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

[ColdSingha]

 

It looks like this is just Hua Hin at the moment.

 

I don't really see what it is all about. I am ok that you have to carry ID on you at all times, this is the same as many countries but the reporting of your residence within 24 hours is just silly. 

 

If you are here on holiday and staying in a hotel then its not likely you are going to move. 

If you are here on holiday travelling around the country then you won't bother with all that nonsense

And if you are here longer term then you report your address to immigration every 90 days anyway.

 

So, the authorities data is likely never much more then a couple months out date anyway. This looks like a lot of additional administration,, does anyone ever think these things through?

 

If they want to find someone urgently for a serious matter then those people are unlikely to disclose whereabouts and just get someone else to do the tenancy agreement.

 

Whats next? Microchip with GPS tracker on entry?

 

It all seems a little unnecessary and yet another bureaucratic process making foreigners feel even more unwelcome, the vast majority of which are normal, decent people. I like the fact that the military "seems" to be squashing the old corruption and trying to clean things up but I am slowly getting the feeling that its time to say goodbye to this land and earn my living somewhere else.

 

 

 

I totally agree. I is silly and yet another way of making decent foreigners feel unwelcome. I am also starting to look for another country, since I am getting more and more sick of these "signals" towards foreigners here. And while corruption is still very much alive here, new enforcements are nothing else than new ways of getting more money and making things more complicated.

 

 

+1 feel the same way, if things carry on this trend i'll be packing up too

[Tokay]

 

 

 

We are reading it.. in detail.. and it spells out quite clearly whose responsibility it is.. 

 

You can hope its understood another way, but the language is very clear. 

 

 

This can work both ways.

 

It is your responsibility to make sure you're registered with immigration but the hotel normally does this for you - the hotel doesn't do this to help you - it's the law.
 

If anyone goes to immigration and tells them they're staying at a hotel I suspect immigration will be paying the hotel a visit to find out why the hotel is not making the reports they are required by law to make.

 

 

Can you fathom going to any other country in the world, and as you move from city to city as a tourist, you have to go to immigration the next morning, stand in line and eat up hours of your day to let them know where you are that day?  That is North Korea / 80s & 90s Burma nonsense.

 

Tax problems are Thai problems, not ours.
 

[DrTuner]

 BTW can anybody point at the actual piece of legislation requiring an Alien to always carry ID with him/her ? Couldn't find it in the Immigration Act, must be somewhere else. 

[pontious]

Cannot see why everyone is up in arms.

 

To cheer you up OP says ID acceptable is

 

1. Passport

2. Thai Driving License

3. Copy of Passport stamped by Hua Hin Immigration Office.

 

So if you live in Chiang Mai and use 3. You will have to travel to HH. Immigration and get it stamped   

Try reporting at  your local police station - they will not have a clue what you are on about.

 

 

 

[Tokay]

 

 

 

Part of Thailands attraction to tourists are its perceived laid back and relaxed attitudes.

 

 

BINGO. 

 

Mai Pen Rai is going Mai Pen Bye-Bye.

[SunsetT]

 

 

 

"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.

 

Probably needs to be a 'certified copy' stamp which I doubt they have. They probably only have entry and exit stamps granted or denied, and overstay stamps, and you'll be holding up the queue.

[Mario2008]

House masters can report to the ;local police station, if there is no local immigration office.

Hotel owners and such can apply for a password with which they can report guests online.

 

 

Foreigners can report to the area immigration office only.

[dagobert]

Hotels will and already do report each day the occupants in the hotel,
but should you be residing in a private residence then it is the responsability
of the owner to report your staying, if caught out the owner is the one who
will be fined "old news" bullshit realy but thatsa the rules all ways has been!

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

[ukrules]

 

 

 

 

We are reading it.. in detail.. and it spells out quite clearly whose responsibility it is.. 

 

You can hope its understood another way, but the language is very clear. 

 

 

This can work both ways.

 

It is your responsibility to make sure you're registered with immigration but the hotel normally does this for you - the hotel doesn't do this to help you - it's the law.
 

If anyone goes to immigration and tells them they're staying at a hotel I suspect immigration will be paying the hotel a visit to find out why the hotel is not making the reports they are required by law to make.

 

 

Can you fathom going to any other country in the world, and as you move from city to city as a tourist, you have to go to immigration the next morning, stand in line and eat up hours of your day to let them know where you are that day?  That is North Korea / 80s & 90s Burma nonsense.

 

Tax problems are Thai problems, not ours.
 

 

 

From what I understand this is the exact way it works in China if you're not staying in a hotel which does the report for you.
 

I'm not sure about other countries but I know they do this in the UK for people on certain types of visa. For example students are required to report a change of address to the local police station. Ref : http://www.ox.ac.uk/students/visa/during/police

[Tokay]

Cannot see why everyone is up in arms.

