Dual passport kid returning to Thailand

[EVENKEEL]

Was wondering - When I take my kid to USA for visit and we depart US for return to Thailand. Usually without a visa an onward ticket is needed at the check in. I have a visa but what about my kid. Upon leaving US my kid uses her US passport. If they ask for her onward ticket? Do we show her Thai passport as well?

[ubonjoe]

When checking in for the flight to here you show both of your child's passports to prove they do not need a visa or onward to enter Thailand.

[EVENKEEL]

8 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

When checking in for the flight to here you show both of your child's passports to prove they do not need a visa or onward to enter Thailand.

Thanks, I wasn't really sure if it's cool to show both passports. I can't take anything for granted anymore.

[ubonjoe]

4 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

Thanks, I wasn't really sure if it's cool to show both passports. I can't take anything for granted anymore.

Nothing wrong with showing both passport since both countries allow dual nationalities. Same for leaving Thailand to prove they do not need a visa for the US.

 

[richard_smith237]

Yes... Its really very very simple indeed...

 

A dual citizen Child (Thai / USA) with bothPassports 

 

Departing Thailand: 

At Airline Check-In - Show Childs USA Passport (for proof of permission to enter USA). 

At Immigration - Exit Thailand with the Childs Thai Passport. 

 

Arriving in USA:

At Immigration - Child enters under USA Passport.

 

Departing USA: 

At Airline Check-In - Show Childs Thai Passport (for proof of permission to enter Thailand). 

At Immigration - Exit USA with the Childs USA Passport. 

 

Arriving Thailand: 

At Immigration - Child enters under their Thai Passport.

[klg333]

10 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

Departing USA: 

At Airline Check-In - Show Childs Thai Passport (for proof of permission to enter Thailand). 

At Immigration - Exit USA with the Childs USA Passport. 

There is no Immigration or Passport Control departing the USA. You would have to show both at airline check-in. 

[EVENKEEL]

Thanks all.

[Eff1n2ret]

54 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

Arriving Thailand: 

At Immigration - Child enters under their Thai Passport.

And to be on the safe side, keep the US passport well out of sight. Some Thai Immigration Officers don't understand or agree with the concept of dual nationality and like to mess you around.

[richard_smith237]

7 minutes ago, Eff1n2ret said:

And to be on the safe side, keep the US passport well out of sight. Some Thai Immigration Officers don't understand or agree with the concept of dual nationality and like to mess you around.

 

Don’t be ridiculous... 

 

 

[Eff1n2ret]

7 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

Don’t be ridiculous... 

 

 

Not ridiculous. I have direct knowledge of a Thai lady, long-time resident in UK who showed both UK and a new Thai passport on arrival at BKK. On some pretext the IO declined to admit her as a Thai national and stamped her in for 30 days as a visitor. She went to the local Immigration Office who gave her an extension for 1 year as a "former Thai national", which suited her purpose at the time, and they advised her not to show her UK passport at a Thai border.

That was a dozen years ago, and perhaps the officers are less antediluvian nowadays, but my point is that they don't need to see the US passport, so be on the safe side and don't show it to them.

[cardinalblue]

You have to-when exiting usa, you must produce a usa passport  (lets say for a child) at security control…they want to see one PP not 2 at that point….they got irritable if you hit that control clerk with 2 PPs.

[NativeBob]

33 minutes ago, Eff1n2ret said:

And to be on the safe side, keep the US passport well out of sight. Some Thai Immigration Officers don't understand or agree with the concept of dual nationality and like to mess you around.

Yes, I've seen IO at CW (about 2016-ish, female captain) who was very convinced that dual citizenship is not allowed in Thailand, based on assumption that (well Dah!) this is the Kingdom. She was very serious about it. 

[richard_smith237]

22 minutes ago, Eff1n2ret said:

Not ridiculous. I have direct knowledge of a Thai lady, long-time resident in UK who showed both UK and a new Thai passport on arrival at BKK. On some pretext the IO declined to admit her as a Thai national and stamped her in for 30 days as a visitor. She went to the local Immigration Office who gave her an extension for 1 year as a "former Thai national", which suited her purpose at the time, and they advised her not to show her UK passport at a Thai border.

That was a dozen years ago, and perhaps the officers are less antediluvian nowadays, but my point is that they don't need to see the US passport, so be on the safe side and don't show it to them.

 

A Thai Immigration officer refused to allow a Thai national entry with a valid Thai Passport ?.... Interesting... 

 

That said: Thai Immigration officers can’t legally reject Thai Nationals because they don’t like that the Thai holds dual nationality. 

 

There is always more to the story when something seemingly so strange happens. 

 

Perhaps the Thai Passport had expired and you didn’t get the complete story from your ’Thai Lady Friend’.. ?

 

We (Wife, Son and I) travel in and out regularly, I’ve never once considered hiding my Son’s British Passport because a Thai Immigration officer may not like the idea he has dual nationality.

 

... In the scenario you mention, IF the Immi officer didn’t like it, there is nothing he can do about it at all anyway. 

 

But... IF it makes someone more comfortable, sure.. go ahead and hide it, no real harm in that either... It just seems a little ‘paranoid’ to me. 

[skatewash]

1 hour ago, richard_smith237 said:

Yes... Its really very very simple indeed...

