phuket town immigration scam

[BritTim]

7 hours ago, thetruth revealer said:

Im sure many would agree that Thai IMM could easely inform every incoming traveller what their duties are , and what consequences if not complied, with a simple Flyer at arrival when stamped in.  But,for some reason its not happening. Obviously its not in  Thai IMM Interest to avoid such incidents nor do they apply Law everywhere the same way .

 

Transparency is NOT given enough .

 

 

But hey TIT ....

 

In order to inform every incoming traveler what their duties are (and penalties for non compliance) they would need your itinerary for your whole visit, and a database reviewing the regulations by location. The law on TM30 reporting (and sometimes TM28 reporting) is interpreted in its own way by each immigration office. In Bangkok, you generally do not need to worry about such matters. If you are in Chiang Mai, they tend to be applied fairly strictly. At a few immigration offices, even more strictly. I do not think there is a single person in the world, Thai or foreigner, who can tell you what rules will be applied by each and every immigration office.

 

Transparency is an issue, but the fact that there is no single set of regulations consistently applied is much greater.

[Maestro]

6 hours ago, elviajero said:

...A foreigner cannot be the house-master, but they can be an owner or possessor. The law doesn't specify that only Thai owners or possessors must report...

 

For a privately owned residence, the definition of "house-master" in section 4 of the Immigration Act can be condensed as "House Master ( เจ้าบ้าน ) means any person who is the chief possessor of a house , whether in the capacity of owner or tenant"

 

Other laws may give a different definition of House Master, but for the application and implementation of the Immigration Act and regulations and rules issued under the authority of this Act only the definition given in the Immigration Act counts.

 

Therefore, if the owner of a residence lives himself in his residence he is its possessor and therefore the House Master. If he accommodates a foreign visitor in his residence it is his duty to submit the TM.30

 

If the owner rents out his residence he transfers possession of it to the tenant who will thus be the House Master and will have the duty of submitting the TM.30 for any foreigner arriving at the residence, including himself if he is a foreigner.

 

[Maestro]

The question of a link to the Immigration Act on the website of the Immigration Bureau has been raised and it may indeed sometimes be useful to be able to give an immigration officer such link, preferably to the original Thai text of the law and hoping that he will have the intellectual faculty to comprehend this somewhat complicated legal text.

 

Thai text:

http://www.immigration.go.th/nov2004/doc/act_imm_2522.html

 

English translation:

http://www.immigration.go.th/nov2004/en/doc/Immigration_Act.pdf

[stevenl]

8 hours ago, Maestro said:

 

The way I remember it, the OP has posted in this topic that the owner of the residence where her friend is staying duly report her arrival to immigration.

After getting fined, she was told by the landlord that he did report her. But whether that is true I doubt. If staying in a hotel, yes, probably she was reported, but if staying elsewhere, and it sounds like that is the case, the landlord would not care about the reporting, so very likely did not do that.

[thedemon]

14 minutes ago, stevenl said:

After getting fined, she was told by the landlord that he did report her. But whether that is true I doubt. If staying in a hotel, yes, probably she was reported, but if staying elsewhere, and it sounds like that is the case, the landlord would not care about the reporting, so very likely did not do that.

 

Yes and Phuket Immigration either aren't capable of or can't be bothered checking their own reporting system to verify.

 

[thetruth revealer]

9 hours ago, BritTim said:

 

In order to inform every incoming traveler what their duties are (and penalties for non compliance) they would need your itinerary for your whole visit, and a database reviewing the regulations by location. The law on TM30 reporting (and sometimes TM28 reporting) is interpreted in its own way by each immigration office. In Bangkok, you generally do not need to worry about such matters. If you are in Chiang Mai, they tend to be applied fairly strictly. At a few immigration offices, even more strictly. I do not think there is a single person in the world, Thai or foreigner, who can tell you what rules will be applied by each and every immigration office.

 

Transparency is an issue, but the fact that there is no single set of regulations consistently applied is much greater.

It shows how weak , and unprofessional authorities handle their own issues here.