Can TM30 be done at local police station?

[3421abc]

a friend of mine flew in from Vietnam last night, he lives in Thong Lo (Bangkok).Does he have to go to Chaeng Wattana to do the TM30 or can he do at the local police station in Thong Lo? Landlord will not file a TM30.

 

[ubonjoe]

If he was able to do the TM30 report at a police station I am not sure Chaeng Wattana immigration will accept the TM30 receipt done by a police station for proof it was done.

[Mavideol]

last month my in laws came for a visit and we decided to visit the local tourist police office to file TM30 they told us to get lost.... we than moved to the nearby traffic police station and show them the law, they said not available here, go to IMO office, we did and once there we explained the previous visits to the local police's and they shook their heads... hope the answer helped

[ubonjoe]

14 minutes ago, Mavideol said:

last month my in laws came for a visit and we decided to visit the local tourist police office to file TM30 they told us to get lost.... we than moved to the nearby traffic police station and show them the law, they said not available here, go to IMO office, we did and once there we explained the previous visits to the local police's and they shook their heads... hope the answer helped

Not sure what "law" you showed them. This is what section 38 of the immigration act states.

"If there is no Immigration Office located in that area , the local police official for that area must be notified.
In case the house , dwelling place , or hotel where the alien has stayed under provision of Para.1
is located within the Bangkok area , such notification must be reported to the competent official at the
Immigration Division."

Area is now defined as the province where you are doing the TM30 report.

[MJKT2014]

45 minutes ago, 3421abc said:

a friend of mine flew in from Vietnam last night, he lives in Thong Lo (Bangkok).

Does your friend have to go to immigration for anything before he/she leaves Thailand again? If not no need I wouldn't do a TM30. If yes, then I always just stick one in the post at Thonglor and keep a registered post receipt. I live in Tonglo as well and the trip to CW is ridiculous for this.

[mtls2005]

We often see brochures, cartoons, powerpoint slides from Thai Imm. which mention that, in areas where there is no immigration office - whatever that might mean, maybe at the provincial level? - that TM30 filings can be made at a police station.

 

That said, Thong Lor 5O, after making you take a drug/urine test, and after they stopped laughing, would probably refer you to CW.

 

 

[ubonjoe]

4 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

We often see brochures, cartoons, powerpoint slides from Thai Imm. which mention that, in areas where there is no immigration office - whatever that might mean, maybe at the provincial level? - that TM30 filings can be made at a police station.

Probably the usual mix up by immigration in some of the information they produce between section 37 and section 38. A a TM28 form for section 37 can be done at a police station.

[mtls2005]

 India-Thai Chamber of Commerce, last week...

 

This is not the first TM30-related nugget I;ve seen which mentions reporting to a police station.

 

Might they be conflating sec 37 and 38 and tm28 and tm30? Sure, keeps everyone suitably confused.

[Mavideol]

47 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

Not sure what "law" you showed them. This is what section 38 of the immigration act states.

"If there is no Immigration Office located in that area , the local police official for that area must be notified.
In case the house , dwelling place , or hotel where the alien has stayed under provision of Para.1
is located within the Bangkok area , such notification must be reported to the competent official at the
Immigration Division."

Area is now defined as the province where you are doing the TM30 report.

Southern Thailand Surat Thani area with police station and the law I was referring to and that I show to them is section 37 & 38... my apologies if it was misleading

Edited August 15, 2019 by Mavideol

[jackdd]

3 minutes ago, Mavideol said:

Southern Thailand Surat Thani area with police station and the law I was referring to and that I show to them is section 37 & 38... my apologies if it was misleading

Section 37 is about TM27, TM28 and TM47

Section 38 is about TM30

Only TM28 can be submitted at a police station, all other forms have to be submitted at immigration police (unless the province would not have an immigration office). Each form states where it can be submitted

So it's not really surprising that your local police station would not accept the TM30 which says on the form itself that it has to be submitted at immigration police.

[3421abc]

I can't imagine the hassle of having to go to Chaeng Wattana the morning after you arrive on a 15 hour flight from the US. He decided to just pay the fine when he extends his retirement visa. This is just too much of a hassle.

[Mavideol]

1 hour ago, jackdd said:

Section 37 is about TM27, TM28 and TM47

Section 38 is about TM30

Only TM28 can be submitted at a police station, all other forms have to be submitted at immigration police (unless the province would not have an immigration office). Each form states where it can be submitted

So it's not really surprising that your local police station would not accept the TM30 which says on the form itself that it has to be submitted at immigration police.

you didn't read my post correctly.... we try to file a TM30 and they refuse, thus I showed them the "law" with section(s) 37 and 38

[jackdd]

5 minutes ago, Mavideol said:

you didn't read my post correctly.... we try to file a TM30 and they refuse, thus I showed them the "law" with section(s) 37 and 38

I read your post, and explained to you that you have to file a TM30 at immigration police, this is what the law and the form itself says.

