90 day Report - Jomtien IO - Why The Changes?

[Pinetree]

Last time I physically did a 90 Report at that office, some time ago, I  only produced my passport , they printed out my new report, stuck it in the passport and that was it.  The online system didn't work for me this time, so I duly pitched up at the IO to be faced with a need for 4 photocopies and a completed, paper TM47. Five times the paperwork for the same report. So why have immigration regressed to a stupid bureaucratic degree? I imagine that the photocopies just ended up in a wastepaper bucket. The only possible explanation I can think of is that the paperwork relives the computer keypad operator of having to open the passport to read the information within, although that information is available in one place, the previous TM47 receipt in the back of the passport.  It just makes me question why I try to recycle anything here. 

[MrStretch]

Pinetree, you should know by now that it's not just Immigration, it's the entire Thai bureaucracy.  For all their talk about being digital and putting things online, any time, and I do mean any time, that paper is used, it's in preparation for killing a small forest.

My wife works for an international school handling visas, work permits, etc. for every foreign teacher, and some of their dependents.  The amount of paper is just stunning.  I have no idea where they keep it all, or even if they do.

My wife and I just bought a new house.  As a farang, I have jackshit to do with this process.  But in order for my wife to borrow 20% of the house's value (we paid cash for the other 80%, and it's considerably less than the amount our current, yet to be sold, house is worth), my signature was required as the "certified spouse" for the loan, that's not in my name, for a house that is not in my name.

By the time we were finished with the bank, I had signed my name to 8 different copies of relevant pages in my passport, copies of our marriage license and my yellow book.  I swear by all that's holy that the stack of paper was almost 2 inches thick.

I am lucky, in the fact that my wife is in and out of the Immigration office almost weekly and the officers allow her to do all my paperwork, when needed, I just show up for the signature and a picture.  Takes me about 10 minutes.

She used to handle my 90-reporting until the online portal became available and more consistent.

 

[Pinetree]

18 hours ago, MrStretch said:

Pinetree, you should know by now that it's not just Immigration, it's the entire Thai bureaucracy.  For all their talk about being digital and putting things online, any time, and I do mean any time, that paper is used, it's in preparation for killing a small forest.

My wife works for an international school handling visas, work permits, etc. for every foreign teacher, and some of their dependents.  The amount of paper is just stunning.  I have no idea where they keep it all, or even if they do.

My wife and I just bought a new house.  As a farang, I have jackshit to do with this process.  But in order for my wife to borrow 20% of the house's value (we paid cash for the other 80%, and it's considerably less than the amount our current, yet to be sold, house is worth), my signature was required as the "certified spouse" for the loan, that's not in my name, for a house that is not in my name.

By the time we were finished with the bank, I had signed my name to 8 different copies of relevant pages in my passport, copies of our marriage license and my yellow book.  I swear by all that's holy that the stack of paper was almost 2 inches thick.

I am lucky, in the fact that my wife is in and out of the Immigration office almost weekly and the officers allow her to do all my paperwork, when needed, I just show up for the signature and a picture.  Takes me about 10 minutes.

She used to handle my 90-reporting until the online portal became available and more consistent.

Yes I appreciate what you are saying, but my query is, why make a good change and then backtrack to a more inefficient system that requires more work from the IOs and is environmentally unfriendly and wasteful? It makes no sense, but then again, nothing any civil service does in any country adds to the sum of civilized society and moves things forward, Thailand is no different.  

[23RD]

The same thing has happened to me on my last two 90 day reports fill in a TM47 2 x photocopies from passport even though I've been here for many years. 

I  asked one of the girls what was the reasoning behind it she just said new laws Mister.

My suspicion maybe a data loss on the system.