Retirement extension 2016 - latest requirements

[KarenBravo]

Immigration officer: "Your Certificate of Residence is old".

Shot: "That's because my address hasn't changed".

IO: " But, it's old, look at the date. It says July last year".

Shot: "Yes, but, I thought they were valid for a year and my address hasn't changed".

IO: "It has 2015. This is 2016. It's old. You need a current Certificate of Residence with this month and years date on it".

Shot: " Doh!".

[Badrabbit]

Immigration officer: "Your Certificate of Residence is old".

Shot: "That's because my address hasn't changed".

IO: " But, it's old, look at the date. It says July last year".

Shot: "Yes, but, I thought they were valid for a year and my address hasn't changed".

IO: "It has 2015. This is 2016. It's old. You need a current Certificate of Residence with this month and years date on it".

Shot: " Doh!".

Do you need a certificate of residence costing 300 bht or notification of your address as in your passport?

[skatewash]

Do you need a certificate of residence costing 300 bht or notification of your address as in your passport?

My experience in Phuket at the end of April obtaining my retirement extension is that the notification of your address stapled in your passport as the result of submitting a previous TM-30 was sufficient to satisfy the address requirement as long as your current address is the same.

In my case, prior to doing my extension, I submitted a new TM-30 within 48 hours after returning from a trip outside Thailand at the immigration office and while it was accepted by the officer and he understood why I was doing it, I got the distinct impression that what I was doing was unnecessary. That is, since the new TM-30 was just reconfirming my old address it was not necessary to file a TM-30 after returning from a trip outside Thailand despite the fact that it appears that is required by law. It may be required by law, but in practice it is not enforced, and if I were to return to Thailand from a trip abroad and continued living at the same address I would not file a new TM-30.

I would be amazed if you were ever required to show immigration a certificate of residence (issued by that immigration office or from your embassy) at the immigration office. However, in Phuket you definitely have to ensure that you have filed a TM-30 that lists your current address (or that someone else, for instance, your landlord, wife, etc. has filed one on your behalf), before they will accept an application for retirement extension from you. My belief is that the notification receipt from the TM-30 stapled into your passport remains good until you change your address. Temporarily staying at a different location within Thailand or returning from a trip abroad does not seem to require the submission of a new TM-30 (although the law seems to require this, in practice it is unnecessary).

[Shot]

^^^The thing in my passport.

[LivinginKata]

No need for a 'certificate of residence' for a retirement extension. But you need to be sure that your housemaster has register you with immigration. Unforumately the housemaster gets no receipt from Immigration unless the housemaster goes to Immigration to file your presense.

Catch 22 situation - I got caught up with this my last extension. My wife is the housemaster and we have an online registartion facility. I was sure I had registered myself on retuen from a holiday in Chiang Mai. But Immigration had nothing on their database other than the hotel where we stayed in CM. So we nipped downstairs and my wife made the registration.

[Badrabbit]

No need for a 'certificate of residence' for a retirement extension. But you need to be sure that your housemaster has register you with immigration. Unforumately the housemaster gets no receipt from Immigration unless the housemaster goes to Immigration to file your presense.

Catch 22 situation - I got caught up with this my last extension. My wife is the housemaster and we have an online registartion facility. I was sure I had registered myself on retuen from a holiday in Chiang Mai. But Immigration had nothing on their database other than the hotel where we stayed in CM. So we nipped downstairs and my wife made the registration.

If you have a slip of paper in your passport showing your current address then you are registered, don't understand when you say "immigration had nothing on there data base other than the hotel we stayed at in Chiang Mai" were you not registered before you went away? did you have a slip of paper in your passport? if you returned to the same address as registered why would you need to register again?

[LivinginKata]

No need for a 'certificate of residence' for a retirement extension. But you need to be sure that your housemaster has register you with immigration. Unforumately the housemaster gets no receipt from Immigration unless the housemaster goes to Immigration to file your presense.

Catch 22 situation - I got caught up with this my last extension. My wife is the housemaster and we have an online registartion facility. I was sure I had registered myself on retuen from a holiday in Chiang Mai. But Immigration had nothing on their database other than the hotel where we stayed in CM. So we nipped downstairs and my wife made the registration.

