Gaybutton wrote: ↑Sat Sep 21, 2019 11:30 am
I'm not worried about traveling outside of my province. I would stay in hotels where they take care of it for you.
I'm talking about the requirement to report
when you return home. My understanding is you can submit the TM28 at immigration or a local police station when you return home.
I appreciate you providing that PDF, but I'm not going to wade through 21 pages to find where it tells about the TM28. Can you direct me to the part that shows I'm wrong about my understanding?
Section 37 covers everything we are legally responsible for: (My comments in "Bold")
Thai Immigration Act B.E. 2522 - 1979 Revision - Section 37.
An alien who is permitted to stay in the Kingdom temporarily shall do the following —
(1) Not engage in an occupation or employment except with permission from the Director-General or the competent official designated by the Director-General. In a case where there is alien working law providing otherwise, the permission shall have to be by virtue of that law.
(2) Reside at the place notified to the competent official except where the reason for not residing at the place notified to the competent official is justifiable, change of residence shall be notified to the competent official within twenty four hours from the time of moving into the residence.
(This refers to the permanent address you provided immigration when you applied for your latest Extension of Stay.
(3) Notify the police officer at the police station of the locality jurisdiction in which the alien resides within twenty four hours from the time of moving in. In case of change of residence, if the new residence is not in the same locality jurisdiction as the locality of the former police station, the alien shall notify the police officer of the police station of the new locality jurisdiction within twenty four hours from the time of arrival.
If you return to Thailand from overseas you must report to immigration to confirm the address you have on record. If you are returning and staying at a different address than that which is on record, you must notify the police station (or immigration) at the new location (town).
(4) If travel to any province and stay there longer than twenty four hours, an alien shall notify the police officer of the police station of the locality jurisdiction within forty eight hours from the time of arrival.
(If you travel outside your province for +24 hours, you report this at the police station or immigration office in the town you are visiting).
(5) Staying in the Kingdom longer than ninety days, an alien shall notify the competent official at the Immigration Division, of his or her residence, in writing, without delay, upon the completion of a ninety day period. This shall be repeated at every ninety day interval. If there is an immigration office in the locality, the notification may be made to the competent official of that immigration office.
As we know, Immigration has developed operating procedures to align with these laws which specifically require the use of the TM28 Form for the reporting that's being addressed in Section 37 above. We have also come to understand that this Form was not being used, monitored, or enforced, for the past 40 years, and is currently in the process of being debated by the Heads of the Immigration Commission, where the TM28 may, or may not be, used at all in the future.
If a resident (retiree) wants to comply with the law the way it's currently written, then they should, by all means, complete the TM28 and provide it to the police or immigration when required. If the TM28 is refused by the competent official, then I see no other option than for the resident to record the name of the police or immigration staff who refused to accept it on the face of the TM28 Form, and forward a copy to the Residents Embassy explaining the situation and asking for direction. This is not the action I would take. But, if someone wants to follow the law (that no one else is following), then this seems to be the only viable solution.
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