Help! Missing Exit Stamp!

[danh]

Hi,

I have a problem, which i think is a big problem.

In january I arrived thailand in bangkok got a 30 day viasa on arrival and left thailand from Koh Lipe to Langkawi 27 days later. on koh lipe you give your passport to an immigration offical (everyone does) and get on a boat which goes to langkawi where you stand around for 20 minutes then a malaysian official gives them back.

My problem is i have just noticed i have entry stamps for malaysia but the thai immigration havent stamped me out of thailand. the departure card is gone though.

the reason this is a big problem is i am due to fly back to thailand tomorrow morning! I went to the embassy in london and they told me they had no idea and could not help me, even though i tried several times to get them too!

I dont know what to do, i dont want to end up an immigration detention centre on arrival!

Any advice?

Thanks

dan

[ovenman]

If your passport is chock-full of stamps, an immigrations official is unlikely to notice a single missing exit stamp. My own experience is that I routinely have to locate visas in my passport for the officials. It probably comes down to whether the immigrations computer says you are still in Thailand and I don't know how that could be determined prior to your arrival.

[danh]

thanks mate

embassy finally gave me a number to call in thailand but it doesnt work, phoned them back and they just said it does work! thanks a bunch!

Im now wondering if i should try and put my flight back and go and do a one day passport renewall. I did a search for 'missing exit stamp' on google and i really dont want to end up in an IDC.

This is really annoying. Passport has only about 8 thai stamps, similar malaysian a few full page visas, and about a dozen for other countries.

hmmm..... not sure what to do....

[CHdiver]

I just can give you my thoughts about your situation. As you enter Malaysia, you get an Entry Stamp (usually this gives you the right to stay up to 90 days, depending where you are from). At least that's happen to me every time I go there. But I arrived all the time at the Airport Kuala Lumpur. So you can show, that you went out from Thailand in time. So I think you should be ok. At least this should be the case if the Immigration Officer can think logical. But u know, TIT.

Have a safe trip.

[CHdiver]

If your passport is chock-full of stamps, an immigrations official is unlikely to notice a single missing exit stamp. My own experience is that I routinely have to locate visas in my passport for the officials. It probably comes down to whether the immigrations computer says you are still in Thailand and I don't know how that could be determined prior to your arrival.

With the newly enforced roules you don't know. But why not go for a Tourist Visa. In this case they usually will not look at old exit/entrys. At least that is my experience. I have (had) one year Visas (B and O), and my passport is nearly full. I never had the impression they where looking to close for entry/exit stamps. But I still think you should be safe with your entry stamp into Malaysia.

[Thai-Spy]

If the OP has correct dates, you stamped out of Thailand in February, is that correct? In that case, there has been more than enough time for your TM.6 Departure card to have gone to the data processing center and been input into the Immigration computers which will now accurately reflect your status.

Even if they can't find the old stamp for calculation of your remaining visa exempt days, the absence of a Thai overstay stamp will invite them to use the maximum value of 30 days for that calculation.

If the matter is questioned when you enter Thailand again, just calmly repeat the facts as you've done here, and emphasize the procedure kept you from checking for the exit stamp until you'd already left Thailand. Don't hesitate to get a supervisor involved and insist they check your computerized immigration record in detail; the prior entries and exits you've made are all in there, they just need to dig for them.

You might even ask what can be done to replace the missing stamp to keep from bumping up against this problem in the future. All in all you have little to worry about.