Thailand tightens the screws on TM30 reporting, petition ongoing

[55Jay]

1 hour ago, Joe Mcseismic said:

Because they are not connected to the immigration computer network.

Computers at the I/O desks at Swampy aren't either.  Apparently.

[vadid]

Surely the time wasted doing all this admin for the good guys means less time spent chasing the bad guys. Anyway Thailand can go on its merry TM 30 way.  I had been seriously considering going for an Elite visa after my latest extension expires, I certainly won't be doing that and will seriously consider living somewhere where I don't have to fill out a form every time I fart.

[4MyEgo]

5 hours ago, kellersphuket said:

National Security.

 

What exactly does this mean? It seems to me to be a bogus term that officials like to throw around which allows them to enact any and all stifling policies (no matter how ridiculous) to apparently protect citizens of a certain nation.

 

In short it is a load of BS!

I was angry when I first heard of this TM 30 reporting as it would inconvenience me every time I went on holidays domestically, and it was enough for me that I had to travel over an hour each way to do the 90 day reporting to my immigration office as it stood, add to that the annual extension, that said I was in Phuket on October, Pattaya in February and Hua Hin in May and knew nothing about this TM 30 reporting until late and signed the petition, suffice to say I went in to immigration today to renew my 90 days and obtain a reentry permit as I am going overseas in 7 weeks.

 

My landlord is my Thai wife, so we sat down with immigration officer there who has always been approachable, and said, hey we are confused with this TM 30 thing, what gives, are we going to get fined because we haven't reported that I have been out of the province holidaying a week at a time with the family, he smiled and said, look, this rule has been around for a long long time, but no one has really had the need to enforce it, up until now, so let's start fresh from today, if you leave the country or go to another province for more than 24 hours, you MUST report to immigration that you are back, i.e. if you stay in a hotel, they will tell us you are there from X to Y and we want to know that when you are back Z, to complete the puzzle.

 

I explained that we had a fair bit of a way to travel to them, and he said, I understand, I have been to your house, you should register online, as there will be no need for you to come and see us, just do it online as soon as you get back home in your province. I then said, I have to be honest, I feel like a prisoner having to report my whereabouts everytime I move, he said, I understand, but Thailand has a BIG problem at the moment with a lot of people not reporting to immigration officers to get extensions, or renew their 90 days, or to extend their annual extensions, so they are now illegals in our country, and we do not want people in Thailand if they don't have the correct paperwork, so we have to enforce this to make sure we know where everybody is, yes we know where you live, and no we cannot check up on you as we don't have the manpower to do it, so we hope you will assist our cause in telling us when you go away and when you come back, that's all we ask, while we continue to try and track down the illegals, mostly Indians who come here, marry a Thai girl and disappear, then we have the others, so there are a lot of illegals here, we are not after the regulars like yourself, but we need to know where everyone is until we can bring it under control, and those who don't let us know when they return to their province will have to pay a fine of up to 2,000 baht each time, i.e. your wife the landlord in this case, and it's not hard to update us via the app, same with the 90 day renewal, you can do it online, no need to drive all this way to see us, unless you want too ????

 

I felt a lot better discussing this with them today, and even better that they didn't fine the wife for failing to notifying them that I was back in our province on each previous occasion. So when we come back into Phuket in October from overseas and stay there for a week, no need to go and report to the cops as the other immigration officer previously told me, he said as you are staying in a hotel, they will do their job and advise us that you are there from X, until Y, and all your wife/(landlord) has to do is update immigration by using the app when you return Z, puzzle completed and everybody is happy. 

 

My grandeurs of feeling that my privacy was being invaded and all the other paranoia that came along with it of late have left me now, and I feel relieved that they didn't cheese me off by fining the wife, because no doubt I would have had to pay it ????

 

I think what I learnt from this experience today is that as technology slowly progresses here, it will be a once a year visit to immigration as everything will be working correctly via apps or online applications, excluding the reentry permits.

