To transfer or not to transfer Multi Non-O to new passport at immigration

[keysersoze276]

Hello all!  My first post here!

 

I have a Multiple Entry Non-O visa, with an enter before date of 10 April 2018.  This visa and the entry stamps are in my old Passport which is now cancelled as it was set to expire soon.  I just renewed my Passport at the US Embassy in Bangkok, which gave me a letter to take to immigration to "transfer (my) immigration stamp" from the cancelled PP to the new one.  The immigration stamp admits me until 14 March 2018.

 

My main question is will the visa itself (10 April) be transferred as well?  Meaning I can exit and enter on the newly transferred stamp in March and then exit and enter again before the visa expires in April for an additional 90 days?

 

Another concern I have is the linking of the two PP#s because I have a heavy handful of tourist visas over the years.  Could they later see those in the system and count up TVs from both PPs?  I saw a similar inquiry here a few weeks back, with Ubon Joe saying to just get take both PPs and immigration at the border would stamp one out and stamp in on the new PP, I believe, with no need to transfer the stamps at the immigration office (Hope I got that right, Joe).  The difference is that was for a tourist visa and mine is a Non-O.  Also note, I don't have any extension of stay.  If I do need to go to immigration to transfer the stamp or visa, I suppose I should get an extension of stay?  This is my first Non-O, so sorry for the confusion.  Kinda lost here.  Any advice is much appreciated!

[ubonjoe]

Visas are not transferred.

You will use both passport on departure from the country the first you leave. They transfer your current entry stamp to the new one and stamp you out of the country in it. Then on entry to the country you will show both passports to use the valid visa in your old passport.

You passports will be linked the first time you use the new one. Immigration will only see your previous entries. Since you now have a non-o visa for entry the old entries using a tourist visa would not held against you when you enter the country.

[keysersoze276]

5 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

Visas are not transferred.

You will use both passport on departure from the country the first you leave. They transfer your current entry stamp to the new one and stamp you out of the country in it. Then on entry to the country you will show both passports to use the valid visa in your old passport.

You passports will be linked the first time you use the new one. Immigration will only see your previous entries. Since you now have a non-o visa for entry the old entries using a tourist visa would not held against you when you enter the country.

Thanks so much, Joe!  So, to be clear- no need to take this letter the the immigration office?  The staff at the US Embassy claimed it was required, but going off your previous reply to the other guy with the SETV, I'm thinking it's not required and I doubt the US embassy can keep up with the ever changing whims of Thai immigration.

 

This linking of the two passports is inevitable, then?  And although it will not count against me now, could be frowned upon in the future (again whims of IOs)?  Like at a later date they can just see all the entries over the years from the old passport which is linked to the new passport and subsequently say, "Hey, you have lived in Thailand on TVs for some years in the past and we are in the middle of some obscure crackdown at the moment."?  I was under the impression that a new PP with a new number meant a clean slate from past visas.  Not so?

[Mark1066]

8 minutes ago, keysersoze276 said:

Thanks so much, Joe!  So, to be clear- no need to take this letter the the immigration office?  The staff at the US Embassy claimed it was required, but going off your previous reply to the other guy with the SETV, I'm thinking it's not required and I doubt the US embassy can keep up with the ever changing whims of Thai immigration.

 

This linking of the two passports is inevitable, then?  And although it will not count against me now, could be frowned upon in the future (again whims of IOs)?  Like at a later date they can just see all the entries over the years from the old passport which is linked to the new passport and subsequently say, "Hey, you have lived in Thailand on TVs for some years in the past and we are in the middle of some obscure crackdown at the moment."?  I was under the impression that a new PP with a new number meant a clean slate from past visas.  Not so?

All your entries and exits are in a database but I do not think they record the visa on which you entered, at least they didn't the last time I saw my records. If that's still the case, they will be able to see you've been in and out of the country a lot but not whether you did so on tourist visas or other types of visas.

[ubonjoe]

21 hours ago, keysersoze276 said:

Thanks so much, Joe!  So, to be clear- no need to take this letter the the immigration office?  The staff at the US Embassy claimed it was required, but going off your previous reply to the other guy with the SETV, I'm thinking it's not required and I doubt the US embassy can keep up with the ever changing whims of Thai immigration.

 

This linking of the two passports is inevitable, then?  And although it will not count against me now, could be frowned upon in the future (again whims of IOs)?  Like at a later date they can just see all the entries over the years from the old passport which is linked to the new passport and subsequently say, "Hey, you have lived in Thailand on TVs for some years in the past and we are in the middle of some obscure crackdown at the moment."?  I was under the impression that a new PP with a new number meant a clean slate from past visas.  Not so?

You don't need to go to immigration.  Most offices would not do anything if you went. They would tell you to do it on departure from the country. The embassy says to do it because they assume you have an extension of stay which does need to be transferred at immigration.

They will do the linking. It is almost automatic it will be done.

Immigration on entry will not go digging back to look at old entries. They normally only look at the most recent ones.

 

[Suradit69]

21 hours ago, keysersoze276 said:

I doubt the US embassy can keep up with the ever changing whims of Thai immigration.

If you had an extension of stay (based on retirement or whatever), you would present both passports and the letter from the embassy to get stamps and visa information transferred to new passport at your immigration office.

 

As said, visas themselves are never transferred. I don't think they've ever been transferred. So not a whim on the part of immigrations. Cancelling the passport doesn't effect the validity of the visa. 

 

People in the embassy are correct that the letter is usually required to do the transfer of an extension etc. I doubt the person advising you looked to see whether you were here on a visa entry or an extension of stay or s/he was unaware of the difference.

[keeniau96]

Ignore all except what UbonJoe tell you. Visas cannot be transferred.

[Steelhammer]

On 23.2.2018 at 12:33 PM, ubonjoe said:

Visas are not transferred.

You will use both passport on departure from the country the first you leave. They transfer your current entry stamp to the new one and stamp you out of the country in it. Then on entry to the country you will show both passports to use the valid visa in your old passport.

In case I have a new passport and in the old passport is a 60 days extension after the very last entrance with my non-o marriage visa. Do I need to visit the immigration to transfer the 60 days extension to the new passport? Or can I just show both passports when I departure after the 60 days?

[ubonjoe]

5 minutes ago, Steelhammer said:

In case I have a new passport and in the old passport is a 60 days extension after the very last entrance with my non-o marriage visa. Do I need to visit the immigration to transfer the 60 days extension to the new passport? Or can I just show both passports when I departure after the 60 days?

If leaving by air it would not be a problem.

At some border crossings it could be a problem since they might send you back to a nearby immigration office to have the stamps transferred.

[Steelhammer]

20 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

If leaving by air it would not be a problem.

At some border crossings it could be a problem since they might send you back to a nearby immigration office to have the stamps transferred.

Okay. Thank you very much.