If you have a slip of paper in your passport showing your current address then you are registered, don't understand when you say "immigration had nothing on there data base other than the hotel we stayed at in Chiang Mai" were you not registered before you went away? did you have a slip of paper in your passport? if you returned to the same address as registered why would you need to register again?

The only slip of paper in my passport was my 90 day notification which was NOT accepted a proof of house registration.

The house registration is placed in Immigration database. You must have noticed that Immigration take your passport and start tapping into the computer to check your registered address in that database. My home address had been changed when the CM hotel had registred me at their address and that was the current address that Immigartion had for me.

I've argued this before with many forum members who say it not necessary to re-register your address after a trip away. I have the proof now that this is incorrecet advice.

[Badrabbit]

No need for a 'certificate of residence' for a retirement extension. But you need to be sure that your housemaster has register you with immigration. Unforumately the housemaster gets no receipt from Immigration unless the housemaster goes to Immigration to file your presense.

Catch 22 situation - I got caught up with this my last extension. My wife is the housemaster and we have an online registartion facility. I was sure I had registered myself on retuen from a holiday in Chiang Mai. But Immigration had nothing on their database other than the hotel where we stayed in CM. So we nipped downstairs and my wife made the registration.

If you have a slip of paper in your passport showing your current address then you are registered, don't understand when you say "immigration had nothing on there data base other than the hotel we stayed at in Chiang Mai" were you not registered before you went away? did you have a slip of paper in your passport? if you returned to the same address as registered why would you need to register again?

The only slip of paper in my passport was my 90 day notification which was NOT accepted a proof of house registration.

The house registration is placed in Immigration database. You must have noticed that Immigration take your passport and start tapping into the computer to check your registered address in that database. My home address had been changed when the CM hotel had registred me at their address and that was the current address that Immigartion had for me.

I've argued this before with many forum members who say it not necessary to re-register your address after a trip away. I have the proof now that this is incorrecet advice.

I recently did my 90 day report and had been away just before the report, I did not need to register my address again, so many conflicting reports on here regarding immigration it's mind boggling!?,

[madmitch]

I did my retirement extension on this week. I used the money in bank method.

Arrived at 8.15 and was the first in the queue.

I provided the following documents.

Completed TM7

Passport

Bank book

Letter from Bank confirming balance and statement

Photo

Copies of

Passport ID page

Passport all previous retirement extensions

Passport all previous Visas

Passport departure card

Passport notification of residence (paper stamped into passport). This was from last year.

Bank book ID page

Bank book page showing balance

My signature was required on all copies.

Fee baht 1,900

I also had copies of Thai debit card but this wasn't required. I also had copies of lease etc to prove my residence but these were not required.

Very quick was finished in 20mins. You have to pick up your passport the next day after 1pm.

Any current changes from this?

Also, some conflicting info on "Res. Cert." Mine was issued last July, and I'm going tomorrow for Retirement Extension. My address has not changed. I think I'm good? Any new news on that?

The old residence cert is fine. I had to copy the last three months entries from the bank book as well as the front page and last page, otherwise three weeks ago the above was fine.

As for re-registering my address after every trip out of province, well, that is just ridiculous. Doesn't the 90 day report in theory cover this? I'm just back from a week in Bangkok and two nights in Chachoengsao province, staying in private residences and I was a very naughty boy and didn't go to the respective Immigration offices to register myself at these addresses. In fact has anyone on here ever registered themselves (not through a hotel) on a trip out of province like you are supposed to?

[Shot]

I should not have said Res. Cert., but instead it is the paper stapled in the front of my passport that I got last year prior to an extension., which is about the time they started using this form. It is marked "RECEIPT OF NOTIFICATION" "HAVE RECIEVED NOTIFICATION OF ALIEN'S ADDRESS FROM" (my gf name who owns the house) "WHO NOTIFY THEIR RESIDENCE WHERE ALIENS HAVE STAYED" (date)

[Badrabbit]

I did my retirement extension on this week. I used the money in bank method.

Arrived at 8.15 and was the first in the queue.

I provided the following documents.

Completed TM7

Passport

Bank book

Letter from Bank confirming balance and statement

Photo

Copies of

Passport ID page

Passport all previous retirement extensions

Passport all previous Visas

Passport departure card

Passport notification of residence (paper stamped into passport). This was from last year.

Bank book ID page

Bank book page showing balance

My signature was required on all copies.

