Passport Stolen

[CWMcMurray]

Last Sunday afternoon my car got stolen and my passport was in the glove box. We have been going through all of the stuff for the car, which luckily has theft insurance; we just have to wait 3 months until we can collect on it. ( I will open a post about this under another topic)

I went to the embasy today and took care of getting a new passport, I will pick it up in 2 weeks. The question is what can I expect on the visa front? I had a non-im student visa since 2004 that had been extended every year. I was getting ready for my anual extension next month since my visa was set to run out on Sept. 14th. I have copies of everything and the letter from the University for the extension; the question is will I be able to still do this here or are they going to make me leave the country and start over from scratch?

My next question deals with the whole residency thing; I was looking into applying for residency either this year or next year since I had 3 years of unbroken 1 year visa extensions but will I still be able to do that or am I going to need to start the clock over again?

I would appreciate advice from anyone who has been in a similar situation or may know what I can expect.

[PeaceBlondie]

I was in a similar situation in late 2005, and the US Embassy replaced my passport. The nice Thai lady there gave me a letter form from the embassy, signed by an officer, which she assured me would let me keep my B visa that was only 5 months old (I had copies of my old paperwork). She was wrong. The ladies at Suan Phlu only gave me a "get out of Thailand free" stamp in my passport. I lost my B visa and had to start over, with a break in the timing.

Good luck. I hope your embassy gives you a good enough letter to convince the Thai Immigration Police. Other people apparently have had better luck than I had.

[Maestro]

In a situation like yours, you should be able to have the last extension of stay transferred to your new passport at the immigration office, and they will also write a reference to the visa on which you entered Thailand. You took the wise precaution of keeping a copy of your passport pages and this should make the transfer process quite smooth.

If you haven’t done so yet, report the loss of your passport to the police. Probably you did already because the embassy may have asked for the police report.

When you pick up your new passport at the embassy, ask them to give you a letter explaining the reason for the passport and asking the immigration office for their cooperation in entering the last extension details in your new passport. This is a standard type of letter for the embassy, I believe.

Make an extra copy of your passport copy and keep it, as immigration will probably want to keep the copy you show them. You may have to refer to your copy when you apply for Permanent Residence.

Immigration will also give you a copy of the departure card that was stapled in your passport. If you have a copy also of this card, it will be helpful, but otherwise the last entry stamp in your passport copy should help them to find it in their computers.

Luckily, I have never had this experience myself and hopefully somebody who has will come and confirm the procedure or correct what I may have said wrong.

--

Maestro

P.S. I see PeaceBlondie was not so lucky and I hope things will get better for you.

[CWMcMurray]

Yes I have already reported it to the police and yes it was also necessary to give the US Embassy the police report. I hope things do run smoothly and I will definately ask for a letter from the Embassy when I pick it up.

So far 1 for 2; so it looks like it might be posible...

[PeaceBlondie]

I went back to the Embassy and spoke to that same, nice, middle-aged, Thai lady and told her that Suan Phlu did not give me my old visa. She was shocked and told me to write directly to the Ambassador's email. I never got a reply; in fact, I think the email never worked. So maybe my case was a fluke, although I dressed and acted well, etc. However, the young lady behind the counter was such a clutz she started saying that this new passport related to an O visa, when it was a B visa. When I got to the next immigration officers, I was dead in the water and actually re-entered the kingdom as a backpacker without (lost) luggage and with a 30 day entry stamp. Had to go to Penang and start all over.

Since the embassy employee was so shocked at how I was treated, maybe I just got to Suah Phlu on a bad day.

[CWMcMurray]

As I already mentioned above I lost my passport when my car was stolen. I have put a poll about the likelyhood of the police finding my car and on how easy it will be to deal with the insurance company on the 'Thailand Motor Forum', I'm not sure if that was the right place but I would like you opinions if you have time to check it out.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=134610

Edited August 7, 2007 by CWMcMurray

[MickA]

Last Sunday afternoon my car got stolen and my passport was in the glove box. We have been going through all of the stuff for the car, which luckily has theft insurance; we just have to wait 3 months until we can collect on it. ( I will open a post about this under another topic)

I went to the embasy today and took care of getting a new passport, I will pick it up in 2 weeks. The question is what can I expect on the visa front? I had a non-im student visa since 2004 that had been extended every year. I was getting ready for my anual extension next month since my visa was set to run out on Sept. 14th. I have copies of everything and the letter from the University for the extension; the question is will I be able to still do this here or are they going to make me leave the country and start over from scratch?

My next question deals with the whole residency thing; I was looking into applying for residency either this year or next year since I had 3 years of unbroken 1 year visa extensions but will I still be able to do that or am I going to need to start the clock over again?

I would appreciate advice from anyone who has been in a similar situation or may know what I can expect.

Right my passport was lost/misplaced by an error between the Embassy and EMS...so i was in the same mess as you

I got a police report and a letter from the Embassy (UK) took my new passport to Immigration in Jomtien and in ten minutes they had made all the notes/stamps needed in my passport...they require the original police report not a copy

[astral]

Every time I go to Immigration they look up my record on the computer......

With this system it should be easy to get your visa re-instated in the new passport.

[CWMcMurray]

If its computerized then they should be able to look it up but they may not be willing to do that. Hopefully your case was the exception rather than the rule PeaceBlondie.

Edited August 8, 2007 by CWMcMurray

[PeaceBlondie]

Maybe my case was just bad kharma. Maybe in a post on ThaiVisa before misplacing the passport, I posted something derogatory about Thai Immigration Police.

[CWMcMurray]

It will be 2 weeks until I can pick up my pasport but I will continue to update this post as I get more information. I would still appreciate any info from others who may have lost their passports or had them stolen.