800 Baht fine for Thai wife not reporting at Korat Immigration

[Ken]

Completed my yearly retirement extension with multiple re-entry permit, this morning in Korat. Relatively painless. I did not take my Thai wife. The officer did ask me if my wife was with me, and of course the answer was no. No other comment other than asking me to confirm that the address on my forms were the same as my wife. Of course the address was the same and I supplied signed copies of both my wife's house book and ID card, I actually had left the country for a quick trip to Laos last month and on my return I did have the wife mail in a TM 30 by registered mail. They never returned any thing to my wife to confirm receipt even though I supplied a self addressed envelope in the package. I did take with me copies of the TM 30 as well as the EMS register receipt, also with a printout of the package being delivered. In the end, never was asked and I didn't volunteer. So in my particular case nothing happened. If my wife had been with me, then who knows? They were not busy and I was in and out in 1 hour 15 minutes.

[craig2009]

The 800 baht number seems to a common one. Some have been fined the max fine of 2000 baht.

There are other offices interpreting the immigration act the same way while others say the report is not needed unless you change addresses. IMO it only has to be done if you change residences.

You could ask about mailing in the report. I think Korat was telling people they could also register do them online.

I arrived in Thailand in December ( visit wife and daughter ) I completed the immigration slip at BKK Airport stating I was living at this address . . . .

During my stay I received the "Yellow Book" in my local ampur, however we had to go to the Local Immigration Office for a Police/Immigration check on my character as part of the application.

Trouble !! Immigration in our regional office said "Oh you not inform this office of stay in your home so fine wife 800B" WHAT !! i informed Immigration in BKK its on your system

No Joy fined 800B

I enter on a Non Immigration 12 month 90 day Multi Entry Visa, I always return back to work in UK as I am contracted for 3 months contracts. This visa suits me, Now when my wife informed immigration that I had exited Thailand they said I am NOT to come back on a 12 month Multi Entry Visa or I lose "Yellow Book" status ????

I have to get a Single Entry 'O' Marriage Visa and if I wish to extend it I can, however I am in and out within 3 months anyway so its more difficult.

Anyone else been tripped up by these NEW POLICIES on IMMIGRATION and any advise.

[sunnyjim5]

The 800 baht number seems to a common one. Some have been fined the max fine of 2000 baht.

There are other offices interpreting the immigration act the same way while others say the report is not needed unless you change addresses. IMO it only has to be done if you change residences.

You could ask about mailing in the report. I think Korat was telling people they could also register do them online.

I arrived in Thailand in December ( visit wife and daughter ) I completed the immigration slip at BKK Airport stating I was living at this address . . . .

During my stay I received the "Yellow Book" in my local ampur, however we had to go to the Local Immigration Office for a Police/Immigration check on my character as part of the application.

Trouble !! Immigration in our regional office said "Oh you not inform this office of stay in your home so fine wife 800B" WHAT !! i informed Immigration in BKK its on your system

No Joy fined 800B

I enter on a Non Immigration 12 month 90 day Multi Entry Visa, I always return back to work in UK as I am contracted for 3 months contracts. This visa suits me, Now when my wife informed immigration that I had exited Thailand they said I am NOT to come back on a 12 month Multi Entry Visa or I lose "Yellow Book" status ????

I have to get a Single Entry 'O' Marriage Visa and if I wish to extend it I can, however I am in and out within 3 months anyway so its more difficult.

Anyone else been tripped up by these NEW POLICIES on IMMIGRATION and any advise.

Sounds "odd".

I do not believe immigration have anything to do with yellow books !

You can continue using a multi - entry visa if that meets your needs.

As a matter of interest which immigration office are we discussing ?

[ThaiLife]

Thanks Ken for the update


Have I got this correct , So this time you were never asked by the immigration officer about the the TM 30 form in any way ?

What do you think may have been different if your wife had been with you ?


TL

[noface0711]

Problem is immigration think they are keeping dibs on every foreigner in Thailand - tourists or otherwise. More enforcement seems a result of more recent reporting of foreign criminal activity here. Who here reports their whereabouts every time one leaves their home province for more than a day? Not too many I bet!

[Ken]

Thanks Ken for the update

Have I got this correct , So this time you were never asked by the immigration officer about the the TM 30 form in any way ?

What do you think may have been different if your wife had been with you ?

