new rule ?

[HHTel]

11 hours ago, DrTuner said:

I mentioned this fun years ago in this forum, here we go again:

 

Immigration act from 2522 (1979) http://www.thailawforum.com/database1/immigration-law-mejesty.html  :

 

It's not new, it's ancient. Just hasn't been enforced. Note that you need to report to "police official", of which immigration is a part of too. So going to the police station to announce yourself to your parole officer should be enough. 

 

You've completely missed the point.  When arriving at the airport or border, your arrival card states your residence.  Unless that changes, there is no need to visit immigration according to the law and according to my immigration sister-in-law.

[Fithman]

6 minutes ago, HHTel said:

 

You've completely missed the point.  When arriving at the airport or border, your arrival card states your residence.  Unless that changes, there is no need to visit immigration according to the law and according to my immigration sister-in-law.

 

Will you be following the advice of your sister-in-law or following the requirements of your immigration office? 

[HHTel]

Look it up.  It's in Thai and English.

[DogNo1]

I wonder where they keep the record of the reported address.  Does immigration have a computerized database?  Searching through a stack of papers would take a lot of time.  Here in Japan foreign residents register with the local administrative office for their ward or city.  There's none of the twenty-four hour nonsense.  Only if you change your permanent residence do you have to register with the office in your new location.  No matter how long you travel to a different location or a different country, if you return to your  registered location, there is no need to report.  Requiring foreign residents to report twenty-four hour trips is just crazy.  In fact, the whole frequent residence reporting scheme seems pointless.

[HHTel]

Firstly, yes we are computerised  mostly.

 

And in answer to the wind-up merchants..... a quote from  the government website:

 

Quote

• Should you move from your current address which Thai Immigration has, you have to report your change of address within 24 hours or face a penalty of 200 Baht a day for every day until it is corrected.

 

 

The address you  state when entering Thailand is binding unless you move.  It's not rocket-science!

[Fithman]

11 minutes ago, HHTel said:

Firstly, yes we are computerised  mostly.

 

And in answer to the wind-up merchants..... a quote from  the government website:

 

 

 

The address you  state when entering Thailand is binding unless you move.  It's not rocket-science!

 

Please provide a link to this government website. 

[BritTim]

2 hours ago, HHTel said:

 

You've completely missed the point.  When arriving at the airport or border, your arrival card states your residence.  Unless that changes, there is no need to visit immigration according to the law and according to my immigration sister-in-law.

 

Any opinion stated by an individual immigration official is just one of the many differing opinions expressed by officials up and down the country. Whatever the rights or wrongs, it would be wise to abide by the opinion of the most senior official at your local immigration office.

 

The immigration laws, although amended many times since, date from a time when travel was very different from today. It is not surprising that the law, as written, does not always reflect modern realities. Thailand is not unique in having archaic regulations still on its books which, though ignored by intelligent senior officials, can still be dusted off and used when someone arbitrarily chooses to do so.

 

The opinion of your sister-in-law that the provisions of Section 37 (3) and (4) are satisfied by filling in your arrival card strikes me as dubious. I think it more likely that this applies:

Quote

The provision of ( 3 ) and ( 4 ) shall not apply to any cases under Section 34 by any conditions as prescribed by the Director General.

 

Most likely, the Director General has indicated that (3) and (4) should not be enforced. Of course, there is no public record of any such instructions having been issued, so we are forced to guess based on the actual enforcement actions undertaken by the officials. Similarly, we foreigners will become aware of any changes to the instructions they are given by modified requirements at local immigration offices, that will depend (to some extent) on how the senior local official interprets new instructions.

 

Bottom line: ignore what the law says  Stay abreast of how your local office chooses to interpret them in the light of ambiguous instructions issued from on high.

[thurien]

20 hours ago, natway09 said:

How do we know that it is a competent official ?

 

an easy question, for once: They are all of the highest competence

[Frenske]

20 hours ago, tutsiwarrior said:

most foreigners that come to Thailand are tourists and this requirement is covered by the hotel that they stay at...for any IO to require a foreigner with a yearly marriage or retirement extension of stay (for which there is an extensive and intrusive application process) to report simply reveals themself as a dolt or a corrupt and malicious individual who abuses his power...

Prayuth’s crackdown on corruption is obviously working, now immigration is enforcing ridiculous laws so they can steel our money legally as these laws have no influence on keeping the bad guys out but they’re just harassing the good guys.

