International Travel with a UK and Thai Passport

[stament]

I am not sure where to post this as there is a Thailand travel forum but this relates to international travel between the UK and Thailand.

 

UK citizens are required to have more than 6 months left on their passport when traveling to certain countries, one of which is Thailand. I believe if UK citizens have less than 6 months left on their passport at the time of their departure from the UK, then they may be denied departure depending on what country the are visiting. For Thailand, this is 6 months...

 

However, what happens if the person is a dual citizen of the UK and Thailand and their UK passport of say 3 months months but they have a valid Thai passport and they are planning to return to the UK before the expiry of their UK passport.

 

I such a situation, would the said person be refused travel from the UK? To me, they should not as they have a valid Thai passport and a right to live in Thailand. As for returning,I understand that all UK citizens are allowed to return to the UK even on an expired passport.

 

Hence, the question is... Is there any legal reason why in this scenario someone would not be allowed to travel to Thailand?

 

Hopefully, some other TV members have experience in this as I have googled it but not found a clear answer. I do intend to call the British and Thai Embassies to check, but wanted to put it out here to the TV experts first.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

 

 

[Upnotover]

Just wondering, why wouldn't this person just renew the  UK passport now?  Takes little time and then any issue is avoided.

[bunnydrops]

Not UK but US. My wife dual citizen, flies out from US on Thai PP, enters Thailand Thai PP, leaves Thailand Thai PP, enters US US PP.

Edited May 9 by bunnydrops
edit

[nglodnig]

The person show their Thai passport when checking in in the UK. When fly

2 minutes ago, bunnydrops said:

Not UK but US. My wife dual citizen, flies out from US on Thai PP, enters Thailand Thai PP, leaves Thailand Thai PP, enters US US PP.

The person show their Thai passport when checking in in the UK. When flying back shows their (soon to be expired) British passport as this  is ALWAYS valid (even if it is expired) to enter as a British citizen.

Edited May 9 by nglodnig
grammar fixing

[stament]

12 minutes ago, Upnotover said:

Just wondering, why wouldn't this person just renew the  UK passport now?  Takes little time and then any issue is avoided.

When I said less than  6 months it is less than 2.months. Regardless, the question is still a valid one.

[stament]

12 minutes ago, bunnydrops said:

Not UK but US. My wife dual citizen, flies out from US on Thai PP, enters Thailand Thai PP, leaves Thailand Thai PP, enters US US PP.

Yes, and the same here but imam talking specifically about UK and Thai passport holders and UK passport holders leaving the UK with elss than 6 months so your contribution isn't relevant to this specific question.. I understand that UK passport holders can travel to America with an expiry date of less than 2 weeks so long as their return ticket is befoee their UK passport expires.. However, the USA rules are quite different to Thailand and thw UK, hence the very specific question....

[stament]

15 minutes ago, nglodnig said:

The person show their Thai passport when checking in in the UK. When fly

The person show their Thai passport when checking in in the UK. When flying back shows their (soon to be expired) British passport as this  is ALWAYS valid (even if it is expired) to enter as a British citizen.

So, you are saying in the exact circumstances I have described, that there is no issue even though they entered the UK on their UK passport? I such an instance won't why depart England on their UK Passport? In which case, is it their UK passport that is checked for this 6 month rule or the destination country, in which case of the person has citizenship, like in this case, it would not matter as they are legally entitled to enter Thailand on their Thai passport.. Also,upon return to the UK, on a passport less than 6 months its still ok as they are also a UK citizen, of that makes sense?

[stament]

@ubonjoe maybe you in your wisdom can help on this. Thanks in advance as always.

[bunnydrops]

4 minutes ago, stament said:

@ubonjoe maybe you in your wisdom can help on this. Thanks in advance as always.

He died several months back. Missed!

[stament]

5 minutes ago, bunnydrops said:

He died several months back. Missed!

OMG so sad and what a loss. My thoughts are with his family and friends. He was extremely knowledgeable and helped me. RIP.

[bunnydrops]

5 hours ago, stament said:

So, you are saying in the exact circumstances I have described, that there is no issue even though they entered the UK on their UK passport? I such an instance won't why depart England on their UK Passport? In which case, is it their UK passport that is checked for this 6 month rule or the destination country, in which case of the person has citizenship, like in this case, it would not matter as they are legally entitled to enter Thailand on their Thai passport.. Also,upon return to the UK, on a passport less than 6 months its still ok as they are also a UK citizen, of that makes sense?

It seems that English is not your first language and it is hard to understand what you are asking. Let's clear things up.

Are talking about one person who came into the UK on a UK pp.?

Does this person have both Thai and UK PPs?

