What is the Tabien Baan?
A tabien baan (ทะเบียนบ้าน), or house book, is simply a government issued booklet listing all the people registered at a particular address in Thailand. It is a basic administrative document and forms the basis of Thailand’s registration system for all citizens and permanent residents.
With this basic document, ID cards can be issued, and together they then allow further access to a myriad of government services (e.g. health, licenses, welfare, tax) as well as being useful for all types of banking and other financial services.
Being on a tabien baan does not signify ownership of the place of registry. It merely lists those who are officially registered at that address. All tabien baans will be controlled by a ‘house master’, which is a designated person who gives permission for a person to be registered at that address. Similarly, that person need not be the owner.
There are two types of tabien baan:
- The blue tabien baan (Thor.Ror 14 or ท.ร.14) for Thai nationals and permanent residents and;
- The yellow tabien baan (Thor.Ror 13 or ท.ร.13) for foreigners without permanent residency in Thailand.
- Blue tabien baan’s (Thor.Ror.14 or ท.ร.14) are reserved for Thai citizens and permanent residents.
- Yellow tabien baan’s (Thor.Ror.13 or ท.ร.13) allow all other people with valid visas to be registered into Thailand’s national registry system.
Many foreigners living in Thailand don’t bother registering on a yellow tabien baan. This has mainly been because of a lack of awareness of both foreigners, but also Thai officials, of their existence.
However over recent years the documents have become more popular as being on a tabien baan provides foreigners a unique ID number, useful for dealing with certain government agencies.
Without a tabien baan, banks and government agencies will normally use your passport number as a default ID. This generally works fine, however in the event that a passport expires and is replaced, your new passport number will not match your previous records on file. These small discrepancies have caused major hassles for instance when people try to replace lost bank books or credit cards and your ID on record doesn’t perfectly match.
In many cases, the yellow tabien baan also negates the need for a foreigner to get a ‘residency confirmation letter’ from their embassy, which is often required for opening bank accounts or applying or renewing driver’s licenses. Depending on the embassy, they may only be a single use document (requiring multiple trips) and many embassies also charge a pretty penny to issue them.
Requirements for a yellow Tabien Baan
Unlike most of the requirements for applying for Thai citizenship which are pretty exacting, getting a tabien baan issued really comes down to the whims of the officials in the local district office (สำนักงานเขต). However, for the most part the documents requirements usually consist of the ones outlined below. These include copies of:
- Your passport’s data page;
- Your birth certificate;
- Your passport page showing your Thai visa;
- Your spouse’s Thai ID Card (if married);
- A rental contract (if applicable);
- Blue tabien baan of the address you wish to be registered;
- A copy of your marriage certificate (if applicable);
- Two passport sized photo’s;
- Two Thai citizen witnesses aged 20 or above; and
- Given the tabien baan will all be in Thai, written details in Thai of your basic data information (name, date of birth) as well as your parents’ names.
Given you will be entered on someone’s house registration, the ‘house master’ will need to attend and formally give permission for you to be entered on the tabien baan. If you are a rural area, occasionally the village head, or ‘phu yai baan’ (ผู้ใหญ่บ้าน), is also asked to attend.
In some cases, the district office may require you to have Ministry of Foreign Affairs registered translations of documents which are not in Thai or have been procured overseas.
As mentioned earlier, given that each Thai district office applies their own take on the rules for issuing a yellow tabien baan, it is worth checking in with your district office in advance to see what their exact requirements are.
Processing time
Depending on how familiar your district office are with issuing them, they can be issued with little fuss in under an hour. For more remote district offices, you may find officials pulling out the Thai civil service instruction manual on issuing the documents, and it may take a number of days if sign-offs from senior officials in that particular office are required. Others yet, may also want to interview you as well to double check why you want to be registered, as well as to verify your relationship if married.
Unfortunately, from time to time, certain offices are reluctant to issue them for no good reason, but this is fortunately less common in Bangkok and larger cities.
Do you need to live where you are registered?
The simple answer is ‘no’. It is very common for most Thai’s to not actually live where they are registered, particularly people who have to move provinces for work. Landlords generally don’t let their tenants be registered on their tabien baan either.
Moving Tabien Baan
From time to time it may be necessary to move your tabien baan to a new province. It is quite simple and there is no need to go through the rigmarole of applying again for a new one, so long as you use the following process.
- Go to your current district office with your current yellow tabien baan, passport and the house master. Tell the officials you are moving address (ย้ายต้นทาง).
- The district office will give you a letter to take to your new district office.
- At the new district office, give them this letter, passport and bring along the new house master. The district office will automatically issue you with a new yellow tabien baan for that address.
Citizenship applications: where should I be registered?