 

To cheer you up OP says ID acceptable is

 

1. Passport

2. Thai Driving License

3. Copy of Passport stamped by Hua Hin Immigration Office.

 

 

 

 

That is great for people who live here. And tourists who are traveling the country are supposed to check every time they move within 24 hours of moving to another city / town?

 

It's not practical (the check in part).

 

[skatewash]

I've seen the US passport card (a convenient driver's license-sized card) discussed in previous posts as possible identification to be used in Thailand.  There are two potential problems with that:  1) the number on the US passport card is different than the passport number of your US passport, and 2) the US passport card is only valid to use to cross the border between the USA and other countries in North America (Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, other Caribbean countries) and then only at land or sea border crossings.  It is not valid for international travel by air.

 

http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/passports/information/card/Difference-Between-Passport-Book-and-Card.html

 

A consequence of #1 above is that there is no number on the US passport card that connects it with the passport number you used to enter Thailand.  The only thing that connects the US passport card and your US passport is your name.

 

Despite these deficiencies it is issued by the US government and therefore I suppose it can't hurt to carry it with you, but it's no replacement for the information contained in a copy of your US passport.  Your US passport does connect you via the passport number to your immigration status in Thailand.

[LivinLOS]

Nonsense, in fifteen years here I've never been shaken down by the police or asked to pay a bribe, it's a story that is propagated by the few but never experienced by the majority,

 

 

I sincerely doubt the majority of long stayers have never had to pay a bribe.. 

[Chicken George]

There is no discrimination here. Thais have to carry their ID card at all times too or face a fine. They also have to report travel to other province and change of residence. Don't see why expats should be allowed special rules.

Thais yes to carry their ID card but never have heard of them having to report travel to another province! Thais can move and live where they want as long as their name is in a home book somewhere. Now some Hill Tribes and migrants still have to ad they do not have the full ID card and have to pay to go say to Bangkok from Chiang Mai. The time they move their names to a new home book is when they move to their own house if they want or to get their children in local catchment schools.

Sent from my GT-I9082 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[draftvader]

 

For the sake of less than B100 and a trip to one of the print shops in every supermarket I think it is a no brainer.

 

What print shops in every supermarket?

 

I've been to Tops, Central, Foodland, Villa Market, et. al., and never seen any print shops.  Shops for making keys, yes; florists, sometimes.  But print shops?  Nary a one in sight.

 

Are they hidden away somewhere?

 

 

Sorry, you are right.  It is not every supermarket.  Most but not every.  Every Central mall has at least 1 print shop as do every Tesco Lotus & Big C.  However you are right, it is not every.  I apologise for my exaggeration.

 

I must add that if you can't find a print shop in Thailand then your first visit should really be to an optician as there is one on almost every street with more than 10 shops.

[HOOD Robin]

 

 

It looks like this is just Hua Hin at the moment.

 

I don't really see what it is all about. I am ok that you have to carry ID on you at all times, this is the same as many countries but the reporting of your residence within 24 hours is just silly. 

 

If you are here on holiday and staying in a hotel then its not likely you are going to move. 

If you are here on holiday travelling around the country then you won't bother with all that nonsense

And if you are here longer term then you report your address to immigration every 90 days anyway.

 

So, the authorities data is likely never much more then a couple months out date anyway. This looks like a lot of additional administration,, does anyone ever think these things through?

 

If they want to find someone urgently for a serious matter then those people are unlikely to disclose whereabouts and just get someone else to do the tenancy agreement.

 

Whats next? Microchip with GPS tracker on entry?

 

It all seems a little unnecessary and yet another bureaucratic process making foreigners feel even more unwelcome, the vast majority of which are normal, decent people. I like the fact that the military "seems" to be squashing the old corruption and trying to clean things up but I am slowly getting the feeling that its time to say goodbye to this land and earn my living somewhere else.

 

 

 

I totally agree. I is silly and yet another way of making decent foreigners feel unwelcome. I am also starting to look for another country, since I am getting more and more sick of these "signals" towards foreigners here. And while corruption is still very much alive here, new enforcements are nothing else than new ways of getting more money and making things more complicated.

 

 

+1 feel the same way, if things carry on this trend i'll be packing up too

 

 

+1  !!!

 

And then they are surprised tourists stay away from Thailand ! Also long stayers like myself will move out from Land Of Scam ! They really treat us like criminals !

And then there is this :

 

Penalty:

Failure to carry valid ID as above is 2,000 Baht.

 

That's what all the shit is about... GREED !!!   

[carib102]

Maybe this is a good thing.  I'm thinking I might be happier sitting in the police office to report when I visit the in-laws for a long weekend, rather than being dragged around to various friends, relatives, wats to trot me out as the token farang.

