Switch Passport on a tourist visa to "clean out" ED/Vol/Tourist history?

[Hal65]

Since 2018 I've been in Thailand on Edu visas, a tourist visa or two and a volunteer visa. 4 years prior to that was largely the same on other passports.

 

I just got a tourist visa right now and think it's time to renew to a new passport. I've been told entries and exits are recorded at immigration but nothing more.

 

Is this true? Will switching passports wipe out my ED/Vol/Tourist visa history?

[richard_smith237]

Are you going to switch your Name, DOB, Nationality and Photograph too ??

 

Immigration have record of your entries going back years on any passport you've entered on and can easily tie in your new (other passport) based on the basic metrics and your photograph. 

 

Passports are Biometric, all your info on your other passport will be the same...  

 

 

 

[Hal65]

@richard_smith237 But the visa type info is indeed wiped out from the switch, right? That is what I'm probing about.

[ThailandRyan]

20 minutes ago, Hal65 said:

@richard_smith237 But the visa type info is indeed wiped out from the switch, right? That is what I'm probing about.

In your new passport yes, but in immigrations dara base no, it's still there.

[Hal65]

@ThailandRyan Are you sure they can see the actual visa type, eg education, tourist, business, marriage, et cetera? Someone posted earlier that immigration can only see entry and exit date information, but not the type of visa attached to those entries.

[JayClay]

Immigration have access to the information on computer databases if they need it.

 

However generally when entering airports or attempting to obtain a visa, the IO will simply flick through your passport to see the history.

 

Whether that's because a database lookup would take too much time/effort or the IO officers are just set in their ways, I don't know.

 

So, yes, a new password may be helpful in certain situations, but it's not a magic bullet and it won't wipe out the records of your previous entries if officers really want to see it.

[Dante99]

17 minutes ago, JayClay said:

a new password may be helpful

I doubt it.

[BananaStrong]

I changed my name from Billy to 1 to 2 to 3, to 4 (YES, my name is a NUMBER!!)

 

WORKS EVERY TIME......   Been border hopping since the 70's 

[JayClay]

9 minutes ago, Dante99 said:

I doubt it.

I mean, you could try actually reading the whole post and coming up with a genuine counter argument, rather than cherry-picking your quite from one tiny part of a much larger sentence and going "NO" 

[Dante99]

3 minutes ago, JayClay said:

I mean, you could try actually reading the whole post and coming up with a genuine counter argument, rather than cherry-picking your quite from one tiny part of a much larger sentence and going "NO" 

oh, you missed it

 

try again and tell us why changing your password is even relevant 

[ThailandRyan]

50 minutes ago, Hal65 said:

@ThailandRyan Are you sure they can see the actual visa type, eg education, tourist, business, marriage, et cetera? Someone posted earlier that immigration can only see entry and exit date information, but not the type of visa attached to those entries.

Once they swipe your passport through the biometric information comes up. They may ask you about your old passport entries or they may not. It's up to the officer. When I entered the country on my new Passport the IO asked me why I had switched from a Non O visa to a Non O-A Visa. I told him I was now retired.......yes they can see your entire history if they want too.  It does not wipe out the data in the system. Folks used to change passports back when the Immigration system was not as it is now in order to hide past issues.  Now your fingerprinted and your passport has a biometric strip in it. My old Passport had it to, but not the first one I entered the country on 24 years ago, the new one will have your biometric info on it and so when swiped your info comes up......My former BIL works at Suvarnabhumi as an IO supervisor.

[quake]

Even the windows 95 system they use,  will still show your complete history of in /out/ visa's.

Maybe try wearing a hat and glasses also grow a moustache. 

[ThailandRyan]

The OP must be worried about his Volunteer visas....are they really that much of an issue, I mean they are real and were given by immigration and not from using an agent, right? Some of those Volunteer visas are dodgy....and why you can not obtain a Thai Elite Visa from what I have heard.....but then once again we hear lots of misinformation. However the biometric strip and into on the computers is real....just ask Big Joke.....they did pay a pretty penny for it....

[Celsius]

Don't worry.... computers at immigration are to play solitaire and check facebook

[FritsSikkink]

2 hours ago, Hal65 said:

@ThailandRyan Are you sure they can see the actual visa type, eg education, tourist, business, marriage, et cetera? Someone posted earlier that immigration can only see entry and exit date information, but not the type of visa attached to those entries.

They scan your QR code in your passport and immediately have all you immigration info, besides that they can see if you are in a "wanted" / "fraud"  and a couple of more lists.

[JayClay]

6 hours ago, Dante99 said:

try again and tell us why changing your password is even relevant 

Hah. Missed that one.

[BritTim]

Your immigration history in the Immigration Bureau's system is not deleted as a result of you using a new passport. They can continue to see it going back over at least 20 years (all entries and exits from Thailand, the visa types used, all extensions of your permissions to stay and so on).

 

However, using a new passport can help when applying for visas via an embassy/consulate. The consular officials do not have access to Immigration's system.

[BritManToo]

2 minutes ago, BritTim said:

Your immigration history in the Immigration Bureau's system is not deleted as a result of you using a new passport.

But they might not look for your name under different passport numbers and consider this your first trip to Thailand. Back in the UK if you wanted to avoid police database searches, you just reversed your first and middle names on the form, or dropped one completely.

[BritTim]

1 minute ago, BritManToo said:

But they might not look for your name under different passport numbers and consider this your first trip to Thailand.