As outlined in other sections of this website, for those who are applying for Thai citizenship via marriage or permanent residency routes, then being registered in Bangkok is ideal as that will allow a dedicated Police Special Branch naturalization unit to process your application. For those registered outside of Bangkok which don’t process citizenship applications, then you should consider looking for a friend in Bangkok metro region who might be happy to have your name placed on their tabien baan.
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I am on a Student Visa, Final year of my bachelor degree, I am staying in thailand since 2017, I am planning to apply for a Thai citizenship after 3 years of work. Do i need to apply for a yellow Tabian Baan, is it necessary? is it possible to get a yello Tabian Baan with student visa? Thank you so much in advance for your suggestion. Feel free to drop a Suggestion
Hi there – I think you’ve already come to our Facebook group too, right?
The long and the short of it is that you’ll need to apply for PR first, hold that for five years and then after that you can apply for citizenship. Both PR and citizenship require you to be working for three years in the lead up to application.
You don’t need the yellow book for a PR application, so no need to go for that at this point, but some people find it a useful ID to hold. The main article on our website about PR is this: https://www.thaicitizenship.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-thai-permanent-residence/
Yes I am the same one from Facebook group (if I got married with Thai now and do a work for 3 years is it possible to apply after 3 years of work and completing 3 years of marriage)
My wife asked about The Yellow book for myself after we finished with house purchase and updated the Blue book but was told unless I was on the marriage visa I couldn’t apply on just as a tourist with a visa on arrival . This was in Udon Thani is this fact ?
I’m under 50 so can’t apply for any O visas or Marriage , Family visas .
Thanks in advance
Lee
Hi Lee,
So each and every district office seems to take a different approach to the marriage documentation – some will require the kitchen sink while others will be happy with a passport.
In terms of visa issues, I won’t profess to be a visa expert, but I do know for sure that you can get a non-immigrant O visa from embassies based of marriage at any age (having done this myself) which will give you an initial 90 day stay. It isn’t only for retirees. The reason for extending this visa once in Thailand will differ depending on your circumstances. See the Thai embassy website in Austria as an example of who is eligible (https://www.thaiembassy.at/en/type-of-visa/non-immigrant-visa-o-other-purposes.html)
I’m less familiar with how this is EXTENDED in Thailand once you land, but believe for married couples showing 400,000 baht in the bank is one of the ways for extending this visa for a year.
I hope this helps!
Thank you for the info that’s a relief and is it possible to seek a Tabien Baan on other visas ?
Trying to plan for next year as I’m currently living in the UK and wanting to live permanently in Thailand in the next 6 – 18 months time.
Good question. You’ll most likely be ask for some sort of non-immigrant visa and showing that you’ve been in Thailand at least 6 months. This will vary of course but it appears that they would like something along these lines for a yellow tabieen baan application.
Hello. I am a nun. Can my temple be registered in the yellow tabieen baan in order to apply for the ID Card? Thanks
Hi Eva – to be honest I am unsure. Like all registered property in Thailand, I suspect there is a house registration attached to your temple, though you’ll need to speak to the admin people at your temple to see who is ‘in charge’ of the book as their cooperation will be needed as the ‘jao baan’ to give permission for you to be registered on the yellow version.
Hi, my husband owns a house in Chonburi Which is rented out. I live and rent in Samut Prakan. Is it better to get the yellow Tabien ban in Chonburi and apply for citizenship there or get a yellow tabien ban from my rental? Or find someone in Bangkok? For the citizenship process do they want to visit where you live? If yes that would have to be my rental right? Or can you have a tabien ban in Bangkok and apply for citizenship from an address out of Bangkok? It’s confusing 🙁
Hi Maria
So can only apply for citizenship in the province you have a tabieen Baan.
Bangkok is the most straightforward for applicants but unless you live there or know someone who is willing to let you into their Bangkok based tabieen Baan then you need to consider other options.
Samut Prakan seems to be a dead end based on reports we’ve had.
Chonburi has had some successful applicants so that will be your best bet. I’ve placed the address if Chonburi SB in this article based on that fact.
Totally okay for you and your husband to be registered separately for the citizenship application however a district officer proceeding the yellow TB might want to see you together at the same address when you apply. https://www.thaicitizenship.com/thai-citizenship-based-on-marriage-to-a-thai-husband/
I am on a yellow book outside Bangkok, If I change and put myself on one in Bangkok, will I still get credit for the 10 years on a yellow book in another province
Hi Sam, points for being on the tabieen baan is mainly focused at those permanent residents who get to have their names on the blue tabieen baan. All others applying for citizenship can get at most 5 points. If you move to a new address you’ll get to keep your old TB so bring that along too when you apply.
https://www.thaicitizenship.com/thai-citizenship-points-test/