Thailand visa: What about form TM30?
Dear editors,
I heard from a friend that he had been confronted with a new phenomenon at Immigration Chiang Mai, at least new to me. It turns out that all foreigners must register via form TM30. This appears to be done at Immigration, or as it says above the form, at a local police station. The slip at the bottom of form TM30 is completed, stamped, cut and stapled in your passport. The procedure is free.
I couldn't believe it at first, but my friend sent me a photocopy of his passport with form TM30 attached and stamped.
For convenience I have included a copy of TM30. However, looking at the title of this form, it seems to me that it is more intended for a hotel, guesthouse or resort operators and their guests. Compare it with hotel register. But my friend lives in a private rented house (from his girlfriend).
The take list for Immigration -according to my friend- would look like this:
- copy of your passport.
- copy stapled departure card TM.6.
- copy visa.
- copy house book blue.
- copy home owner ID.
- if available a copy of the yellow booklet.
- the form TM30 completed by the homeowner.
Yours faithfully,
Dear,
The form “TM 30 – Notification for house-master, owner or the possessor of the residence where aliens has stayed” is not new at all. Only in the past it was almost never used because most owners or heads of household simply do not know that foreigners must be reported. Hotels know this and they can also do this online.
It is also in the Dossier Visa page 28 – www.thailandblog.nl/wp-
Homeowners, heads of households, landowners or managers of hotels hosting foreigners on a legal and temporary basis must notify Immigration within 24 hours. This is in accordance with the Immigration Act, section 38. If there is no Immigration Office in the province, this notice of residence may be made at the local police station.
The notification of residence must be made using form TM30 – Notification form for house masters, owner or possessor of the residence where alien have stay.
The notification within 24 hours can be made in person at the Immigration Office (or police station); by an authorized person of, for example, the hotel; by registered mail, or via the internet (registered hotels only). It is therefore the homeowner, landowner, hotel manager or head of household where the foreigner is staying who is responsible for the report and NOT the foreigner himself.
In this case, the girlfriend will have been the head of the household or owner, and if your friend is staying there, she must report this.
All foreigners therefore certainly do not have to walk to immigration to report there. It would be quite a soup at immigration if every foreigner would report there 24 hours after arrival. By the way, it is the person who makes the report who must have this bottom slip in his possession as proof, not the foreigner. The only thing a foreigner needs to have in his passport is his “Departure card”, and possibly the slip of his 90 days report (TM 47) if he stays in Thailand for more than 90 days without interruption.
What is sometimes requested in some immigration offices (so not everywhere), and you see this happening more and more, is that a TM 30 statement is also requested as proof of address for an extension, and which must then be enclosed with the application . Perhaps this was the case with your friend?
I don't know why your friend went to immigration, but maybe he just asked for a (30 day?) extension and they also wanted proof of his address during that extension. It is also possible that it was not requested with a year extension. They may have already reported their whereabouts during the 90 day report. The 90-day notification is the responsibility of the foreign national.
Let us know why your friend went to immigration? Maybe that explains something too. Must have been for a reason he went to immigration.
In any case, the TM 30 is not a new phenomenon, but a form that has existed for a long time.
Regards,
RonnyLatPhrao
Disclaimer: The advice is based on existing regulations. The editors accept no responsibility if this is deviated from in practice.
Dear readers,
Jo's friend later informed me that in Chiang Mai every foreigner who owns or rents a home must report with a TM 30 form. Personal.
This is what immigration told him.
Well, if immigration demands this, then it must of course be followed.
Are there readers who also received this message from their immigration office, or is it something that only has to be done in Chiang Mai?
This is therefore separate from the normal report that “Homeowners, heads of households, landowners or managers of hotels where foreigners temporarily stay” must make and for which the TM 30 is actually intended.
If so let us know.
Immigration in Pattaya also demands this from those who, say, come to stay here as an “self-employed person” other than in a hotel.
Even as a tenant, 8 years ago, at a very renowned park, I had to do this myself.
After obtaining a retirement visa, this becomes unnecessary.
As the owner of my house, I was not allowed to file a declaration for people who stayed with me on holiday.
They had to come themselves. This happened several years ago!!
The fact that there is almost no fuss about this happening is because many of these "self-employed" simply do not report on the one hand due to ignorance, on the other hand because they don't feel like it.
I think there is almost no check by immigration. When the airport data has been processed, the “self-employed person” has often already left.
I think that the translation of section 38 is not entirely correct, or is always applied differently by immigration.
Hallo,
I have had such a slip in my passport for a year now , you get this from immigration with every 90 - day extension that you reside at that address .
