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Immigration · Embassies · Driving licence

Residence certificates in Chiang Mai

A residence certificate is a short official letter that confirms where a foreigner lives in Thailand. You will need one for a Thai driving licence, to register a car or motorbike in your name, and sometimes for a bank account. Here is who issues it, what it is used for, and how to get one in Chiang Mai.

What it is

Thai offices identify Thai citizens by their ID card and house registration. A foreigner has neither, so when an office needs to know where you live it asks for a letter from an authority that does know: a residence certificate, which Chiang Mai Immigration calls a letter of residence information (in Thai, หนังสือรับรองถิ่นที่อยู่). It states your name, nationality, passport details and your address in Thailand, and it is issued for a stated purpose.

Immigration can confirm your address because your landlord, hotel or Thai spouse has to report it within 24 hours of your arrival, on the form known as TM.30, and because you report it again every 90 days on a long stay. If your address is missing from their records or out of date, sort that out first; the immigration overview explains both duties.

Who issues it

Thai Immigration, at the office for the province where you live, is now the usual issuer. Embassies used to provide an alternative, an affidavit of address sworn at the embassy, but most have stopped. The US embassy ended its residency affidavits on 1 March 2023 and points people to Thai Immigration. The Australian embassy says it does not issue address letters for driving licences, bank accounts or vehicles. Some embassies may still offer something similar; check your own embassy’s notarial page before you assume either way.

The Department of Land Transport, which issues driving licences, accepts proof of residence from a Thai or foreign government body, so a letter from either source works there when you can get one.

What it is used for

Chiang Mai Immigration’s application form lists the reasons it issues the letter for:

  • A driving licence, for a car or a motorcycle, first issue or renewal.
  • A vehicle: registering a car or motorbike in your name, buying new or used, transferring ownership, selling, or closing a finance agreement.
  • A house registration book for foreigners, the yellow book, whether you own the home, rent it (the landlord signs) or live in a home your Thai spouse owns.
  • A bank account, naming the bank and the exact branch.

For a first Thai driving licence, Immigration’s guidance lists, besides the residence document: your passport with its entry and extension stamps and at least 15 days left on your stay, a medical certificate no more than 30 days old, and the Department of Land Transport’s online road-safety course. The licence office then sets its own tests.

Getting one in Chiang Mai

  1. Fill in the form online. The Chiang Mai Immigration site links a form page that asks for your passport details, arrival card number, date of entry, visa expiry date and full Thai address, and for the reasons you need the letter. It prints a bilingual application and a checklist of the documents for those reasons.
  2. Gather the papers on the checklist. Bring your passport and copies of its photo page, visa and latest entry stamp, and proof of your address. If you rent and need the letter for a house registration, your landlord signs the form.
  3. Submit it in person at the immigration office beside Chiang Mai airport, at 71 Moo 3, Airport Road, Suthep, Mueang Chiang Mai. The office’s form page says residence letters are taken on weekday mornings, from 08:30 to 12:00, and the office is closed on Thai public holidays.
  4. Collect the letter when the office tells you to, and check that the name, passport number, address and purpose are right before you leave.

The office does not publish a fee on its page, and what applicants report differs, so bring cash. Agents offer to do the errand for a charge; you do not need one.

Tips

  • Ask how recent it must be. The office that wants the letter may refuse an old one; get it shortly before you need it.
  • One letter, one purpose. The letter names the reasons you ticked, so tick every errand you have coming up, such as a licence and a motorbike transfer, in one application.
  • Outside Chiang Mai, the same letter comes from the immigration office for your province; in Bangkok, the US embassy points people to the Government Complex on Chaeng Watthana Road.

Sources

Checked against the sources below. Rules, fees and dates change, sometimes at short notice: confirm with Chiang Mai Immigration, or the immigration office for your province before you rely on them.

Questions people ask

Is a residence certificate the same as permanent residence?

No. A residence certificate is a short letter confirming your current address. Permanent residence is a separate status with its own application, quota and much higher fees. Some websites mix up the two; the permanent-residence forms are numbered TM.15 to TM.17.

Can my embassy give me a residence certificate instead?

Fewer and fewer embassies do. The US embassy stopped notarising residency affidavits on 1 March 2023 and sends people to Thai Immigration, and the Australian embassy does not issue address letters for licences, bank accounts or vehicles. Ask your own embassy, but expect to go to Immigration.

Do I need a residence certificate to open a bank account?

Some banks and branches ask for one, others accept a work permit or other papers, and the rules differ from bank to bank. If the bank asks for it, check the exact branch name with them first: Chiang Mai Immigration warns that a letter naming the wrong branch may not be accepted.

Related

Visas and immigrationAn overview of the ways to stay in Thailand: visa exemption, tourist visas, the DTV, the Non-Immigrant visas and LTR, extensions, 90-day reports, TM30, overstay rules and the digital arrival card.The Non-O visaThe Thai Non-Immigrant O visa and its one-year extensions: marriage to a Thai, retirement at 50 and over, dependants and volunteers, the 400,000 and 800,000 baht rules, and the extension process.Chiang MaiChiang Mai for people who live there or plan to: the districts, the three seasons and the smoky months, getting around, where foreigners live, costs, and the temples including Doi Suthep.Living in ThailandPractical guides for foreigners living in Thailand: visas and immigration rules, the Non-O visa, residence certificates, teaching English, schools, and Chiang Mai.