@Pat ********

I doubt that you are on any real "tourist visa". You seem to have entered visa-exempt. You are on a stay permit, not on a visa. And the times when one could do consecutive visa-exempt entries one after another, have definitely come to an end. If you spent a few of the mentioned 6 months on visa exempt stay permits, you will probably be denied the next attempt for another visa-exempt entry. So beware and have a Plan B in your pocket

@Ralph ******

actually, there is a video from Thai Immigration explaining to Thai landlords their duty to report the foreigner

@Lynnette ******

correct, but for the opening of the two bank accounts, each of them needs a certificate of residence from Immigration. The clock is running, as the 12-months extension can only be applied for if the deposit has sat in the accounts for 2 months. That can bring them into crosshairs, as some Immigrations don't issue a certificate of residence before you haven't made your first 90-days report . . . .the typical CATCH22 situation . . . . . . . . . . Better use an agent for the bank account opening to avoid running around from bank to bank. After this is settled, they can do the rest by themselves without an agent

@Richard ********

I wish ya Good Luck in all your enterprises! You will definitely need it 😶

With a word of thanks to moderator and admin Brandon Thurkettle. This advice is an older one by him, about the same topic. I hope he will allow me to repost it - I have however altered the text a little bit 🙂

“The process and rules are very clear.

At the time you apply for your extension, you must be able to show 12 months of at least 65,000 continuously month per month of international transfers into your bank account, coded as coming in from abroad.

If you miss it by even one day in a month, for example you made the transfer on the 30th but it didn't clear until the 1st of the next month, your extension would be denied because you failed to meet the requirements.

The only thing that varies with immigration offices can be that some will require the 65,000 to be in a single transfer each month, and not a combination of transfers throughout the month.

Some immigration offices have also started asking for proof of the income, such as proof of the pension payments or something along those lines.

You ALSO must have met the requirements for the previous year's extension, when you used the deposit method as proof of finances. Those requirements are that you keep your bank account at 800,000 baht for 3 months after you received the extension stamp, and then never let your bank account drop below 400,000 the rest of the year.

Immigration will check your 12 months of bank statements to make sure those rules were met as well. If you failed to meet those requirements, your extension will be denied.

For those who apply for the 1-year extension of stay permit based on being married to a Thai wife, and show the required 12-months monthly international transfers of a minimum of 40,000 THB:

If you meet all the requirements and get your extension, you can then withdraw the 400,000 if you used the deposit method for the first year extension based on being married to a Thai wife, and use it as you wish and you'll need to continue the monthly transfers of at least 40,000 THB every month."

month for month, every month, for a minimum of 12 months. And prove it with a bank statement over a full year (the document could take 1-2 weeks to get issued). And the money transfers have to show (be coded) in the bankbook as having come from abroad

Richard Spencer . . .this could get hairy . . . . most embassies have discontinued issuing a "trailing spouse" Non-Imm-O Visa, so you will most probably need to apply for the "retirement visa" and the subsequent extension each one by yourself, and supply the financial requirements each by yourself, too. . . . . . . In case you don't have the required funds of 2 x 800,000 THB and need an agent to get you through the process of opening a bank account for both of you (!), getting the 90-days Non-Imm-O Retirement visa for both of you (!) and getting the 12-months extension of the stay permit based on retirement for you - then you should be prepared to pay an agent a minimum of 55,000 THB, each of you. That's the price a well known visa agent in Bangkok is asking for. It could even be higher in Hua Hin .. . . . . . . . IF you have the required funds, then do everything by yourself, you don't need the agent. But make sure you arrive - both of you - on a 90-days Non-Imm-O Retirement Visa. Only on this visa type, you can get a Thai bank account opened.

Actually, if you have submitted the TDAC and received the confirmation email before your flight, you will most probably not be asked anything by the Immigration officer. When theys can your passport, they can see on their monitor that you had submitted a TDAC, so in order to speed the entry process, they won't ask you to show it

@Brittaney ***********

the proof of cash rarely gets asked, but it can get asked. . . it depends on your appearnce and the mood of the officer you are standing in front of

@Salma *******

What’s it all about?

