TM30 Explained: Who Files It, Online Steps and the Receipt

TM30 tells Thai immigration where a foreigner is staying. Whoever takes the foreigner in, usually the landlord, must file it within 24 hours of the move-in, free, online or at the immigration office. The tenant needs its receipt for extensions and the residence certificate, so ask for it on move-in day. This guide covers both sides of the lease, with every rule dated and sourced at the end.

What is TM30, and who must file it?#

TM30 is the notice that a foreigner lives at an address. The person who takes the foreigner in must file it within 24 hours of the move-in: the house master, the owner or possessor of the home, or a hotel manager. For a rented house or condo that is the landlord, and in practice the landlord or their letting agent files it, since only they hold the house book. Filing is free, and the duty and any fine are the host's, not the foreigner's.

Two points decide most cases. The clock starts when the foreigner moves in, not when the lease is signed. And the law's "house master" includes a tenant who is the main occupant, so a tenant who sublets or puts up a foreign partner files for that person. Several foreigners in one home go on one notice, each named on its list.

When is a new TM30 needed?#

Only when the stay changes. One TM30 covers the period the landlord stated. Trips within Thailand need no new one, and nor do trips abroad if you come back to the same home within that period on a re-entry permit or a multiple-entry visa. A new visa-free entry or a new single-entry visa starts a new stay and needs a new TM30, as do a new address, a new person moving in, or a stay past the stated check-out date.

Many guides still say a landlord must file again after every trip abroad. Since 30 June 2020 that is true only for a new entry: someone who comes back on a re-entry permit or a multiple-entry visa keeps the same TM30, while someone who comes back visa-free, with a new entry stamp, needs a new one. Does a TM30 expire? Not by itself: it covers the stay the landlord stated. Ask for your lease end date as the check-out date, because Chiang Mai Immigration checks that "Stay until" date before it issues a residence certificate, and asks for the lease when there is none. When you move house, you also owe immigration your own change-of-address notice within 24 hours.

How to file TM30 online, step by step#

At tm30.immigration.go.th, free, in three stages: register an account, add the address, then notify on the move-in day. The system accepts a notice only for today or up to 24 hours back, never in advance, so the landlord files on the day the tenant moves in and downloads the record straight away.

1. Register: choose Thai (ID card number) or Foreigner (passport number), fill in the form and upload a signed copy of your ID card or passport. Your email address becomes your username.
2. Verify your email: open the "[TM.30] Verify Email" message and click its link within 7 days. The system then emails a temporary password; log in and set your own.
3. Add the address: in Profile, enter the house ID number (เลขรหัสประจำบ้าน) and the address, with the village number in digits only, and upload a copy of the house registration (the blue house book, ทะเบียนบ้าน) and the owner's ID card. If you are not the owner, upload both people's ID copies and the owner's letter of authorisation. The address is approved as soon as you save it.
4. Notify: click "Inform", choose the address, enter the check-in date (today or yesterday) and the lease end as the check-out date, then the tenant's passport number, names, nationality, gender, date of birth and permitted-stay date. Save. No document upload is needed for a notice.
5. Download the record: when the system asks you to download the accommodation notification record, click Download, not Later, and send the PDF to your tenant.
6. Find it later: Search, View, Export works only for about 7 days after the check-in date, according to the official guide. Save the PDF on the day.

Four rules built into the system catch people out. An address cannot be edited once saved. If someone registered the same address before, such as a previous owner, a tenant or the building office, it shows Pending until Chiang Mai Immigration checks your documents. A notice can be cancelled only within 24 hours of the check-in date; a wrong check-out date is fixed by notifying again, because officers use the latest entry. And dates use the western calendar, not the Buddhist one. Keep each uploaded file under 1 MB. The system's own user guide has a video for every step, and an Excel template takes up to 1,000 people at once.

TM30 online login problems#

General questions go to the immigration call centre, 1178, or to Chiang Mai Immigration on 053 201 755, press 30. There is no official TM30 app, and filing is free: a website or app that charges to file your TM30 is a private service, not the Immigration Bureau.

Filing TM30 on paper in Chiang Mai#

Take the TM.30 form to the Investigation section at Chiang Mai Immigration on Airport Road, Monday to Friday. It is free and takes about 10 minutes, and the officer hands back the lower part of the form as the receipt. The branch at Central Festival does not handle TM30.

