Updated 10 Aug 2017:
Based on a comment made below I have checked out the 90 Day Reporting website HERE and as of today it seems to be back working. I haven’t a report due so can’t say if it will do the job right the way through but I do have a report due early next month so will advise. John, who was kind enough to post the latest comment, finds it works for him. Good luck. The main Thai immigration website has been upgraded in look anyway HERE so maybe the processes have received attention too.
Updated 31 May 2017:
The online 90 reporting site is pretty useless on the whole. Why Thailand can’t get a pretty simple webpage to work is a mystery. You could give it to some schoolkids and they would sort it out. ThaiVisa reported it working in April but it seemed to crash soon after and as of today it still doesn’t seem to be up and running. You’d think with the money we farang bring into the country Thailand would make an effort to make things easier. Malaysia does it better. The latest link is HERE so give it a try (using Internet Explorer of course – see information below).
Updated 29 Apr 2016:
- I found that I couldn’t process my final 90 day report online as my current visa extension had an expiry date within the 90 day period. You’d think the system would give you the remainder of the time until the visa extension expires but this seems like a bridge too far for Thai system programming. I had to go into Udon immigration and have it done manually, which is no big deal as they are very efficient and I was out of there in 5 minutes.
- Keep an eye on the requirements for the new 90 day three page reporting requirement called a “Record of Foreigner Information”. More info HERE. I don’t know if this will be ignored for those of us reporting online or if the Thais will have a go at adding it to the online process (God help us). I will report back if I hear anything. You can find a sample of it HERE
Updated 9 November 2015:
I have just completed my second 90 day extension of stay notification online as described in this post and it all worked perfectly. The application was approved the next day and I was able to print out my new notification and happily staple it into my passport today.
I know Chris (see comments) was having problems getting his to submit. Has anyone else had problems or does the system seem to be working?
This is a post is geared to expats who are required to report their address every 90 days. Not so interesting for non-expats unless you are thinking of retiring here.
I have an OA Retirement Visa, which you can read about HERE and HERE and one of the requirements of this type of visa is that I have to report my current address to Thai Immigration every 90 days . As with so many aspects of bureaucracy the world over it is best not to question why and just get on with it. A report by exception, that is let Immigration know if you change your notified address, would seem to make more sense but it’s a waste of energy getting all worked up about things you can’t change.
On the good news side, where previously you had to appear in person with copies of paperwork including the all important TM47 form, this process can now all be done online. The announcement was made with a commencement date of April Fools Day 2015, which had the expat forums off and running. The Bangkok Post reported it as follows:
Foreign citizens staying in Thailand are able to report their address every 90 days online via the Immigration Bureau’s website, effective from April, the immigration spokesman said on Thursday.
Col Worawat Amornwiwat said the new service aimed to provide improved convenience for foreigners staying in Thailand, and prepare for regional integration under the Asean Economic Community (AEC).
………..The service currently requires the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser. The bureau hopes to make it compatible with other popular browsers later.
Well my 90 day report is due at the end of this month so I thought I would give the new system a try and see if the quest for “improved convenience” was a reality.
My conclusions? The process is a little clunky in operation but once you have done it once it is actually a very easy and quick process. Heaps better than driving one hour each way to Udon Thani, finding parking at Immigration, waiting around until your number is called and all for a little slip of paper stapled into one’s passport. We just need a five year visa and all will be happiness and light in Thailand.
How does the online 90 Day Reporting work? Read on:
Firstly make sure you have your timing right. The wording from Immigration’s website states “Applicants can submit this online application within 15 days but not less than 7 days before the due date of notification.” It is a small window of opportunity so mark it in your diary.
Secondly have all the information you would previously get together to fill in a TM47 form. You are going to do exactly that but online. You will need your passport number, current address and your departure card number (referred to as an arrival card which confused mt the first time I had to fill out this form), which will be stapled into your passport. Remember if you are leaving Thailand use this card not the blank copy everyone else fills out before exiting via Immigration at the airport. You will also need your last entry date and flight number.
Now go to this link https://extranet.immigration.go.th/fn90online or click HERE. Now we come to the first clunky bit. In my case and often reported by others there is a security certificate problem with this site, which puts some people off. You may get some sort of warning message which may look like this:
Clunk 1 – on Google Chrome
The same clunk on Internet Explorer.
In regard to the security certificate question I didn’t feel that there was too much to worry about with Thai Immigration and the information I was providing was pretty useless to anyone else so I proceeded. A personal decision and as any Thai lady will happily tell you it’s “up to you”!
