Passport page folded at the bio page, can I be denied entry in Thailand ?

[DavidJow]

 

My passport was previously folded by a person working at the check-in desk by passing the passport she made my passport folded on the corner where is the data bio photo page.. but that was during a flight from a European country to France so nothing much to worried..

But,

Now, I'm stressed, is this trace of fold, I can be denied entry into Thailand or into an Asian country

[lamyai3]

From the photo you provided, I can't think how there would be a problem. Passport is fully legible, no interference with any biometric data. 

[ubonjoe]

I see no reason for you to have a problem since it is only a corner of your data page has small crease from it being folded.

[Crossy]

Yeah ^^^. Unlikely to be an issue.

 

My only possible concern would be if the chip is embedded in the bio page (some UK passports) and the fold has damaged the antenna rendering the bio-data unreadable.

[wgdanson]

21 minutes ago, Crossy said:

Yeah ^^^. Unlikely to be an issue.

 

My only possible concern would be if the chip is embedded in the bio page (some UK passports) and the fold has damaged the antenna rendering the bio-data unreadable.

I read that the chip and antenna are in the back cover. But that may change when the French start making them !

[Crossy]

3 minutes ago, wgdanson said:

I read that the chip and antenna are in the back cover. But that may change when the French start making them !

Two of my three UK bio passports have the chip in the bio page, the third (and most recent) has it in the cover.

 

The bio page chips and antenna are actually visible, the antenna doesn't go near enough to the page edge for our OP to need to worry.

 

[dcnx]

It’s up to the person holding the stamp. Nothing else matters. That’s always a problem here. 

[KhunBENQ]

I am certain that many nationals traveling to Thailand do not have "chipped" passports.

Thai immigration still seems to resort to the machine readable zone (as seen in the photo of the OP ("P>FR...", French passport).

And that is surely still machine readable.

 

Also:

the chip and antenna are NOT embedded in the bio page but in the front cover.

At least that is shown in a video of "ANTS", a French agency that deals with the passports.

The video is in English(!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoBHfEMLvLc

 

Edited October 21, 2018 by KhunBENQ

[how241]

You should be OK  but it is up to the luck of who  you get ,  who will stamp you in.

[Russell17au]

If there is a problem with the reading of the bio page it will be picked up when you go through immigration when you are leaving you departure point. If there is a problem your passport will be rejected there. As long as there is no more damage to your passport between your departure and your arrival in Thailand you would not have a problem

[observer90210]

Why did the stupid employee (sorry!)  in Europe fold such an important passport page ?

 

I would take up the matter with the entity that employs this person.

 

They may say buzz off, but one could always try after all and ask them to refund the cost of the damaged document, by the fault of their careless employee.

 

Out of topic, but anybody aware if a cell phone stored next to the passport chip say in a bag, can damage the Chip/Antenna ? Due to the stupid rule asking visiting guests to always show passport in the country, often it can be carried in a shoulder bag with other personnal items.

Edited October 21, 2018 by observer90210

[JackThompson]

1 hour ago, observer90210 said:

anybody aware if a cell phone stored next to the passport chip say in a bag, can damage the Chip/Antenna ?

In theory, when the passport is closed, the chip/antenna should be protected by a metal liner (faraday-cage effect) to prevent it being tapped into as one walks around.  Granted, that is designed to prevent unauthorized communicating with the chip, not strong EM-bursts near the passport - but I would be surprised if nearby consumer-electronics would damage it.  I believe there are foil-lined pouches one can use for further protection.

[rickudon]

One off use magnetic cards (like the British rail tickets) ARE damaged by mobile phones after about one hour of proximity, have had it happen many times. But permanent cards not in my experience (never had a bank card become unreadable, and would presume passport would be the same). One day i will experiment with a strong magnet and a bank card and see what happens ....

[observer90210]

The reason I asked is that at one period, regularly my hotel key cards were always getting out of order after having the spend the day out with the keycard in my bag,  along with the phone. Solved the problem by putting the key card in a separate place protected by a wallet and never with the phone.

Edited October 21, 2018 by observer90210

[DavidJow]

9 hours ago, observer90210 said:

Why did the stupid employee (sorry!)  in Europe fold such an important passport page ?

 

I would take up the matter with the entity that employs this person.