• The form is "แบบ ตม.30", a free two-page form in Thai and English on the Immigration Bureau's website. Copy names and the passport number from the passport, not the arrival card, in block letters.
• Attach the tenant's copies of the passport photo page, the latest entry stamp and the latest visa or extension stamp, each signed by the tenant. Bring copies of the owner's ID card and house registration too: the rules don't list them, but counters often ask.
• The form still asks for the arrival card (TM.6) number. Since arrival cards went digital in May 2025, ask the office what to enter (053 201 755, press 30).
• The owner can send someone else to hand it in. Registered post is also allowed, with a self-addressed 6.5 × 9 inch envelope and a ฿10 stamp for the receipt; it is slower, and the tenant waits for the receipt.
• A late notice can't be filed online, because the system refuses move-in dates older than 24 hours. It goes to the counter, where any fine is settled.
• Chiang Mai Immigration, Investigation section: 71 Moo 3 Airport Road, Suthep, Chiang Mai 50200; 053 201 755, press 30, or 053 282 289.

The TM30 receipt: why tenants need it#

The receipt belongs to the landlord, but the tenant needs it. Chiang Mai Immigration asks for a copy before it issues a residence certificate, the letter banks and the land transport office ask for, and offices ask for it at extensions and 90-day reports. Ask for the PDF on move-in day and check it.

1. Your name and passport number are right.
2. The address matches your lease, and for a yellow house book matches the house registration exactly.
3. The check-out ("Stay until") date covers your lease.

There is no public lookup where a tenant can check a TM30. The record lives in the landlord's account, and officers can see every notice in their own system, so if the PDF is lost, ask the landlord or the counter. The TM30 is not on the official 90-day report checklist, but bring a copy anyway; offices ask.

Thai residence certificate

The letter that certifies your TM30 address: who asks for it, the documents and the steps at Chiang Mai Immigration.

Read the residence certificate guide

TM30 fines and enforcement in Chiang Mai#

A landlord who does not notify can be fined up to ฿2,000; a hotel ฿2,000–10,000. The office settles the fine on the spot, and no fixed schedule is published; the ฿800 minimum some sites print has no basis in the law. The fine is the landlord's, but in practice a missing TM30 holds up the tenant's own paperwork until it is sorted out.

Chiang Mai Immigration works through sweeps and complaints rather than routine checks of leases. In July 2023 it fined 16 house owners in Mueang for not notifying within 24 hours. In June 2026 officials checked a house in Nong Hoi that a yearly tenant was letting to tourists by the night, and gathered evidence for a TM30 case. In October 2026 a foreigner was fined in Saraphi for not notifying his residence, so a tenant who rents a whole house should not assume the duty can never reach them. What a late filing costs at the counter in practice, the office does not publish; ask (press 30).

If your landlord does not file#

Ask first, then file on the landlord's behalf, and only then go to the office. Most landlords who don't file simply don't know the steps, so send them the message below and a link to this page.

1. Ask the landlord to file online on your move-in day and send you the PDF.
2. File as the landlord's assigned person: on paper with a TM.30 form the landlord has signed, or online by registering yourself and uploading your passport copy, the landlord's ID copy, a copy of the unit's house registration (the blue house book, ทะเบียนบ้าน) and the landlord's letter of authorisation. Without the landlord's house book and ID you cannot file online at all. Whether Chiang Mai accepts a tenant filing this way, no official page says; ask the office first (press 30).
3. If the landlord can't be reached and a deadline is close, take your lease to the Investigation counter at Airport Road and ask how to proceed. Expect to pay the settlement fine to get your own application through, and claim it back under the lease.

A TM30 clause for your lease (our sample)#

A short clause settles who files and who pays. This is a sample we wrote, not legal advice: have a Thai lawyer check it before you use it. The 3 days fall inside the system's export window, and "the full lease term" means entering the lease end as the check-out date, which is what Chiang Mai checks.

Condos, short stays and agents#

In a condo the unit's owner files, not the building's office; an office that files does so as the owner's messenger, and the duty stays with the owner. An agent or property manager can file for the owner with a letter of authorisation. For stays by the night, the owner files for every guest within 24 hours.

• Agents: the rules let the owner assign someone to deliver the notice; they do not require a power of attorney. If a counter asks for one, it takes a ฿10 duty stamp for a single filing or ฿30 for repeated filings.
• Letting a condo by the day or week is also treated by the Interior Ministry as running a hotel without a licence, and a condo office that knowingly allows it shares the fault. That is a separate offence from the TM30.
• A foreigner who owns and lives in a condo files for themselves, and needs the TM30 for a residence certificate anyway. The online system asks for a house registration copy; whether it accepts the condo title instead, ask the office (press 30).

What the new law would change#

Nothing yet. A bill that would change these rules passed the House of Representatives, 403 votes to none, on 30 September 2026 and is before the Senate. Until it is published in the Royal Gazette, the rules on this page apply.

If the bill passes, the landlord's TM30 becomes the main record of where a foreigner lives, more important than today. We will update this page when the law is published.

The Chiang Mai Immigration Office guide

Both counters, opening hours, the 90-day report, extensions at ฿1,900 and re-entry permits.

Read the immigration guide