Switching stamps from old passport to new

[Djw6]

Can you switch stamps from your old passport to a new one at Swampy Airport, or do I have to do it at my local immigration?

Cheers.

[elviajero]

What type of stamp do you want transferring?

[ubonjoe]

Basically if only have a entry stamp or a 30 day extension of a tourist visa or exempt entry it can be done at the airport.

If you have a long term extension of stay it has to be done at immigration.

[Djw6]

4 hours ago, elviajero said:

What type of stamp do you want transferring?

It's just a 30 day entry stamp and the address white form.

[Djw6]

1 hour ago, ubonjoe said:

Basically if only have a entry stamp or a 30 day extension of a tourist visa or exempt entry it can be done at the airport.

If you have a long term extension of stay it has to be done at immigration.

Just a 30day entry. What documents do I need for a SETV in Vientianne?

Thanks.

[ubonjoe]

19 minutes ago, Djw6 said:

Just a 30day entry. What documents do I need for a SETV in Vientianne?

You can do the stamp transfer on departure from the country.

Copy of your passport photo page, Lao visa on arrival and entry stamp. Completed application form with 2 photos attached and 1000 baht for the fee.

[new2here]

2 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

Basically if only have a entry stamp or a 30 day extension of a tourist visa or exempt entry it can be done at the airport.

If you have a long term extension of stay it has to be done at immigration.

Agreed... I also noticed (having personally accompanied a colleague) that you have to go to the immigration office that issued the stamps in the first place.

 

my colleague lives in Bangkok.. so he uses CW for his 90-day reports and re-entry permits... but.. because he works just across the provincial border in Nonthaburi, he has to go to the Nonthaburi immigration office to get his yearly extension of stay done.. 

 

So when he got his new passport, we mistakenly went to CW (not really a wasted trip as he also needed a re-entry so we did that at that time) to do it all... and were told that they (CW) didn’t have the “Nonthaburi” office stamp and that he’d have to go out to Nonthaburi to do the stamp switch.. which Nonthaburi did; exactly the same as CW would have done and with the same documents require and also no-fee.

 

CW didn’t have or show us anything in writing that said they can’t/won’t transfer stamps from other immigration offices (nor did we ask to see such), but we did ask two more independent officials on the way out and were told the same thing.

[ubonjoe]

28 minutes ago, new2here said:

Agreed... I also noticed (having personally accompanied a colleague) that you have to go to the immigration office that issued the stamps in the first place.

That is correct and is the standard procedure. The stamp transfer has to be done at the office that issued the extension unless a person has formally changed their address to another office,

[Gandtee]

I recently had my retirement visa transferred into my new passport at Jomtien Immigration. They told me to go to a British Embassy agency in Pattaya where I paid for a photo copied letter, even the signature, asking Thai Immigration if they would 'kindly transfer my visa.' It was all done very politely but I was under what now seems a false impression that it should be nothing to do with the British Embassy. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

[elviajero]

23 minutes ago, Gandtee said:

I recently had my retirement visa transferred into my new passport at Jomtien Immigration. They told me to go to a British Embassy agency in Pattaya where I paid for a photo copied letter, even the signature, asking Thai Immigration if they would 'kindly transfer my visa.' It was all done very politely but I was under what now seems a false impression that it should be nothing to do with the British Embassy. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

They should only be asking for the letter if the passport is issued whilst you stsy in the country. If you enter the country with a new passport it shouldn’t be required. All said, whatever the individual office say goes.

[LongTimeLurker]

20 hours ago, elviajero said:

They should only be asking for the letter if the passport is issued whilst you stsy in the country. If you enter the country with a new passport it shouldn’t be required. All said, whatever the individual office say goes.

They require the embassy letter wherever the new passport is issued.

[elviajero]

15 minutes ago, LongTimeLurker said:

They require the embassy letter wherever the new passport is issued.

They don’t l, and there have been reports over the years confirming they don’t. As I advised in my post it’s upto the office doing the transfer.

[LongTimeLurker]

14 minutes ago, elviajero said:

They don’t l, and there have been reports over the years confirming they don’t. As I advised in my post it’s upto the office doing the transfer.

 

[elviajero]

16 minutes ago, LongTimeLurker said:

 

There is at least one first hand report in that thread saying they didn’t need a letter, which proves my point.

