Name On Thai Passport

[fj709]

My wife is a dual national having a Thai (new biometric) and English passport. We are travelling to Thailand in early Nov. Her Thai passport is in her maiden name as is all her other documents, house registration and ID. Her English passport is obviously in my surname. When I booked the tickets I put them down in my surname.

My wife, who is a worrier, is concerned that if she uses her English passport to enter and return in Thailand will have to go on the visa run (we are staying for 4 months) and she is also concerned that by not using her Thai passport she is in danger of losing her Thai citizenship.

I am unable to get the tickets changed without cancellation and paying twice.

She phoned the Thai Embassy in London this week and was told that she will have to come to London twice (we live near Liverpool) the first time to complete a form to authorise a proxy to change her ID and House Registration and then return again when this is received to change the name in her passport.

I am concerned about the time apart from the cost and inconvenience.

I would like advise as to whether the person who gave her this information is correct as when she renewed her passport last year she was told at the Embassy that if she brought all the documents to the Embassy they could do the name change in one visit.

[donx]

My wife is a dual national having a Thai (new biometric) and English passport. We are travelling to Thailand in early Nov. Her Thai passport is in her maiden name as is all her other documents, house registration and ID. Her English passport is obviously in my surname. When I booked the tickets I put them down in my surname.

My wife, who is a worrier, is concerned that if she uses her English passport to enter and return in Thailand will have to go on the visa run (we are staying for 4 months) and she is also concerned that by not using her Thai passport she is in danger of losing her Thai citizenship.

I am unable to get the tickets changed without cancellation and paying twice.

She phoned the Thai Embassy in London this week and was told that she will have to come to London twice (we live near Liverpool) the first time to complete a form to authorise a proxy to change her ID and House Registration and then return again when this is received to change the name in her passport.

I am concerned about the time apart from the cost and inconvenience.

I would like advise as to whether the person who gave her this information is correct as when she renewed her passport last year she was told at the Embassy that if she brought all the documents to the Embassy they could do the name change in one visit.

My wife is a dual Thai/US citizen. Similar to your situation, she has her US passport in my surname and all of her Thai documents in her maiden name. I always book tickets for her with my surname. This is what we do:

We use the US passport when exiting and returning to the US. We use the Thai passport when entering and exiting Thailand. We show a certified copy of our marriage certificate to prove that her maiden name on her Thai passport and her married name on the tickets refer to the same person. She always shows Thai immigration only her Thai passport and she has no problems staying for more than 30 days without a visa. I recommend not showing the UK passport to Thai immigration because a friend of ours did this when going to Thailand and it caused her troubles like your wife is worried about. Then again our friend used the Foreign Nationals line instead of the Thai Nationals line because she was misinformed and because she traveled with her son that didn't have a Thai passport.

I hope this helps.

[Maestro]

fj709, your wife should do as donx suggests and she will have no problem with Thai immigration. As donx, said, at Bangkok airport use the immigration line for Thai passports. Incidentally, when travelling with your wife you can join her in the Thai passport queue, which is usually shorter and moves faster than the other lines.

--

Maestro

[MrsExpat2B]

My wife is a dual national having a Thai (new biometric) and English passport. We are travelling to Thailand in early Nov. Her Thai passport is in her maiden name as is all her other documents, house registration and ID. Her English passport is obviously in my surname. When I booked the tickets I put them down in my surname.

I'm not sure about this, but why can your wife not just present her Thai passport to the Thai immigration on arrival? It shouldn't have anything to do with the name on the boarding pass? As a Thai national I have never been asked to produce the boarding pass stub when entering Thailand (nor has MrE2B who is a British passport holder).

And as for your wife's concern, no immigration officers can take her Thai nationality off her. It is much more complicated than that. Most she will get is likely to be a warning(or an advice) to use her Thai passport when entering and leaving Thailand next time.

[Martian]

Thai citizenship cannot be taken away from anyone by anyone. In order for a person to lose their Thai citizenship, they must sign an affidavit requesting such. I have this info from a very good source.

I purposely didn't have my wife change her name for just these types of reasons. As well, in Thailand, most government officials have no idea she has a Farang husband and we like to keep it that way for her benefit. Of course our families and the people of our village, including the local government, know everything. I am speaking about the bigger picture and our marriage isn't registered in Thailand either.

When in Thailand, use her Thai passport and in the UK, use her UK passport. The only exception to this is to show the airline ticket counter the passport of the destination country so that they know you will be able to enter.

Martian

Edited August 14, 2008 by Martian

[fj709]

Thai citizenship cannot be taken away from anyone by anyone. In order for a person to lose their Thai citizenship, they must sign an affidavit requesting such. I have this info from a very good source.

I purposely didn't have my wife change her name for just these types of reasons. As well, in Thailand, most government officials have no idea she has a Farang husband and we like to keep it that way for her benefit. Of course our families and the people of our village, including the local government, know everything. I am speaking about the bigger picture and our marriage isn't registered in Thailand either.

When in Thailand, use her Thai passport and in the UK, use her UK passport. The only exception to this is to show the airline ticket counter the passport of the destination country so that they know you will be able to enter.

Martian

[fj709]

To all those who reponded to my query.

Thanks for the responses, they were all very helpful and overall were reassuring.

We are getting our marriage certificate translated into Thai as a precaution in case there is any problems at the airport.

I was initially intent in having her name changed to mine on her Thai passport but now having read th advise given I am not so sure. We will give it further consideration and leave it until we are back in our home in Thailand.

Thank you all for your sound advise.

Francis