Possible lost passport, visa expires soon. Help!

[Smithson]

The agent who was arranging my visa has stopped answering her phone, she has my passport. My current visa expires on the 20th. If we cannot retrieve the passport, what will happen? I'm not worried about being charged overstay, it's more about my legal status etc. I've been here 28 years, it's extremely difficult to meet the documentation requirements and the embassy is closed. Any advice is much appreciated.

[Denim]

Find out where she lives and call in person to retrieve your passport. One possibility is she has been caught in a covid dragnet and is in one of the temporary hospitals.

[ubonjoe]

I suggest you do a police report for a lost or stolen passport. If you tell the police the problem they may try and contact the agent for you.

If lost or stolen your embassy should be able to issue a emergency passport.

Then you could have your current entry or extension of stay if you have one reinstated by immigration. They cannot reinstate a visa issued by embassy or consulate. After that you could apply for a 60 day covid 19 extension.

[Lite Beer]

Agents? Lesson learnt.

Never hand your passport over to anybody.

As said you will need a police report.

[Smithson]

2 minutes ago, Denim said:

Find out where she lives and call in person to retrieve your passport. One possibility is she has been caught in a covid dragnet and is in one of the temporary hospitals.

We are looking at finding her and the possibility it's covid related, but I also need to plan in case it's been lost.

[DrJack54]

38 minutes ago, Smithson said:

The agent who was arranging my visa has stopped answering her phone, she has my passport.

Does your agent have an office. How did you find her in the first place. Does she have a website with reviews. 

 

[userabcd]

27 minutes ago, Lite Beer said:

Agents? Lesson learnt.

Never hand your passport over to anybody.

As said you will need a police report.

''Never hand your passport over to anybody''

 

Are you sure about that?

[scubascuba3]

1 hour ago, Smithson said:

We are looking at finding her and the possibility it's covid related, but I also need to plan in case it's been lost.

If it's a legit agent with legit office and reputation you have nothing to worry about

[BritTim]

I do not know your location (and the location of the agent). However, I do know one of the more likely reasons for the delay in returning your passport. If your local immigration office is expensive for agents to use, the agent often has an agreement with another agent in another province to process your extension there. When that happens, there are often snafus where your agent loses track of where the passport is. Also, the less professional agents often place little priority in tracking down the customer's passports in such situations if they have already received full payment. If that is what has happened, the good news is that your passport will almost certainly eventually make its way back to you. It may take over a month for this to happen, especially if the agent is not good at minimising the length of the under consideration period.

 

One common indication of an out of province extension is that you were not asked to attend immigration briefly to initiate the application (something that is usually a requirement, but obviously omitted for out of province extensions).

[transam]

I cannot post an agent company name here, but a friend got a message from an agent that they were being investigated. If you PM me with your agent company name, I can tell you if it is the one...

[Smithson]

Thanks for the help, we'd used the agent for years, but they left the company they were with about six months ago and never told our staff. They have since done a WP without problems. This is a Non B, which needs an agent. Our staff who normally handles this was away at the time with covid. 

 

In the case that the passport can't be located. Does anyone know options for temporary/emergency passports? I'm Australian BTW.

[Mac Mickmanus]

17 minutes ago, Smithson said:

Thanks for the help, we'd used the agent for years, but they left the company they were with about six months ago and never told our staff. They have since done a WP without problems. This is a Non B, which needs an agent. Our staff who normally handles this was away at the time with covid. 

 

In the case that the passport can't be located. Does anyone know options for temporary/emergency passports? I'm Australian BTW.

If you get a temporary/ emergency passport , they will likely cancel your original passport and it will then be invalid if it eventually appears

[bbko]

I have back-up copies of my passport but none of my current visa/90 day stamp, I guess this is a good "learn from other's mistakes" moment.  I hope the agent/passport show up.

[DrJack54]

28 minutes ago, Smithson said:

In the case that the passport can't be located. Does anyone know options for temporary/emergency passports? I'm Australian BTW.

ubonjoe mentioned something about Oz embassy passports recently. Think they have cut back the service and bookings not immediately available. Are you located in Bangkok. I don't know if emergency pp is treated differently for appointment. 

 

[Smithson]

12 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

ubonjoe mentioned something about Oz embassy passports recently. Think they have cut back the service and bookings not immediately available. Are you located in Bangkok. I don't know if emergency pp is treated differently for appointment. 

 

The Aust Embassy website says they are not taking appointments. However applications can still be placed. Temporary passports are possible, but until Monday I can't contact the embassy for details.

 

Thanks for all the help.

[WhaleBomb]

When I contacted my embassy (UK) they said that I can not get a visa stamp on an emergency passport.