You showed them the law relating to form TM28, which has nothing to do with form TM30 which you tried to submit.

So of course the tourist / traffic police station did not accept the TM30 from you, this is not their job.

[rumak]

11 minutes ago, jackdd said:

I read your post, and explained to you that you have to file a TM30 at immigration police, this is what the law and the form itself says.

You showed them the law relating to form TM28, which has nothing to do with form TM30 which you tried to submit.

So of course the tourist / traffic police station did not accept the TM30 from you, this is not their job.

Crossy's famous quote:     I can explain it to you,  but I can't understand it for you   ????

[Mavideol]

38 minutes ago, jackdd said:

I read your post, and explained to you that you have to file a TM30 at immigration police, this is what the law and the form itself says.

You showed them the law relating to form TM28, which has nothing to do with form TM30 which you tried to submit.

So of course the tourist / traffic police station did not accept the TM30 from you, this is not their job.

let's try one more time ...... we try to file a TM30 and they refuse, thus I showed ..... did you get it this time 555

[ThomasThBKK]

3 minutes ago, Mavideol said:

let's try one more time ...... we try to file a TM30 and they refuse, thus I showed ..... did you get it this time 555

yes but the law says you can't .... only if there's no immigration office in your province, no wonder they told you off...

[Mavideol]

3 minutes ago, ThomasThBKK said:

yes but the law says you can't .... only if there's no immigration office in your province, no wonder they told you off...

thks, now I know it

[jackdd]

4 minutes ago, Mavideol said:

let's try one more time ...... we try to file a TM30 and they refuse, thus I showed ..... did you get it this time 555

What you say just doesn't make sense.

The refuse to accept your TM30... then you show them the law which confirms that they are right and you are wrong (processing a TM30 is not their job), even though you knew that you are wrong? What would be the point in showing them the law? Obviously they knew it already.

[carlyai]

I do mine at the local police station. Wifey has all the forms filled in and the copy from the station's daily activity book, that she keeps, so they know how it was filled in last time.

This is a small regional station in Isaan.

Sent from my SM-J700F using Tapatalk

[Mavideol]

8 minutes ago, ThomasThBKK said:

yes but the law says you can't .... only if there's no immigration office in your province, no wonder they told you off...

the IMO office is 50+ Kms away, round trip 100+ kms

[MartinL]

2 hours ago, carlyai said:

I do mine at the local police station. Wifey has all the forms filled in and the copy from the station's daily activity book, that she keeps, so they know how it was filled in last time.

This is a small regional station in Isaan.

Sent from my SM-J700F using Tapatalk
 

Pretty much the same here. Also in Isaan.

 

I ALWAYS do my initial TM30 report within 24 hours at the local police station- last time was March this year. Then, at some time in the future, I take the receipt along to Khon Kaen Immigration and they issue their own TM30 receipt dated the day of the visit.

 

Immigration is 70+ km away, police station 300 m.

 

Never a problem and I hope that continues - although we're registered for online TM30 reporting now so, assuming that works, will be reporting via that route in future. 

 

EDIT - downloaded a TM30 form from the Immigration website 10 minutes ago and it still says "To Immigration Officer or Local Police Officer".

Edited August 15, 2019 by MartinL

[bluesofa]

6 hours ago, Mavideol said:

last month my in laws came for a visit and we decided to visit the local tourist police office to file TM30 they told us to get lost.... we than moved to the nearby traffic police station and show them the law, they said not available here, go to IMO office, we did and once there we explained the previous visits to the local police's and they shook their heads... hope the answer helped

Perhaps if you called the Immigration hotline and then asked them to speak directly to the local police officer?

Yes, I know you might end up digging a hole for yourself, but it must be worth considering?

 

 

[jackdd]

28 minutes ago, MartinL said:

EDIT - downloaded a TM30 form from the Immigration website 10 minutes ago and it still says "To Immigration Officer or Local Police Officer".

If you look a bit further down on the TM30 form you will find: Must notify the local immigration office, if there is no immigration office located in that area the local police official must be notified.

The interpretation of "area" is province. So if your province has an immigration office, according to the form, you have to submit it there. Of course you can be lucky and the local police station accepts your TM30, and your immigration office accepts this as a valid TM30, but this will apply to very few people here.

[bluesofa]

9 minutes ago, jackdd said:

If you look a bit further down on the TM30 form you will find: Must notify the local immigration office, if there is no immigration office located in that area the local police official must be notified.

The interpretation of "area" is province. So if your province has an immigration office, according to the form, you have to submit it there. Of course you can be lucky and the local police station accepts your TM30, and your immigration office accepts this as a valid TM30, but this will apply to very few people here.

Just to be pedantic: How do you do area = province? Is that listed somewhere else?

Not that I would know, but are they many provinces without an immigration office?

[jackdd]

2 minutes ago, bluesofa said:

Just to be pedantic: How do you do area = province? Is that listed somewhere else?