Fee baht 1,900

I also had copies of Thai debit card but this wasn't required. I also had copies of lease etc to prove my residence but these were not required.

Very quick was finished in 20mins. You have to pick up your passport the next day after 1pm.

Any current changes from this?

Also, some conflicting info on "Res. Cert." Mine was issued last July, and I'm going tomorrow for Retirement Extension. My address has not changed. I think I'm good? Any new news on that?

The old residence cert is fine. I had to copy the last three months entries from the bank book as well as the front page and last page, otherwise three weeks ago the above was fine.

As for re-registering my address after every trip out of province, well, that is just ridiculous. Doesn't the 90 day report in theory cover this? I'm just back from a week in Bangkok and two nights in Chachoengsao province, staying in private residences and I was a very naughty boy and didn't go to the respective Immigration offices to register myself at these addresses. In fact has anyone on here ever registered themselves (not through a hotel) on a trip out of province like you are supposed to?

Been away many times in the last year and never had to re-register my permanent address, don't think any of the places I have stayed at have registered me certainly wasn't aware of it.

Every poster seems to have a slightly different story, it's no wonder everything about immigration is confusing!

[KarenBravo]

I got a years extension on retirement last month. The Notification of address stapled into the passport was fine as proof of address.

When the missus first registered me at immigration, she asked if she would have to go back each time I came back from offshore.

The immigration official told her that as long as the address doesn't change, she never needs to come in again to re-register me.

So far, that seems to be the case.

[saluandnai]

"Another member posted useful information, a while back, about being refused an early application although he was working offshore." - I'm under 50 years of age, so have not researched the ever changing retirement visa regulations, but I was under the belief you could not receive a retirement visa if you are still working, either in Thailand, or abroad.

In my experience Immigration won't consider processing an annual expension more than 30 days before the expiry date. Even within the 30 day window they are reluctant (read lazy) to deal with the application.

A retirement visa and subsequent extensions only preclude work in Thailand. Thai Immigration don't care about work outside Thailand. The criteria is at least 50 and woth the financial resources.

I have done my retirement extension 6 weeks before expire date the last two years and one of the volunteers informed me about the possibility to do so!

Same here but for the last 5 yrs!

immigration in chiang mai told me 6 weeks in advance is ok too

[skatewash]

No need for a 'certificate of residence' for a retirement extension. But you need to be sure that your housemaster has register you with immigration. Unforumately the housemaster gets no receipt from Immigration unless the housemaster goes to Immigration to file your presense.

Catch 22 situation - I got caught up with this my last extension. My wife is the housemaster and we have an online registartion facility. I was sure I had registered myself on retuen from a holiday in Chiang Mai. But Immigration had nothing on their database other than the hotel where we stayed in CM. So we nipped downstairs and my wife made the registration.

If you have a slip of paper in your passport showing your current address then you are registered, don't understand when you say "immigration had nothing on there data base other than the hotel we stayed at in Chiang Mai" were you not registered before you went away? did you have a slip of paper in your passport? if you returned to the same address as registered why would you need to register again?

The only slip of paper in my passport was my 90 day notification which was NOT accepted a proof of house registration.

The house registration is placed in Immigration database. You must have noticed that Immigration take your passport and start tapping into the computer to check your registered address in that database. My home address had been changed when the CM hotel had registred me at their address and that was the current address that Immigartion had for me.

I've argued this before with many forum members who say it not necessary to re-register your address after a trip away. I have the proof now that this is incorrecet advice.

Based on LK's experience here is what I believe might happen with regards to the current address immigration has for you.

Assume that a TM-30 has been filed either by yourself or on your behalf. This establishes your current address in the database. If you filed the TM-30 yourself then you would have received a notification of address receipt stapled into your passport. If someone filed the TM-30 on your behalf, for example, a hotel by using the online notification facility, then you would not have the notification receipt, but the hotel address would nevertheless become your new current address in the database.

So, your address with immigration gets established with a TM-30. It can be changed for you if you happen to temporarily stay at a hotel in Thailand and the hotel (as it is legally required to do) reports you to the immigration office. In this case, you would need to re-establish your address at your home by filing a new TM-30 with immigration. (In LK's case, since I believe he is a hotelier and presumably lives there, he could have had this done for himself by submitting an online equivalent TM-30 via immigration's online address notification facility.)

