Visa/ Wp Ridiculousness

[LaReina]

To the OP. I am sorry, but I had to laugh out loud at your woes.. too funny.. but of course, only in hindsight. My heart goes out to you.

As for all the other wise a*sses, ya'll are just out right MEAN. Two of my hubbies previous companies, (both international) insisted on holding my passport while they processed what appeared to be a never ending quest for a visa, and after the visa was issued held onto my passport until I asked for it back.

Some control freaks in some companies even hold onto your workpermit, and you have to check it in and out from HR. And as for all of you who look at your passports on the hour to see how many pages you have left.. ... .. .whatever.

Give the guy a break.. sh*t happens and his story was entertaining..

[lopburi3]

as for thai people here, immigration here requires that thai passport must be valid for at least five years when getting issued visa. husband just paid for thai visa (took one month to receive new one) now must redo workpermit/permission to stay stamp for more money. husband got new passport with new number (why !?) and now have to fill out lots of forms to 'move' the permit/visa into new passport.

Because each Thai passport, like American passports, have a unique number. His personal number is indicated inside the passport and stays the same (ID Card Number) but each passport itself has a new number. Also a Thai passport is only valid for five years as issued - but can be extended for another five years upon application.

[bendix]

As for all the other wise a*sses, ya'll are just out right MEAN. Two of my hubbies previous companies, (both international) insisted on holding my passport while they processed what appeared to be a never ending quest for a visa, and after the visa was issued held onto my passport until I asked for it back.

Some control freaks in some companies even hold onto your workpermit, and you have to check it in and out from HR.

Well, why didnt you simply get your husband to point out that his employers' actions were illegal. A passport is a personal document. It remains the property of the issuing government, but should be held only by the individual to whom it is issued.

The key in your account is this - it was held onto until YOU ASKED FOR IT BACK.

Now, that didnt take much effort did it?

[bina]

but can be extended for another five years upon application.

Lopburi: NOT. they dont do that here in thai consulate in israel (god we just have to be different in everything...) . and his previous passport number is written in the front page as 'previous passport number used by applicant'... which makes it seem that he changes passports a million times a year; and the immigration will make him renew in two years time again sot that the passport is always five years 'new'...

and my american passport i thought i had the same passport number?!/ same as renewing my israeli passport.

and as lareina points out this is common among many countries for employer to withhold passport to prevent worker from 'running away' and yes its illegal but so what? as in other threads, its super common for thai workers in foreign countries to be left stranded w/o passport because of this but fortunately their embassy ehre is more understanding of its thai customers in that respect. they are also kept on overstay without knowing about it as the employer w/holds the passport and keeps them on overstay on purpose. then when immigration checks up on it, arrests the worker, sends him off to jail until he can be sent home, the employer pays a fine, employer gets new person...

lucrative for everyone almost....

bina

wonder what would happen if that were to happen to farangs in thailand....

[lopburi3]

I believe the reason for non renewal was because of recent change in the type of passport now in use and to get the new one into his hands. Or are you saying there is no page for extension of passport in the new version? There most surely is in the 2004 version. And there is no mark of previous passport number normally. I can not imagine the problems having the "new" passport with the number of a passport reported missing earlier might cause a traveler. I don't doubt you that Israel may do this but it makes no sense in law enforcement terms to me.

[DamianMavis]

The people that are being jerks are, well.... jerks and don't seem to know what they are talking about. Saying things like "you should have kept checking the back pages"... passports aren't filled up in order so what does checking the back do? They kept sending the passport for more and more extensions, and each time it's a whole new page filled up. It wasn't possible to hold onto the passport with it constantly being needed for extensions during the work permit process, if that's not normal what am I supposed to do about that? Oh and complain that my employer is breaking the law? Riiiiight, this is THAILAND Bendix, do you live here? Because in the Thailand I live in the LAW isn't too important and telling people they are doing something wrong just elicits anger and possibly the loss of my job for having the nerve to insult them by pointing out their illegal business practices.

I helped a friend report her rape to the Thai police station on Thonglor... and they threatened to DEPORT ME. Bendix, I can't even begin to imagine how you suggested people should "simply point out" that our employers are breaking the law. Next maybe I should tell the taxis at silom and the airport that they are breaking the law by not using the meter and charging a lump sum, do they listen to you when you simply tell them that? Rose coloured glasses much?

Damian

[astral]

as for thai people here, immigration here requires that thai passport must be valid for at least five years when getting issued visa. husband just paid for thai visa (took one month to receive new one) now must redo workpermit/permission to stay stamp for more money. husband got new passport with new number (why !?) and now have to fill out lots of forms to 'move' the permit/visa into new passport.

Because each Thai passport, like American passports, have a unique number. His personal number is indicated inside the passport and stays the same (ID Card Number) but each passport itself has a new number. Also a Thai passport is only valid for five years as issued - but can be extended for another five years upon application.

UK passports also have a new number on renewal.

[LaReina]

Bendix: Because in general companies do not like "boat rockers".

In reality I would never in my own home country tell my employer that what they were doing (to me) was illegal. The word alone is aggressive enough to put an unwarranted bulls eye on the forehead of the person who uses it.

True a passport belongs to the country that issued it and is an individuals personal property, but that is all just said to make a person feel secure or good .. or something along those lines. Have you ever heard of a country stepping in and helping a person whose passport has been anything but lost?

[bina]

hi lop.. of course there is room for a zillion extensions.... which is why i dont understand the thought process... in 2004 i think it was, his previous employer kept his passport and he was arrested and jailed for 'being w/o w/p visa' (meaning he wasnt working at 'his' employer's place but had been placed out to somewhere else) and then was released to new employer and had to do new passport: same same: new number and previous number written in as 'this passport number replaces...blablabla'...the thai embassy was unable to get the old passport out of the employer.

my onw passports are full of extensions and stamps....

i always have about a zillion copies of every page in my passports and now have same for husband... i keep one copy of old passport in new passport since here they check all the entry/w/p visa stamps from previous times...

i guess im used to this sort of thing but probably more 'first world' country people might not know or get upset from this...

its like learning to keep those little airplane stubs in your passport that in thailand they requested(!)... now i keep every little thing all in a ziplock bag. call me paranoid but living in the semi third world teaches u survival skills in beauracracy and the foibles of immigration.

i also think some countries bail out their residents much faster then others. the thai embassy here seems to do an awful lot of bailing out of thai people and the israeli embassy seems ot do a lot of bailing out of israelis stranded for whatever reason. the only american embassy i've had to deal with has always seemed impersonal and sort of industrial line'ish.

also i've noticed that not every embassy or consulate knows new updated rules, and not every clerk knows everything... and most embassies seem to have a policy of employing locals to work in most clerical postitions that dont involve major decision making (in answer to complaint that there were no canadian employees in the canadian embassy). the thai embassy here however has two farang in the front office and the rest are thai

i always find it a little scary that someone would keep my passport; ....