Warning about getting your Visa stamps transferred from old to new PP at Jomtien

[hereforgood]

I had to go in today and show I still had the funds in the bank was done in under 5 mins no need for a number just to desk number 8 and couple of Mins later I was out of there. I went with a good friend who got his PP renewed when he went back to the US for a visit and now needed to get his retirement extension and Multiple reentry stamps transferred to the new PP.

 

Well he figured it would not be a big deal. Well they said he needed a letter requesting this to be done from the US Embassy and it had the be notarized. I did the very same thing not so long ago and this letter was not mentioned or asked for. So if you need this done and at Jomtien they are now asking for this letter.

 

The small Thai guy that was doing the paperwork said that yes it was true that in the past they never required it and said now big boss say must have. The nice folks at the copy and visa shop nest door to the Immigration office said they could get this done for 5K and no trip to bangkok or letter would be needed.

[worgeordie]

Up here in Chiang Mai they also need the letter from Embassy (UK),

I sent my passport back to UK for renewal,and it came back without

the letter,so had to get one from British Embassy.ten years before

when i also renewed my passport at Bangkok,letter was requested

then,so it's not a new thing.

regards Worgeordie

[ubonjoe]

37 minutes ago, hereforgood said:

Well they said he needed a letter requesting this to be done from the US Embassy and it had the be notarized.

No need for it to be notarized. Just a consular officers signature and stamp is needed.

He could contact the embassy with info about his new passport and they may send the letter by mail to him.

[Huayrat]

Never asked for a letter when i went

[Matzzon]

1 hour ago, hereforgood said:

Well they said he needed a letter requesting this to be done from the US Embassy and it had the be notarized.

Even if they haven´t asked for this earlier, it is always something that an embassy should give. Therefore something that a person always should consider bringing with him to Immigration. If his embassy not gave this, ot would have been his duty to ask them for one.

[nausea]

I renewed my UK passport in 2018 in Bangkok. The guys acting for the Embassy automatically provided this letter so, as Worgeordie says, it's been a thing for some time, at least at some immigration offices; not notarised though, just the consular officer's signature and stamp, as per Ubonjoe.

[userabcd]

CW also want the letter, I got the letter from the embassy this morning and will return to CW tomorrow for them to transfer the visa extension to my new passport.

[berybert]

Thanks for letting people know it was a 'small Thai guy' 

Always a bit weary of them.

[mtls2005]

45 minutes ago, Matzzon said:

Even if they haven´t asked for this earlier, it is always something that an embassy should give. Therefore something that a person always should consider bringing with him to Immigration. If his embassy not gave this, ot would have been his duty to ask them for one.

 

The OP said...

 

2 hours ago, hereforgood said:

good friend who got his PP renewed when he went back to the US for a visit

 

So as the passport was renewed in the U.S. there would be no cover letter.

 

 

If you renew here, then the return mailer (with you old cancelled passport and your new passport and a credit card slip if used in person when applying) includes the cover letter to Immigration (signed and stamped) referencing the old PP #. AS all renewals here are returned via EMS there would no way to fulfill your "duty".

 

IMO, the OP's friend may have to make an appointment and visit the embassy in person to obtain this document. I'm not certain they'll mail it out on spec? Maybe contact them to figure your options?

 

The doc list for the Move Stamp Requset does say "If it available", but would expect Imm to push back when they feel like it.

 

 

 

Edited August 13, 2019 by mtls2005

[sniggie]

What the OP describes would seem to be correct. A couple of years ago I renewed my UK passport (full up with so many stamps!) during a visit to the home country. As it was a domestic issue there was no letter included as would have been the case had I applied from abroad. I seem to recall asking the Embassy for one which was forthcoming.

[Golden Triangle]

I renewed my UK passport a year or so ago, I used an agent here in Pattaya as I was unable to travel to BKK at the time, when the new passport arrived it also came with a photocopied letter from the embassy and all I had to do was fill in the blanks ie: my name old PP No. new PP No. and a couple of other details. The only fly in the ointment was immigration decided that it would take 4 days to transfer the stamps not the 24 hours I was told. ????

[Thaifriends]

This law of getting a letter from Embassy when get a new passport is not new. Immigration will then transfer existing valid visa on new one. Maybe BKK div i was enforcing it compared to others

[Matzzon]

56 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

So as the passport was renewed in the U.S. there would be no cover letter.