In my case, it was unnecessary for me to file a TM-30 after returning from a trip abroad (although I did this anyway) because my address had not changed in the immigration database (obviously, hotels outside Thailand do not report addresses to Thai immigration).

Say you visit friends somewhere in Thailand away from your current address. Likewise, you would not have to file a new TM-30 to re-establish your home address when you returned home because it is exceedingly unlikely that your friends reported your stay at their place to immigration (even though technically they are required to do so). So as far as immigration knows your current address remains unchanged.

Well, why don't more people get caught in the trap LK mentions? Two reasons, I believe: 1) it is only recently that immigration has been rigorously enforcing the TM-30 rules, and 2) although all hotels in Thailand are legally required to report their guest's address to immigration I'm not sure it really happens all the time.

As an example of the second point, some people report that when they stay at a hotel in Thailand they show their Thai driver's license rather than their passport when checking in. If that's true (and I have no reason to question that) then it's difficult to see how that hotel could report the address of the guest to immigration since I believe they would need to provide information such as nationality, passport number, type of visa, expiration date of (permission to) stay, point of entry, and TM-6 arrival card number. None of those data would be evident from a Thai driver's license (with the possible exception of the passport number which is often, though not always, the same as the driver's licence number). Without that information I don't see how the guest can be reported to immigration (unless the online reporting facility doesn't require the same information required on a paper TM-30). I think it may be the case that many hotels don't regularly do the reporting of guest's addresses as required, or do so only on a hit or miss type basis.

Based on LK's experience, my advice to people going for a retirement extension in Phuket is that if you know that you stayed at a Thai hotel and you used your passport at check-in assume that the hotel reported your new temporary address to immigration. Expect to be required to do another TM-30 at immigration to re-establish your home address before being allowed to file an application for extension. If you haven't stayed at a Thai hotel since your last TM-30 then, despite the fact that you may have traveled abroad or even within Thailand and stayed at private homes, your address maintained by immigration should not have been changed and will match so you should have no problems.

[LivinginKata]

<snip>

As for re-registering my address after every trip out of province, well, that is just ridiculous. Doesn't the 90 day report in theory cover this? I'm just back from a week in Bangkok and two nights in Chachoengsao province, staying in private residences and I was a very naughty boy and didn't go to the respective Immigration offices to register myself at these addresses. In fact has anyone on here ever registered themselves (not through a hotel) on a trip out of province like you are supposed to?

It's not the 'alien' responsibity to register, it's the hotel or housemaster's responsibity to make the registration on penalty of a 6,000 baht fine.

I've just come back from Udon Thani and not one hotel asked for my passport so I assume I was never re-registed away from my Phuket home.

Yes, it's all a needless pain-in-the-ass, but it's Immigration law.

[LivinginKata]

I got a years extension on retirement last month. The Notification of address stapled into the passport was fine as proof of address.

When the missus first registered me at immigration, she asked if she would have to go back each time I came back from offshore.

The immigration official told her that as long as the address doesn't change, she never needs to come in again to re-register me.

So far, that seems to be the case.

Technically that is correct - 'so long as the address doesn't change'. But if you stay at a Thai hotel that happens to register you as staying there (as per Thai Immigration law requirements) then you register address does not change.

But I'm not sure sure what happens when you leave Thailand and re-enter as then you have a new arrival date and land card number. I always recommend to our guests that when arriving back in Thailand they email me the arrival date and card number so that I can re-register them and prevent any future problem.

[LivinginKata]

Based on LK's experience here is what I believe might happen with regards to the current address immigration has for you.

Assume that a TM-30 has been filed either by yourself or on your behalf. This establishes your current address in the database. If you filed the TM-30 yourself then you would have received a notification of address receipt stapled into your passport. If someone filed the TM-30 on your behalf, for example, a hotel by using the online notification facility, then you would not have the notification receipt, but the hotel address would nevertheless become your new current address in the database.

So, your address with immigration gets established with a TM-30. It can be changed for you if you happen to temporarily stay at a hotel in Thailand and the hotel (as it is legally required to do) reports you to the immigration office. In this case, you would need to re-establish your address at your home by filing a new TM-30 with immigration. (In LK's case, since I believe he is a hotelier and presumably lives there, he could have had this done for himself by submitting an online equivalent TM-30 via immigration's online address notification facility.)

