The Military Council’s Consulate in Chiang Mai announced on March 18 that Myanmar citizens residing in Thailand must submit recommendations from their ward administrators and police stations in Myanmar to obtain embassy endorsements for visa and stay permit extensions. Myanmar nationals in Chiang Mai seeking embassy endorsements must submit copies of recommendations from their respective wards and police stations in Myanmar, along with the original TM30 form showing their current address in Thailand, to receive embassy certification.
The Military Council’s Chiang Mai Consulate has declared that it will only process endorsements for tourist visas and visa extensions, declining to handle other types of certifications. However, according to a source close to the Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok, the embassy there continues to provide endorsements for bank account openings and driver’s license applications, allows black and white copies of documents, and does not require ward and police station recommendations for extensions. The source shared this information with Yangon Modern News Agency.
The Chiang Mai Consulate under the military regime has stipulated that only Myanmar citizens with long-term residence permits in Thailand may apply for notary and various embassy certifications. For notary services, applicants must submit original translated documents and colored copies of all other documentation. The consulate has set a processing time of three days for regular embassy certifications and up to fourteen days for notary signatures. These restrictions will be implemented starting March 19, according to the announcement from the Military Council’s Consulate in Chiang Mai.
These stringent regulations are being interpreted as specifically targeting CDM (Civil Disobedience Movement) staff and political activists who have fled to Thailand. A CDM officer residing in Bangkok analyzed that the Military Council is becoming increasingly restrictive, noting that requiring ward and police station recommendations from Yangon for foreign residence permits and visa extensions is procedurally incorrect. The officer emphasized that it would be impossible for CDM staff and political activists to obtain such recommendations, suggesting that this is a deliberate strategy by the Military Council to create difficulties for these groups.