TL

Basically you have it correct. They did not say anything about whether my Thai wife had filed a TM 30 form. They only asked if my wife was with me. And actually they never have asked me personally about this. Last year the officer told me I had to bring my wife with me next time, but not saying the reason, and I said "sure". Of course, as said, I did not bring her yesterday. My original reason for starting the thread was because some friends in the village were telling me that they were recently getting hit with the fine and their wives were with them.

So yesterday, if I had taken the wife with me, I think they would have asked my wife about it but who knows. As mentioned, I had recently made a trip to Laos and on my return, my wife did file a TM 30 via registered mail (EMS). She never got any kind of acknowledgment back from them, but I did have copies of the completed form as well as The EMS receipt with a printout of the tracking showing that it had been delivered. Again, they never asked and I did not volunteer.

[soihok]

Thanks Ken.

[RLW]

TM30 question. Page 1 is the data they want on this page about my Thai wife or me? I understand that page 2 information is about me.

[ubonjoe]

TM30 question. Page 1 is the data they want on this page about my Thai wife or me? I understand that page 2 information is about me.

The person doing the report must fill out the info on page one..

[JackisBack]


Well I have recently done my yearly visa extension application based on retirement at Korat immigration .

I have two Thai bank accounts in my name only

1. Bangkok Bank , this account I use for daily living expenses and external pension income payments .

2. Bank of Ayudhya ( Krungsri )

Mee Tae Dai Savings account , in this account I keep the 800,000+ Baht for the visa extension application and never make any withdrawals and I have had this account for three years .

The day before my visa extension application I transferred on line 500 Baht from my Bangkok Bank account , to my Krungsri bank account , as the immigration need to see a movement of money into the bank account being used for the visa extension application , I was told that the movement of money has to show on the up dated bank book within a few days prior to the visa extension application .


On the day I applied for the visa extension , I first went to the Krungsri bank in Korat and asked for my Mee Tae Dai Savings account bank book to be updated , the update showed the 500 Baht I had transferred on line the day before , I then requested a bank letter that I could present to the immigration confirming that I had 800,000 Baht in that account and that there was a recent payment made into that same account the day before .

I was told to go back to the bank in one and a half hours when the bank letter would be ready .

The bank letter cost 100 Baht , and I made sure that the Korat immigration office address was correctly shown on the bank letter.

One thing I was told in the past by a Krungsri bank teller was that if I made a payment into my Mee Tae Dai Savings account , that payment would not show up on any bank book update until twenty four hours later , thats why I made the 500 Bhat on line deposit the day before my visa extension application.

I then went on the same day to the Korat immigration office along with my Thai wife arriving in the late afternoon , on entering the office , just inside the main front door was a table with what looked like university students checking application paperwork.

I handed over to a student the following

Completed TM 7 form with photo

Bank confirmation letter

Bank Book and one photo copy

My passport and photocopys

My Yellow house book ( Tor Lor Sip Sam ) and one photo copy

The wife's blue house book and one photo copy

The wife ID card and one photocopy

One completed form written in Thai I was given on my last visa extension application , confirming home address etc.

The student checking the paper work said that application forms that are filled out using '' Black ink '' and that were signed by the applicant in the same '' black ink '' were not accepted , so I had to resign my signature again on the same completed form this time using a blue ball point pen , the student did all so comment that '' gel '' type pens were not to be used on application forms , only ball point pens .


After checking the paperwork which was stamped by the student , we were then told to go over to a small counter next to the electronic ticket machine beside the front door entrance , here another non uniformed person went through the paper work and we were then given a small paper ticket showing a number ( the electronic ticket machine was not working )

We both sat in the chairs facing the immigration officers counter , within a minute a female immigration officer shouted over to my wife to go and see her , no paper ticket number was called or asked for.

The female immigration officer went through the paperwork , she commented to my wife that she remembered me from my last years application and seemed to be in a jovial mood. I was asked to face a computer camera and a photograph was taken.


Through out the application process there was no mention by the immigration officer of a TM 30 form and I made no comment .

No comment was made by the immigration officer as to where I obtained the every day money to live on , as my Krungsri bank savings account showing the required 800,000 Baht had no withdrawals ever . I did take my up to date Bangkok Bank account bank book with me just in case .


A receipt was given for the application fee of 1,900 Baht

Over all not a bad experience , we were in the immigration office for thirty five minutes

[soihok]

Nice one.

Thanks for the report.