In my case, it was unnecessary for me to file a TM-30 after returning from a trip abroad (although I did this anyway) because my address had not changed in the immigration database (obviously, hotels outside Thailand do not report addresses to Thai immigration).

Say you visit friends somewhere in Thailand away from your current address. Likewise, you would not have to file a new TM-30 to re-establish your home address when you returned home because it is exceedingly unlikely that your friends reported your stay at their place to immigration (even though technically they are required to do so). So as far as immigration knows your current address remains unchanged.

Well, why don't more people get caught in the trap LK mentions? Two reasons, I believe: 1) it is only recently that immigration has been rigorously enforcing the TM-30 rules, and 2) although all hotels in Thailand are legally required to report their guest's address to immigration I'm not sure it really happens all the time.

As an example of the second point, some people report that when they stay at a hotel in Thailand they show their Thai driver's license rather than their passport when checking in. If that's true (and I have no reason to question that) then it's difficult to see how that hotel could report the address of the guest to immigration since I believe they would need to provide information such as nationality, passport number, type of visa, expiration date of (permission to) stay, point of entry, and TM-6 arrival card number. None of those data would be evident from a Thai driver's license (with the possible exception of the passport number which is often, though not always, the same as the driver's licence number). Without that information I don't see how the guest can be reported to immigration (unless the online reporting facility doesn't require the same information required on a paper TM-30). I think it may be the case that many hotels don't regularly do the reporting of guest's addresses as required, or do so only on a hit or miss type basis.

Based on LK's experience, my advice to people going for a retirement extension in Phuket is that if you know that you stayed at a Thai hotel and you used your passport at check-in assume that the hotel reported your new temporary address to immigration. Expect to be required to do another TM-30 at immigration to re-establish your home address before being allowed to file an application for extension. If you haven't stayed at a Thai hotel since your last TM-30 then, despite the fact that you may have traveled abroad or even within Thailand and stayed at private homes, your address maintained by immigration should not have been changed and will match so you should have no problems.

Good response which I fully agree with. We are not hoteliers, but have a home rental company. I did online register my residence when we returned from Chiang Mai but it seems that registration was not recorded. Nowadays I recheck that the registration has really been recorded. We are just back from Udon Thani where no hotel even asked for my passport, but I did registere as back home, and checked that the record was accepted into the data base ... phew

[skatewash]

Based on LK's experience here is what I believe might happen with regards to the current address immigration has for you.

Assume that a TM-30 has been filed either by yourself or on your behalf. This establishes your current address in the database. If you filed the TM-30 yourself then you would have received a notification of address receipt stapled into your passport. If someone filed the TM-30 on your behalf, for example, a hotel by using the online notification facility, then you would not have the notification receipt, but the hotel address would nevertheless become your new current address in the database.

So, your address with immigration gets established with a TM-30. It can be changed for you if you happen to temporarily stay at a hotel in Thailand and the hotel (as it is legally required to do) reports you to the immigration office. In this case, you would need to re-establish your address at your home by filing a new TM-30 with immigration. (In LK's case, since I believe he is a hotelier and presumably lives there, he could have had this done for himself by submitting an online equivalent TM-30 via immigration's online address notification facility.)

In my case, it was unnecessary for me to file a TM-30 after returning from a trip abroad (although I did this anyway) because my address had not changed in the immigration database (obviously, hotels outside Thailand do not report addresses to Thai immigration).

Say you visit friends somewhere in Thailand away from your current address. Likewise, you would not have to file a new TM-30 to re-establish your home address when you returned home because it is exceedingly unlikely that your friends reported your stay at their place to immigration (even though technically they are required to do so). So as far as immigration knows your current address remains unchanged.

Well, why don't more people get caught in the trap LK mentions? Two reasons, I believe: 1) it is only recently that immigration has been rigorously enforcing the TM-30 rules, and 2) although all hotels in Thailand are legally required to report their guest's address to immigration I'm not sure it really happens all the time.