Clunk 2 is that as far as I can tell the Immigration site is still set up for Microsoft Internet Explorer only, a browser I never use. I prefer Google Chrome and if you proceed using Chrome you then run into problems. Filling in the form is a slow process as the site has a good think about everything you type and in my case I found that having typed in everything the captcha (that box where you have to match letters or numbers to confirm you are human) wouldn’t accept my correct input. I assumed it was because of the browser incompatibility and fired up Explorer instead. Here I ran into the security certificate problem again and couldn’t easily get around it even by including the site in my accepted list through the security settings.
I probably could have worked around it but my patience with computer problems is limited. Luckily a ThaiVisa thread had a solution buried away in one of their threads. You can download a small extension (app in Apple terms) to Google Chrome called IE Tab, which allows it to act like a Internet Explorer browser. Open it up paste the Immigration link (HERE again if you missed it above) into the IE address bar as shown below and you are good to go.
The IE Tab address bar sits right underneath the normal Chrome one.
Ah the joys of a modern world. Go HERE to find the IE tab extension if you are a Chrome user. It’s free.
The Immigration link takes you to this home page:
Please note that you have a scroll bar on the right, which rolls you through the entire document most of which is hidden. Best to have a quick look at what you are accepting!
If you are a user guide type of person you can either download it from the site or I have a PDF copy here UserGuideForNotification90Day_V2. It is in Thai and English and I would almost rate it as a Clunk 3. I am not sure why Thai is included as I can’t see too many Thais needing to go through this process. Maybe it’s for those slower farang who rely on their Thai partners to help them fill out the forms. As a male I didn’t feel the need to use a manual of course 🙂 and in reality it is all pretty self explanatory.
Once you click on the accept box you are taken to the (TM47) form which is on two online pages:
Page 1 is for your non-address details. Note the fussy CAPTCHA at the end. Works fine in Chrome with the IE Tab extension.
NOTE – Important. Do not type your nationality in the box. Use the drop down on the right hand side (the little eyeglass), which lists all nationalities (including Utopia I believe) in English AND Thai, to select your nationality. You will get an error otherwise. My example below.
See the joint English/Thai nationality spelling. You now know my birthday. Cards and gifts most welcome.
UPDATED 6 Jan 2016
This comment from Mike could be useful if you are having a problem accessing the dropdown nationality box:
Thanks for posting this, I used it as a guide to navigate the clunky 90 day online notification procedure. So much easier than in person though. One other thing that may be helpful, when I got to the dropdown menu for nationality it would not open. I typed in my nationality but that did not allow access to the next page. Then I thought to turn off popup windows blocker. Success!
Complete the process and you will end up with an acknowledgement TM47 that looks like this except for my censorship:
You have the option to print out a separate receipt as well, which is worth doing in case you have a query.
Now although you have provided Immigration with your email they won’t contact you. It is up to you to check on progress. The method of doing this online is not immediately obvious (is that clunk 4?) as the only help you will get is this:
If you go to either of those two websites shown above there is nothing obvious that takes you to where you can check and see if your application has been approved.
Luckily you are reading my blog and I can tell you that you need to click HERE , which takes you to this page:
That’s what I want to see.
Click “Check the status of your application” and you will see this:
Your ref number is a gazillion numbers so I used the Passport Information tab instead.
Much easier. Fill in the details and click on the spyglass.
Yippee. Good news at the bottom of this screen.
Click on the little spyglass on the far right next to the “approved” and you get the same acknowledgement you had before but now with an approved stamp on it!
At the bottom of this approved form is the all important link – the box marked “The Next Appointment (PRINT)”.
Click on that and finally you have achieved a victory over Thai bureaucracy from the comfort of your own home. This is what you get to staple into your passport.
I suggest you keep a copy in the car/wallet just in case. I have only ever been checked once for my visa status but you never know:
I’m looking happy but the hands tell a story! A totally professional cop, ex-immigration, checking my visa shortly after the coup. Have your paperwork handy.
In my case I submitted the application online on the 17th of Sept and it was approved on the 18th! Now I rate that as a pretty good turnaround by anyone’s standards. Congratulations to Thai Immigration.
Now all of the above sounds a bit daunting but really once you bookmark the links you only have the online TM47 to fill out, which you’d have to do anyway, and print out the final approval.
As always I qualify my Visa type posts by saying that I am not an expert in this field, or any other, and I only report on what has worked for me. Maybe you’ll have a different outcome. Let the readers know how you go by publishing a comment and sharing your experience. Others will find it useful.
Thanks for reading.
Thanks for another fine post, Tony! I’ll be doing this for the first time in a couple of months and really appreciate your thoroughness!
A very detailed and good write-up about the on-line reporting. I will try soon after I get my retirement visa
Thanks
Terry
I got through step 1, and 2, but when I clicked on “submit” I got the page you talked about, but it wasn’t filled out like yours.
I double checked my information on the application page and everything appears to check out.
Looks like I’ll be mailing mine in.
