TM6. Arrival Card question

[ubonjoe]

By country of residence, they are referring, surprisingly, to your nationality, or your country of origin. FTR, I fill in TM6s quite regularly.

Their is a space on the front of the form for nationality.

You can be a resident of a country other than the one that is considered your nationality (normally the one that issued your passport).

[louse1953]

• You don't need to complete the questionnaire on the back of the arrival card. If you do you should give your home country address.
• A non-immigrant visa holder is not considered a resident of Thailand by immigration.

What if you have no home address?

[bubba]

Having entered Thailand far too many times to count, I have never once completed the back of the TM card and not one immigration office has ever queried me about it.

Simple answer to this question is: just ignore it.

[louse1953]

I am on a retirement extension. I live full time in Thailand so that is my country of residence. Immigration have not queried my TM6

Does your home country recognize that Thailand is your legal residence? Do you still pay taxes to your home country?

For me,an Ozzie,i am a non resident in Oz and i pay tax at a higher rate.I live in Thailand with a OA extension,have a static address and i rekon i am a resident(in theory).If not,what am i,non resident everywhere.

[CWMcMurray]

Ok i found an interesting article:

" Those who live in Thailand for more than half the year are considered to be resident in the country for the purposes of tax. If you are resident then you are expected to pay taxes on all income that you earn worldwide. "

So if I stay for 6 months or more I am considered a non-immigrant, resident of thailand.

True, except for the fact that Thailand only taxes you on world wide income brought into Thailand in the same year it was earned

If left overseas till the year after it was earned, then non taxable

[AlfonsV]

"You don't have to have to be a resident by immigration terms in a country to be a resident of it."

I have a non-immi retirement visa living here since 6+ years and do not have an address in my home country any more which I could give on the card.

Here is my residency, however not in legal terms of "permanent resident" according to the Thai administration.

Therefore, I always wrote my address in TH on the arrival card, as I do not have any other address to give. I was never questioned about.

Lol tricky definition. In my view I am a resident of Thailand (as I have deregistered myself from my home country) and I am coming to live in our family home in Thailand, however I know Thailand thinks of this residence term differently.

Exactly how they define it was of interest to me.

I think I may leave the back page blank this time.

What is "tricky"? It's just a fact. It seems we are in a similar: I "deregistered" in my home country as well, a registered at the embassy in BKK.

[roiethome]

I have lived in Thailand for twenty years, first 12 years as employed with a work permit and last 8 years on a retirement extension.

As I reside in Thailand, and have no property or address in any other country,up to about a few years ago I never filled in the reverse of the form as I am not a visitor but a resident.

However, now the officials checking the forms at the line insist that every white face must fill in the reverse of the form, even though we are residents.

It seems that this is the way that TAT say there are 30M visitors this year, as they are 'double counting'. Some years I come in and out of Thailand 30 times, but this should not count towards the visitors number.

Another case of Thailand manipulating the figures to look good.

[AlfonsV]

"You don't have to have to be a resident by immigration terms in a country to be a resident of it."

I have a non-immi retirement visa living here since 6+ years and do not have an address in my home country any more which I could give on the card.

Here is my residency, however not in legal terms of "permanent resident" according to the Thai administration.

Therefore, I always wrote my address in TH on the arrival card, as I do not have any other address to give. I was never questioned about.

Lol tricky definition. In my view I am a resident of Thailand (as I have deregistered myself from my home country) and I am coming to live in our family home in Thailand, however I know Thailand thinks of this residence term differently.

Exactly how they define it was of interest to me.

I think I may leave the back page blank this time.

How does one "deregister" from ones country ?

Which countries passport do you now hold ?

In the European countries I spent years you have to register when you live there with a permanent address (as you would go to the IO in TH). When you leave the country you have to "deregister" = to inform the police you are moving away = to cancel the registration with the police. With what ever nationality.

[AlfonsV]

I am on a retirement extension. I live full time in Thailand so that is my country of residence. Immigration have not queried my TM6

Does your home country recognize that Thailand is your legal residence? Do you still pay taxes to your home country?

@ first question: yes

@ second question: no (because I am "deregistered")

[Liquorice]

resident

a person who lives somewhere permanently or on a long-term basis.

immigrant

a person who comes to live permanently in a foreign country.

