My Passport is expiring (still have lots of time though)

 

Now I intend to fly back to my Home Country and do the Passport renewal over there instead of at the Embassy in Bangkok.

 

At the Embassy they will give you a piece of paper for Immigration to transfer the stamps (or what it is called), but in my Home Country they will not give me (they have NO clue I guess) that piece of paper.

 

How (after coming back to Thailand with a Re-Entry Permit in my OLD passport) can I transfer the stamps to my NEW passport?

 

Is this something like just going to Immigration or do I need to visit my Embassy for that Letter?

 

Any other caveats I have to watch out for ????

 

TiA

If you renew your passport while in your home country, you can use it to enter Thailand.  Your 'admitted to' stamp will be stamped in the new passport at BKK airport.  Then you just transfer your Extension stamps at Immigration - there is no need for the Embassy letter as you don't have a 'new' passport (it's been stamped by airport immigration).  Just make sure you hold onto your old passport as you'll need this at the airport (for the IO to check your Extension/Re-entry permit) and at Immigration when you transfer the Extension.

Thx @brewsterbudgen

 

So the Letter is ONLY for renewal of your Passport within THAILAND at the Embassy!

 

Aha good to know that.

5 minutes ago, MJCM said:

Thx @brewsterbudgen

 

So the Letter is ONLY for renewal of your Passport within THAILAND at the Embassy!

 

Aha good to know that.

Correct.

Yeah ^^^. No need for the letter if you renew outside Thailand.

 

Give the immigration officer both passports, tell him there's a re-entry permit in the old one.

 

Once you are in-country you can go to your local immigration for them to do the extension stamp-transfer.

Having done that many times, both with extensions of stay and PR status - for both the procedure is the same: Ask the passport office in your country to only punch holes or whatever they do to invalidate passport on the blank pages at the end, but not your visa / extension page, and not your information page.

 

When entering Thailand, show both passports. Officer will check your permission to enter from old passport, then stamp your new one. Sometimes a note will be added, which will point to page in previous passport where that permission of stay was stamped.

 

Bon voyage!

Thx Guys,

 

really appreciated, it got me worried because of that Letter.

 

Now the question remains (I already send an email to the Embassy) how long before my Passport expires I can get a new one (because I don't wanna fly back there when it's sooo b......dy cold (rather go in the Summer))

There's certainly no limit for a UK passport but your new PP runs from the date of issue so don't do it too early.

 

I've renewed with 5 years left due to PP being full.

 

 

37 minutes ago, Crossy said:

There's certainly no limit for a UK passport but your new PP runs from the date of issue so don't do it too early.

 

I've renewed with 5 years left due to PP being full.

 

 

We can get a so called business passport, has double the pages of a normal passport and same price. 
 

Mine is less then half full. 
 

I think I will do the renewal 6 months early (if possible) so I can do it in the Summer. 

14 hours ago, MJCM said:

 

Mine is less then half full. 
 

I think I will do the renewal 6 months early (if possible) so I can do it in the Summer.

Not clear about for which country we are talking about. But with a ten year validity on U.S. passports, trying to get full-length use of it before its expiration is a consideration, sure.

 

But more critical these days for people living here, travelling there, etc., is the timing of a passport renewal.

 

This info applies to U.S. passport holders. In the U.S., stateside renewals are jammed up, the backlog is taking months to process a renewal there. Even the State Department advises renewals are taking 8-10 weeks. But one can pay for an expadited renewal, though I don't know the turnaround time on that.

 

For U.S. passport holders in Thailand, renewals by mail with the embassy are much faster. Reports here on the forum indicate the process is taking anywhere from just around two-and-a-half weeks to a bit more than three weeks at the outside of the time frame. So that is a big plus to consider when planning to renew.

 

 

45 minutes ago, rwilem said:

Not clear about for which country we are talking about. But with a ten year validity on U.S. passports, trying to get full-length use of it before its expiration is a consideration, sure.

 

But more critical these days for people living here, travelling there, etc., is the timing of a passport renewal.

 

This info applies to U.S. passport holders. In the U.S., stateside renewals are jammed up, the backlog is taking months to process a renewal there. Even the State Department advises renewals are taking 8-10 weeks. But one can pay for an expadited renewal, though I don't know the turnaround time on that.

 

For U.S. passport holders in Thailand, renewals by mail with the embassy are much faster. Reports here on the forum indicate the process is taking anywhere from just around two-and-a-half weeks to a bit more than three weeks at the outside of the time frame. So that is a big plus to consider when planning to renew.

 

 

Home Country is in Europe, and I got an email back from the municipality were I want to renew my passport and they said I can renew my Passport at any time I like.

 

Ps: Turn around there is 3 -7 working days

 

Edit: Forgot, also my Driving License (home country) has expired so instead of renewing it from here (by sending it there) I can do that while I am there for my Passport