Expats
Thailand keeping track of foreigners – the TM30 reporting form

The TM30 reporting procedure is a Thai immigration requirement. The form is designed to assist keeping track of foreigners – tourists and expats – whilst in Thailand. It must be completed by the owner or landlord to report the stay of guests within 24 hours of their arrival.
As with many things in Thailand the enforcement will not be uniformly applied and some people may get away without reporting, maybe for years. But if Immigration do check, and you haven’t been doing the required reporting, then fines and other immigration problems will follow.
We’ve tried to simplify the TM30 to these main points.
If you’re staying at a hotel, the hotel will do the registration for you after you’ve checked in. But it also applies to the following…
- If you own and live in a home in Thailand
- If you’re staying with a Thai friend
- If you’re staying a property that isn’t properly licensed
The TM30 form is designed to report foreigners locations during their short or long-term stay in Thailand. If you are staying in a condo or apartment block, the owner must register your stay.
The rationale from the Thai government is that the TM30 provides a way to monitor the ‘goodies’ but also the ‘baddies’, in the hope of deterring foreign criminals to choose Thailand as a place to hide out.
The law governing the TM30 form was introduced a long time with the Hotel Act of 2005, but has since expanded beyond hotels to cover landlords owning property or apartments that are not classified as hotels. Authorities believed this was necessary to include the rental of condos and other unlicensed premises rented out to paying guests, such as room-sharing apps like AirBnB. The rules also apply to Thais hosting foreigners.
The report must be completed by hotels, serviced apartments or by landlords of private properties. It is the landlord’s responsibility to submit the TM30.
If you are staying in a friend’s house, your friend still needs to submit the TM30 form. The same applies to a foreigner married to a Thai and carries a Thai visa.
If you’re an expat living permanently in Thailand and travel to other places within the country – any other address other than your usual home address – you need to inform immigration once you’ve returned.
This is what you need to fill in a TM30…
- Copy of your departure card
- Copy of your passport photo page
- Copy of your most recent visa stamp page
The landlord or reporting person needs…
- Copy of the title deed to their property
- Copy of the rental contract
The TM30 is not the same as 90 day reporting.
Online registration is available HERE, when it’s working. You need to register a username and password then you just login whenever you need to. The fine for not reporting is 1,600 Baht per person.
To protect yourself, as a tenant or guest, you should ask your landlord or accommodation owner if you have already been registered.
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Thailand
Foreigners advised to do 90 day reports by mail while Thai Immigration system is down

While the Thai Immigration’s online system for 90 day reporting is down (it’s been down for many of our readers who have been trying to do their 90 day reports for over 3 months), foreigners living in Thailand still need to report their address every 3 months.
Deputy spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Natapanu Nopakun says there are 2 other ways… either by mail or in-person. With the ongoing Covid-19 situation, Natapanu advises foreigners do their 90 day report by mail.
“The recommendation is that foreign nationals who have to report their residence every 3 months to immigration should do this by post… by writing a letter to confirm and report their residence every 3 months.”
Natapanu says the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration agreed on the recommendation at a recent meeting. He says more information about 90 day reporting will be announced soon.
SOURCE: CCSA
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Expats
Khon Kaen University terminates well-known American scholar after he allegedly participates in decentralisation workshop

Khon Kaen University’s famous American scholar, David Eirich Streckfuss, is now without a work permit after his participation in a workshop that partially involved decentralisation. The university terminated his work permit after immigration police paid him a vist, in what they say, was a routine interview for visa extensions.
Streckfuss is an independent academic who oversees the Council on International Educational Exchange Khon Kaen programme at the university, which was founded in 1994. He also founded The Isaan Record during his 30 years spent in the Kingdom.
Prachatai, released the termination letter that featured the KKU Faculty of Public Health citing an “inability to perform assigned duties” as the reason for ending his contract as project director before its August 15 renewal date. Streckfuss’ contract at the Faculty of Public Health from 15 August 2020 to 15 August 2021, was cancelled on 19 March 2021, according to the university’s announcement.
The decision reportedly came after police visited the University President and Faculty Dean, after Streckfuss participated in a workshop which partly involved decentralisation. Since the cancellation of his work permit, Streckfuss has been on a 30 day visa which will expire next Monday. Now, he is working on getting a work permit with the Buffalo Birds Production Co., a company that produces documentaries and organises events where he is currently working as a coordinator. The company is a registerd company of The Isaan Record, in which he founded.
Prachatai indicated that The Isaan Record is also trying to secure a work permit for Streckfuss, as he says this is the first time that his work permit has been cancelled in this manner. He says Immigration police came to interview him and Khon Kaen University for the 3rd time on 16 April. But the Immigration Division Commander says the interview is just a standard procedure to be carried out when foreigners submit an application for a visa extension.
Streckfuss has written for the Bangkok Post and he has also been published in The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. He is also the author of Truth on Trial in Thailand: Defamation, Treason, and Lèse-Majesté, published by Routledge Press, in 2011. Streckfuss has a PhD in Southeast Asian history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
SOURCE: Chiang Rai Times
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Expats
Thailand looks at proposal to make it easier for expats and long-termers

Thailand is looking to make it easier for expats and long-term visa holders to stay in the country. The Immigration Bureau is hoping to boost investments and the economy once the pandemic is over. The proposed changes could do away with 90 day reporting requirements which have been well-received by expats.
Recently, the online website to report 90 day check-ins has been down, citing maintenance issues. Hotel staff have also been dealing with the TM-30 reporting system being down. Chayotid Kridakorn, a former head of JP Morgan Securities Thailand, told the Bangkok Post that immigration hoops are a key pain point for foreigners working in Thailand.
“We want to make it easier for foreigners to live and work in Thailand.”
Meanwhile, plans to help Thailand recover economically have been detailed in a framework to be proposed to the government’s economic panel in the next month. Improvements to immigration regulations, work permits for foreign experts, and visa applications are on the framework list. Relaxing location reporting requirements for foreign workers which is done through the 90 day reporting, is also slated to be amended.
The framework also will include inducements for foreign investors such as corporate income-tax cuts, relaxed property-holding rules and incentives for retirees and start-up companies. An adviser to Thailand’s Deputy PM, says he aims to bring in 1 million retirees or pensioners over the next few years. He says expats could collectively contribute as much as 1.2 trillion baht to the economy each year. But Thailand’s gross domestic product growth won’t return to pre-Covid levels until the 3rd quarter of 2022, according to the Bank of Thailand.
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