Gaybutton wrote: ↑Tue Sep 17, 2019 8:55 pm
Dodger wrote: ↑Tue Sep 17, 2019 9:54 am
The fact that Retiree's don't like the TM28 requirement presents no sizable financial risk.
I would think immigration officers also don't like it. Mountains of useless paperwork they'll have to deal with if this is enforced - and they already deal with mountains of useless paperwork.
I can't help but wonder who among the powers-that-be thinks this is all a great, worthwhile idea.
There may, or may not be, anyone on the Immigration Commission who thinks the TM28 provision is a good idea, but it’s becoming clear that at least someone on the Commission wants to start enforcing TM30 rigorously, which of course only effects hotels and guesthouses.
The immigration Commission consists of the Under Secretary of the Minister of Interior as Chairman and the following members:
• Under Secretary of Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Director general, Police Department
• Director General, labor Department
• Director General, public Prosecution Department
• Secretary General, Board of Investment Committee
• Secretary General, National Security Council
• Director, Tourist Organization of Thailand
• Commander of Immigration Division as member and secretary
One of the functions of the Commission is to give advice and suggestions to the Minister on establishing standard operating procedures for local official and for other officials, regarding national security, as well as issuance of Ministerial Regulations under the Immigration Act. Understandably, each Commission Member also has their own personal agenda’s which is where things can get convoluted (to put it mildly).
It’s obvious to those residing in Thailand the the Commission allows each individual Immigration Division to have a certain amount of autonomy (flexibility) when it comes to interpreting and enforcing certain immigration policies. That being said, we can expect that the requirements for completing the TM28 Form will vary from division to division, and office to office, although, the fact remains, that no Immigration Division (or office) has the resources or capabilities to monitor and enforce the use of this TM28 Form, nor are the estimated 2.5 million foreign residents in Thailand going to be filling them out every time they take a trip outside their province. Regardless if they revise the law to eliminate TM28 or not, this is the reality of the situation.
There have been reports of hotels starting to get fined for not doing the TM30 reporting of their foreign guests, although, absolutely no indication that anyone, in any Immigration Division (or office), is being bothered with the TM28, which of course, is not surprising in the least. As far as retirees residing in Thailand on Extensions of Stay are concerned, the focus of the local Immigration Offices appears to be solely on the 90 day reporting. As you know, several retirees who have visited Jomtien Immigration to renew their Extensions of Stay recently (including myself) have not even heard TM28 being mentioned by immigration staff.
Unfortunately, the way things work in Immigration, relying on what you’re told by one of the immigration staff (clerks) as it relates to these types of things, is almost meaningless, because they are trained to simply follow procedure. Nothing more, and nothing less. If someone were to walk into Jomtien immigration today and ask one of the clerks if they needed to complete a TM28 every time they left their province for +24 hours, the answer they would receive would undoubtedly be “”Yes you do”. My suggestion would be to either ask to speak with the Superintendent of Immigration and ask him this question, or simply wait and see if they start issuing fines to farang for not completing TM28’s. It’s a shame we (retirees) have to operate this way, but this is Thailand!