I sent in my 90 Day Report by mail on 4 Dec 2015 to the Kantang, Trang province office. Today, (11 Dec) I got a message relayed to me from a fellow teacher that they aren't accepting the TM 47 by mail anymore. I specifically checked the regulations before I sent it in (which don't appear to have been updated in a long, long time) and followed them. There was nothing in the regulations about ending mail service. This leads me to 2 questions:

1) Does anyone have any information regarding TM47 by mail? I've seen many posts where immigration officials from different offices say it doesn't exist anymore, and many are years old. Regulations or verified new posts would be appreciated.

2) Is anyone else having this problem? Kantang immigration has a well-deserved reputation for corruption, so maybe it's just our officers?

The rules (immigration act) are that 90 day reports can be done by mail. But there are a few offices that will not accept them.

I can't answer any questions about your office.

Just did mine this week to the office here in Ubon.

Thank you Ubonjoe. That's what I thought too?

Can you enlighten me as to how individual offices just make up rules that don't exist? I know that, on a practical level, it helps with the old tea-money two-step: (1) make a problem and (2) offer to fix the problem for a small fee. Beyond that, how can any country function when gov't officers feel free to just make up rules with no actual law to support them?

mine did it in chaing mai

I mailed last Friday...I know it's been a holiday, but today I decided to try online...worked like a charm...accepted at 15:45; approved by 15:30. I guess if the mail one comes, I'll just use the more recent of the two.

Korat Immigration does not allow mail reporting and they are 30 kms out of Korat. I forget the name of the town offhand, Don Chan? but it is a hassle. Unless they have changed their rules recently.

Thank you Ubonjoe. That's what I thought too?

Can you enlighten me as to how individual offices just make up rules that don't exist? I know that, on a practical level, it helps with the old tea-money two-step: (1) make a problem and (2) offer to fix the problem for a small fee. Beyond that, how can any country function when gov't officers feel free to just make up rules with no actual law to support them?

Asked and answered!

Bangmai: You must be a time traveler to have your report approved before it is accepted!

you caught my first mistake of the year...darn, and I made it all the way to December....17:30.

The on-line 90 reporting is allowed between 15 and 7 days PRIOR to expire date.

Any attempt to register (on line) in a 6 day period are rejected.

Source. NongKhai Immigration

In Chiang Mai, Imm. has been known to call people who have problems, like no TM30 on file and tell them they can't report by mail and because of poor English language skills, the message is "heard" as "no more reporting by mail, you have to come and report in person". And then the rumor is started that Chiang Mai has stopped accepting 90 day reports by mail.

Also, in Chiang Mai there is a story, don't know if it's true, that you have to report in person if it's your first report after having been out of the country.

So, perhaps there is just a problem with this one specific report being mailed and not all 90 day reports in the future.

Korat Immigration does not allow mail reporting and they are 30 kms out of Korat. I forget the name of the town offhand, Don Chan? but it is a hassle. Unless they have changed their rules recently.

Korat office is at Dan Kwien also known as the Pottery Village. Kap Choeng also does not accept postal 90 day reporting. However now that I can use online 90 day reporting it's less of a pain in the a@se as a report in person means a 250Km round trip for me....

In Chiang Mai, Imm. has been known to call people who have problems, like no TM30 on file and tell them they can't report by mail and because of poor English language skills, the message is "heard" as "no more reporting by mail, you have to come and report in person". And then the rumor is started that Chiang Mai has stopped accepting 90 day reports by mail.

Also, in Chiang Mai there is a story, don't know if it's true, that you have to report in person if it's your first report after having been out of the country.

So, perhaps there is just a problem with this one specific report being mailed and not all 90 day reports in the future.

I think it depends on the individual office as to whether they accept mail in reports. Also, my office (Kap Choeng) does not require a report in person after leaving & re-entering the Kingdom. I left & re-entered the Kingdon in March this year and have only done online 90 day reports (3 of them) since then.

In Chiang Mai, Imm. has been known to call people who have problems, like no TM30 on file and tell them they can't report by mail and because of poor English language skills, the message is "heard" as "no more reporting by mail, you have to come and report in person". And then the rumor is started that Chiang Mai has stopped accepting 90 day reports by mail.

Also, in Chiang Mai there is a story, don't know if it's true, that you have to report in person if it's your first report after having been out of the country.

So, perhaps there is just a problem with this one specific report being mailed and not all 90 day reports in the future.

There may be some truth to that. My first one after returning didn't work, it was so bad, I didn't even try number 2, and 3 worked great, but it felt like a different system. It would almost make sense that the local Immigration offices maintain the master report files, that are read only for the user, and that file is different, than the ones used at the airports, which are the national databases. It might have been the only way, they could get it to work, and is actually a low-cost solution to what could be a very expensive problem. Look at how many billions of USD were squandered on the insurance "marketplace."