24 hour reporting imposed

[expatsally]

Maybe you should have HH immigration call that #!

[Jockey]

I recently bought a new car so had to go to immigration to get a letter for proof of address in order to get a white register plate. Normally it costs 200 baht but this time I was charged 1,000 baht - 200 baht plus a 800 baht fine for not REGISTERING. Although I went there only two weeks ago to renew my VISA, that was not counted as REGISTERING, so I had to pay the fine, as is likely for nearly EVERY Ferang living in Hua Hin!

Get this ...

He (the nice immigration officer), showed me the booklet (which I was allowed to photo copy). The booklet clearly states (in english), if you go out of the country or PROVINCE (note not just country - PROVINCE) for more than 24 hours, you have to report to immigration at the new province you are in, then report to immigration when you come back. So if you go to (say) Bangkok for the weekend, to stay within the "immigration law", you should report to immigration at Bangkok where you are staying, then when you return, you should report to Hua Hin immigration to report you have returned! Otherwise you are liable to an 800 baht fine.

All holiday makers should also have to do this, which of course they won't. I believe this is a scam to obtain as much money from us as possible, because to enforce it is near to impossible, but nearly every Ferang who visits the immigration office could be fined 800 baht for not registering.

Please note - they do not consider getting your visa stamped as registering your place of stay. Also, if you change address you must register with them within 24 hours too!

Here is a suggestion - we all pick a day to go to immigration to register at the same time - inform the newspapers - get a 1,000 Ferangs queing up at immigration to register. On second thoughts, all you would achieve is a collective loss of 800,000 THB and a long wait!

[Wanderlust]

This is extremely interesting Jockey. In theory then, someone who lives in Cha Am in the PROVINCE of Petchaburi, should report to the immigration office in Petchaburi (wherever that is, does anyone know?) when they return from a couple of days in Hua Hin in the PROVINCE of Prachuap Kiri Khan, having of course reported to hua Hin immigration that they are in Hua Hin, even if they don't know how long they will be staying. Of course, this begs the question, how would they know you had left the province you live in? As far as i know you don't get stamped in and out of each province yet! Also is the fine just for not registering if you have an extension on your visa rather than a straightforward visa? Does the booklet say when this was introduced as obviously no one here has ever faced this before now. I am guessing that this is a very old regulation that has been discovered by someone in Hua Hin immigration and is milking it for what it's worth - remember the 'must have 10,000 baht' issue that cropped up for people doing visa runs in certain places?

[lomuamart]

Good post Jockey,
The way you've explained it reminds me that I did hear of this archaic law years ago. Can't remember where.
Basically, virtually every farang who lives here and needs to deal with the office is gonna get fined at some point if they've ever left Prachuabkirikhan.
Ridiculous. I wonder if this can be brought to the attention of the main office in BKK. I tried to call them yesterday, but needless to say, I couldn't get through on any of the ten numbers - no-one was answering.
I would assume that, as other provinces aren't enforcing this and HH has no jurisdiction elsewhere than Prachuab, they'll only fine you for not reporting when you get back here.
I'm gobsmacked Any ideas anyone?

[lomuamart]

WL,
I would reckon that Imm can have no idea if you go up to BKK or Cha-am or wherever.
However, if you leave the country, or do a visa run to Ranong, they can see it in your passport.
You're nicked, Guv.
Unbelievable. You can be fined for complying with Imm laws (a visa run), or having a holiday somewhere else in Thailand.
Perhaps Imm here want to try and ensure that all us tremendously rich farangs spend all our money in this fair town of ours'?

[Wanderlust]

I would suggest that if they attempt to fine you for not registering that you say you have registered already and see what they do! If they say they can't find your registration then you say that you don't mind filling in another form but you won't pay the fine for their mistake. It might work as they cannot possibly remember if you have or not and given the piles of paperwork always lying around some going missing would not be a surprise, and they will not want to lose face. I imagine that if every farang that goes in there does this they will soon get fed up and drop this little operation, especially if you ask to speak to the boss if they resist. Don't forget we all look alike...

[dtaai-maai]

And what if you live in Cha-am and work in HH? Are you supposed to report daily in both provinces...?

Okay, the absurdity of it all is obvious.

I've had no dealings with the Brit Embassy in Thailand, but isn't this the sort of thing they're paid to do? Is it worth asking them to make some enquiries? (And for expats from all other countries to get in touch with their embassies as well.)

[Nereus]

I have just spoken with my Lawyer in Bangkok about this 24 hour crap. He does a lot of expat work and is at the One Stop Service Centre in Bangkok 2 or 3 times a week.
He could not understand what I was saying at first, and when he did get the message he says that no such law exists, but he will check and find out if anything has changed. For the 24 hr reporting if you leave one Province to another he says that this applies to "alien workers", ie, those from Myanmar, Cambodia, etc., that have a "yellow" card".

Having said that I do dimly recall that there is an archaic law requiring any "alien" to report their address if it changes from that stated to Immigration, but in 20 years here I have never heard of it being enforced.

My Lawyer is going to look further into it, but as someone has already stated it looks like it is only Hua Hin that is doing this.

[Guess]

So let me try and understand this correctly. If you have a non immigrant visa and you are registered as living in Amphoe Hua Hin in the Province of Prachuab Kiri Khan you must register at every provincial Immigration Office that you pass through when leaving the home Province.

So, for example, I do an overnight trip to Bangkok. Dose this mean I have to stop at Petchaburi (BTW I know where it is Wanderlust if you really need to know) and register there before continuing on to Samut Songkran. I then have to stop again Samut Sakhon, Nakhon Pathom, Nonthaburi and Bangkok itself. Even if an overnight stay is required it would be a pain in the arse.

It seems to me that his is some archaic law that was imposed to counter Commie insurgency back in the fifties.

If you dig deep enough you will probably find that you should keep your bow and arrow at hand at all times to help defend Thailand against a Burmese invasion. Of course you will need to train regularly to fire at great accuracy from the back of an Elephant.

[lomuamart]

And what if you live in Cha-am and work in HH? Are you supposed to report daily in both provinces...?

Okay, the absurdity of it all is obvious.

I've had no dealings with the Brit Embassy in Thailand, but isn't this the sort of thing they're paid to do? Is it worth asking them to make some enquiries? (And for expats from all other countries to get in touch with their embassies as well.)

I've just had a reply from someone who's pretty well up on visas. He suggested the same. Any complaint must came from "up high" and the way to kick things off is for those who've already been fined to contact their respective Embassies.
I'm off to the elephant camp, Guess.

[STEVE G]

Guess wrote:

It seems to me that his is some archaic law that was imposed to counter Commie insurgency back in the fifties.

It certainly sounds like something you would expect in a police state; I suppose that’s what comes of living under a junta in a non-democratic state.
On the other hand it sounds more like something dug-up out of the statute books to pay for the immigration office’s New Years Eve party.

[niggle]

I will complain to British Embassy about this. Anyone know email address I should write to ?
Maybe if as many people as possible make the same complaint someone will take notice

[lomuamart]

This looks like it. The capitals appear in the address. It's on the web site
ConsularEnquiries.Bangkok@fco.gov.uk
Let us know how you get on.

[norm]

Just returned from HH immigration doing our 90 day check in.Had been to Australia and came back in August. DID NOT register when we returned from Oz. Nothing was said and we were renewed for another 90 days. No charge of any kind and reasonable efficient, once we found out you don't wait in the other room, you go into the 90 day room to wait or you will be there all day.

[expatsally]

We did ask how long this law has been in affect and "the nice lady" in the main room( not the bitch who's always hitting up the guys for their phone numbers) said it's been in effect since 1979.