 

I'm currently waiting for my new passport to arrive but it seems to have been delayed. 

[Smithson]

3 minutes ago, WhaleBomb said:

When I contacted my embassy (UK) they said that I can not get a visa stamp on an emergency passport.

 

I'm currently waiting for my new passport to arrive but it seems to have been delayed. 

Thanks. Did they say this was Thai or UK rules? Any idea how this will affect your visa status should the passport not come in time?

[Lite Beer]

4 hours ago, userabcd said:

''Never hand your passport over to anybody''

 

Are you sure about that?

Of course I am. Common sense.

[Smithson]

We have found the agent, she is claiming the passport is with immigration, but doesn't have a receipt etc. How long do they normally keep passports for? Do you have to make an appointment these days for Cheang Wattana?

[ubonjoe]

27 minutes ago, Smithson said:

We have found the agent, she is claiming the passport is with immigration, but doesn't have a receipt etc. How long do they normally keep passports for?

It is normally done the the same day the application is submitted. Even overnight would be very rare.

That is standard line that agents tell people.

 

27 minutes ago, Smithson said:

Do you have to make an appointment these days for Cheang Wattana?

No

The site for them has been down since June.

[Smithson]

12 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

It is normally done the the same day the application is submitted. Even overnight would be very rare.

That is standard line that agents tell people.

As I thought, unless things were being done out of the ordinary.

 

[scubascuba3]

47 minutes ago, Smithson said:

We have found the agent, she is claiming the passport is with immigration, but doesn't have a receipt etc. How long do they normally keep passports for? Do you have to make an appointment these days for Cheang Wattana?

It can go into a black hole while Immigration process. Agent may be correct

[BritTim]

3 hours ago, Smithson said:

We have found the agent, she is claiming the passport is with immigration, but doesn't have a receipt etc. How long do they normally keep passports for? Do you have to make an appointment these days for Cheang Wattana?

If you get the opportunity to speak with the agent again, ask which immigration office is being used for the extension. By the way, what type of extension of stay is involved? If it is one of the simpler extensions, even an out of province extension should not take more than a week. However, if it is, say, a marriage extension, or if it is a "conversion" visa to switch from a tourist entry to a Non Immigrant entry, then a month or more is not unusual. The agent will want to hold onto the passport until the under consideration period has elapsed, and the final stamp inserted in your passport.

[TaoNow]

1 hour ago, BritTim said:

If you get the opportunity to speak with the agent again, ask which immigration office is being used for the extension. By the way, what type of extension of stay is involved? If it is one of the simpler extensions, even an out of province extension should not take more than a week. However, if it is, say, a marriage extension, or if it is a "conversion" visa to switch from a tourist entry to a Non Immigrant entry, then a month or more is not unusual. The agent will want to hold onto the passport until the under consideration period has elapsed, and the final stamp inserted in your passport.

I believe OP said it was for a Non-B extension.   

 

In any case, I think the lesson for all of us ex-pats is to do your extensions BY yourselves. 

 

And never let someone else take your PP out of your sight unless it is an Immo officer. 

[david555]

9 hours ago, BritTim said:

I do not know your location (and the location of the agent). However, I do know one of the more likely reasons for the delay in returning your passport. If your local immigration office is expensive for agents to use, the agent often has an agreement with another agent in another province to process your extension there. When that happens, there are often snafus where your agent loses track of where the passport is. Also, the less professional agents often place little priority in tracking down the customer's passports in such situations if they have already received full payment. If that is what has happened, the good news is that your passport will almost certainly eventually make its way back to you. It may take over a month for this to happen, especially if the agent is not good at minimising the length of the under consideration period.

 

One common indication of an out of province extension is that you were not asked to attend immigration briefly to initiate the application (something that is usually a requirement, but obviously omitted for out of province extensions).

God's ways are inscrutable ...., apparently also those of agents.....????

[Smithson]

21 hours ago, TaoNow said:

In any case, I think the lesson for all of us ex-pats is to do your extensions BY yourselves. 

 

And never let someone else take your PP out of your sight unless it is an Immo officer. 

That's a good idea, but not really possible to do a non B without help, as applicants are already full time. What I would advise is to have supporting docs on hand in case a PP is lost/damaged/stolen.

 

In this case the agent left the company months ago, but my staff continued to use her without knowing. Invoices were no longer on company letter head and the responsible staff member was away with covid so she didn't pick it. Communication was so unprofessional, Line messages, mobile numbers that regularly change. This is all too normal here and my staff don't understand why I complain. It seems everything is OK with the PP, she just didn't (and still doesn't) understand how important passports and visas are. It's not the first time I've had problems with ppl not keeping me informed.