Retirement Planning: More Hurdles to a Relaxed Retirement in Thailand

Filing the TM30 and TM28 Forms; Reporting Week-end Travel

So, after spending the summer reading about Ecuador, I had decided to continue to explore Thailand as a retirement destination. Ecuador looks perfectly fine, but I am not ready to leave Asia. Even so, I may need to explore other destinations. Glad I have a year to figure it out.

In the past few months, Thai Immigration has begun strictly enforcing a 1970s-era law allowing them to closely track the movement of "foreigners." The law was passed at a time when Thailand saw an influx of 600,000 refugees. One news article explained:

When the 1979 law was enacted, Thailand had well under 2 million tourist arrivals annually, but was experiencing major influxes of refugees from Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. This followed the fall of Indochina to communist forces in mid-1975, and the invasion of Cambodia by Vietnam at the end of 1978.

Today, immigration control is a much changed proposition. Forecasts for legal arrivals in 2019 exceed 39 million, including an expected 11 million from China and 2 million from India.

The law requires landlords and hotels to report, using the TM 30 form, the presence of a foreigner within 24 hours. Until recently, only hotels were required to report. Now, even owners (and perhaps renter/"possessors") of a second home and condo must report their own arrival back home to their primary residence if the two homes are located in different provinces.

If you leave for even a week-end, the landlord has to report your return. For landlords with many tenants, this becomes a reporting burden. If the landlord fails to report, the foreigner ends up paying the landlord's fine in order to get a visa renewal. Some landlords will no longer rent to foreigners.

In addition, the foreigner who leaves home for more than 24-hours, even if traveling within Thailand, must report at the destination to the local immigration office (if one exists in the area) or police station and then again when returning home. The foreigner uses the TM 28 form for this report.  So both, landlord/hotel and traveler must report for the same trip. 

One blogger summarized the laws as currently enforced. The comments to this post were enlightening and overall expressed great frustration with the anti-foreigner vibe people are getting from the Thai government. Some long-term residents said they were leaving the country.

One commentator suggested that an ankle bracelet would be more efficient.

At a videotaped event sponsored by the FCCT expat correspondents club, a Thai woman said it was affecting business and international investment because business people travel frequently. Who wants to make all those reports?

Recent changes in the immigration rules may explain why Thailand has dropped off the lists of the best places to retire in the world.

For the video of the FCCT event, see here. For a news story quoting Thai officials and analyzing the new enforcement, see here.

Update, Aug. 23, 2019: Richard Barrow, a journalist/blogger who spoke at the FCCT event, provided additional information and a call to action on his Twitter feed @RichardBarrow:

Various chambers of commerce have already met with Immigration about TM30. They are not listening to our concerns. It's time for our embassies to put pressure on the government. This affects both business & expats. I believe the Belgians already have a plan. What about the others?

Update:  I have found a series of YouTube videos that discuss the TM30 and TM 28 filing requirements.  The best are produced by Benjamin Hart, an American lawyer who lives in Bangkok, found here, here, and here.  He says that because the requirements are created by statute/code, any change would require action by the  Thai legislature.  True, but this comment needs to acknowledge that for many years, Thai immigration did not strictly enforce the statutory requirements.

A reporter on Radio Station 103FM also discusses the changes here.  The advice provided is not consistent with other interpretations of the statutory requirements (the landlord only needs to file one TM 30 when the foreigner first moves in), but reflects the advice given to the station reporter by a local immigrant official in Pattaya.  Expat groups routinely complain that immigration officials in different parts of the country give different advice and act differently when people seek short-term visa renewals (rather than long-term stay visas).

In addition, an expat group has started a petition to reform the requirements.  Hart discusses the petition here.

A more alarmist point of view is expressed here.  The creator of the video compares Thai immigration policy to the policy used by Nazis to track the movement of Jewish people.  He also compares Thailand to North Korea and worries about what the future holds for foreigners living in Thailand.

In short, both Thai officials and affected foreigners are trying to figure out how these rules will be implemented, whether the system is workable, and whether it will make Thailand less attractive as a destination for business, travel, and retirement.  For an article about the decline in tourism to Thailand, see here.  For a YouTube video on the decline of tourism in Chiang Mai, see here.  The speaker calls Chiang Mai a "ghost town."  For another video explaining the reporting requirements, see here.

Update: Here is a copy of the translated text of the relevant provisions of Law Act B.E. 2522 (1979).  I did not do the original research or translation, but relied on a posting made on one of the Thai expat Facebook pages.

Section 37: An alien having received a temporary entry permit into the Kingdom must comply with the following: 

1. Shall not engage in the occupation or temporary or employment unless authorized by the Director General or competent official deputized by the Director General. If, in any case, there is a law concerning alien employment provided hereafter, the granting of work privileges must comply with the law concerned. 

2. Shall stay at the place as indicated to the competent official. Where there is proper reason that he cannot stay at the place as indicated to the competent official, he shall notify the competent official of the change in residence, within 24 hours from the time of removing to said place. 

3. Shall notify the police official of the local police station where such alien resides, within twenty–four hours from the time of arrival. In the case of change in residence in which new residence is not located the same area with the former police stations, such alien must notify the police official of the police station for that area within twenty–four hours from the time of arrival. 

4. If the alien travels to any province and will stay there longer than twenty – four hours, such alien must notify the police official of the "police station” for that area within "forty eight” hours from the time of arrival. 

5. If the alien stays in the Kingdom longer than ninety days, such alien must notify the competent official at the Immigration Division, in writing, concerning his place of stay, as soon as possible upon expiration of ninety days. The alien is required to do so every ninety days. Where there is an Immigration Office, the alien may notify a competent Immigration Official of that office. 

The provision of (3) and (4) shall not apply to any cases under Section 34 by any conditions as prescribed by the Director General. 

In making notification under this Section, the alien may make notification in person or send a letter of notification to the competent official, in accordance with the regulations prescribed by the Director General.

Section 38: The house–master, the owner, or the possessor of the residence, or the hotel manager where the alien, receiving permission to stay temporary in the Kingdom has stayed, must notify the competent official of the ”Immigration Office” located in the same area with that house, dwelling place, or hotel, within 24 hours from the time of arrival of the alien concerned. 

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. 

Making notification, in reference to the Para. 1 and 2 of this Section, must comply with regulations prescribed by the Director General.

Sept. 18, 2019 Update:  Good news?  Promised streamlining of reporting process.