Dual Passports

[kiko11]

MY friend has two passports, a new Thai passport and Filipino. In order to avoid needing a Visa,  Thai Immigration recommended to go to Nong Khai /Laos (leave Thailand with Filipino Pass and enter Laos with Thai Pass) and enter Thailand on Thai passport. Yet, Laos immigration denied entry to Laos without departure stamp in Thai passport. 

Does it only work when flying in/out of the country, let's say to Kuala Lumpur?

 

[Crossy]

You can't passport swap at a land border.

 

Time to book a couple of cheap flights.

[Tod Daniels]

Which is why you never ever trust an immigration officer about anything that isn't visas or extensions inside Thailand.

 

As Crossy correctly stated you can only swap passports by air entry.

 

Now, what they could do in the interim is get a year long extension based on being a thai here on another country passport. It's 1900 baht at the immigration office and requires minimal documentation.

 

Then they don't have to worry about their current stamp expiring or flying out and back right away.

[kiko11]

OK, thanks. So,  it means he'd have to fly out to any country, must not be Philippines, using Filipino passport, then entering and leaving that country with Thai passport.

 

 

[zzzzz]

needs to depart on whichever passport entered Thailand on<
can enter next country on whichever Passport they desire.
on returning ( BY AIR) enter on the Thai one

Edited February 28, 2023 by zzzzz

[LukKrueng]

17 hours ago, kiko11 said:

OK, thanks. So,  it means he'd have to fly out to any country, must not be Philippines, using Filipino passport, then entering and leaving that country with Thai passport.

 

 

Your friend can fly to any country, including the PH. All your friend has to do is go through Thai immigration with the passport he entered Thailand. Go into the other country on whichever passport he wants and depart that country using the same passport he entered there, and finally enter Thailand using the Thai passport. As was mentioned above already, you cannot switch passports at border crossings.

[The Theory]

20 hours ago, kiko11 said:

Laos immigration denied entry to Laos without departure stamp in Thai passport.

Since it is a land border pass must have exit stamp from Thai due to illegal border cross. But did your friend show exit stamp in his Philippino pass. ? And tell them the reason why he wants to enter by Thai pass ?

 

 

Edited March 1, 2023 by The Theory

[kiko11]

16 minutes ago, The Theory said:

Since it is a land border pass must have exit stamp from Thai due to illegal border cross. But did your friend show exit stamp in his Philippino pass. ? And tell them the reason why he wants to enter by Thai pass ?

Well, he stays in Thailand on Filipino passport.   Got recently a Thai passport. To get rid of this visa situation he traveled to friendship bridge. Left Thailand using Filipino passport. So far, so good. No overstay possible in Thailand, officially departed. Only that Laos didn't let him in using Thai passport without departure stamp. Back to Thailand on 45 days visa on arrival. Ok, means it just works by flying out/in.  tbh, I didn't know that procedure either. My European passport never gets stamped by immigration when I leave or return back home.

 

[Maestro]

With a land border, it should have worked this way:

 

1. Leaving Thailand, give the Philippine passport to Thai immigration.

 

2. Entering Laos, give the Philippine passport to Laotian immigration.

 

3. Leaving Laos, give the Philippine passport to Laotian immigration.

4. Entering Thailand, give the Thai

 passport to Thai immigration.

 

At this point, Thai immigration would have asked him for the passport with the Lotion exit stamp, he should then have explained his situation and insisted on his right under the Thai constitution to be allowed to enter Thailand unconditionally with his Thai passport.

 

I remember reading about a case like this some years ago, an Australian woman with newly acquired Thai nationality, and it took her a long time arguing with Thai immigration until she was stamped in on her Thai passport.

 

All things considered, the best advice still is to swap passports travelling by air using the procedure explained earlier in this topic to avoid all the hassle.

