As you guys know I'm resident here and have a few friends who also have been here for a while on work permits.

This last weekend one of the guys was unable to find ANY accomodation in Hua Hin using just his local Thai driving licence (which has never been a problem in the past). Was refused at each and every one, the reason being some sort of letter that had beeen handed out to the local hotels. They insisted on a passport. No photocopies, unless it was taken off the original in his hand.
And yes, there were rooms available.

He ended up at Cheap Somchai's (or NoName Somsak's, to coin a phrase) and was really annoyed.

Now I also do not carry my passport around since I do have a local licence, but is this something new? Or is it just in Hua Hin, where it seems to me the local Immigration office operates independently of the main one in the capital?

Curious minds want to know.

Thanks in advance.

I never carry my passport too, i don't want to damage it. In Pattaya it's the same story, no passport, no room.

There was a big announcement and newspaper story about this a few months ago. The new national immigration chief has a campaign going to rid Thailand of foreign criminals and stop them from hiding out here. New regulations issued and old regulations now strictly enforced concerning foreigners checking into any hotel. The hotel must see a passport and must report the guests presence through channels or the fines are now huge. This is not specific to HH but everywhere. Perhaps some locations more zealous than others, especially if local immigration are doing surprise inspections. Pete

I have just returned from a road trip around the South. On Koh Samui we rented a Condo by the day and they made a copy of my passport. In Krabi, at a resort, they had a spread sheet form that they filled in, including what type of visa, arrival date in Thailand, and various other items.

In Ranong they did not ask for anything, only the money, at a small "resort"! But then, as far as Ranong goes, they should be paying visitors to stay there--or give it to the Burmese!

Thanks for that, Pete. It is as I've suspected then, they're strictly enforcing the regulation now. Nereus, I believe that the hotels have to report to the local authorities within 24 hours or they're liable to be penalised. Since I usually am with family, my wife gets the Thai rates anyway and I don't have to bring the passport along.

I've never traveled in any country without my passport in my pocket. I keep it in a front pocket in a plastic bag for protection against loss and water. I've been here six years and don't even go down the soi to the 7/11 without it. Better safe than sorry...

if your passport is damaged you can have a lot of problems too.

If it gets damaged while in my front pocket, I probably have more serious problems to worry about than the passport...

I'm like you HHF, and mine got damaged at the beach. Baby formula years ago spilled in the bag it was in, dried with a hair dryer and all stamps inside to that date ran and unreadable. Has been accepted everywhere though as the picture page is ok, just a bit krinkled, so I don't bother to get a new one. Expires soon anyway.

I understand you can buy a laminated 'passport card' from the embassy that substitutes for carrying your passport all the time. Never heard though if it's accepted by hotels and authorities if you're stopped. Pete

Pete,
the latest Thai driving licence is a laminated piece of plastic and is completely waterproof. It is an accepted form of identification at the banks and most official places, so I'm a little surprised that the ruling is taken to the letter. It's a lot easier to carry around as well and is fairly easy to replace.

If I bring my passport with me there are two other Thai official booklets that go with PR and I'm not about to lug the lot around.

Not saying it's a bad thing, just inconvenient.

There's a lot of stuff I think they do with the info, but not exactly sure. When I've been asked for mine, they always copy the picture page and the arrival card. They also cross reference the name on the passport with the name on a credit card if you pay with one.

Once the info is forwarded to Immigration, I assume it has to fall into a logical link; arrival>dates>90 day reporting if applies>hotel check in's>24 hour reporting if they want to be SOB's, etc. If something major is not right, I assume it sets of an alert and the person may get visited in the dead of night. Also, many warrants from Interpol and the like don't arrive here until after a suspect is already in the country. Any hotel check-in forwarded to Immigration would then raise a red flag.

I'm like you in that most times the wife makes the reservation and pays with her debit card. I just sometimes guarantee arrival on a credit card. When the wife does things, I'm never asked for anything, especially when I'm carrying the bags and have my bellboy cap on.

A new twist is that now that my daughter is almost 5 and getting bigger, some places ask for ID concerning her. She does have strong farang features and this may be the reason. It could also be another Immigration initiative concerning child trafficking, I don't know. So, we now travel with her Thai passport also when we go away overnight. Pete

That's why I keep mine in a zip-lock plastic bag to protect it from moisture of any kind... mainly my own perspiration!

Tourists to face closer monitoring

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/1 ... monitoring

* Published: 1/08/2010 at 12:00 AM
* Newspaper section: News

The Immigration Bureau will start a new campaign next month to keep track of the whereabouts of all tourists by enforcing reporting requirements of hotels, resorts and guesthouses.

Bureau chief Wuthi Liptapallop said managers failing to comply will face arrest and fines of up to 10,000 baht per tourist if they do not fulfil their obligations.

Under Section 38 of the Immigration Act, managers of residences, hotels, guesthouses, condominiums and resorts have to notify the Immigration Office about guests within 24 hours of their arrival.

Pol Lt Gen Wuthi said the provision had long existed but had not been fully enforced. The opening of the Immigration Control System Centre next month and an improved computer system at the bureau now made this possible.

"We will now request from the managers of those places information on each guest, by computer, every day," he said. "We are now receiving information from about 60% of them. This should rise to 70% next month, and more in the following weeks."

Lt Gen Wuthi said about 80,000 people arrive in Thailand daily through several entry points, "but we don't know exactly where these foreign tourists stay, how long they will stay, for example, in Bangkok, Chiang Mai or in other places".

"This might sound like an ambitious project, but in fact we can actually accomplish it quite easily," he said.

Under Section 77 of the Immigration Act, managers who don't comply face arrest and a fine of 2,000-10,000 baht per day for each unreported guest.

Lt Gen Wuthi said the data collected would be reported to every ambassador, which would give them confidence "that we are trying to serve and protect their nationals".

"We have to identify who the people are, and where they are staying," he said. "If you remember when the tsunami struck Thailand in December 2004, we had some problems with the identification of victims. We had no information or any data on them. With this method, we will have information on almost every tourist, making it easier to identify them if something happens."

Information about the 1,000 foreign fugitives believed to be living here would also be put into the system. "It should be easier to locate them," he said.

That would be a good thing, if after they located them they extradited them back to the jurisdiction of their crimes. I think the local farang population might drop by a few and Pattaya may see a mass exodus.

How do they know there is 1000 if they don't know who are here and where they are ???
Does not compute!!!!