Do I need to involve my landlord in updating my TM30 after returning to the same address in Thailand?

Jun 12, 2023
a year ago
Elly *******
ORIGINAL POSTER
NEWS on updating TM30 in Chiang Mai -

If you return to Thailand and are living at the same address, you do not need involve your Thai landlord in updating your TM30.

Immigration will simply 'update' /'refresh' your TM30 for you without landlords help.

This was my experience June 2023 and the same for two others with me. You never know when things can change, but just thought to update.
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TLDR : Answer Summary
Recent experiences indicate that if you return to Thailand and are residing at the same address, you may not need your landlord's assistance to update your TM30. Immigration offices might update it on your behalf, according to some users. However, official rules state that you are required to update your TM30 within 24 hours of returning. While some expats report informal leniency at certain immigration offices, it ultimately falls on the individual to ensure compliance. Conflicting experiences and regulations suggest that landlords may not be involved, but this can vary by case.
Brown ********
So you saying you don't need the landlord's book to notify them? My landlords a (un+ and I have to do it myself but be good if I don't need the landlord's stuff
Elly *******
ORIGINAL POSTER
What I found is that because my landlord had already input my data in the immigration TM30 website, i did not need him to do that again and only needed to update my TM30 on my own.
Brown ********
@Elly ******
ok thank you
Klaus ***********
The landlord was NEVER involved in updating your TM30 when you return from abroad. How would a landlord even know if a renter has been traveling abroad and the TM30 has to be updated within 24 hours of return unless the immigration office is closed on that day.

The landlord might not even live in the same city or not even in Thailand.

It is your responsibility as the renter to update the TM30 upon return. Don’t be fooled by people telling you that you do not need to update it when returning from abroad. - You will find out latest when you need an extension or anything else from immigration that you do need the updated TM30.

Two couples we know have recently be given the runaround by immigration when trying to extend their visas because they had not updated their TM30 when they returned from abroad to the same address.
Elly *******
ORIGINAL POSTER
@Klaus **********
"do not need to update it when returning from abroad". - who said not to update it?
John-Paul ******
We still doing the TM 30? When I tried at my immigration office where they have known me for some 13 years... they just laugh and only wanted to know if I have been to that new western restaurant in town... never doing anything regarding a TM30. I asked... but they could care less. I was told that this is mainly for those traveling elsewhere or who are on a visa other than 'O' or A/O' and have not registered an address locally already. But hay, that could just because they know me.
John **********
The policy often changes if the staff changes. Last summer for the first time in 6 years I had to do a TM30 after returning from abroad
Paul *******
@John *********
Fair enough.
Paul *******
@John *********
yet due to huge outrage, they relaxed the policy in 2019 to no longer require what you're saying. Yet last year you were required to. So typically Thai changing the rules due to outrage, but then quietly switching them back when no ones looking.
John **********
@Paul ******
rules are rules. Best to stick to them
Paul *******
@John *********
No, the official rule changed but your office decided to create their own ones. You should have politely asked them why there is a need to do another TM30 when a ruling came out in 2019 negating the need to do another one when returning from abroad.

