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Dispelling Myths About Yellow House Books In Thailand?

Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Yellow House books in Thailand. I made a number of videos on this some time ago and I thought it was time to do an update on this.

Yellow House books, what are they? Well in Thailand, they don't really do a census, for example like we do in the United States. They have a House Book system which is sort of a "living census" if you will. Folks that are Thai nationals especially need to be in what is called a Blue House book but foreign nationals can be in what is called a Yellow House book. As we have noted, there were changes to various statutes in Thailand back in '91 I believe that allowed for the creation of the Yellow House book and for foreign nationals in Non-Immigrant status as opposed to residents, big difference, Permanent Residents are in a Blue Tabian Baan, a Blue House book. A Non-Immigrant is in a Yellow House book. There are some myths out there, and I was talking to somebody on the street and by the street I mean talking to somebody in person that was an avid viewer of our videos and he was under some misconceptions about it. He said: "I don't have to do 90-day reporting, I am in a House Book." No that is not true. 90 day reporting, as we have noted in other videos is governed by the Immigration Act of '79. I believe the Civil Registrar Act was amended in '91 to create Yellow House books. It didn't do anything to change the Immigration Act. 90 day report is still required for non-immigrants whether or not they have a Yellow House book; it is irrelevant. 

The other thing to bear in mind, I have heard people say "Oh if I have a Yellow House book, I don't have to do TM30." Again not true. The Immigration Act of '79 deals with TM30 and there is nothing that changed that in the amendments to the rules regarding House Books. 

So again, just to kind of recap, Yellow House books are useful. They are a good identity document and they can help with getting for example what is called a pink ID card. Thais have a blue ID card, a national ID card. There is an ID card for foreign Nationals in Thailand, a pink ID card. It can act as a basis for applying for a pink ID card. It is useful, it is an ID document but just to dispel some myths, it doesn't have a great deal of impact on one's immigration status or immigration obligations here in the Kingdom of Thailand.