“I had the ‘pleasure’ today to visit immigration for a certificate of residence which I needed to transfer a car into my name,” said the reader who preferred not to be named.
“Can anybody explain why the young female clerk of 20 asked me for B300 when the service is FREE? I really think this needs to be investigated,” he said.
However, Phuket Immigration Office Chief Col Kathathorn Kumthieng told The Phuket News today (Feb 2), “There is no fee for a certificate of residence (sic). Our officers should only ask for fees from aliens (sic) as declared in the law.
“Also, clerks are not immigration officers, they operate separately. If there are other people who are not officers asking for a fee, please check first who they are, why they are asking for a fee that is outside of the law,” he added.
“If you are being wrongly told to pay a fee, please contact the immigration supervisor or overseer with the information directly. These officers are always on duty.” Col Kathathorn said.
“They would have to investigate the real facts,” he added.
Col Kathathorn also confirmed that there is also no fee for foreigners re-registering their address, as made clear in the page one story in The Phuket News last week (see story here).
“There is no fee for re-registering your address,” he said.