I've asked different IOs at different offices, they always explained to me area = province. Also i've seen reports from other people here on Thaivisa who were told the same.

Maybe it's written down somewhere, but i never saw an official document regarding this, but area = province seems to be a common interpretation.

Ask your local immigration office and let us know what they tell you.

 

It might happen that a local police station accepts the TM30, because maybe they might think area = district or whatever sounds reasonable to them. But it could still happen that you get fined for a missing TM30 the next time when you are at the immigration office, because the IO might say: "area means province, so you had to do the TM30 here with us, the TM30 at the police station is not valid"

 

For anybody staying in Bangkok the form is clear anyway, the only valid place to submit a TM30 is at the immigration division.

[bluesofa]

18 minutes ago, jackdd said:

I've asked different IOs at different offices, they always explained to me area = province. Also i've seen reports from other people here on Thaivisa who were told the same.

Maybe it's written down somewhere, but i never saw an official document regarding this, but area = province seems to be a common interpretation.

Ask your local immigration office and let us know what they tell you.

 

It might happen that a local police station accepts the TM30, because maybe they might think area = district or whatever sounds reasonable to them. But it could still happen that you get fined for a missing TM30 the next time when you are at the immigration office, because the IO might say: "area means province, so you had to do the TM30 here with us, the TM30 at the police station is not valid"

 

For anybody staying in Bangkok the form is clear anyway, the only valid place to submit a TM30 is at the immigration division.

Thanks for the clarifying area=province.

 

On TM30 itself:

3. ในตางจังหวัดใหแจงตอดานตรวจคนเขาเมืองที่ตั้งอยูหากไมมีใหแจงตอเจาพนักงานตํารวจทองท
MUST NOTIFY THE LOCAL IMMIGRATION OFFICE IF THERE IS NO IMMIGRATION
OFFICE LICATED IN THAT AREA THE LOCAL POLICE OFFICIAN MUST BE NOTIFIED

 

Although my translation from Thai>English is nowhere near perfect, even after having asked my wife about it's meaning, she seems to thing it's not 100% clear about what it does mean. So no surprise there (even allowing for the Engrish 'licated' and 'offician').

 

Googling so far doesn't seem to tell me if there are any/many provinces without an immigration office. The immigration website isn't clear either - to me anyway.

 

Pretty pointless asking my local immigration office, as we're only 7km from them. Asking a hypothetical question would be like pushing string uphill.

 

[Suradit69]

11 hours ago, bluesofa said:

Pretty pointless asking my local immigration office, as we're only 7km from them. Asking a hypothetical question would be like pushing string uphill.

 

It couldn't be much worse than trying to explain something to some farang in this thread who have to have it repeated to them over and over before it sinks in.

Edited August 16, 2019 by Suradit69

[CMNightRider]

I would avoid going to any of the Thai police stations to file a TM30.  These people are even more incompetent than the immigration offices. ????

[Srikcir]

20 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

If he was able to do the TM30 report at a police station I am not sure Chaeng Wattana immigration will accept the TM30 receipt done by a police station for proof it was done.

No, they won't as of my visit on August 7^th.

My province is Bangkok with IO located in the Chaeng Watthana Government Complex 50km from my residence. My planned report time for IO queue was fixed due to a two-month advanced one-night hotel booking near CWGC. Although I had mailed to CWGC my TM30 for certification in advance, after 5 weeks I had no response prior to my trip.

So when I did report to IO I presented the local (2km from my residence) police certification as a backup. I did show the IO my EMS indicating Immigration receipt of my TM30. I had with me documentation that would prove my residence location even  including mail from CWGC to my residence for my next 90-day report deadline.

 

The IO rejected the police certification, being very empathetic that Immigration is not the same as Police - "We are separate!" In response to my question as to why I didn't receive IO certification from my mailed in form, she said it was probably because I failed to include proper documentation.

So I had to belatedly queue at the TM30 desk and 2 hours later I had my Immigration certification, albeit IO used my police certification form by deleting the police certification and took all my  residential documentation. Returned to first IO without queue and quickly got my extension. The irony is that the day after I returned home, I got in the mail my originally mailed IO certification approved by CWGC without any documentation submitted with the mailed in certification request - likely because IO matched my address from CWGC my 90-day report receipts. Same could have been done during my visit to the CWGC.

 

As a matter of consistency, Immigration (ie., through the Minister of Foreign Affairs) must inform the Police Commissioner not to have any police station certify the TM30 if there is an Immigration office in the province. No exceptions.

Might also require police to add a statement otherwise on their certification that there is no Immigration office in their province. If police don't comply or are untrained with Immigration laws and rules, they should be held accountable. 

 

[Mavideol]

15 hours ago, bluesofa said:

Perhaps if you called the Immigration hotline and then asked them to speak directly to the local police officer?

Yes, I know you might end up digging a hole for yourself, but it must be worth considering?

 

 

one time deal, not worth the crap I would get