 

If you are a Thai citizen and you enter Thailand with  UK PP. Thailand will label you as UK citizen, and you will need a visa or visa on arrival. You will then have to leave on that PP at the end of the visa even if you are also a Thai citizen. If you enter on Thai PP, Thailand sees you as Thai. You can stay in Thailand as long as you want. Then when you leave you use your Thai PP to board the plane. Then when you arrive back in the UK, you show your UK PP at UK immigration. It will not matter if it is close to expiring since you are not traveling on it.

Edited May 9 by bunnydrops
edit

[brewsterbudgen]

Thailand doesn't have a 6 months rule, it just requires a passport that is valid for the duration of the visit.  Unfortunately, a lot of airlines (and agencies) err on the side of caution and might not let you check in.

[nglodnig]

14 hours ago, stament said:

Also,upon return to the UK, on a passport less than 6 months its still ok as they are also a UK citizen, of that makes sense?

You seem to be confusing yourself.

 

a) British citizens can enter the UK with ANY British passport, expired or not (this is international law I believe a country cannot refuse a citizen entry)

 

b) Who do think is doing the checking? It's the airline - so you show them the Thai passport when you leave the UK, but actually show the BRITISH passport to the Immigration person or machine or whatever IN THE UK.  Arrival at Thailand you show the Thai passport. It's really simple.

 

The airline isn't following you to make sure you use the same passport! Airlines are liable to return you if you are not allowed in a country which is why they do checks

[stament]

7 hours ago, brewsterbudgen said:

Thailand doesn't have a 6 months rule, it just requires a passport that is valid for the duration of the visit.  Unfortunately, a lot of airlines (and agencies) err on the side of caution and might not let you check in.

 

It does according to the UK government website...

 

 

 

Edited May 10 by stament

[stament]

11 minutes ago, nglodnig said:

You seem to be confusing yourself.

 

a) British citizens can enter the UK with ANY British passport, expired or not (this is international law I believe a country cannot refuse a citizen entry)

 

b) Who do think is doing the checking? It's the airline - so you show them the Thai passport when you leave the UK, but actually show the BRITISH passport to the Immigration person or machine or whatever IN THE UK.  Arrival at Thailand you show the Thai passport. It's really simple.

 

The airline isn't following you to make sure you use the same passport! Airlines are liable to return you if you are not allowed in a country which is why they do checks

I am not confusing myself, I am seeking confirmation that the scenario I described would be ok for a person who has a Thai and British passport with the latter having less than 6 months left. I know which passports are shown but I thought the airlines might still refuse if they see the British passport had less than 6 months validity, even though to me that would not make sense as the person has a Thai passport going to Thailand. Of course the arrival into England at immigration is with the UK passport and also to depart. The Thai passport is shown and check-in. Likewise the Thai passport is used to enter and depart Thailand. 

 

As for a) above, I am aware of this but I was more worried about the departure from the UK being an issue with staff, even though it should not.

 

Regarding b) Yes, it it is the airline staff who check both passports in the UK upon check-in and the immigration staff at departure. 

 

Thanks

 

[stament]

9 hours ago, bunnydrops said:

It seems that English is not your first language and it is hard to understand what you are asking. Let's clear things up.

Are talking about one person who came into the UK on a UK pp.?

Does this person have both Thai and UK PPs?

 

If you are a Thai citizen and you enter Thailand with  UK PP. Thailand will label you as UK citizen, and you will need a visa or visa on arrival. You will then have to leave on that PP at the end of the visa even if you are also a Thai citizen. If you enter on Thai PP, Thailand sees you as Thai. You can stay in Thailand as long as you want. Then when you leave you use your Thai PP to board the plane. Then when you arrive back in the UK, you show your UK PP at UK immigration. It will not matter if it is close to expiring since you are not traveling on it.

Yes, as I stated in my original post, this is a person with a Thai and a UK passport leaving England for Thailand, and returning later before the UK passport expires. They have done this several times before and I am aware of the procedure. It is just the under 6 month validity in the UK passport that I wanted to make sure would not cause a problem in this scenario. From my understanding and indeed my own logic, it should be fine. Sadly, people don't always act logically. I know that you can return to your home country with an expired passport as well.

[nglodnig]

15 minutes ago, stament said:

but I thought the airlines might still refuse if they see the British passport had less than 6 months validity,

How are they going to see it if you don't show it? Do the check-in staff have X-Ray glasses? 😀

 

"It it is the airline staff who check both passports in the UK upon check-in" who told you that? They only look at the passport that you will be ENTERING the country (in this case Thailand)  with.

 

 

Edited May 10 by nglodnig