Transfer visa/extension stamp to new Passport - Suvarnabhumi airport Immigration

[TerraplaneGuy]

I've been exploring Chaeng Wattana for transferring my stamps but starting this thread to look at the possibility of a quick trip in and out of the country via Suvarnabhumi, as I've heard that they will do the transfer on the spot and it might work better for me given my last stamp is from Koh Samui and CW has been known to turn people away who got their last stamp at another office.  Any recent experience with Suvarnabhumi?  In particular, I'm interested in OA visas/extensions because that's what I've got, but any report appreciated.

[Tod Daniels]

you can't get the stamps transferred at the airport 😞
You can show up with both passports, they'll stamp you out on the new one, make a note that you hold an extension/re-entry on the old one, AND when you come back you'll get stamped back IN on the new one 
BUT 
They won't move the extension stamp OR the re-entry permit to the new passport at the airport.

You do that at the office that issued your extension
AND
You need to stop beating the drum about you having had an OA visa <- you don't have an OA visa anymore, you have a yearly extension of stay from an immigration office issued inside the country (that you got FROM an old OA visa) and to get those stamps moved you go to Chaengwattana (if that's where you got the extension) and get them moved there 
One last tid bit is
You get the extension transferred to the new passport at Chaengwattana in section L1 (the section that does marriage/retirement extension) BUT to move your re-entry permit after you transfer your extension to the new passport then you have to go over to the section C-2 (the section that does re-entry permits) and get it moved by them 
AND 
If you got the re-entry permit at the airport, Chaengwattana won't move it for you 😮  you go to the airport to get that done

[TerraplaneGuy]

8 minutes ago, Tod Daniels said:

sorry, technical glitch.  See below

 

[Tod Daniels]

@TerraplaneGuy

and you quoted my post without saying anything for what reason ?? 😉 😛 

[TerraplaneGuy]

Thanks for the reply.  First, it's too bad they won't transfer at Suvarnabhumi, and I'm wondering if this is always the case these days or whether (like so many things with Imm) it's variable.  Because there are multiple reports on this site that they indeed DO it.  Now, those may be obsolete and that's why I'm looking for recent experience.  Have you tried recently?

 

Second:  I DO understand that I don't currently have an OA visa, but rather an extension of stay.  But the extension is derived from that visa and based on it.  This is a semantic point that has been analyzed endlessly on this site over the years.  For some purposes, Immigration may trace an extension of stay back to the original visa on which it depends, and it is only in that regard that I refer to mine as OA.  

[Tod Daniels]

11 minutes ago, TerraplaneGuy said:

Because there are multiple reports on this site that they indeed DO it.  Now, those may be obsolete and that's why I'm looking for recent experience. 

They DO NOT move extensions of stays from one passport to another one at the airport, You can stamp OUT on a new passport, you can stamp back IN on one, and they will note that your valid extension/re-entry is in the old passport. They will NOT move extension of stay stamps or re-entry permits at the airport, that is done at the office where you got the extension 

[TerraplaneGuy]

3 minutes ago, Tod Daniels said:

They DO NOT move extensions of stays from one passport to another one at the airport, You can stamp OUT on a new passport, you can stamp back IN on one, and they will note that your valid extension/re-entry is in the old passport. They will NOT move extension of stay stamps or re-entry permits at the airport, that is done at the office where you got the extension 

Just wondering how you know that so emphatically.  Have you tried recently?  Have they published an announcement or something?

[Tod Daniels]

4 minutes ago, TerraplaneGuy said:

Just wondering how you know that so emphatically.

Because I'm Tod Daniels, (legend in his own mind) and my skill set in thailand is entry/visa/extension stuff for foreigners  😛 

Funny though because I was wondering why you were being so recalcitrant about thinking you can do it 😉 

 

[Caldera]

21 hours ago, TerraplaneGuy said:

Just wondering how you know that so emphatically.  Have you tried recently?  Have they published an announcement or something?

 

It has always been like this, so there was nothing to announce. 

[Rob Browder]

On 5/25/2025 at 7:39 AM, Caldera said:

 

It has always been like this, so there was nothing to announce. 

Years ago, getting the stamp-xfers done at the airport on-departure was standard policy.  Sad they stopped doing this - and what (expletive) they won't xfer the stamps at any office - as if Immigration is not one agency under the national govt - rather, a collection of (expletives) fighting over who gets the first-cut of agent-fees. 

[TerraplaneGuy]

OP Update:  After getting numerous opinions that transferring at Chaeng Wattana is impossible if you got your stamps at a different office (including from lawyers and agents) and that Suvarnabhumi doesn't do it, I bit the bullet and flew to Koh Samui for the transfer.  Arrived before it opened, had everything ready, officer told me it would take 7 days!  This despite that there were very few people at the office (it's low season now) and plenty of staff.  I told him I had flown down specifically for this, had to return to Bangkok the next day for urgent stuff, etc. etc.  He said no.  Said I should have done it at Chaeng Wattana!!  I told him it's not possible, he said it is, they just have to call Samui office, etc.  I begged relentlessly and finally he agreed to do it for pickup the next day.  "You're going to make us work until midnight!" he said.   But at least the ending was happy, this morning I showed up to pick it up and got it with the correct stamp transfers.  As others have said, this kind of thing is idiotic.  Visa and entry stamps are a NATIONAL matter, as is everything with Immigration.  You are not getting a visa to Surat Thani province, you are getting a visa to the Kingdom of Thailand.  Any office (especially the central office at the capital) should be able to transfer these stamps, it's not a question of issuing new ones, just moving the darn things from one passport to another.  But instead they forced me to pay for a flight and hotel in Samui.  Well, I guess I did my part to boost the tourist industry lol.

[Saigon]

FYI, you can only get your visa-exemption stamps transferred

from your old passport to your new one at airports when you

fly out of Thailand. That's what I did at DMK a few months ago,

though.

[DrJack54]

32 minutes ago, Saigon said:

FYI, you can only get your visa-exemption stamps transferred

from your old passport to your new one at airports when you

fly out of Thailand

The OP is not trying to transfer exemption entry stamp. 

He requires transfer of Non O/O-A information and eg current extension, reentry permit etc

[Caldera]

43 minutes ago, Saigon said:

FYI, you can only get your visa-exemption stamps transferred

from your old passport to your new one at airports when you

fly out of Thailand. That's what I did at DMK a few months ago,

though.

 

That isn't really a "transfer" as such. They need to stamp you out in your new passport, and in order to be able to do so, they put a stamp in your new passport that references your old passport, as well as a copy of your entry stamp.

 

What people mean when they talk about a "transfer" is that you have a permission to stay in Thailand that won't be terminated when you exit, so typically an extension with corresponding re-entry permit. While airport immigration would stamp you out and back in using your new passport, they won't transfer your extension and re-entry permit to your new passport.