[LongTimeLurker]

15 hours ago, elviajero said:

There is at least one first hand report in that thread saying they didn’t need a letter, which proves my point.

In 2016, immigration started asking for embassy letters in 2018.

[elviajero]

15 hours ago, LongTimeLurker said:

On 13/05/2018 at 1:18 PM, elviajero said:

There is at least one first hand report in that thread saying they didn’t need a letter, which proves my point.

In 2016, immigration started asking for embassy letters in 2018.

Why quote a topic from 2 years ago then.

 

I have seen no announcement in 2018 that letters are compulsory at every office. Nothing has changed as far as I know.

[LongTimeLurker]

8 hours ago, elviajero said:

Why quote a topic from 2 years ago then.

 

I have seen no announcement in 2018 that letters are compulsory at every office. Nothing has changed as far as I know.

If you'd read the thread you'd see that only 3 of the 38 posts are from 2016, the remainder of the posts are from April and May 2018 and are very current. It was you that quoted a post from 2016 as 'proof' of your view.

 

Since when has immigration been in the habit of announcing that their requirements have changed? They like to surprise us with every visit, and their latest requirement is that you need a letter from the Brit embassy to transfer the immigration stamps.

[overherebc]

1 hour ago, LongTimeLurker said:

If you'd read the thread you'd see that only 3 of the 38 posts are from 2016, the remainder of the posts are from April and May 2018 and are very current. It was you that quoted a post from 2016 as 'proof' of your view.

 

Since when has immigration been in the habit of announcing that their requirements have changed? They like to surprise us with every visit, and their latest requirement is that you need a letter from the Brit embassy to transfer the immigration stamps.

Surely that applies to extensions only. On Multi entry 'visas' I've always changed to the new passport and never been asked for anything except to show the still valid 'visa' in the old expired passport. All done at the desk in Swampy.

[LongTimeLurker]

12 minutes ago, overherebc said:

Surely that applies to extensions only. On Multi entry 'visas' I've always changed to the new passport and never been asked for anything except to show the still valid 'visa' in the old expired passport. All done at the desk in Swampy.

Yes extensions, but why not get the multi entry transferred also at the same time?

[ubonjoe]

8 minutes ago, LongTimeLurker said:

Yes extensions, but why not get the multi entry transferred also at the same time?

A visa cannot be transferred. Immigration can only transfer stamps they have done.

[overherebc]

3 hours ago, LongTimeLurker said:

Yes extensions, but why not get the multi entry transferred also at the same time?

As UBJ says they only stamp you out and in, in your new passport. You carry both passports until the actual 'visa' in your old passport expires. 

The next entry in your new passport has the number of your expired passport and  NonO written next to it.

[elviajero]

14 hours ago, LongTimeLurker said:

23 hours ago, elviajero said:

Why quote a topic from 2 years ago then.

 

I have seen no announcement in 2018 that letters are compulsory at every office. Nothing has changed as far as I know.

If you'd read the thread you'd see that only 3 of the 38 posts are from 2016, the remainder of the posts are from April and May 2018 and are very current. It was you that quoted a post from 2016 as 'proof' of your view.

Proof of my view; 24th April 2018 - Same thread

UbonJoe said, "Then you will need to go to the immigration office where your extension was issued to have the stamps transferred to your new passport.

Dependent upon the office you use they may want a letter from UK embassy requesting the stamp transfer. If you contact the embassy they will send the letter to you by EMS."

 

15 hours ago, LongTimeLurker said:

Since when has immigration been in the habit of announcing that their requirements have changed? 

Announcements are often made when national policy changes!

 

15 hours ago, LongTimeLurker said:

They like to surprise us with every visit, and their latest requirement is that you need a letter from the Brit embassy to transfer the immigration stamps.

The only people that get caught out with national or local policy changes and requirements are those that rely on second hand information and don't ask the office concerned what they require. 

 

The reason they want a letter from the visa issuing agency if you renew a passport whist in Thailand is to evidence it's authenticity. A typical Thai bureaucratic waste of time. If you travel and enter the country with a new passport that letter, as standard national practice, is not required. It has been that way for a long time and no change to national policy has happened, announced or otherwise, this year. Some offices will insist on the letter in all cases.