I have a year extension visa, stamp and within 5 minutes you are outside again is new since last year if I can't go to the immigration office my wife will go no problem.
The first time you apply for a visa for a year, they will come to your house within about 10 days to check whether you actually live there.
and they take pictures and the head of the village must also sign that you are considered to live there.
Kind regards William
Dear Willem,
Thanks for the reply. Which immigration office?
What I understand from your response is that what you have in your passport is the slip of form TM47 – Form for alien to notify of staying longer than 90 days
http://www.immigration.go.th/ click Download form
This is an address confirmation that you must perform every 90 days of continuous stay. The foreigner is personally responsible for reporting this in a timely manner, which does not mean that he has to report it in person. This can also be done by a third party, by post or online. In your case, your wife has done what is perfectly possible.
By the way, it's not new at all. That 90 day notification has been around for years.
The question here is whether there are still people who have a TM30 – Notification for house-master, owner or the possessor of the residence where aliens has stayed slip in their passport as is required in Chiang Mai.
Someone has already informed me that NongKhai immigration also sometimes asks for the TM 30 form, but that again it depends on the immigration officer.
Hallo,
SakonNakhon immigration office before you had another TM form but it doesn't exist anymore as they come with another form
It says that you can also go to the police office for your 90 days, but that is not the case, I have to drive 135 km for the extension
g William
I have been living here for 2 years now and have built a house in Hang Dong (Chiang Mai) but we also have a house through my wife in Chiang Rai I make my visa there and go there for my 90 days no copies needed there Chiang Mai immigration does now once they were wanting and always changing according to their law and if you ask why you will get the answer because we can. Chiang Mai a beautiful city as long as you don't have to go to immigration abnormal!!!!!
I also have a TM30 stick in my passport since the end of April. This is the result of a border run in Mae Sai. I used to have a visa OA. When applying for a new passport, I had asked by means of a post it not to perforate the old passport on the visa page and to return it to me. I got a new one but never got the old one back. So new visa, but an O.
At OA I had to state the address on the TM47. At borderrun with O there is no address strip in the passport, so I had to report in Chiang Mai not really at immigration but at the police at the same place at the back of the photocopies building.
I got my TM30 in my passport and the owner of the block got under her feet because she had never reported foreigners staying with her. Now she might.
In hua hin they gave me that form 3 months ago. not given but I had to have a copy of the ID card from the owner of my house, and a copy of the rental contract and a copy of the proof of ownership of the house
Hello, I live in Phrae (North) and depend on the immigration office in NAN. Last year I applied for my retirement visa for the first time. The comment was made to my wife that form TM 30 was not completed. The fine for this is 2000 baht. They turned a blind eye to it for the first time. Left Thailand at the beginning of this year for urgent matters in Belgium , when I came back a few months after my arrival I went to the police station in Phrae to have this form completed ( Judging by their reaction this was the first time they had to deal with such a form, but they did it without complaint and free of charge. Two months later went to Nan immigration for a new application for a retirement visa and then was not asked. I suspect that this is in their system Ps. Some claim that if you write your address on your arrival card this is enough, so no, I asked this at the immigration office at the airport and no, so it must be form TM30 if you live in Thailand
MVG
Filip
Recently got my first extension in Khon Kaen on a pension basis, the immigration officer handling my documents informed me that the TM30 form was not in my passport and advised me that this should normally be done within 24 hours of arrival in Thailand at the immigration or at the police station, I have been living in Khon Kaen for 10 years and did not know about it myself
On various forums I read that this is not new and that there will be stricter checks
It's a good thing that Thailand Blog and especially Ronny and Rob V. inform us so well about all these requirements for a short or long (holiday) stay in Thailand. All kinds of rules and forms, which are sometimes applied / adapted and sometimes not, and also depend on the interpretation of a local official. A layman eventually no longer sees the trees for the forest.
This has been around for years and is an old longstanding law that was never used. I personally have never been asked for a TM40 in the 30+ years I've been staying here. Neither does my wife.
When extending the retirement visa, I had to submit the rental contract (was in my name) every time to prove the place of residence. (Chiang Mai)
When we bought a house (in the name of a friend) that was no longer possible. And I neatly received a TM 30. Does not have to be in the passport, is a one-off and did not have to be shown again for subsequent extensions.
Hello, I just came back from Pitsanulok and I was not asked anything about TM30, I was outside again within 10 minutes with my retirement O visa, so it was not busy, only the house paper, my girlfriend's blue book was enough , so different rules are applied everywhere and you will only be told on the spot.