What? Why would there not be a cover letter. The letter has no connection to where the passport has been renewed. The letter is there as a kind question and information about that there are relevant and still valid stamps that need to be transfered to the new passport.

Anyway, if there is no cover letter, then that has to be obtained before going to Immgration

[mtls2005]

1 hour ago, Matzzon said:

Why would there not be a cover letter.

Because the passport was renewed in the U.S.

 

1 hour ago, Matzzon said:

The letter has no connection to where the passport has been renewed.

Of course it does. If renewed here then the letter is addressed to: Thai Immigration Bureau 1.

 

1 hour ago, Matzzon said:

The letter is there as a kind question and information about that there are relevant and still valid stamps that need to be transfered to the new passport.

No clue what this means?

 

1 hour ago, Matzzon said:

Anyway, if there is no cover letter, then that has to be obtained before going to Immgration

Perhaps, I think some suggested this already, and assuming "if it available" means "mandatory"?

 

 

The OP's friend may have received, or may possess, some documentation supporting the passport renewal in the U.S. This may or may not be acceptable to Thai Imm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Matzzon]

25 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

Because the passport was renewed in the U.S.

Irrelevant
 

25 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

 

Of course it does. If renewed here then the letter is addressed to: Thai Immigration Bureau 1.

Why only Bureau 1. Doesn´t that depend on what part of Thailand the person resides in? And why would A passport renewed in home country not be able to have a letter addressed to the relevant office? If the person that applies for the passport gives that information, that will say.

25 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

 

No clue what this means?

Exactly!
 

25 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

The OP's friend may have received, or may possess, some documentation supporting the passport renewal in the U.S. This may or may not be acceptable to Thai Imm.

It might need to be translated, and verified by an embassy official.

[wazzadg44]

Having got a new passport in Australia,I went to Phuket Imm. and they transfered my stamps. No letter from Embassy asked for and very quick process. I believe if passport issued in home country it does not have to be certified as genuine which is what the letter obtained from the Embassy does.

[Kinnock]

For UK passports there's a standard pro-forma letter available from the security office/reception at the entrance to the Embassy.  They can also post this to you.  

 

You just fill in the blanks and hand it over with your passport.

 

If you renew your passport from Thailand they give you the same letter - but I went back to UK to do mine, so needed to pick up the letter.

 

I guess other embassies do the same?

[mtls2005]

2 hours ago, Matzzon said:

Why only Bureau 1. Doesn´t that depend on what part of Thailand the person resides in?

 

I assume that's because this is where the U.S. Embassy is located? And/or as it is a standardized letter? Or because all new passports pass through the U.S. Embassy here in Bangkok.

 

My cover letter dated August 6, 2019, which accompanied my new passport, is addressed to: jpg below

 

Passports renewed in the U.S. do not come with a cover letter addressed to another country's immigration bureau. 

 

 

 

[Orton Rd]

If you fill it in yourself what is the point of the letter? Can it be downloaded from anywhere?

[NE1]

2 hours ago, Kinnock said:

For UK passports there's a standard pro-forma letter available from the security office/reception at the entrance to the Embassy.  They can also post this to you.  

 

I thought the British Embassy had been bulldozed ?

Edited August 13, 2019 by NE1

[watcharacters]

 

A few years ago when I asked about getting a multiple entry stamp transferred to my new passport, I thought I was told on the forum that the ME stamp wouldn't be transferred even thought it was far from being 12 months old.   I had to start from ground zero.

 

Have things changed?

 

 

[Kinnock]

53 minutes ago, Orton Rd said:

If you fill it in yourself what is the point of the letter? Can it be downloaded from anywhere?

The UK one has fancy embossed paper and a colour logo and signature - so I think you need an original one (even though you complete the details yourself - go figure!) 

[Kinnock]

42 minutes ago, NE1 said:

I thought the British Embassy had been bulldozed ?

I think they only bulldozed the old building to avert a risk of a protected building status interfering with the plans to build another mall.

 

Pre-emptive conservation prevention. ????

[NE1]

So is there still a British Embassy in Bangkok ?

[Kinnock]

51 minutes ago, NE1 said:

So is there still a British Embassy in Bangkok ?

Yes.  Currently operating from the same site - but due to move an office above a 7-11 shared with a Punjabi Tailor and an out-call massage service.