Post My Passport Home To Get A Visa?

[HTWoodson]

I had to renew an "O" recently and looked at all the options including posting from another country. The info I was getting was confusing, just look at what is being said here. I called immigration in Bangkok and talked to someone there with excellent English. I was told that any visa seen to have been issued while the passport holder was still in Thailand is illegal. I knew that. I then asked the question that everyone is asking here, what if I left Thailand and went to Kuala Lumpar and posted my passport to my home country for a visa. I was told that this was also illegal as the Consulate / Embassy can only issue visas within certain areas. For example, in Australia there are at least 5 places to get a visa, ask someone in Perth will they issue you a visa if you live in Sydney. Officially they cannot. " Out of area, out of zone " was what was said to me. In Bangkok there is a warehouse full of photocopies of my passport, everytime I go to immigration they request copies of all pages. My passport is for 10 years and somewhere sometime someone will spot that I have a discrepancy with my stamps. Of course you will get away with it, but its a numbers game and sure enough someone will get caught. Its easy money for someone at immigration should they take 1 minute to look at you stamps.

So, I tallied up the potential costs involved with the posting idea + possible fine and I bit the bullet and flew to OZ. Sure I spend more but not that much more and I dont have to worry everytime for the next 15 months I come and go from here.

Show me the law.. Not the intepretation, or the guide, or the guess, or someones opinion.. The law which says this is not possible.

The " law " my friend turns and twists and is interpreted in my different ways and by many different organisations. If you cannot believe what you hear from the horses mouth then who can you believe. I suggest you contact immigration in Bangkok as I did, ask to speak to someone who speaks english and hopefully you will be directed to the extremely well informed lady I spoke to. She knew what she was talking about and she knew what I was asking her. She is the law and so is the guy who stamps your passport when you enter the country .

So then how are you supposed to get a Thai visa if you are flying to Thailand from a country without a Thai embassy or consulate?

[ubonjoe]

So then how are you supposed to get a Thai visa if you are flying to Thailand from a country without a Thai embassy or consulate?

You send your passport to the nearest Thai embassy/consulate to you. Nothing wrong with that.

The answer from immigration about zones is correct but not enforced by immigration. If you are in a country with more than one (not honorary) Thai consulate they divide the country up by "zones". They also assign embassies to handle relations with certain countries when there is no embassy in a nearby country.

The only time you would have a problem if you left the country and sent your passport away for a visa would occur if you were entering at a border crossing because they check to see that you entered and left the country you are coming from and would notice that you have a new visa not issued in that ciountry. At the airports they don't do it because you have people arriving from many countries at the same time. Also some countries don't stamp your entry and departures in your passport.

[Marksamui]

So then how are you supposed to get a Thai visa if you are flying to Thailand from a country without a Thai embassy or consulate?

You send your passport to the nearest Thai embassy/consulate to you. Nothing wrong with that.

The answer from immigration about zones is correct but not enforced by immigration. If you are in a country with more than one (not honorary) Thai consulate they divide the country up by "zones". They also assign embassies to handle relations with certain countries when there is no embassy in a nearby country.

The only time you would have a problem if you left the country and sent your passport away for a visa would occur if you were entering at a border crossing because they check to see that you entered and left the country you are coming from and would notice that you have a new visa not issued in that ciountry. At the airports they don't do it because you have people arriving from many countries at the same time. Also some countries don't stamp your entry and departures in your passport.

Its not strictly true that you can get a non-o visa in any thai embassay as long as you are out of Thailand. Passport holders of some nationalities are required to apply in their country of residents and in some cases you need to be a resident of the country you are applying. I think Singapore will not issue a Non-O unless you have a green card. They will issue tourist visa. Its the same for a visa to the uk in Singapore from the UK embassy. You need to be a resident in Singapore to apply.

So you have to leave Thailand but make sure where you go will issue. If in any doubt go to the country which issued your passport and get one there.

Anyone know the process of getting a 2nd passport? I know it is possible, i used to work wih guys who had 3 or 4 passports they would use and never sure how they managed it. When i went to the UK embassy and asked if I could have another passport they said they would cancel the existing one and give me a new one (which they did). Only way I can think to do it is to tell them I have lost my passport and get another one and then countine to use the "Lost" one for travel. As long as I did not use the "Lost" one when entering or leaving the UK I can't see a problem, right?

