Dual Nationality Problems

[antony77]

My wife has dual nationality and officially as far as Thailand is concerned. She can not do so.. She had a lot of trouble returning from Malaysia by train, she used her UK passpoprt to exit Malaysia and her Thai passport.to enter Thailand.

Some nasty man on the train told the Thai immigration that she has two passports. They inspected her Thai passport and they pointed out that she had no Malaysian stamps in her Thai passport so she then produced her UK one. They then wrote in big letters on her Thai passport that she also had a UK one. They were very unpleasant about it.

She also had a problem with a young airline attendant at the airport in Bangkok when she produced her UK passport to show that she could enter the UK, because she did not have a UK visa in her Thai passport. She rudely told us that she can not have two passports and I asked if she was an immigration officer and if not it was no business of hers. And I complained to her superior.

Immigration officers sometimes check stamps in your Thai passport and if you have used another passport you can have problems. Because of this we used to get a visa in her Thai passport but it is expensive and time consuming and we would have to make the long journey to Bangkok. So rather than get a visa we go via Singapore or KL and if we are in transit she simply goes through immigration and back and has her passsport stamped the whole exercise takes only a few minutes. When we return her passport shows a Singapore stamp and the immigration thinks she has only been to Singapore and would never bother to check the dates.

Many Thais have dual nationality by hide this from immigration officials

[samran]

A couple of points after having used both my Thai and Australian passports since the mid 1990's, when dual nationality became possible for Thai's.

1) Never change passports when crossing land borders in Asia. You are right, officals there like to stamp people in and out of the same passport.

2) On the Malaysia-Thai border this is exaserbated by a couple of factors. The first is that Malaysia doesn't recognise the concept of dual nationality for anyone. The second is that given the problem of terrorists with Thai-Malaysian nationality escaping to Malaysia, the Thai officals don't like it.

Having said that, I've swapped from my Australian passport to my Thai once when entering Thailand by land - at the Thai Malaysian border. The officials at the Sadao border didn't like it, but I managed to do it, like your wife. Lesson learnt, I haven't swapped passports since (last time was 1996).

Ever since, I've always used a Thai passport when travelling in Asia, for the above reasons, but also that Thai passports give visa free entery to Indonesia, Vietnam and Laos, where as western passports require visa's for these places.

3) Getting a junior person (at the airline check in) unfamiliar with using two passport is pretty much to be expected every now and then. But, having travelled for business 5 to 6 times per year of late, and a couple of more times for leisure, this is not a common occurence. Simply present both passports at check in, and most of the time (99%) the check in clerk will 'get it'.

4) Thai immigration officials are slighly harder on women travelling out of Thailand, especially if they are alone. They will want to know when people are going, what visa's they have etc, especially if they have the suspicion that that women is going to work overseas illegally, or is being trafficked. I regularly see Thai women (usually untravelled) being asked to come for extra questioning behind the departures immigration at the airport.

Having said that, most of my family are female, with dual nationality, and they don't tend to get pulled up. So it is rather hit and miss.

The Thai law is very clear, it is fine for a Thai person to take up the nationality of their spouse without having to give up their Thai citizenship. If you have any problems, stand firm, be polite (as you've done) and you'll always be let in.

Safe to say though, in the 14 years of using two passports and travelling often, I can count the times I had problems on one hand, and they were all right at the very begining when I was figuring it all out!

[jackdanielsesq]

I was once warned that carrying 2 different ID was a Federal Offense.

What you did was stupid. Period. What did you expect.

BR>Jack

[Bobsyouruncle]

My wife and son are constantly flying in and out of Bangkok using 2 passports, they have never been questioned in 3 years!

When leaving, the checkin staff allways want to see a visa for Australia so my wife just flashes the Ozzie passport for my son!

Coming back to Thailand she and my son enter on the Thai passport.

I thought it's completely legal for a Thai to have dual citizenship

[Farma]

I was once warned that carrying 2 different ID was a Federal Offense.

What you did was stupid. Period. What did you expect.

BR>Jack

Assuming you are American you may like to read up on a few things.

From http://www.embusa.es/cons/acsdual.html

"AMERICAN CITIZEN SERVICES

Dual Nationality

Dual nationality is the simultaneous possession of two citizenships. The Supreme Court of the United States has stated that dual nationality is "long recognized in the law" and that "a person may have and exercise rights of nationality in two countries and be subject to the responsibilities of both…”

<snip>"

My experience with a former dual national wife was the same as mentioned by Samran and Bobsyouruncle.

[TerryLH]

"I was once warned that carrying 2 different ID was a Federal Offense.

What you did was stupid. Period. What did you expect."

Who told you that? A barstool lawyer?

Federal offense in what country?

What they did was what they should be doing. There have been many posts here about carrying two passports when traveling. Very rarely does anyone have a problem. When they do, a simple explanation usually clears it up.

Yes, I have personal experience with this.

[khundon]

I was once warned that carrying 2 different ID was a Federal Offense.

What you did was stupid. Period. What did you expect.

BR>Jack

BRJack

What you posted was stupid. Period.

Check and you will find that Dual Nationality is NOT ILLEGAL.

Even Americans can get two passports to visit Israel and Arab countries.

The UK allows 2 passports as do most (not all) nations. Luckily only Americans are caught up in the federal paranoia of the rules on dual nationality.

[midas]

I read about this before.....I dont know why Thailand has this strange attitude to someone with

2 passports ?

" Thailand does not expressly prohibit dual nationality, but the attitude toward those holding two passports is somewhat less than enthusiastic. "

http://integrity-legal.com/legal-blog/us-v...hout-the-world/

[klons]

A couple years ago my wife, a thai/ naturalized U.S. citizen entered Thailand (with a U.S. passport) with me a (U.S. citizen) and we got 30 day tourist visas on arrival. She hadn't had a Thai passport for some 25 years but went and got a new Thai passport in Thailand.

After 30 days we made a visa run to Singapore by air, leaving on U.S. passports. When we arrived back in Bangkok, she showed airport immigration

her new Thai passport to re-enter Thailand. The agent wanted to know how

she had departed the the country as there were no stamps in the new Thai passport. My wife pulled out her U.S. passport and explained how. The agent

went to see her supervisor, came back and stamped her in on her Thai passport,

with some sort of note written in also. There were no problems and now it is simple for her. She enters and leaves Thailand with a Thai passport and enters and leaves the U.S. with a U.S. passport.

[TAWP]

I was once warned that carrying 2 different ID was a Federal Offense.

What you did was stupid. Period. What did you expect.

BR>Jack

As you are wrong we can argue about who is doing stupid things...