As an example of the second point, some people report that when they stay at a hotel in Thailand they show their Thai driver's license rather than their passport when checking in. If that's true (and I have no reason to question that) then it's difficult to see how that hotel could report the address of the guest to immigration since I believe they would need to provide information such as nationality, passport number, type of visa, expiration date of (permission to) stay, point of entry, and TM-6 arrival card number. None of those data would be evident from a Thai driver's license (with the possible exception of the passport number which is often, though not always, the same as the driver's licence number). Without that information I don't see how the guest can be reported to immigration (unless the online reporting facility doesn't require the same information required on a paper TM-30). I think it may be the case that many hotels don't regularly do the reporting of guest's addresses as required, or do so only on a hit or miss type basis.

Based on LK's experience, my advice to people going for a retirement extension in Phuket is that if you know that you stayed at a Thai hotel and you used your passport at check-in assume that the hotel reported your new temporary address to immigration. Expect to be required to do another TM-30 at immigration to re-establish your home address before being allowed to file an application for extension. If you haven't stayed at a Thai hotel since your last TM-30 then, despite the fact that you may have traveled abroad or even within Thailand and stayed at private homes, your address maintained by immigration should not have been changed and will match so you should have no problems.

Good response which I fully agree with. We are not hoteliers, but have a home rental company. I did online register my residence when we returned from Chiang Mai but it seems that registration was not recorded. Nowadays I recheck that the registration has really been recorded. We are just back from Udon Thani where no hotel even asked for my passport, but I did registere as back home, and checked that the record was accepted into the data base ... phew

Thanks for the correction to my erroneous assumption regarding your business! Sorry about that, shouldn't have speculated unnecessarily. I can't edit my post any more, but do regret putting the wrong information out.

It seems I'm always asked for my passport when I check into a hotel in Thailand, but I understand that's not true everywhere or for all. I've never tried using just my Thai driver's license, but I may do so in the future. Can you confirm that the other information (nationality, visa, arrival card number, etc.) is mandatory when using the online address reporting facility, or can the record be accepted by immigration without that data?

[KarenBravo]

I got a years extension on retirement last month. The Notification of address stapled into the passport was fine as proof of address.

When the missus first registered me at immigration, she asked if she would have to go back each time I came back from offshore.

The immigration official told her that as long as the address doesn't change, she never needs to come in again to re-register me.

So far, that seems to be the case.

Technically that is correct - 'so long as the address doesn't change'. But if you stay at a Thai hotel that happens to register you as staying there (as per Thai Immigration law requirements) then you register address does not change.

But I'm not sure sure what happens when you leave Thailand and re-enter as then you have a new arrival date and land card number. I always recommend to our guests that when arriving back in Thailand they email me the arrival date and card number so that I can re-register them and prevent any future problem.

When filing for my extension, the arrival stamp and card were photo-copied and were at least a year later than the original address registration date. No problem.

[LivinginKata]

<snip>

Can you confirm that the other information (nationality, visa, arrival card number, etc.) is mandatory when using the online address reporting facility, or can the record be accepted by immigration without that data?

Mandatory entry fields are ....

date of arrival (at hotel/whatever) - only that day or day before allowed

passport number

first name

family name

nationality (from a menu list)

sex (male/female)

Non mandatory ....

type of visa

arrival card number

quite a number of other questions

[Shot]

I agree with SK about the hotel register deal. I did stay at "Hop Inn" in NST a few months ago, and I am pretty sure the followed the law and registered me. So, can the Mrs. do it on-line today, so I don't have to F with that tomorrow? If so, what is the web address? And/or I can at least see what address they have for me.

[LivinginKata]

I agree with SK about the hotel register deal. I did stay at "Hop Inn" in NST a few months ago, and I am pretty sure the followed the law and registered me. So, can the Mrs. do it on-line today, so I don't have to F with that tomorrow? If so, what is the web address? And/or I can at least see what address they have for me.

You can only register on-line if you have an access code and password. Need to apply at Phuket Immigration to get that for your business or private home. But I think your Mrs could phone it in to Immigration - sorry, no idea of phone number.

And we cannot see what address they have for any individual. Only Immigration can see that.

[Shot]

^^^Thanks

[madmitch]

I agree with SK about the hotel register deal. I did stay at "Hop Inn" in NST a few months ago, and I am pretty sure the followed the law and registered me. So, can the Mrs. do it on-line today, so I don't have to F with that tomorrow? If so, what is the web address? And/or I can at least see what address they have for me.

I'm sure you'll be fine. I've stayed at several hotels in the past year that would probably have registered me with Immigration and nothing was said at my renewal time.