[4MyEgo]

2 hours ago, ignis said:

Have asked before on a different TM 30 post.. will ask again, how often must you do a TM 30 ? 

 

Had the house build in 2003/4 moved in over 15 years ago.... last time went out of Thailand was many years  [2009] ago, did a TM 28 + TM 30 -  found the bit of paper with the stamp and I.O's signature dated 2010..  

 

So need a 'new' TM 30 ? as still the same address, my next extension due in 3 months so want to be ready..

 

So what is the 90 day address reporting all about ? never missed or been late doing it in almost 16 years.

The TM 30 has to be filled in by your landlord, presumably your wife every time you spend more than 24 hours out of your province, it can be done by applying for a password online at the immigration website or by going to your local immigration office as soon as you return to your province.

 

I did my 90 days today and asked the questions, and that is what they told me, i.e. if you go overseas or into another province, report to us as soon as you get back to your province. I will add to that, e.g. if you stay in a hotel in another province, they will notify them you are there from X to Y, and immigration want the last piece to the puzzle, i.e. X your back, so only do a TM 30 for the above, however if your not staying in a hotel, you have to go to the local cop shop to let them know you are there from X TO Y and then report X to immigration when you are back. 

 

Apparently they have some BIG issues with overstayers, Indians etc etc and are wanting to keep tabs on everyone, unfortunately we are caught up in the crossfire, but if we do what they say and use the apps for convenience sake, we'll be right, as they just want to tighten up the nooses on the illegals, so I was told today. 

[4MyEgo]

36 minutes ago, vadid said:

Surely the time wasted doing all this admin for the good guys means less time spent chasing the bad guys. Anyway Thailand can go on its merry TM 30 way.  I had been seriously considering going for an Elite visa after my latest extension expires, I certainly won't be doing that and will seriously consider living somewhere where I don't have to fill out a form every time I fart.

You don't, I thought exactly the same as you and was contemplating the same action.

 

Read #103 and try the app or online reporting, shouldn't be too hard, will let you know how the Mrs goes, suffice to say, I survive another day in the LOS ????

 

[fusion58]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

For its part, Thai Immigration says it is simply robustly applying Sections 37 and 38 of the Thai immigration act to “strengthen security” and keep tabs on foreigners whilst in the country.

Right, because everybody knows only foreigners commit crimes.

[Golden Triangle]

No names, no packdrill, but there are some people on here I would gladly throttle ????

 

[fusion58]

6 hours ago, taninthai said:

If you choose to live in an over crowded city that’s what you have to put up with ......that is the reason I left London.....lol

The fact that Bangkok is an "overcrowded city" has nothing to do with it insofar as the TM30 wasn't even an issue until recently.

[tominbkk]

I’m so fed up reading about tm30 on this forum ......I just did mine this morning in and out in 8 minuits ,immigration were happy,smiling,friendly and helpful seriously what is all the fuss about ....moaners will be moaners where ever they are in the world.

I’m happy to play along. But the CW immigration was dreadful a few weeks ago. I got there at 8:30 and it took 3 hours to do. Applied for online but we
Never received the account info, just confirmation of receipt of info.


Sent from my iPhone using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[taninthai]

16 minutes ago, tominbkk said:

I’m happy to play along. But the CW immigration was dreadful a few weeks ago. I got there at 8:30 and it took 3 hours to do. Applied for online but we
Never received the account info, just confirmation of receipt of info.


Sent from my iPhone using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

Yeah 3 hours is a pain today mine was quick but it’s quiet my area at the Minuit because low season ,I’m just loading the app onto my phone now.

seems online or app is the way forward.

[GinBoy2]

8 hours ago, rkidlad said:

Read a couple of reports online of landlords not wanting to rent out to foreigners because of all of this. I can't blame the landlords. I wouldn't want the hassle either. But I think a good way is to highlight every time a foreigner can't rent a place to live because of this rule and landlords not wanting to rent to them. If foreigners find it hard to rent here, that just exposes this silly law even more for what it is and the unnecessary trouble it's causing. 

