How do you get a residence certificate or residence card in Thailand in 2026?

While your Non-Immigrant permission to stay is valid, Immigration can issue a Certificate of Residence, sometimes called a residence letter, confirming your name, nationality, visa category, address, and stay expiry. Bangkok Immigration and provincial offices publish counter hours, fees, and photo rules on their sites. You usually apply in person with passport originals, copies, recent photos, and evidence that your address is on file.

Officers commonly expect a current TM30 (host-filed foreign-resident address report) tied to the address you declare. If the landlord never filed, fix that through TM30 address report before you queue. The letter is temporary. It tracks your current extension end date, so renew stay permission through apply for a residence permit extensions before you ask for a fresh certificate.

Banks often request this letter when a branch wants Immigration-confirmed address evidence beyond a lease: see open a bank account. The Department of Land Transport also lists it among accepted proofs when you convert a driving licence or register a vehicle at a provincial DLT office.

Permanent residence is a different track. After committee approval under form TM.9, you pay the fee schedule in the PR notification, then apply for Certificate of Residence form TM.16 through form TM.18 at Immigration. Bangkok Immigration publishes TM.16 instructions in English. That certificate is not the same one-page letter Non-Immigrant holders receive mid-stay.

The next steps happen at the district office for your registered address: alien identification and household registration in the tabien baan system. Timelines and Thai-language forms vary by amphoe, so bring a translator if needed. Full PR context sits in get permanent residence. Until PR completes, do not expect a unified plastic card. Extension stamps in your passport remain the everyday stay evidence, alongside TM30 receipts from paperwork after moving.