Does that information disappear from their computers just because someone leaves the country? Sounds quite strange.
John **********
@Paul ******
of course it doesn't disappear. But it's not a hassle to renew for me, so if they want me to that's what I'm going to do
Elly *******
ORIGINAL POSTER
@John *********
totally makes sense!
Henrik ****
@John *********
, in 2019 TM30 and TM28 were strictly enforced. Then in 2020 both were almost entirely lifted again. But who knows whom of the officers who knows 🙂
Jeremy ********
Officially speaking you need to update your TM30 within 24 hours of arriving to your residence….even if its the same residence
Robert **********
@Jeremy *******
they changed that in 2019, that you don’t if you’re returning to the same home, however, some immigration offices, including Bangkok, are enforcing again that you need to keep doing your TM 30s.
Elly *******
ORIGINAL POSTER
@Jeremy *******
that is correct.
Paul *******
@Jeremy *******
That is not what Chiang Mai Immigration told me when I returned to my previous address after a holiday in Australia. And that was official advice.
Dianne *****
@Paul ******
Last August when I retuned to Chiang Mai (to the same address) after being in Australia, I went to immigration the next day and asked whether I needed to update my TM30. The immigration officer I spoke to said Yes, despite me having read many times on facebook that if you are returning to the same address you do not need to. In October I returned to Chiang Mai (to the same address) after being in Laos, I did not report to immigration (I forgot). When I did an extension in December, there was no issue with my TM30 having not been updated in October. Last week when I returned to Chiang Mai, I again went to immigration within 24 hours of my arrival and asked if I needed to update my TM30. I was again told yes. So two official confirmations from Chiang Mai immigration that if you return to Chiang Mai to the same address you still need to update yourTM30 and one situation where a valid TM30 is required yet it did not seem to matter that it had not been updated when I returned to my home address
Elly *******
ORIGINAL POSTER
yes new or at least updated TM30 to apply for a new visa.
Elly *******
ORIGINAL POSTER
@Paul ******
just keep in mind that immigration just told me, more than once, that there was absolutely no need for me to transfer my last visa from my expired passport into my new passport and that I could simply leave Thailand on my old expired passport. i trust no one.
Ni**
@Paul ******
It depends on your visa. If you have SAME retirement, marriage, ED, elite visa etc you registered on first place, there is no need to update. How ever, if you enter with NEW visa or exemption, new TM30 is needed.
Jeremy ********
@Ni**
you need to read the policy
Ni**
@Jeremy *******
What policy?
Jeremy ********
@Ni**
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Henrik ****
@Jeremy *******
, again you show yourself as someone with no clue of how the laws work in Thailand. There are hundreds if not thousands of laws never been enforced. They call it "activated" or "deactivated". Even if a law is adopted by the parliament, it still needs to be activated by the government. And they can also deactivate it (again). For the TM30 this is exactly what has happened over the years: It was activated and then deactivated partly again. The much related TM28 has been almost entirely deactivated.
Jeremy ********
@Henrik ***
you didn’t even read the article but are telling me about being wrong 🤣🤣🤣
Jeremy ********
@Henrik ***
policy is policy
Henrik ****
"The Immigration Bureau has changed the reporting frequency to only when they arrive. They do not need to file the reports again if the guests leave the premises only temporarily and then return, or when..."
Henrik ****
@Jeremy *******
, you have no clue about this also. If you are returning to the same permanent address and the previously filed TM30 is still valid, then you officially dont have to reregister. But tell me if you know who is facing a fine of 10,000 THB and who is only facing a fine of 2,000 THB? I guess you have no clue either...
Jeremy ********
@Henrik ***
read the official Thai immigration policy….
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Jeremy ********
@Henrik ***
you didn’t even read the article 🤣🤣🤣
Henrik ****
@Jeremy *******
, I read that article numerous times. This is an old story for the ones of us staying in Thailand for years.
Jeremy ********
@Henrik ***
the policy is still the policy....report within 24 hours for your TM30
Henrik ****
@Jeremy *******
, what you don't understand here, is that you still have to report within 24 hours when you first time come to your home/address. On the TM30 the landlord has to state how long you are gonna stay with him. As long as the reported validity period has not expired, your landlord does not have to rereport if you leave and return for short trips in the country or out of the country. To make it truly complicated a number of visa extensions will include an update to the validity period of the TM30 even though the form is not named TM30. To make it totally confusing, the different Immigration offices have their own ideas about this area also as if they don't know or don't care about the official policy from the Immigration Bureau.
Jeremy ********
@Henrik ***
yes read your opening words...You stated "that you still have to report within 24 hours"
Henrik ****
@Jeremy *******
, but ONLY when you arrive the very first time, ok? I arrived at my house in 2007. At that time no one cared about TM30. Some years later Immigration asked me to get the TM30 done. This is more than 4 years ago now.
Jeremy ********
@Henrik ***
you wrote " that you still have to report within 24 hours" now youre trying to cover your tracks
Henrik ****
@Jeremy *******
, no, you are not reading what I keep saying. Please try to read it again. I am very consistent on this.
Jeremy ********
@Henrik ***
that you still have to report within 24 hours"
Henrik ****
@Jeremy *******
, ONLY THE F......... FIRST TIME you arrive to your permanent address. Why is this so hard to understand?
Jeremy ********
@Henrik ***
you wrote that you still have to report within 24 hours"
Henrik ****
@Jeremy *******
, I wrote it again and again that you have to report the ONLY F...... FIRST TIME, but you seem totally out of reach.
Jeremy ********
@Henrik ***
you wrote that you still have to report within 24 hours"
Henrik ****
@Jeremy *******
, yes, the first time you arrive. Dont you understand the difference between arriving for the first and arriving for the second, third, etc. time?
Jeremy ********
@Henrik ***
you wrote that you still have to report within 24 hours"
Henrik ****
@Jeremy *******
,
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Jeremy ********
@Henrik ***
you wrote "that you still have to report within 24 hours" but now you are trying to correct yourself after telling the truth on the TM30
Henrik ****
@Jeremy *******
, please see the John Cleese video. He explains very perfect what is your problem.
Jeremy ********
@Henrik ***
nope im correct and you're in the wrong
Henrik ****
@Jeremy *******
, cant you read English?
Jeremy ********
@Henrik ***
you have amnesia over what you write... "that you still have to report within 24 hours"
Henrik ****
@Jeremy *******
, please dont be so stupid. This is not charming. You perfectly know that the sentence continued.
Jeremy ********
@Henrik ***
you wrote "that you still have to report within 24 hours"
Henrik ****
@Jeremy *******
, why are you pretending so heavily to have a brain like an insect?
Jeremy ********
@Henrik ***
why are you having amnesia over what you wrote... that you still have to report within 24 hours"
Henrik ****
@Jeremy *******
, bc you cut the sentence in the middle - and you know that perfectly.
Jeremy ********
@Henrik ***
you purposely put this in the opening of you sentence "that you still have to report within 24 hours" because subconsciously you know its the correct answer
Henrik ****
@Jeremy *******
, goodbye. You are a true troll.
Henrik ****
@Jeremy *******
, and you purposely are playing too stupid to read the full sentence.
Henrik ****
@Jeremy *******
, again you have no clue about how the laws work in Thailand. You think it is the same as Europe or the US, but it is not. You are NOT referring to the policy but to the law. But the govt. activates or deactivates the rules as they please. Many times it makes it confusing to find out what is actually the policy. It is so confusing that even the different Immigration offices do not agree on the policy, exactly how ppl are telling you here from their own experiences. The official policy will many times only be available by statements from the Immigration Bureau to the newspapers.
Jeremy ********
@Henrik ***
you keep talking to me as if I know nothing...but you are the one that does not what you are talking about
Jeremy ********
@Paul ******
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Read it
Duncan *******
@Jeremy *******
If you want to talk about policies, it changed in 2020 - see the link below. While noting that not all immigration offices do this, Chiang Mai Immigration does - at CM Immigration, you don't need to file a new TM30 when you've been out of the country and are returning to the same address, as long as it's not a new visa.