 

A dual citizen Child (Thai / USA) with bothPassports 

 

Departing Thailand: 

At Airline Check-In - Show Childs USA Passport (for proof of permission to enter USA). 

At Immigration - Exit Thailand with the Childs Thai Passport. 

 

Arriving in USA:

At Immigration - Child enters under USA Passport.

 

Departing USA: 

At Airline Check-In - Show Childs Thai Passport (for proof of permission to enter Thailand). 

At Immigration - Exit USA with the Childs USA Passport. 

 

Arriving Thailand: 

At Immigration - Child enters under their Thai Passport.

That's well-explained and correct.

The principles at work are these:

 

For immigration:

1.  Always use the passport for the country you are entering or leaving if you have one.
2.  Always enter and leave a country using the same passport.

For check-in:

3.  Show the passport for the country you are going to (the destination country) as the airline is concerned about whether you will be accepted for entry in that country.

It is NEVER a good idea to give someone two passports initially.  Show the ONE passport that the above principals would indicate for the particular situation.  If questioned about something that showing the second passport will resolve then do so, otherwise showing ONE passport is the best policy:  faster, easier, less confusing for everyone (you and the other person).

 

[skatewash]

10 minutes ago, NativeBob said:

Yes, I've seen IO at CW (about 2016-ish, female captain) who was very convinced that dual citizenship is not allowed in Thailand, based on assumption that (well Dah!) this is the Kingdom. She was very serious about it. 

Yes, it is never a good idea to show someone two passports when you don't need to.  There is always one passport that is the correct one to show someone depending on the situation (country and whether the official is immigration or airline check-in).  That's the passport to be used in that situation.  The other passport remains out of sight and is shown ONLY  to resolve an issue or problem.  It is in the traveler's interest to make the job of officials they deal with as easy as possible.

Of course, the above is advice for people who simply want to get from point A to point B with the least amount of hassle.  Those who are on a mission to teach various immigration and airline check-in personnel about the fine points of how dual citizenship work should share all their wisdom even if it's not welcome.  This will be especially appreciated by the people waiting in line behind you. ???? 

[skatewash]

37 minutes ago, Eff1n2ret said:

Not ridiculous. I have direct knowledge of a Thai lady, long-time resident in UK who showed both UK and a new Thai passport on arrival at BKK. On some pretext the IO declined to admit her as a Thai national and stamped her in for 30 days as a visitor. She went to the local Immigration Office who gave her an extension for 1 year as a "former Thai national", which suited her purpose at the time, and they advised her not to show her UK passport at a Thai border.

That was a dozen years ago, and perhaps the officers are less antediluvian nowadays, but my point is that they don't need to see the US passport, so be on the safe side and don't show it to them.

This is a great example of why one only shows the one correct passport in a particular situation to a particular person.  She was a Thai entering Thailand.  The only passport that needed to be shown was her Thai one.  End of story.  No fuss, no muss.  Everyone is happy.

Your example is of someone taking an incredibly simple thing and making it incredibly complicated.  If you have two passports you have got to be smart enough to understand which one you should be using in which situation.  Giving someone two passports is saying to the official: "I don't know what in the world I'm doing, not even sure how I got here to be honest.  Hope you can figure it out.  Here're two passports when you were expecting just one.  Hope that helps."  Be a common traveler, don't be the exception that needs to be handled differently.  A dual citizen absolutely has the ability to be treated as a normal traveler.  The responsibility is theirs.  When they outsource that responsibility to others, it's out of their control.

[StevieAus]

10 hours ago, EVENKEEL said:

Thanks, I wasn't really sure if it's cool to show both passports. I can't take anything for granted anymore.

My daughter holds Thai Australian and UK citizenship.

On leaving and arriving in Thailand we use the Thai passport and the others as applicable.

Has been traveling for years and never a problem

[dkg224]

I just did this, returned yesterday to Thailand

 

Checked in with US passport for all airline flights 

 

leaving Thailand - Thai passport 

arriving US - US passport 

 

leaving US- no passport control 

arriving Thailand- Thai passport 

[Maestro]

The story related by Eff1n2ret is hearsay and probably not accurate and/or complete. This is probably what happened at the immigration desk at BKK airport:

 

– Thai national (TN) presents her new Thai passport obtained from the Thai embassy in the UK.

 

– Immigration official (IO): "Where is your other passport?"

 

– TN presents her UK passport.

 

– IO expected to be shown TN's old Thai passport with the last departure stamp from Thailand, but getting instead her UK passport he takes the easy way out and stamps her in on that passport.

[Eaglekott]

16 hours ago, Eff1n2ret said:

Not ridiculous. I have direct knowledge of a Thai lady, long-time resident in UK who showed both UK and a new Thai passport on arrival at BKK. On some pretext the IO declined to admit her as a Thai national and stamped her in for 30 days as a visitor. She went to the local Immigration Office who gave her an extension for 1 year as a "former Thai national", which suited her purpose at the time, and they advised her not to show her UK passport at a Thai border.

That was a dozen years ago, and perhaps the officers are less antediluvian nowadays, but my point is that they don't need to see the US passport, so be on the safe side and don't show it to them.

I have a Thai friend with similar experience but that was 10-15 years ago. I believe they wave learned by now.

[Eaglekott]

Most Important thing is to Use Thai Passport when arriving to Thailand, My Friends Thai wife used her UK passport coming to Thailand one month before her husband and she got 45 days overstay when they wanted to go back.