It is true that immigration officials will sometimes make mistakes, and the linking of your old and new passports might not be done. That has been known. However, when immigration's system recognises that someone is entering Thailand on a specific passport for the first time, it looks for other passports in its system with the same name and date of birth. If found, the official is prompted to determine if this is for the same individual, and to link the passports if so. It is not unknown for you to be linked to someone else with the same name, but this is much rarer than no link at all being made. Recently, airport immigration has not been happy when the system reveals that someone is using a new passport to enter Thailand when they know a different one was used previously, and the previous one was not full.

[BritManToo]

9 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

Now your fingerprinted and your passport has a biometric strip in it. My old Passport had it to, but not the first one I entered the country on 24 years ago, the new one will have your biometric info on it and so when swiped your info comes up......My former BIL works at Suvarnabhumi as an IO supervisor.

You have a completely false idea of biometric strips and the data it contains.

There is no search run in the immigration computer when you enter Thailand, it just confirms it's your passport.

[Yellowtail]

Why not just print out phony visas from other countries and paste over the old Thai visas? 

[KhunLA]

Just keep asking the same question, till someone agrees with you.   You'll be fine, and incognito is if you never traveled.

 

 

[BritTim]

8 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

You have a completely false idea of biometric strips and the data it contains.

There is no search run in the immigration computer when you enter Thailand, it just confirms it's your passport.

There is a lot of confusion in many people's mind over "machine readable passport" and "biometric passport". A machine readable travel document simply has an optical strip summarising information on the passport data page. A biometric passport contains an embedded electronic processor that uses various techniques to more reliably verify the holder's identity.

 

Machine readable passports may or may not have a biometric chip. While almost all countries now issue machine readable passports, in many cases, biometric chips are not included. Further, the information that a biometric chip might contain varies, and immigration in most countries does not take advantage of all the various kinds of biometric data the chip may store. On entry, I do not believe Thailand yet makes use of the data on biometric chips, though it does, of course, use the basic information on the electronic strip that is more or less the same as that on the passport data page (name, date of birth and so on).

 

I assume that Immigration is able to access biometric data from passports when they want, even though doing so is not part of the standard entry process (as far as I know).

[KhunLA]

Apparently using a different country passport didn't even help this guy from being ID'd at Imm.   This possibly before PPs were chipped.

 

I would think chipped PPs hold a lot more info than some would like.

https://www.reuters.com/article/thailand-academic-idINKCN0R80CS20150908

[clokwise]

I can answer this definitively. I am a dual passport holder. Usually travel in and out of Thailand on Passport #1. Due to misc visa and passport issues, I arrived using passport #2 which I had never used before in Thailand. Same name, DOB, etc, just different nationality. They immediately picked up on this, and confirmed after taking my fingerprints and face scan. They asked me several questions then stamped my passport and and sent me on my way. This didn't seem to cause any concern for immigration, they seemed prepared for this situation.

 

Long gone are the good old days when you could "lose" your passport and effectively start over.

[ThailandRyan]

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

You have a completely false idea of biometric strips and the data it contains.

There is no search run in the immigration computer when you enter Thailand, it just confirms it's your passport.

Yes and they can then pull up the information if they decide to.  Your biometrics when scanned could also trigger the system to upload anything like an arrest warrant, an interpol notice etc....it's not just to confirm your passport.

 

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.nationthailand.com/in-focus/30377606&ved=2ahUKEwinr6bA1s79AhWI8zgGHRe2Dm0QFnoECA0QAQ&usg=AOvVaw3VOUL1AH7a-uiJjC5DFvF0

 

The biometric system can also translate information in a chip on a passport and compare this with facial features using UV and infrared light to see whether there are any differences to identify fake passports.

In a span of just three days, the system has helped police arrest 8,000 illegal immigrants, fake passport holders, overstaying travellers, and legal offenders on arrest warrants.

[ThailandRyan]

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

But they might not look for your name under different passport numbers and consider this your first trip to Thailand. Back in the UK if you wanted to avoid police database searches, you just reversed your first and middle names on the form, or dropped one completely.

Old news I am afraid. It can not be done like that anymore as 9/11 saw to that and changes in the system started.

[ThailandRyan]

34 minutes ago, clokwise said:

I can answer this definitively. I am a dual passport holder. Usually travel in and out of Thailand on Passport #1. Due to misc visa and passport issues, I arrived using passport #2 which I had never used before in Thailand. Same name, DOB, etc, just different nationality. They immediately picked up on this, and confirmed after taking my fingerprints and face scan. They asked me several questions then stamped my passport and and sent me on my way. This didn't seem to cause any concern for immigration, they seemed prepared for this situation.

 

Long gone are the good old days when you could "lose" your passport and effectively start over.

Much like I did allude to in an earlier post. Thank you for your info and update.

[my friend I]

18 hours ago, clokwise said:

I can answer this definitively. I am a dual passport holder. Usually travel in and out of Thailand on Passport #1. Due to misc visa and passport issues, I arrived using passport #2 which I had never used before in Thailand. Same name, DOB, etc, just different nationality. They immediately picked up on this, and confirmed after taking my fingerprints and face scan. They asked me several questions then stamped my passport and and sent me on my way. This didn't seem to cause any concern for immigration, they seemed prepared for this situation.

 

Long gone are the good old days when you could "lose" your passport and effectively start over.

If the OP had a ten year old passport  would the new passport with a new photo  still be recognised by the face scan? Some people change quite a lot as they age.

[BritTim]

1 hour ago, my friend I said:

If the OP had a ten year old passport  would the new passport with a new photo  still be recognised by the face scan? Some people change quite a lot as they age.

While people's appearance tends to change over time, in most cases, they keep the same name, date of birth and fingerprints.