[Crossy]

Only way I can think to do it is to tell them I have lost my passport and get another one and then countine to use the "Lost" one for travel. As long as I did not use the "Lost" one when entering or leaving the UK I can't see a problem, right?

You simply tell them that you need a second passport. You have to justify it with (usually) letters from your employer stating that you do a lot of overseas travel and are often required to travel on short notice possibly whilst a visa is being processed or to incompatible countries. It is getting harder to justify because people have abused the system.

I have two UK passports, once you have them they are independent entities no questions asked at renewal of either. The hardest part is ensuring I have the right one when leaving Thailand, gets interesting if you give the immigration chap a passport with no entry stamp

[ubonjoe]

Its not strictly true that you can get a non-o visa in any thai embassay as long as you are out of Thailand. Passport holders of some nationalities are required to apply in their country of residents and in some cases you need to be a resident of the country you are applying. I think Singapore will not issue a Non-O unless you have a green card. They will issue tourist visa. Its the same for a visa to the uk in Singapore from the UK embassy. You need to be a resident in Singapore to apply.

Singapore will issue most visas but not multiple entry. Just like many nearby consulates. They only issue single entry tourist visas. There have been reports that people living and working in Singapore can get multiple entry visas.

Unless your home country is on the list of countries that can only get visas in your home country you can get a visa of some kind at most consulates. There are some rogue consulates (Manila is one) in the area that make it very hard to get any visa no matter what country you are from.

The UK is not a good example to use when talking about getting Thai visas.

[thailandtraveler]

hey there

i did it..........went out to cambodia...sent my passport to germany by dhl and wait..........cost some money staying in hotels and trying girls and food!

my passport came back after one week!

then just travel back to thailand.....no worries.........nothing ilegal!

you have the stamp out.........and later back in!!

its just you must have someone you can trust to send your passport in your homecountry to the embassy!

good luck

[ukrules]

Visa that have not been obtained by the traveller personally are considered incomplete documents. The passport holder will not be allowed to stay in Thailand according to the visa but only according to the rights of the nationality of the passport holder.

from the webpage of http://www.aranimmigration.com

Utter crap. Two words to google : 'Consular Services'

[Yaaklenmai]

would it be possible to post my passport back to england and ask a family member to apply for a non-o for me as its hard to get from s e asia, has anyone done this before?? im currently in thailand at the moment.

Yes it is!

However, you MUST leave Thailand and get the exit stamp before you send everything (passport, Visa application form, photographs) back to the UK.

I have used this method for the last three years, for one year multiple entry visas and it works well.

Even better now that I get the return courier package sent back to Thai and my TGF to deliver it to me in Lao - it saves 3/5 days (minimum) and costs 50% less!

Edited January 30, 2009 by Yaaklenmai

[Gary A]

I can tell you for a fact that it is possible to go into Laos, post your passport to Hull and get a visa. Hull will NOT post your passport out of the UK so you will need someone in the UK to receive it and post it back to Laos. The whole process took 12 days. The 12 days in Laos was quite preferable and cheaper than a trip to the UK.

[Maestro]

…i did it..........went out to cambodia...sent my passport to germany by dhl and wait..........cost some money staying in hotels and trying girls and food!

my passport came back after one week!

then just travel back to thailand.....no worries.........nothing ilegal!

you have the stamp out.........and later back in!!...

Thailandtraveler, did you fly to Cambodia and back?

Analogous question for Gary: did you fly to Laos and back?

--

Maestro

[Gary A]

…i did it..........went out to cambodia...sent my passport to germany by dhl and wait..........cost some money staying in hotels and trying girls and food!

my passport came back after one week!

then just travel back to thailand.....no worries.........nothing ilegal!

you have the stamp out.........and later back in!!...

Thailandtraveler, did you fly to Cambodia and back?

Analogous question for Gary: did you fly to Laos and back?

--

Maestro

It wasn't me, it was a friend of mine. He crossed into Laos from Nong Kai. I wasn't sure he could do it but it went smoothly. The only problem is that he wasn't real happy with DHL because they were pretty slow, much slower than promised.