Passport validity under 6 months and re-entering Thailand

[jasonsamui55]

My son goes to an international school in Thailand and has had Ed visa and extension for several years now. He’s an EU citizen and passport holder. His passport and Thai visa extension in January. So he’s got about 4 months validity remaining. He’s ordered a new passport, from European consulate in Thailand, which should be delivered to us also in Thailand in about 8 weeks. But we have a flight scheduled for him to go to Hong Kong next week. He’s a Hong Kong permanent resident so no issue entering HK with the passport with only 4 months remaining validity. But will he have an issue either boarding the plane from HK to Thailand or re-entering Thailand with only 4 months remaining? He will get his new EU passport in Thailand in November and extend his Ed visa again in December. He’ll be flying on Bangkok airlines. Thanks in advance for the advice.

[ubonjoe]

It depends upon his nationality. Some countries are required to have 6 months passport validity and other only one valid for their their length of stay.

Those from most countries that qualify for a entry under the visa exempt scheme only require a passport for their length of stay.

Some airlines though have their own 6 month rule in their terms and conditions. Bangkok Airways is a member of the IATA so they should allow him to travel with a passport with less than 6 month remaining.

You could enter the required info here to confirm he can enter the country here. https://www.iatatravelcentre.com/

[chrisinth]

As you have already applied for a new passport, you may have to clarify with your embassy that the current one hasn't been cancelled during the renewal period.

 

I know they do this for UK passport holders.

[wgdanson]

12 minutes ago, chrisinth said:

As you have already applied for a new passport, you may have to clarify with your embassy that the current one hasn't been cancelled during the renewal period.

 

I know they do this for UK passport holders.

In June I had to get a new UK Passport as I thought I had lost the old one, but hadn't (doh). Got new one in Liverpool in ONE DAY. But re-entered Thailand on the old one as it had my re-entry Visa and Extension in it. There is no way the Thai Immigration, or other foreign computer know that my old UK passport was cancelled. Got all my stamps transferred to new one. No worries. Obviously I should not enter UK on my old one, but would they stop me?

Edited September 3, 2018 by wgdanson

[jasonsamui55]

1 hour ago, ubonjoe said:

It depends upon his nationality. Some countries are required to have 6 months passport validity and other only one valid for their their length of stay.

Those from most countries that qualify for a entry under the visa exempt scheme only require a passport for their length of stay.

Some airlines though have their own 6 month rule in their terms and conditions. Bangkok Airways is a member of the IATA so they should allow him to travel with a passport with less than 6 month remaining.

You could enter the required info here to confirm he can enter the country here. https://www.iatatravelcentre.com/

Thanks ubonjoe.  You always have good information. But I couldn’t see what you were referring to at https://www.iatatravelcentre.com/. His passport is from Italy. And as someone else mentioned, they don’t cancel the old one while the app for the new one is pending. Do you think he’d still have any issue with either Bangkok airlines or re-entering Thailand?

[ubonjoe]

19 minutes ago, jasonsamui55 said:

Thanks ubonjoe.  You always have good information. But I couldn’t see what you were referring to at https://www.iatatravelcentre.com/. His passport is from Italy. And as someone else mentioned, they don’t cancel the old one while the app for the new one is pending. Do you think he’d still have any issue with either Bangkok airlines or re-entering Thailand?

You have to enter all the info in all the steps to get the the info.

If entered made up info for the Hong Kong trip to here with a Italian passport valid to February and got this.

[jasonsamui55]

30 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

You have to enter all the info in all the steps to get the the info.

If entered made up info for the Hong Kong trip to here with a Italian passport valid to February and got this.

On the form here https://www.iatatravelcentre.com/TH-Thailand-passport-visa-health-travel-document-requirements.htm it asked for country of residency. As he’s currently a primary school student and lived in Thailand for last 5 years, each year on an extension, I assume Thailand is his country of residency. And for residency document I chose “residence permit.” The other options were  permanent residency or re-entry permit or alien passport. As he’d on a 5th Ed visa extension I assume residence permit would be most applicable here, right? But after submitting it doesn’t tell anything more conclusive than: “Conditional, You will need to hold travel documents as detailed below.” with nothing listed below other than to get some vaccinations against yellow fever.

He’s also be traveling with mother and sister both of whom have same nationality passports and Ed and O extensions also. He wouldn’t be varying cash or credit cards due to his age but his mother surely would.

[ubonjoe]

22 minutes ago, jasonsamui55 said:

But after submitting it doesn’t tell anything more conclusive than: “Conditional, You will need to hold travel documents as detailed below.”

Conditional means he can enter. It would give a message in red if he could not enter the country.

[Tanoshi]

1 hour ago, jasonsamui55 said:

And for residency document I chose “residence permit.” The other options were  permanent residency or re-entry permit or alien passport. As he’d on a 5th Ed visa extension I assume residence permit would be most applicable here, right?

Wrong.

If your son had permanent residency status he wouldn't need Visas or Extensions.

 

He has 'temporary permission to stay'  granted from the Visa or Extension.

He would need a re-entry permit to keep any extension valid should he want to leave and re-enter during the validity of the extension.

You should try again and use the 're-entry' permit or 'alien passport' options depending on the method being used to enter.

 

Bangkok airways doesn't exist either.

Edited September 3, 2018 by Tanoshi

[sometimewoodworker]

2 hours ago, jasonsamui55 said:

Do you think he’d still have any issue with either Bangkok airlines

He should contact his airline (which isn't Bangkok airlines but could be Bangkok Airways) and ask for the policy on time required on the passport to permit travel. Thai Immigration will not be a problem.

 

AirAsia has a requirement that there must be 6 months remaining validity to permit travel.

 

 

27 minutes ago, Tanoshi said:

Bangkok airways doesn't exist either.

Humm yes it does, or Bangkok airways thinks they exist.

[Tanoshi]

1 hour ago, sometimewoodworker said:

Humm yes it does, or Bangkok airways thinks they exist.

To be more precise I should have said their not on the list of airlines selectable from the link.

https://www.iatatravelcentre.com/

[ubonjoe]

8 minutes ago, Tanoshi said:

To be more precise I should have said their not on the list of airlines selectable from the link.

Not sure why it is not on the list. But the list is not long enough to show all 287 airlines that are members of the IATA.

It is shown on the list here. https://www.iata.org/about/members/Pages/airline-list.aspx

[Jaggg88]

9 hours ago, wgdanson said:

In June I had to get a new UK Passport as I thought I had lost the old one, but hadn't (doh). Got new one in Liverpool in ONE DAY. But re-entered Thailand on the old one as it had my re-entry Visa and Extension in it. There is no way the Thai Immigration, or other foreign computer know that my old UK passport was cancelled. Got all my stamps transferred to new one. No worries. Obviously I should not enter UK on my old one, but would they stop me?

No, they wouldn't stop you. The criteria for entering your own country is to prove you are a citizen of that country and you can do this with an expired, lost/found passport. You would not be able to use the self-service portals and, in the UK, the Border Agency Officer would cut off the corner of your cancelled passport so it can be easily identified as cancelled. My wife entered Thailand on her expired passport a couple of years ago without any issue. The airline also accepted the expired passport as evidence that she did not need a visa for her 6 week visit.

[Tanoshi]

16 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

Not sure why it is not on the list. But the list is not long enough to show all 287 airlines that are members of the IATA.

It is shown on the list here. https://www.iata.org/about/members/Pages/airline-list.aspx

There not on the drop down list because Hong Kong - Bangkok is a codeshare flight actually operated by 'Silk Air'.

http://www.bangkokair.com/flight/route-map