Transfer Tourist Visa to New Passport: Housing Report Required?

[JoelG]

Hey everyone,

 

Just recently received a new passport and went to Krabi Immigration today to try to get my single entry tourist visa transferred to the new passport.  I had both old and new passports, and a letter from the US Embassy requesting the transfer.  But the (rude) guy at Immigration said I need also to have some kind of report that verifies the address I'm staying in Thailand?  I did some research and I can't find any other cases of people being asked for this.  He showed me an example template for it but didn't even have a blank one to give me, saying I can find it all over the internet.  Not sure if this is something new as they seem to continue tightening down on the border-bounce culture here, or if this guy was just being an a-hole.  Doesn't make any sense to me why I should need some sort of housing form when it's a tourist visa that I already have.  Anyone have any experience or insights?

 

Many thanks in advance for any help.

[ubonjoe]

Your tourist visa cannot be transferred.

If you applied for a 30 day extension of the 60 day entry from it  they would do a annotation of it and transfer your entry stamp before doing the extension in your new passport.

If you don't plan on applying for an extension you can just leave the country by showing both passport on departure from the country.

They want a TM30 form submitted. Download: tm30.pdf 

[elviajero]

You don't need to transfer your tourist entry permit to stay. It can be done at passport control on the way out.

 

If you are staying in a private residence the owner or house-master or possessor should have submitted a TM.30 form to notify/confirm you're staying with them. If they don't/haven't they can be fined.

 

Many offices want that form completed before they will process extensions of stay and it appears your office want it before doing a permit transfer.

 

It's not a new requirement, but one  that's being enforced more often due to the increased numbers of foreigners staying in private property and security concerns. Hotels report foreigners often without the foreigners knowing about it.

[Khun Robert]

Krabi Immigration want to see a verification of address. The mean they want to see a copy of your rental contract.

They can and will show you an example template but it is not their duty to provide rental contracts.

 

And yes to the other posters, your landlord needs to report you using the TM 30 form.

Without an address Krabi Immigration is not helping you.