 

They may say buzz off, but one could always try after all and ask them to refund the cost of the damaged document, by the fault of their careless employee.

 

Out of topic, but anybody aware if a cell phone stored next to the passport chip say in a bag, can damage the Chip/Antenna ? Due to the stupid rule asking visiting guests to always show passport in the country, often it can be carried in a shoulder bag with other personnal items.

Yes, is what I've did on the spot, I complained the people & also ask the supervisor who is caring the holding of the check-in, to see the mistake of their employee giving me back the passport with a fold on the bio page. They was careless and they ask the next customers to check-in

 

I dislike that they made a fold on the bio page especially on the MZR band, it have a trace and when I copy the passport it's look like also weird.

 

Then, I contacted the handling company who make these check-in, they told me to send a email with the copy of passport damaged .. I send email, they don't dare even to answer to me.. then I followed the email to all the supervisor & manager of the company! NO ANSWER. Since 1 month.

 

I think I'll call them every x minutes and harass them, harass & harass as they don't respect me as they're not willing to answer me.

 

Change this passport will cost me 86 euros + ID pic cost & wasting time.

 

The employee recognized that the machine reading the passport is not fine.

 

I gave them my passport in very good situation, and they give me back the passport with this ugly fold and make the corner being more fragile..  and the passport was just done this year also for 10 years validity.

 

 

 

Edited October 21, 2018 by DavidJow

[moana]

My consulate screwed up when I renewed my passport and the data line at the bottom of my passport is cropped to a point a machine can't read it (beeps and red light). Immigration points everywhere often complain about it, since they have to type it by hand (a human can still easily discern the bottom half of the characters), but I was never denied entry anywhere - not even close.

[dallen52]

My U.K. passport and biometrics bounces every time its used.

From day of issue.

Should have been replaced, at my cost.

But still fully accepted. 

Going back into the UK they just manually enter the acceptance. 

And it's never given a problem coming into Thailand. 

British passport holders don't use a bio gate coming in or going out.

It's a manual scan of the code on the bottom of the details page.

Plus the three way recognition of your face. 

Passport photo, visual, and the scan on entry and departure. ????

Edited October 21, 2018 by dallen52

[007 RED]

On ‎10‎/‎21‎/‎2018 at 2:17 PM, KhunBENQ said:

I am certain that many nationals traveling to Thailand do not have "chipped" passports.

Thai immigration still seems to resort to the machine readable zone (as seen in the photo of the OP ("P>FR...", French passport).

And that is surely still machine readable.

 

Also:

the chip and antenna are NOT embedded in the bio page but in the front cover.

At least that is shown in a video of "ANTS", a French agency that deals with the passports.

The video is in English(!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoBHfEMLvLc

 

FYI…. The so called ‘biometric’ passports were first introduced in 2005 and as at 2017 over 120 countries (comprising most of the countries that form the United Nations) currently use ‘biometric’ passports.  So in fact most countries now issue ‘biometric’ passports.

 

Until June of this year the chip embedded within the ‘biometric’ passport actually did not contain any true biometric data e.g. finger print, iris scan etc.  The chip actually contained identical information to the shown on the photo page (including the photo of the passport holder).  Information held on the chip is encrypted and only accessible using a ‘security key’.

 

In June this year the full council of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) which runs under the auspices of the United Nations ratified Document 9303 Machine Readable Travel Documents 7th Edition 2015.  This now allows States to include true biometric data (finger prints, iris scans etc.) onto the chip at the second security level.  The inclusion of true biometric data is not mandatory and its inclusion is left to each issuing States.

 

Part 9 of the above mentioned ICAO document advises that the placement of the chip and its associated antenna is at the discretion of the issuing State.  However, States must be mindful of the importance of the need to protect the chip and antenna against physical tampering and casual accidental damage accidental damage including flexing and bending.  As a result some countries put the chip and antenna in the front or rear cover whilst others put it on the reverse side of the photo page –which actually makes it more difficult to alter that information of the photo page without damaging the chip or antenna.

 

FYAI…  When an IO places the photo page onto the scanner on his/her desk the scanner reads the information at the bottom of the page between >>>>  >>>>>>.  The Optical Character Reader (OCR) software then uses certain characters within the information between >>>>  >>>> to produce the ‘security key’ to decrypt the information held on the chip.  It is the information contained on the chip that is then displayed of the IOs screen.