I got a years extension on retirement last month. The Notification of address stapled into the passport was fine as proof of address.

When the missus first registered me at immigration, she asked if she would have to go back each time I came back from offshore.

The immigration official told her that as long as the address doesn't change, she never needs to come in again to re-register me.

So far, that seems to be the case.

Technically that is correct - 'so long as the address doesn't change'. But if you stay at a Thai hotel that happens to register you as staying there (as per Thai Immigration law requirements) then you register address does not change.

But I'm not sure sure what happens when you leave Thailand and re-enter as then you have a new arrival date and land card number. I always recommend to our guests that when arriving back in Thailand they email me the arrival date and card number so that I can re-register them and prevent any future problem.

Don't they use the address on the TM6 arrival card?

[LivinginKata]

Don't they use the address on the TM6 arrival card?

I doubt it. I expect it would be used as a last resort for missing/wanted person.

Immigration rely on the housemaster registering aliens.

[Shot]

What they asked me for today:

Completed TM7

Current photo

Letter of Income (from US Embassy)

Copy of US bank, and Thai bank card, front only (required when submitting Letter of Income). I was also required to read, rewrite and sign a brief statement on that copy that “I use these cards to obtain funds.”

　

Copies of:

Passport ID page

Two previous retirement extensions and the ‘O’ visa those are based on. I had two other earlier ‘O’ visas, but they were not interested in those.

Used re-entry permit from last extension.

Departure Card

Notification of Res. (I was able to use the one I had even though I was registered at a hotel a few months ago….Thanks madmitch

I arrived at 940 and out at 1020. I can pick up my passport after 1300

tomorrow.

I was told to fill out the personal information paper (sorry, can’t remember official name). The type was so small and cramped; I could hardly fill it out. I filled out what I could minus the “optional” stuff. They gave me a .0000000001 ball point pen that kept ripping through the page, so I’m sure what I wrote is unreadable.

Everyone was very nice.

[Jimi007]

What they asked me for today:

Completed TM7

Current photo

Letter of Income (from US Embassy)

Copy of US bank, and Thai bank card, front only (required when submitting Letter of Income). I was also required to read, rewrite and sign a brief statement on that copy that “I use these cards to obtain funds.”

　

Copies of:

Passport ID page

Two previous retirement extensions and the ‘O’ visa those are based on. I had two other earlier ‘O’ visas, but they were not interested in those.

Used re-entry permit from last extension.

Departure Card

Notification of Res. (I was able to use the one I had even though I was registered at a hotel a few months ago….Thanks madmitch

I arrived at 940 and out at 1020. I can pick up my passport after 1300

tomorrow.

I was told to fill out the personal information paper (sorry, can’t remember official name). The type was so small and cramped; I could hardly fill it out. I filled out what I could minus the “optional” stuff. They gave me a .0000000001 ball point pen that kept ripping through the page, so I’m sure what I wrote is unreadable.

Everyone was very nice.

They just can't make up their minds at Phuket Immigration! When I got my retirement extension in December, I had copy of my Thai bank ATM card, they said no, we just want a copy of the front page of your Thai Bank Book. I also used a letter from the US Embassy to verify income... Now they want a copy of two ATM cards US and Thai? Jeez guys, make up you minds. Also the volunteer told me to copy of all previous extensions, the officer said I don't need those, just your most recent O visa, probably because it was the last thing I used to enter the country...

[madmitch]

The rules change so often this thread really should be kept updated. ATM cards are the new one, plus the personal information form which I didn't have to fill in three weeks ago.

[LivinginKata]

The rules change so often this thread really should be kept updated. ATM cards are the new one, plus the personal information form which I didn't have to fill in three weeks ago.

The rules do change from time to time but the problem has always been the individual officer's interpretation of the rules and the mood of the day - think they are little gods in uniform with great power over we aliens. We all just have to suck it up and take it .... or leave Thailand.

[Old Croc]

What they asked me for today:

(snip).

I was told to fill out the personal information paper (sorry, can’t remember official name). The type was so small and cramped; I could hardly fill it out. I filled out what I could minus the “optional” stuff. They gave me a .0000000001 ball point pen that kept ripping through the page, so I’m sure what I wrote is unreadable.

Everyone was very nice.

Is this the infamous form asking for clients social and social media habits and hangouts?

Last I heard they were only offending the short term extension applicants.