under section 38.
 
 
 

Housemaster , can also be the chief concierge