That’s a shame. I am sorry it didn’t work for you. I am about to do my second online return in the next week so will will follow my own steps and see what happens. I will report back and make changes to the blog entry if things have changed or I have got it wrong. Thanks for letting me know.
Tony
Hi Tony
I tried reporting online in November. I didn’t have too much difficulty filling in the gaps and submitting the application. I did submit using Explorer, as recommended by a number of people.
Immediately after submitting, my application status went to “pending”.
I checked it two days later and the status had been moved to rejected.
No reason given in the comments field, so I phoned some numbers without any resolution. Finally, I was given a number to call at CM immigration, they too offered no reason for the rejected status, their solution “just come in” Something I wanted avoid.
To summarize, I wont be attempting online again, unless it becomes the only way. In the past I have used the postal EMS option, with great results. Submitting by post cost me 74B for two sets of stamps and I had my 90 day slip back inside of four days. If you lodge a report online and it is rejected, post is no longer becomes an option to rectify.
It seems to be a bit hit and miss Jay. I have had success both times but you and Chris haven’t.
Thanks for the feedback.
Hi Tony – I will be retiring to Thailand in April 2016 and have a question about the 90 day reporting “date” as shown in your screenshots. In your first set of screenshots it shows that your “stay permitted date” is Sep 30, 2015. You submitted your online application on Sep17 and it was approved on Sep 18. On the Receipt of Notification it then says to notify your address again on Dec 16. So it seems that the new 90 day reporting date will always be counted from the day you apply (Sep 17) for the extension and not from the previous “stay permitted date” (Sep 30). If you just completed this December reporting on Dec 9 then I assume your new next reporting date is approx Mar 9. Is this correct?
Thank you very much for all of the extremely helpful and useful information you have been providing about life and retirement in Thailand.
Hi Joe. You caught me at the computer so an immediate response. Yes the new 90 days reporting is from the day of application not 90 days from the previous expiry date. When I was going into an Immigration office to report I left it until pretty close to the final date. Now that I do it online I am less fussy as for me, not others, the process works pretty painlessly.
I hope that clarifies things.
Thanks for your general comment about the blog. Good to know that it is being useful for folk like yourself. Where are you looking to end up in Thailand? Wherever I hope it is a successful transition and you have loads of fun. Drop me a line if you think of any questions I might be able to help you with. Cheers.
Tony
Hi Tony – thank you for the quick response. I have lived in Thailand twice before (in the Bangkok area) and will most likely be settling in Pak Chong where I have very good Thai friends. I will most assuredly take you up on your kind offer with questions – I look forward to the chance to meet you and Gaun in person.
Hi Tony
Thanks for posting this, I used it as a guide to navigate the clunky 90 day online notification procedure. So much easier than in person though. One other thing that may be helpful, when I got to the dropdown menu for nationality it would not open. I typed in my nationality but that did not allow access to the next page. Then I thought to turn off popup windows blocker. Success!
Regards,
Mike
Ok I took off the blocker but still won’t open ?? Just a white page opens up ??
I’m using Internet explorer ??
Paul. It is hard for me to comment as I have never used Explorer. My example was using Google Chrome with an Explorer add-on to make it look simulate Explorer for the clunky Thai online system. I have replied to your mailbox.
Tony
I took off the blocker, no drop down menu, so I did a page reload refresh and then it worked.
Thanks for that Mike. I will add that hint to the main text.
Congratulations. It sounds as if you and I are one of the few to navigate the system.
Tony
I’m trying , took off blocker , reloaded but still the same , drop down menu worked but still just a white page after ,
What version of Internet explorer are you using ?
Can we talk by text my phone number is
094-629-9067
Hi Tony – I have also succeeded using the 90 day on-line reporting system for the first time. Slightly different pages and process that your Chrome browser (IE11) but very similar to what you have posted. There was a couple of things I had to ‘trial and error’ but it all went OK eventually. 3 days later and am now approved for another 90 days – easy peasy.
PCs are a never ending mystery – but my read of a few posts above with problems, indicates a security setting issue with the browser. Because the Thai Immigration site has an invalid security certificate, the security setting/s some people will have on their browser may be a cause of the problems. Maybe try things like adding the site to trusted list, turning off pop-up blocker, turning off tracking protection, turning off smartcreen filter, enable activeX filtering (or disable), trying in compatability view, enabling lower the security level on the zone using, disable enhanced protection mode, disable withdown authentication, change SSL/TLS settings, ensure add-ons up to date, and maybe more. I tried a few things to get it working – cant remember the exact ones – but different systems may have different issues. But do remember to re-set things back to normal when finished 🙂 And best not to try if you dont know what I mean or how to do those things – maybe just change the security zone to low (but turn back afterwards).
