National—
At 10:00 AM, on January 22nd, 2024, Pol. Lt. Gen. Ittipol Ittisaranachai, the Royal Thai immigration police chief, publicly spoke about the “Online notification of staying in Thailand over 90 days” service according to Thai government policy to facilitate foreigners on long visas.
Mr. Srettha Thavisin, the Thai Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, recently issued a policy to stimulate the economy and support tourism values to attract foreign tourists and investors to Thailand.
The 90-day online notification service would facilitate foreign businessmen and ex-pats to ease the notification process when staying in Thailand for more than 90 days, said Pol. Lt. Gen. Ittipol.
TPN media notes that this online service has been around for many years but has been riddled in the past with various problems, limited browser compatibility, downtime, and more issues. Recently, however, there has been a renewed push to encourage expats to try the online system once again and reassure them that it is much easier and less stressful than it was in prior years.
The prior problems had led many to previously give up on trying to submit their 90-day check-in online, leading to long waits and tying up resources at Thai Immigration for in-person visits instead. It is hoped that with the improvements to the application and service that many more people will choose to use the online portal and that it will save everyone valuable time.
It was noted that some people, however, could still be requested to perform their online 90-day check-in in person depending on a variety of factors such as proving residency or nation of origin.
Unfortunately, however, despite questions at the conference about the possibility of entirely ending the 90 day check-in process and just utilize yearly updates depending on the visa an expat or long-term visitor is on, there are no plans to do so in the near or intermediate future.
There are plans however to allow extensions of some visa types online as well and this is currently in testing, although won’t be applicable for everyone.
To register for the 90-day online notification service, foreigners can digitally register on “www.immigration.go.th” anywhere and anytime. Email is needed to register for the 90-day online notification service. The first visit needs to be in person generally, but subsequent visits can be online.
This article originally appeared on our sister website The Pattaya News.