 

 

This I can quite well imagine.

I had several condo's on Suk, all rented to foreigners, actually all Japanese Ministry of Finance employees over the years.

I never had any clue if they travelled or not. My only interaction was the deposit of their monthly rent and any maintenance issues.

So in todays scenario I would be reliant on them contacting me to tell me their travel plans, but if they didn't, it's my fault coupled with a fine!

That would be more trouble than it's worth

[Yinn]

4 hours ago, White Christmas13 said:

I am not bitter at all I just hate those apologists who blabber on every thing in Thailand is so good

It so good in Thailand. Good country.

 

Why you hate people who like it? Up to them.

[Yinn]

3 hours ago, White Christmas13 said:

No,the women did not make a mug of me we were married for 15 years I lost most of it because

of the way things work in Thailand of course I lost my house and other things because I could not

take it with me, my Thai wife and I moved back to Australia (from borrowed money) and still

lived together for many years we only separated 3 years ago because of minor issues but we 

are still best friends even my Thai nephew stays in my place 2 days a week so I am not bitter

I have a good life on the pension now and still go back to Thailand ones or twice a year

Sad you lose the house.

Not live here, but play thaivisa everyday. I think you miss thailand.

[White Christmas13]

5 minutes ago, Yinn said:

Sad you lose the house.

Not live here, but play thaivisa everyday. I think you miss thailand.

I don't play Thai Visa I read the news and i read important news about TM 30 and so on

and no I don't miss Thailand I am very happy where I live now but I come to visit

Thailand because I have many friends in Thailand one of my friends is Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit - ธนาธร จึงรุ่งเรืองกิจ and my former family which also are still friends and my new lady friend don't get me wrong 

I don't hate Thai people  

[CNXexpat]

8 hours ago, DaRoadrunner said:

I can't understand why they are so paranoid about national security? What's the problem? What is the true purpose of the TM30?

Do you remember the bombs in Bangkok and in the south the last years, the largest REAL  security problem Thailand has? With a strict TM30 report it wouldn´t have happened - oh wait...

[ThomasThBKK]

3 hours ago, 4MyEgo said:

that's all we ask, while we continue to try and track down the illegals, mostly Indians who come here, marry a Thai girl and disappear, then we have the others, so there are a lot of illegals here, we are not after the regulars like yourself, but we need to know where everyone is until we can bring it under control, and those who don't let us know when they return to their province will have to pay a fine of up to 2,000 baht each time, i.e. your wife the landlord in this case, and it's not hard to update us via the app, same with the 90 day renewal, you can do it online, no need to drive all this way to see us, unless you want too ????

 

This seems to be their main excuse, but doesn't make any sense.

 

If an indian marries and he gets a marriage visa, why would he go hiding???

If he doesn't have a legit visa he will go hiding anyway and tm30 won't help them find him ever.

 

Well, i am waiting since nearly 2 months now for online credentials from CW, so there's that...their stuff just doesn't work and is extremely inefficient, i can just report bogus stuff if i want, self reporting makes absolutely no sense...

[Huayrat]

9 hours ago, madmen said:

The cowards that won't sign and living in fear grow a pair and just do it. 

Nope i will just not report when i go away for a break.. simple

[Fex Bluse]

5 hours ago, fusion58 said:

Right, because everybody knows only foreigners commit crimes.

I think that many of the laws that Farang find strange are actually targeting other 3rd world people's like Burmese, Cambodian, Laos, Indian, Chinese, who, like Thais on average, habitually break the laws.

 

But, Farang and other higher quality foreigners like Japanese get caught in the requirements, too, because to Thais we are all just foreigners. 

[Fex Bluse]

4 hours ago, Yinn said:

It so good in Thailand. Good country.

 

Why you hate people who like it? Up to them.

Hi Yinn

 

Do you know about "wumao"?

[gunderhill]

5 hours ago, Yinn said:

It so good in Thailand. Good country.

 

Why you hate people who like it? Up to them.