 

That being said, the carrying ID is not inconsistent with most countries in the world.  But that's not why we're in Thailand is it?  A change to the staus quo is bound to create some flash-back and the current military junta is certainly changing the status quo.  I assure you that the changes for many Thais is more painful than anything you are experiencing.

[chrisinth]

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Cannot see why everyone is up in arms.

 

To cheer you up OP says ID acceptable is

 

1. Passport

2. Thai Driving License

3. Copy of Passport stamped by Hua Hin Immigration Office.

 

So if you live in Chiang Mai and use 3. You will have to travel to HH. Immigration and get it stamped  width=32 alt=cheesy.gif>  

Try reporting at  your local police station - they will not have a clue what you are on about.

 

 

 

 

Could be worse, it could have to be stamped every 24 hours............................

[chiang mai]

 

Nonsense, in fifteen years here I've never been shaken down by the police or asked to pay a bribe, it's a story that is propagated by the few but never experienced by the majority,

 

 

I sincerely doubt the majority of long stayers have never had to pay a bribe.. 

 

 

I've never met one here, at least not one that was even a little bit credible.

[MJCM]

 

 

 

UK driving licence has a photo, surely this can be used as photo ID?

 

It could, but question does your UK Driving License have your passport number on it ? I think that Immigration wants that so they can check your Immigration Status.

 

 

A good point, my Thai driving license does have my verified passport number on it.

 

 

My old passport expired before my most recent Thai driver's license.  Thus, my passport and driver's license numbers are not the same.  Ugh. 
 

 

 

I think Immigration will have ways to match your name and your old passport Number to your current Immigration Status, or is that wishful thinking ?
 

[DrTuner]

 Ok, found the name of the Act .. it's apparently Identity Card Act which was revised last time in 2011. Still looking for the actual text. But yes, this part seems to be exactly same for every one in Thailand, Alien or not. 

 

 The real news is the fuller enforcement of the section 37 of the immigration act.

[fvw53]

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

 

You should never leave your passport in the hands of rental companies : it is an invitation to loose them or to copy them.

Can't you give them a photocopy of your passport?

[wilcopops]

 

 

 

"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?

 

 

If you are traveling around the country and staying in hotels they are the ones that make the report using a TM30 form. I don't believe you will expected to show up an immigration office.

Most hotels are set up to do their reporting online.

 

Really? How about trekking and camping? backpackers etc.? I think you have a rose-tinted view of how hotels/hotels etc. keep a record of their guests. I also think that to preserve their docks, some might not want to cary their passport to waterfalls and the rest.

Is the pus on the hotel or the traveller to report their whereabouts.......?

[sgtsabai]

It isn't the ID part so much, it is the ex-pat/tourist etc. having to report every time he/she is out of his/her province for over 24 hours. That is more than a pain in the ass and anybody with a working brain cell knows it. Wake up and smell the crap, a foul wind is blowing.

[glasswort]

The biggest hassle here is the requirement for reporting when in a different province for more than 48 hours. Totally absurd!!!

[asianscouser]

 

 

is it just me or do others detect a "trend" here?

 

Are you joking? A trend is fashionable clothes, a popular music band, Not laws.. I have lived here more than 4 years,

 

I know the police in Rayong and have had no problems whatsoever.

 

So what exactly do you mean by "Trend" Or did you mean "Tradition" ?

 

Ken.

[JesseFrank]

 

 

is it just me or do others detect a "trend" here?

 

 

It's all about returning happiness.

[Morakot]

Immigration is likely to enforce this nationwide.

 

- Copy of passport verified and stamped by Hua Hin Immigration

 

 

 

Not very convenient if you live somewhere else in Thailand.

[Maestro]

Let's see if I understand this correctly.
 
I own a condo in Jomtien. I arrive on a 30-day tourist via with my niece.
We don't move to another location and spend every night in the condo.
Do I have to ask immigration, upon arrival at the airport, while checking
passports etc to also stamp a photocopy of the same passport and carry
this stamped copy with me all the time ?

No. Carrying the passport with you will be sufficient.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[csabo]

They would be smart to just issue us ID cards and charge a fee.  No one wants to carry their passport around and a stamped copy will be a crumpled mess inside of a day so why not just charge 300B and give us a photo ID?  Maybe we could use it at malls etc for tourist discounts like the offer when displaying a passport to compensate us for the cost.  

[khunpa]

One of the things I liked about Thailand before, was that you as a foreigner felt welcome here. The fact that you now can not even travel around the country (not staying at hotels), without having to report this on arrival is simply ridiculous. The ID thing, I can accept although I know it is going to be used as another way of quick income for corrupt police officers.

 

This place is becoming less and less foreigner-friendly as time goes by. As a foreigner contributing to the country, I am starting to feel more and more unwelcome here. Happy I did not buy a condo here... because what is next? Luckily, my business can be easily moved to another country, who I know will appreciate my money and skills. This place is not what it used to be. Sad really...