[siam2007]

13 hours ago, HHTel said:

 

You've completely missed the point.  When arriving at the airport or border, your arrival card states your residence.  Unless that changes, there is no need to visit immigration according to the law and according to my immigration sister-in-law.

 

 

that is WRONG imo, and it is the LANDLORD or Hotel/Guesthouse who is required to report you within 24 hrs, this is not an individuals duty

[DUNROAMIN]

Am I missing the point here with this law, if you fly from overseas into Thailand and cannot catch a connecting flight on the same day and arrive back in your home province after the 24H period you are fined for failing to report to your local immigration office. Or is it 24H after arriving back in your home province?

[OJAS]

15 minutes ago, DUNROAMIN said:

Am I missing the point here with this law, if you fly from overseas into Thailand and cannot catch a connecting flight on the same day and arrive back in your home province after the 24H period you are fined for failing to report to your local immigration office. Or is it 24H after arriving back in your home province?

 

As already said it's the housemaster's responsibility, not yours (unless, of course, you're the housemaster), to submit TM30 reports. If you fly in from overseas and cannot catch a connecting flight within 24 hours, it will be for the hotel into which you have presumably checked for this period to file the necessary report. Upon your eventual return to your home province, it will, in theory, then be for your housemaster there to submit a fresh TM30 within the required 24 hours.

 

But, as has already been stated a number of times on this thread, whether or not a further TM30 will need to be submitted at all (let alone to such a tight timescale) will, in practice, depend on your local immigration office. In my case, my wife (as my housemaster) was finally informed by Rayong Immigration that she needed to submit a TM30 after I had been living at the same address after my move out here in 2008, when I attended there for my latest retirement extension in July. However, she was not threatened with any fine and was told that she could drop the completed form in when she was next in the neighbourhood. Seeing as this was not likely to be until July 2017, I included it with my next mailed-in 90-day report a few weeks later, and the notification slip along with that for the 90-day report turned up in the post about a week later without any ado.

 

However a number of other offices are nowhere near as lenient as is Rayong on this matter - in particular Chiang Mai are not, it would appear.

[DUNROAMIN]

16 minutes ago, OJAS said:

 

As already said it's the housemaster's responsibility, not yours (unless, of course, you're the housemaster), to submit TM30 reports. If you fly in from overseas and cannot catch a connecting flight within 24 hours, it will be for the hotel into which you have presumably checked for this period to file the necessary report. Upon your eventual return to your home province, it will, in theory, then be for your housemaster there to submit a fresh TM30 within the required 24 hours.

 

But, as has already been stated a number of times on this thread, whether or not a further TM30 will need to be submitted at all (let alone to such a tight timescale) will, in practice, depend on your local immigration office. In my case, my wife (as my housemaster) was finally informed by Rayong Immigration that she needed to submit a TM30 after I had been living at the same address after my move out here in 2008, when I attended there for my latest retirement extension in July. However, she was not threatened with any fine and was told that she could drop the completed form in when she was next in the neighbourhood. Seeing as this was not likely to be until July 2017, I included it with my next mailed-in 90-day report a few weeks later, and the notification slip along with that for the 90-day report turned up in the post about a week later without any ado.

 

However a number of other offices are nowhere near as lenient as is Rayong on this matter - in particular Chiang Mai are not, it would appear.

It appears as with most things in Thailand, nothing is the same from one province to another, some government offices use common sense and others go by the rules, whether theirs or the government.

[licka]

On ‎08‎/‎10‎/‎2016 at 11:49 AM, evadgib said:

I'm going to get slated for this, but has anyone ever said 'sod this, I want to appeal'?

Good luck to you

Let us know how that works out

[HHTel]

16 hours ago, Fithman said:

 

Please provide a link to this government website. 

 

The immigration site states that you have to inform immigration of where you reside.  You do that on your initial arrival.  Thereafter you have to inform immigration of any change of address.

 

http://www.thailand-immigration.org/thailand-immigration-basic-rules.html

[Fithman]

8 minutes ago, HHTel said:

 

The immigration site states that you have to inform immigration of where you reside.  You do that on your initial arrival.  Thereafter you have to inform immigration of any change of address.

 

http://www.thailand-immigration.org/thailand-immigration-basic-rules.html

 

Sorry but you are making stuff up to suit your agenda !

 

 Further that link has nothing to do with the Thai Government, it is a commercial site which is riddled with more errors than fact ! 