Also – make sure you are quick filling out each page – seems the system drops out after a very short period sometimes and the first time I tried clicking ‘next’ gave no response as I was too slow.
May I also suggest that when things go wrong and the system ‘dies’ that you should close the browser, delete all cookies/access records, and then open browser and try again.
Thanks for the update Bob and welcome to the 90 day online club!
Very well written, concise, and to the point! FWIW: I’ve tried about 100 passports of friends and have about a 70% success rate.
What tends to work the best is NEVER fill anything in that is not mandatory (marked with an asterisk).
If you get past the first page, it’ll most likely work for you.
Again, thanx for the good article..
Thank you for the comment Tod. Much appreciated.
I wonder how they are going to build in the new Record of Foreigner Information reporting that is supposed to be filled in each 90 day report
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general/942457/intrusive-form-irks-travellers-expats
What’s the betting no one has thought about it (yet).
Cheers.
Tony
Hi Tony,
Great site; thanks for helping us all. A question – what happens if you’re overseas travelling when the 90 day reporting is due? Or, do you have to be in Thailand at that time?
Many thanks and cheers,
Glenn
Thanks for the comment Glenn. If you are able to make the online 90 day reporting work for you then there’s no reason you can’t confirm your address whilst overseas. I would strongly suggest you try it when in Thailand and don’t rely on your first go when overseas. Tod, who made a previous comment on this post, reporting a 70% success rate. I would hate you to be one of the 30% who couldn’t make it work when you didn’t have the option of calling into the local Immigration office.
Good luck.
Tony
90 day reports only apply when you stay in Thailand.
When you return to Thailand, the 90 day clock is reset.
Using IE, couldn’t get past Step 1
It is totally frustrating Lawrence. I have no idea why it works for some and not others. I have been told that about 70% succeed but the rest can’t get to the end. The site is very old fashioned and clumsy. How hard is it to build a decent modern website that works for everyone? Most commercial sites seem to manage. I have an online report to do later this month so will report back on my attempt.
Tony scroll down the page as if you have read it, the tick the box at the bottom, then the accept button becomes live and is not greyed out.
Hope this helps,
John
Thanks for that John.
I have submitted the 90 day report online before so can navigate the slightly clunky interface but more recently the site has been down for period exactly when I needed to process my report. Typical 🙂 Luckily we are only an easy drive from Udon Thani and they have a great immigration office. A separate 90 day reporting counter and not many farang means we are literally usually out of there in five minutes.
I have another report due early next month and as always I will give the online version a try before heading to udon.
Thanks again.
Tony
Thanks for your reply Tony ,I will be in Udon next week, so maybe I will find out myself.Possibly coming to Nong Bua Lamphu too:)
No problems. Good luck with your immigration visit. Hopefully I haven’t jinxed you! NBL is only 30 km from us. Pop in for a drink 🙂
Hi Ton I would like very much to have a chat with you, I will keep in touch, am in Hua Hin at the moment going to BKK to collect a new car at the Suzuki dealers (on 17 Aug.)I purchased then up country to Udon. My email is jratcliffej(at)yahoo.co.uk
Thanks for your reply Tony, I am in HuaHin at the moment , collecting a new car in BKK on 17 Aug. then heading up country to Udon. Hope to see you up there.
my email is jratcliffej(at)yahoo.co.uk
I have tried online twice, once successful and once rejected.
The problem with having an online report rejected, is your only “fix” is to attend your immigration office.
Personally I prefer the postal method (Chiang Mai)
I posted my paperwork on August 8th (EMS 37B) and received my slip back today, August 11th in the self addressed envelope I provided with a 3B stamp attached, so for me, its post every time……….
It isn’t very flexible is it.
I might give the postal option a try this time based on your comment. It’s the one method I haven’t tested yet. Certainly from my previous experience in Chiang Mai the last place you want to be is immigration, unless you have PLENTY of spare time and a good book.
Cheers.
Tony
Tried many times to submit data in early April with no success. Called 1111 and told them but they didn’t believe me until I told them to try it. They did and confirmed system is not working. Way to go immigration – still can’t do anything right.
I can’t understand why something that should be so simple and time-saving for them causes so many problems. I go to Udon Thani regularly for farang shopping so for me it is no problem to call into immigration, who would have to be one of the most efficient in Thailand. I got my visa extension in 15 minutes last month and the 90-day report takes 5. However, for those in the more popular farang centres (and a visit to Chiang Mai immigration when I lived there was a dreaded event) the chance of doing it online would be a lifesaver. I’m going to try online reporting in May and I will report back on the blog.
I can verify the system was down late March-early April. But my total time in the Udonthani office was about 3 minutes to complete the 90 day report. The IO pleasantly said “goodbye and enjoy your shopping day!”