Can you file the Thai 90 day report (TM47) online?
Online filing at tm47.immigration.go.th is one of four official channels and the Immigration Bureau attaches no precondition to it, but it takes about three days for an officer to approve, so it is a pending request rather than an instant filing. The rule almost everyone gets wrong is a different one: leaving Thailand resets the 90 day count in every case, so a foreigner who travels regularly may never owe a report at all.
Last reviewed 30 August 2026
The rule almost everyone gets wrong
Leaving Thailand resets the count. Not pauses it, resets it. The Immigration Bureau states it in Thai as เริ่มนับเวลา 90 วันใหม่ทุกกรณี, the 90 day count begins anew in every case. That phrase, ทุกกรณี, is doing real work: there is no carve out for a short trip, none for holding a re-entry permit, and none for returning on the same permission to stay. A weekend in Penang restarts your clock at zero.
Two people on identical visas can therefore have completely different obligations. Someone who leaves the country every couple of months never accumulates 90 continuous days and never files anything. Someone who settles in one place and does not travel owes a report at day 90, and another at day 180. The requirement attaches to how long you have been physically here, and to nothing else.
The four official channels
| Channel | What to know |
|---|---|
| Online at tm47.immigration.go.th | Submit in the 15 days before the due date. Allow about 3 days for an officer to approve it. |
| In person at your immigration office | Always works, including after the window has closed, when it becomes the only option. |
| By registered post | Send well ahead. The date that counts is not the date you posted it. |
| Through an agent carrying your passport | You do not have to attend, but your passport does. This is a normal, legal service. |
Can the first report be done online? Nobody official has said
This is repeated everywhere: that your first 90 day report after entering Thailand must be made in person, and only later ones can be filed online. It appears in forum answers and on at least one large law firm site, stated flatly.
We could not find it in any Immigration Bureau source. The Bureau lists online notification as one of four channels with no precondition attached. The official TM47 system guide names exactly three reasons a request will be refused: incomplete data, a duplicate request within three days, and one timing rule, that a request is "not due for the next due date" and should be made 1 to 75 days after the previous petition was approved. That third condition is written around a previous petition already in the system, which is very likely where the belief comes from, but it is a timing rule and not a stated bar on first time users. The words first, arrival and entry stamp do not appear in the eligibility section at all.
If you are late
Once the seven day grace period has passed, the report can only be made in person, and a fine is assessed on the spot. The official figures are 2,000 baht if you come in of your own accord, and 5,000 baht if you are brought in by an officer instead. The Thai text for the second is ไม่ว่ากรณีใด ๆ, in any case whatsoever, which is broader than an immigration raid: it covers being brought in for any reason at all.
The 4,000 baht figure that circulates in English language summaries does not appear in any official source we could read. The two numbers are 2,000 and 5,000.
If you hold a DTV
The Destination Thailand Visa gives up to 180 days per entry, extendable once by a further 180. Nothing about the visa exempts you: the obligation is keyed to continuous presence, and no official source lists the DTV or any other visa type as exempt.
In practice that splits DTV holders in two. Stay the full 180 days and you cross day 90 and owe a report, then another if you extend and stay on. Leave and re-enter before day 90, as many DTV holders do, and you never reach a due date at all. That is why the requirement feels invisible to some DTV holders and unavoidable to others.
The DTV application rules changed on 31 August 2026, with very little notice. Applicants now need proof of permanent residence in the country they apply from, and a police clearance certificate issued within the previous six months. Those are requirements for getting the visa. The stay itself is unchanged at 180 days per entry over five years, with one extension of up to 180 days, so nothing about the change alters the 90 day reporting position described above. Checked against the Royal Thai Embassy in London on 30 August 2026.
TM47 is not TM30
These are constantly confused and they are different duties, owed by different people, on different clocks. TM30 is the accommodation notification under Section 38, owed by the housemaster, owner or hotel manager within 24 hours of you taking up residence. TM47 is the 90 day report under Section 37(5), owed by you personally, every 90 continuous days.
Filing a TM30 does not satisfy, postpone or reset your TM47. The official national guidance does not list a TM30 receipt among the documents required for a 90 day report, though individual offices are widely reported to ask for one. Take yours anyway; it costs nothing to have it in the folder.
What to do this week
- Work out your actual due date: 90 days from your most recent entry stamp, not from your visa start.
- If you have left Thailand since then, start again from the latest entry. That alone resolves most of these questions.
- File in the 15 days before the date, not on it, so a rejection still leaves you time to attend in person.
- Keep the receipt. The next report is counted from the due date, not from the day you filed.
If a firm is handling your visa or work permit, it is worth settling in writing whether the 90 day reports are inside their fee or billed separately, because it is one of the items most often assumed and least often stated. That is exactly the kind of gap comparing three quotes side by side is meant to expose, and what firms charge for visa work is on the visa and work permit cost page.
Related questions
- Visa and work permit: why are they two documents from two agencies?
- What counts as "working" on a tourist visa or a DTV?
- Changing employer: what happens to your work permit?
Sources
- Immigration Bureau: notification of staying in the Kingdom over 90 days (Thai)
- Immigration Bureau: official TM47 online system guide for foreign users
- TM47 online notification portal
- Royal Thai Embassy London: Destination Thailand Visa, stay and requirements
This is general information about how a filing works, not accounting or tax advice for your company. Confirm anything that matters against the official notice or with your accountant. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we will fix it.