Confiscation Of Passport

[jayenram]

An Australian friend of mine recently returned to Australia for a short visit. Upon entry, the immigration authorities advised him that his passport was damaged (some pages were coming loose) and as such, was going to be confiscated. He was given no choice.

He is now in Australia with no passport and, unfortunately, no birth certificate with which to apply for a new one. Yesterday I sent him his old, expired passport and hopefully this will assist him in obtaining a replacement.

This, to me, appears to be a very unusual action by the immigration authorities. Surely just advising him to renew said passport before leaving the country again would have been the logical procedure to follow?

[leisurely]

That seems very odd. Does he have any questionable political views or affiliations?

I would be very concerned

[think_too_mut]

Does not a passport remain the property of the issuing government?

[A_Traveller]

Does not a passport remain the property of the issuing government?

Yes it does, however, the actions of the immigration officers do seem strange, at least as described. I would have thought that an official receipt would have been issued thereby assisting in the issuance of a replacement for example.

I feel there is more to this than the OP knows.

Regards

[think_too_mut]

Does not a passport remain the property of the issuing government?

Yes it does, however, the actions of the immigration officers do seem strange, at least as described. I would have thought that an official receipt would have been issued thereby assisting in the issuance of a replacement for example.

I feel there is more to this than the OP knows.

Regards

Must be.

Once, on my way back to Sydney, customs officer inspected my suitcase and found a tin of tuna. He gave me an official warning (for bringing undeclared food into Oz although the tin was bought in Sydney prior to the trip), confiscated the tin and issued me with a receipt about the fact.

[pampal]

I had my passport confiscated at LAX due to mutilation to the passport(I sweat alot). I was issued with a receipt and got another one within 4 days of applying.

[smartecosse]

where did you keep your passport??

[bkkandrew]

An Australian friend of mine recently returned to Australia for a short visit. Upon entry, the immigration authorities advised him that his passport was damaged (some pages were coming loose) and as such, was going to be confiscated. He was given no choice.

He is now in Australia with no passport and, unfortunately, no birth certificate with which to apply for a new one. Yesterday I sent him his old, expired passport and hopefully this will assist him in obtaining a replacement.

This, to me, appears to be a very unusual action by the immigration authorities. Surely just advising him to renew said passport before leaving the country again would have been the logical procedure to follow?

If you are suspected of tampering with the passport, it will be withdrawn. The "loose pages" maybe evidence of this. It is certainly an offence to attempt to remove pages from a passport, so maybe this is the problem... Certainly, until you have demostrated non-intent to tamper with the passport, your right to replacement would be denied..

Like A_Traveller says, I thing the OP has not been told the full story...

Edited March 9, 2007 by bkkandrew

[tutsiwarrior]

petty officials can be a pain in de arse when it comes to the condition of documents...once in the US I was pulled over by sum copper and after handing over my driving license for his inspection he pointed to a small tear in the corner and declared the document to be mutilated...he then issued a citation to have it replaced within a week or to go to jail otherwise...

with yer passport bein' confiscated, what if you were traveling onward to attend yer mother's funeral?...buncha fcukin' animals...

[pampal]

where did you keep your passport??

In my pocket

[jayenram]

Like A_Traveller says, I thing the OP has not been told the full story...

Maybe you're correct. I'll obviously obtain more information if and when he returns to Thailand.

[Gary A]

A friend of mine went to the US Embassy to have pages added to his passport. His passport was promptly confiscated by the Embassy in Bangkok for failure to pay child support. His daughter had turned 18 years old just after he made the move to Thailand and he had paid off the balance of support payments in cash directly to his ex-wife. He blamed his ex-wife and she swore it wasn't her. It ended up costing him a lot of headaches, money, travel and phone calls to straighten it out. It turned out that the state he lived in had no record of the pay off so they flagged his passport.