The confirmation follows a foreigner posting online on Thursday (Jan 2) that a friend in Maha Sarakham province had presented himself to his local immigration office there to file a required report, but being told that the reporting requirement under the TM30 provision no longer applied throughout the country.
“He was told all reporting requirements connected to TM30 are canceled. No more reporting of a return after leaving your home province,” the post said.
Of note, many expats quickly advised fellow expats to check with their local immigration office to confirm whether other Immigration offices had the same understanding. (See post here.)
To this, Lt Col Udom Thongchin, Deputy Chief of the Phuket Immigration Office, told The Phuket News yesterday (Jan 3) that his office has received no instructions not waive any of the reporting requirements.
“TM30 has not been canceled. It is still active. In fact, all the TM30 and TM28 forms are still active. There have not been any changes,” Lt Col Udom said.
Regarding the case report by the foreigner in Maha Sarakham province, Lt Col Udom said, “I have no idea why some immigration officials might say that.”
Lt Col Udom repeated the explanation that the TM30 is the form for landlords to report to Immigration within 24 hours of the arrival of any foreign tenants, as required under Section 38 of the Thailand Immigration Act of 1979.
The TM28 form is for foreigners to report themselves to Immigration after staying away from their registered address for more than 24 hours, as required under Section 37 (c) of the same act.
Lt Col Udom also repeated confirmation that the TM30 is the property owner’s responsibility, whether the home owner is a Thai or a foreigner.
“Wherever foreigners go, the property owner must file the TM30 report to Immigration. Clearly, the foreigners who are occupant and tenant [of the property] do not need to file the TM30. They just need to make sure that they fill in a TM28. The TM30 is the landlord’s duty,” he said.
“I understand that this process is confusing. The Immigration Bureau Chief has held meetings to discuss this issue, but so far there have been no updates – but we expect there will be a solution soon,” Lt Col Udom said.