[Neeranam]

7 minutes ago, Maestro said:

At this point, Thai immigration would have asked him for the passport with the Lotion exit stamp, he should then have explained his situation and insisted on his right under the Thai constitution to be allowed to enter Thailand unconditionally with his Thai passport.

Don't even need to show a passport, just a Thai ID.

[Maestro]

4 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

Don't even need to show a passport, just a Thai ID.

Good thinking. Make that step 4 in the procedure I outlined.

[Neeranam]

21 hours ago, kiko11 said:

MY friend has two passports, a new Thai passport and Filipino. In order to avoid needing a Visa,  Thai Immigration recommended to go to Nong Khai /Laos (leave Thailand with Filipino Pass and enter Laos with Thai Pass) and enter Thailand on Thai passport. Yet, Laos immigration denied entry to Laos without departure stamp in Thai passport. 

Does it only work when flying in/out of the country, let's say to Kuala Lumpur?

Thai immigration don't know what they are talking about. 

Your friend is Thai, so doesn't need to leave the country. 

 

[steve187]

53 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

Thai immigration don't know what they are talking about. 

Your friend is Thai, so doesn't need to leave the country. 

 

only way to stay in Thailand if having entered on a non Thai passport is to get a yearly extension for being Thai, 1,900thb and the required 90 day reports

[Eaglekott]

1 hour ago, Neeranam said:

Your friend is Thai, so doesn't need to leave the country.

He will overstay on his Philippine passport. My friends Thai wife entered Thailand on her German passport and had to pay a hefty overstay fee when she left the country.  However I heard from a friend of mine that when he got his Thai citizenship they could "stamp" him out of the country with out the need of leaving.

[Neeranam]

17 minutes ago, steve187 said:

only way to stay in Thailand if having entered on a non Thai passport is to get a yearly extension for being Thai, 1,900thb and the required 90 day reports

not true

 

5 minutes ago, Eaglekott said:

He will overstay on his Philippine passport. My friends Thai wife entered Thailand on her German passport and had to pay a hefty overstay fee when she left the country.  However I heard from a friend of mine that when he got his Thai citizenship they could "stamp" him out of the country with out the need of leaving.

I have personal experience -  I came on UK passport, became Thai and went to immigration, who cancelled my visa extension, wrote I was Thai.

Edited March 1, 2023 by Neeranam

[steve187]

42 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

not true

 

I have personal experience -  I came on UK passport, became Thai and went to immigration, who cancelled my visa extension, wrote I was Thai.

you became Thai after entering Thailand on a non Thai passport, if you were already Thai on entry using a non Thai passport, you would have to obtain a 1 year extension to non Thai passport entry, until you entered on a Thai passport

Edited March 1, 2023 by steve187

[Maestro]

5 hours ago, steve187 said:

you became Thai after entering Thailand on a non Thai passport, if you were already Thai on entry using a non Thai passport, you would have to obtain a 1 year extension to non Thai passport entry, until you entered on a Thai passport

Neeranam is right. I now remember reading a post of a member, some years ago, perhaps in the topic Story Of My Thai Citizenship Application, saying that after he acquired Thai nationality his local immigration office willingly adjusted their records to show that he was no longer in Thailand as a Permanent Resident and also took care of getting his Alien Registration Book cancelled. Perhaps that post was even made by Neeranam.

 

The OP, now back in Thailand after the wild goose chase to Laos on which his immigration office sent him, does indeed not have to do anything at all. Although he is now a Thai National, immigration still has him on their books as a Philippine national, but this irregularity is of their own doing because they refused to follow the correct procedure which obviously does exist but of which this particular official does not seem to be aware.

 

Also his local police station continues to have him on record as an alien resident. The Alien Resident Book required him, when he was still a Permanent Resident, to report to the police every five years and get a stamp in the book and if they come looking for him when the next report would have been due he can show them his identity card or, if he wishes to do them a favour, he can can go to the station one of these days and return the book to them.

[Neeranam]

Thanks Maestro, just need to go to immigration and get something like the following written by the officer there.