  Your govt's   indoctrination of  your  country  worked  so  well, starting  at  birth  thru  school and on  , your'e  living  proof ,a  system  that  lies and  suppresses    its people, schools  that  don't  educate  just  indoctrinate,  books  you  cant  read about  Thailand  as  they  banned  them,  so  bad  cant  even  be  discussed.

[faraday]

5 hours ago, Yinn said:

It so good in Thailand. Good country.

 

Why you hate people who like it? Up to them.

They seem to 'hate' people who don't agree with them so they then have an excuse to moan & blame someone for their apparent unhappiness. (long sentence, no punctuation!)

[gunderhill]

4 hours ago, Huayrat said:

Nope i will just not report when i go away for a break.. simple

if  it  ever  gets  to  me  ill  just  pay  the  fine  until  they  make  the  fine ridiculous or just  start  to  blacklist you etc.

[baboon]

15 hours ago, RotBenz8888 said:

I would like to know how many criminals they've caught, because the criminal made a TM30 report. Any at all?

Well, they catch folks who don't report. They can then go upstairs and show how many criminals they are catching while real miscreants carry on regardless.

 

Make criminals out of people who aren't criminals. Looks good on the clear up statistics, requires no effort AND makes a few bucks in the process. It's perfect when you think about it...

[hkt83100]

15 hours ago, taninthai said:

I’m so fed up reading about tm30 on this forum ......I just did mine this morning in and out in 8 minuits ,immigration were happy,smiling,friendly and helpful seriously what is all the fuss about ....moaners will be moaners where ever they are in the world.

Please note that a trip to the immigration might take a few hours one-way for some of the people living here, which is a good reason for the moaning. Not everybody is living just around the corner of the office.

[FarFlungFalang]

2 hours ago, gunderhill said:

  Your govt's   indoctrination of  your  country  worked  so  well, starting  at  birth  thru  school and on  , your'e  living  proof ,a  system  that  lies and  suppresses    its people, schools  that  don't  educate  just  indoctrinate,  books  you  cant  read about  Thailand  as  they  banned  them,  so  bad  cant  even  be  discussed.

This is something that occurs in every country except in the west we call it "education" to make ourselves feel superior to others when in fact we are not superior.

[Estrada]

The TM30 and similar forms were introduced in 1979, following a coup, during the military government of General Kriangsak Chomanan. The purpose of the reporting was to track foreigners as at that time the Military Government were fighting Thai communists, the TM30 form should have been withdrawn in the early 90s after the communists insurgency was ended.  

[petedk]

I’m so fed up reading about tm30 on this forum ......I just did mine this morning in and out in 8 minuits ,immigration were happy,smiling,friendly and helpful seriously what is all the fuss about ....moaners will be moaners where ever they are in the world.

I guess you didn't use Chaeng Wattana. You can spend an hour getting there from Bangkok. Maybe 2 hours wait and an hour back.
That's a little more than 8 minutes.

On top of that is the 4 days a year with 90 day reporting (I do mine by mail) and the one time a year Visa extension where we wait from 8 am to about 4 on every year. Ok I take my laptop and do some work.

Chaeng Wattana is probably the busiest place and it is never a question of a few minutes. You need to allow most of the day.

Anyway, why are you filing TM30? It is the landlord's duty.

Sent from my SM-C710F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[yellowboat]

I try to keep my visits to Thailand around two weeks.  There are other places more welcoming including China and Hong Kong. 

[remobb]

so I go away for the weekend and on Monday I have to take a day off work because the on-line reporting is not working. 

Therefore in future I won't bother going away and stay in a hotel and spend my money. I will stay home and relax, do the gardening or whatever. TAT lose again.

[gunderhill]

19 minutes ago, FarFlungFalang said:

This is something that occurs in every country except in the west we call it "education" to make ourselves feel superior to others when in fact we are not superior.

I can  look at and  read any document in my own country, i can stand up and criticise the govt or monarchy publicly without fear of incarceration.