For those stay long term and may class themselves as a resident of Thailand, may I remind you that you obtained a NON IMM Visa which by definition means you have no right to live permanently in Thailand. Extensions are temporary permission to remain in Thailand.

So you may consider yourself a resident because you live here permanently on a long tem basis, but under the laws that allow you to live here you are not a resident and never will be, that permission to live here is temporary and renewable every 12 months.

Even for the few that get PR status, conditions still apply, so even they are not truly residents in the sense they can stay indefinitely under no Immigration control.

They are issued an Alien Registration Book, not a Resident Registration Book, work that one out yourself.

They have to report to their local Police every 5 years and get there book signed.

They have to get re-entry permits to allow re-entry back into Thailand.

If they stay out of Thailand for longer than 12 months they lose their PR status.

Your an alien, a Non Immigrant, living with permission to remain temporarily in Thailand, not a Resident.

Edited December 30, 2015 by Faz

[AlfonsV]

Your an alien, a Non Immigrant, living with permission to remain temporarily in Thailand, not a Resident.

That's the reality. However, in my home country I am not a resident as well. Thus we have a citizenship somewhere but are expats everywhere else, and stay here based on a retirement visa fortunately with annual extension of stay. Anyway it works like this for decades as a "retired permanent non-immigrant expat".

[bubba]

I have lived in Thailand for twenty years, first 12 years as employed with a work permit and last 8 years on a retirement extension.

As I reside in Thailand, and have no property or address in any other country,up to about a few years ago I never filled in the reverse of the form as I am not a visitor but a resident.

However, now the officials checking the forms at the line insist that every white face must fill in the reverse of the form, even though we are residents.

It seems that this is the way that TAT say there are 30M visitors this year, as they are 'double counting'. Some years I come in and out of Thailand 30 times, but this should not count towards the visitors number.

Another case of Thailand manipulating the figures to look good.

I have a "white face", have never completed the back side of the TM card, including about ten entries over the last six months, and have never been asked to do so.

[elviajero]

I have lived in Thailand for twenty years, first 12 years as employed with a work permit and last 8 years on a retirement extension.

As I reside in Thailand, and have no property or address in any other country,up to about a few years ago I never filled in the reverse of the form as I am not a visitor but a resident.

However, now the officials checking the forms at the line insist that every white face must fill in the reverse of the form, even though we are residents.

It seems that this is the way that TAT say there are 30M visitors this year, as they are 'double counting'. Some years I come in and out of Thailand 30 times, but this should not count towards the visitors number.

Another case of Thailand manipulating the figures to look good.

Me too, but we are both visitors in Thailand. We reside here but we are not resident here in Thai law.

I doubt the results of the questionnaires are used and almost certainly don't have any affect on the visitor numbers. Immigration count the number of visitors passing through the borders and have always done it that way. "Double counting" has always happened. As long as they use the same system each year it's not manipulation and the results give a relative year on year increase/decrease. They count the number of visits not unique visitors.

[Chuckles78]

"You don't have to have to be a resident by immigration terms in a country to be a resident of it."

I have a non-immi retirement visa living here since 6+ years and do not have an address in my home country any more which I could give on the card.

Here is my residency, however not in legal terms of "permanent resident" according to the Thai administration.

Therefore, I always wrote my address in TH on the arrival card, as I do not have any other address to give. I was never questioned about.

Lol tricky definition. In my view I am a resident of Thailand (as I have deregistered myself from my home country) and I am coming to live in our family home in Thailand, however I know Thailand thinks of this residence term differently.

Exactly how they define it was of interest to me.

I think I may leave the back page blank this time.

How does one "deregister" from ones country ?

Which countries passport do you now hold ?

In the European countries I spent years you have to register when you live there with a permanent address (as you would go to the IO in TH). When you leave the country you have to "deregister" = to inform the police you are moving away = to cancel the registration with the police. With what ever nationality.

What AlfonsV says.

I have Swiss/Australian passports. When I leave Switzerland for longer periods of time I unregister myself at my local office (prove that I am no longer a resident there). The Thai embassy also wanted to see this document before issuing me my Non-Imm O Visa application as I had a one way air ticket.