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48/tm30-reporting-rule-on-foreigners-eased
Jeremy ********
@Duncan ******
you don’t even comprehend the article you sent. Now I believe you didn’t even read it… quote from your article “Landlords are still required to report the arrivals of tenants within 24 hours or face a fine up to ฿10,000”
Duncan *******
@Jeremy *******
The first arrival, not returning. Which part of this is hard for you to understand? Directly from the article - "The Immigration Bureau has changed the reporting frequency to only when they arrive. They do not need to file the reports again if the guests leave the premises only temporarily and then return, or when they have multiple-entry visas or re-entry permits."

And there are now multiple people, myself included, who have done this and confirmed with CM Immigration that this is case.
Jeremy ********
@Duncan ******
the article says otherwise…read it 5 times to understand it
Duncan *******
The first time a person turns up at an address, TM30 has to be filed. But if the person has gone away for a few days or week on holiday and comes back, they're not arriving; they're returning. It's written in plain English "They do not need to file the reports again if the guests leave the premises only temporarily and then return."
Jeremy ********
@Duncan ******
your article not mine
Jeremy ********
@Duncan ******
the article says a ฿10,000 Baht fine if not updated upon arrival….
Duncan *******
@Jeremy *******
when they first arrive, not when they already have a TM30 at the address and have gone away and returned. If someone has temporarily left the address and comes back, they are not arriving, they are returning -the article is as clear as day. And again, this has been confirmed directly with CM Immigration itself.
Duncan *******
@Jeremy *******
I've quoted the article. The first arrival has to filed and then doesn't have to be done again if returning. It's not only written in English; it's a confirmed fact. If you actually live in Chiang Mai, go ask CM Immigration. I have - still got the same TM30 I filed in 2019 and have been out of the country and returned in that time since they changed the rules in 2020.
Jeremy ********
@Duncan ******
quote from article yhst you obviously are not reading or comprehending…. “Landlords are still required to report the arrivals of tenants within 24 hours or face a fine up to 10,000 baht.”
Henrik ****
Each Immigration their rules. But according to more or less official statements returning to the same permanent address doesn't even take an update of the TM30:
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