Notification of Residence for ED Visa Holders

[JohnLocke]

Hey fellow non-retirees (all 9 of you left in Chiang Mai)... ;-)

I just wanted to report today's experience going to the Immigration Police Office and notifying them of our current apartment residence.

My wife and I have been living here for a few years on the ED Visa, but due to recent explosive events in Krung Thep, the ensuing crack-down on all things farang-related has included a new requirement of reporting where you are staying. Our school was somewhat confused as to exactly what this requirement necessitated, but they did say right off the bat that someone from our apartment (khon Thai) would need to go themselves and fill out the paperwork. We thought this was a bit much to ask of the staff at our place - kind of like asking for them to do some work for free - so we asked our school if we couldn't just go by ourselves. That was our initial plan, but in the end, someone from our apartment wanted to go so they could understand the new requirements for future farang long-stay residents.

So, we went - it's the building behind the photocopy shack behind the usual Immigration room. The biggest sign in English on the front door (to make you sweat just a bit) says "Investigation." We expected it to be very easy and routine, but the officer / cop / detective working there seemed to be full of suspicion, hesitancy, and asked a lot of probing questions of our apartments staff lady. He seemed a little eager to find a problem, e.g., "Oh! They failed to make their 90-day report. Oh, another month for that, eh?" Our apartment staff friend also got a bit nervous, and there were a few rounds of back and forth and form-filling and photocopying before we sensed that we were in the clear.

We had our signed lease with us, our passports, and forms already filled out (I believe they were "Notification of Change of Residence," but I don't know if those are the correct forms, sorry). We had to fill in on a table-like form (which the officer gave us): name; passport number; date of entry; type of visa; expiration of visa; and the last column "relationship" - which means our relationship to the residence - in which we put "tenant."

Last thing to report is that a farang behind us showed up alone, and they insisted that he call his residence and have someone from there come on the spot, otherwise the residence (?) would have to pay 600 Baht. Perhaps because Immigration themselves would pay a visit to the residence to do the report. We also learned that if a residence has 10+ farang living there long-term and they don't report it, that they could face jail time.

Hope this is helpful information for a new-ish rule for the ED-visa holders.