[offset]

I have been away for a few days in Thailand I had to pass the immigration office Prachinburi on my way home so I went in and asked them 2 Questions

 

1  I have just been away in Thailand for 2 nights do I have to report to them, I was told by the Senior officer that it was not needed unless I was away more than 7 days

 

2   If I go abroad for a short time do I have to report to them, I was told that at all times when I return from abroad I need to report to them my address

 

The answers was heard by all the officers there (it is only a new small office) so I will abide by this ruling

[siam2007]

On 09/10/2016 at 4:07 PM, HHTel said:

 

The immigration site states that you have to inform immigration of where you reside.  You do that on your initial arrival.  Thereafter you have to inform immigration of any change of address.

 

http://www.thailand-immigration.org/thailand-immigration-basic-rules.html

 

 

this is an unofficial website and a giant load of rubbish

[JAS21]

I wonder what Nonthaburi Imm want.

 

A friend arrives from the UK next week and will stay with us for a few days.

 

If he puts our address on his Arrival Card ... we need to do anything?

[ubonjoe]

8 minutes ago, JAS21 said:

I wonder what Nonthaburi Imm want.

A friend arrives from the UK next week and will stay with us for a few days.

If he puts our address on his Arrival Card ... we need to do anything?

Unless he needed to do something at immigration there would be no need for the TM30 form.

Immigration does not check homes to see if they have guests.

[sanemax]

Not that important to start a new thread , but Ive been renting a condo for five years and the owner has never informed immigration that I was staying there .

 But today the owner come and asked my for my passport because he now needs to register me with immigration .

[JAS21]

6 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

Unless he needed to do something at immigration there would be no need for the TM30 form.

Immigration does not check homes to see if they have guests.

He will be in Thailand for a few months ... he will not stay in the Nonthaburi area ...probably Chaing Mai

[ubonjoe]

4 minutes ago, JAS21 said:

He will be in Thailand for a few months ... he will not stay in the Nonthaburi area ...probably Chaing Mai

Apparently he will not be staying with you when he needs to do something at immigration. So no worry for you.

[monkey4u]

On ‎08‎/‎10‎/‎2016 at 0:11 AM, moe666 said:

Not a new rule

Petchaburi Immigration is now enforcing this

[Koratdave]

Visited Samut Prakan immigration yesterday. Was told within 24 hours of you returning to Thailand you must notify them of your address. No excuses.

The fine was 1000 baht and yes i did get a receipt

[Maestro]

Visited Samut Prakan immigration yesterday. Was told within 24 hours of you returning to Thailand you must notify them of your address. No excuses.

The fine was 1000 baht and yes i did get a receipt

Notify with what form?

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Thaivisa Connect mobile app

[BritTim]

2 minutes ago, Maestro said:

 

Notify with what form?

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Thaivisa Connect mobile app
 

 

 

Surely, this must mean the TM-30 form, and is another example of making the foreigner do their job for them (finding the householder and fining him). If they have started enforcing TM-28 on entry, the queues at CW are going to tail back half way to the airport.

[KhaoNiaw]

1 hour ago, BritTim said:

 

Surely, this must mean the TM-30 form, and is another example of making the foreigner do their job for them (finding the householder and fining him). If they have started enforcing TM-28 on entry, the queues at CW are going to tail back half way to the airport.

 

I think you're confusing the issue with the TM28. That's for notification of a permanent change of address and I don't think is required every time you go out of the country and return to that address, which is the interpretation some offices are using for reporting a return to the country on the TM30.  

Edited November 5, 2016 by KhaoNiaw

[BritTim]

3 hours ago, KhaoNiaw said:

 

I think you're confusing the issue with the TM28. That's for notification of a permanent change of address and I don't think is required every time you go out of the country and return to that address, which is the interpretation some offices are using for reporting a return to the country on the TM30.  

 

Read literally, the immigration law contains a section that does imply that the foreigner must report his presence to the 'competent official' every time he spends over 24 hours in a new location (Section 37 (2), (3) and (4)). This is separate from Section 38, the basis for the TM-30 form. Subsection 37 (3) and (4) are among those that also allow the Director General to waive the requirement under whatever conditions he feels appropriate. The reason the TM-28 is not enforced is (I am reasonably sure) because of unpublished instructions to immigration offices that this totally impractical provision in the law be ignored.

Edited November 5, 2016 by BritTim

[steve187]

20 hours ago, Koratdave said:

Visited Samut Prakan immigration yesterday. Was told within 24 hours of you returning to Thailand you must notify them of your address. No excuses.

The fine was 1000 baht and yes i did get a receipt

what form did you use to comply