The TM30 and its underlying laws are about the obligation of a landlord (or house master, possessor, manager) to report the stay of any foreigner (non-Thai national) in his/her property. All foreigners staying in Thailand and their hosts should be very well aware of this.

The law with regard to the TM30 and the obligation to report a foreigner’s stay have been in place for a long time, but the government has started to enforce it more strictly lately, and changed some of the procedures with regards to your 90-days reporting and extension of visa.

IF YOU’RE RENTING, CHECK IF YOUR LANDLORD HAS REPORTED YOUR STAY

What is the purpose of the (new) regulations?

Basically, with the TM30 form, the government aims to know exactly where each foreigner is staying all the time. Every host, no matter Thai or foreigner, has the obligation to report the stay of a foreigner within 24 hours.

If the reporting is not done within the 24 hours period immigration can fine the landlord if just one day late or when some documents are not complete.

Who should act?

Officially and practically, the responsibility to report the stay of a foreigner rests with the host: the landlord of a property, the hotel or the service apartment. Untimely reporting of a foreigner can be penalized.

However, if you are the guest or tenant, you can’t ignore TM30 either: Most of the time the registration is needed when going to the Immigration office for a service, such as the 90-day reporting and sometimes for stay permit extensions.

It still depends on the officer in charge that you’re facing, but at such moment that you may find out that your landlord did not report your stay and you will have to explain where you stayed all that time. There is also a risk that you as a tenant (or guest) may be fined instead of the landlord.

How to report?

As a foreigner staying in Thailand, you should prepare:

(a) a copy of your passport (photo page)

(b) a copy of the visa page in your passport

(c) a copy of the departure card

The landlord should prepare:

(a) a copy of the title deed of the property

(b) a copy of the rental contract

(c) a copy of the Landlord ID card

The landlord can outsource the reporting to somebody else, (the foreigner for example) a letter (Power Of Attorney) is then required to authorize this person to do the reporting (TM30) on behalf of landlord with stamps from the tax office attached on this letter. Power Of Attorney letter to authorize another person performing the address registration.

Official stamps from the tax authority office that needs to be affixed to letter from landlord giving authority to another person. The tax stamps can be bought at the Revenue Offices

Then, your landlord or property manager or yourself should report in either of these ways:

1. Most common is to go to the Immigration Office and fill out the TM30 form there. (if there isn’t an immigration office in your area, you have to report to the Police Office.)

2. The landlord can also register online on (but the Landlord needs to setup an online account with immigration first in able to perform the online address registration)

After registration, the landlord (or foreigner) will get a stamped return slip that the tenant (guest) should put in his passport and use it when going to Immigration for a service.

For long term residents on long term visa or extensions: The address registration has to be done at your first entry into Thailand or when moving permanently to a new address.

The official law is that for tourist without long term visas or extensions, even without leaving the country (so with the same departure card number), a foreigner still has to be reported every time that he/she changes to a new place.

The owner of that place has to report the foreigner, even if it’s just for 1 day.

So if you’re making a trip out in the countryside for the weekend and you’re staying in a guesthouse there, your stay for that weekend will be reported, and once you return to your primary place, you’ve got to be reported again.

There are some Immigration Offices that will skip this rule that you have to report again, when you return to the same place as before.

You need to ask your Immigration how they handle the rule. Only after you asked them, you will know what to do properly.

***If you own your own property (for example a condo), that does not acquit you of the obligation to report yourself.

***If you have a yellow house book (tabian baan) or co-own a house, this does not acquit you of the obligation to report yourself.

In principle, the prime responsibility of reporting a foreigner rests with the property owner, not with the tenant or traveler or with the agent or property manager, but all could experience trouble when the papers are not in good order.

Each individual foreigner needs to be reported, not just the head of a family or one person in a group of travelers.