Brigante7 Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 (edited) Hi all, wanted to share this info with everybody, some quick background info, I'm a UK national married to a Thai lady and we live in the Uk and we have a small boy who was born in the UK and who has both Thai and UK passports. My wife arrived in BKK on the 24th July for a 4 week holiday with our son and I told my wife to use his UK passport to leave the UK and his Thai passport to enter Thailand. She's due back this Tuesday (21st July) and has only just told me about what happened on her arrival at BKK. It seems that after trying to use our son's Thai passport to enter Thailand, my wife was asked why our son's Thai passport didn't have an entry and exit stamp to the UK like her passport has and my wife explained that he was born in the UK and has a UK passport also and she was told that our son had to enter Thailand on his UK passport and not his Thai passport. A worrying change or just an over enthusiastic immigration officer? Brigante7. Edited July 17, 2009 by Brigante7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lopburi3 Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Immigration officer. Sometimes you have to ask a supervisor when a dual passport issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brigante7 Posted July 17, 2009 Author Share Posted July 17, 2009 That was my thought also but I'm back in the UK and so I knew nothing about it until my wife told me today. Brigante7. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richard_smith237 Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 As I understood it: A person with Dual Nationality has to use the passport specific to domain. i.e. In Thailand, Thai is the primary nationality and it is Law that he uses that Passport and vice versa for the UK. In any country other than those of dual nationality any passport at preference may be used. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
endure Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 As I understood it: A person with Dual Nationality has to use the passport specific to domain.i.e. In Thailand, Thai is the primary nationality and it is Law that he uses that Passport and vice versa for the UK. In any country other than those of dual nationality any passport at preference may be used. There's no such law. I have Thai friends with both UK and Thai citizenship. They use whichever passport gives them the most benefits in any given situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lopburi3 Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Some countries have such a law, the USA being one of them. But Thailand does not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
endure Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Some countries have such a law, the USA being one of them. But Thailand does not. How can they tell? If you pitch up at US INS with your Thai/UK/whatever passport how do they know you have a US passport? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lopburi3 Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 If your place of birth is USA in passport suspect the discussion would begin there - all US Americans are required to use an American passport for entry/exit. Suspect there software is rather good at finding such information using name/dob data. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hansnl Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Immigration officer. Sometimes you have to ask a supervisor when a dual passport issue. Was told by a Thai Public Prosecutor, ofiicially for a Thai to have 2 nationalities is forbidden, he/she needs to make a choice. The control on this rule is ehhhhhhhh..... However, asking for a supervisor is the way to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maestro Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 I see even Thai Public Prosecutors get it wrong. The Nationality Act is clear on it and does not forbid dual nationality. -- Maestro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveh Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 I see even Thai Public Prosecutors get it wrong. The Nationality Act is clear on it and does not forbid dual nationality.-- Maestro That's a very nice link. It looks like Section 13 is relevant. It's poorly worded, but it certainly looks as though it is up to the Thai national to decide if he or she wishes to renounce Thai citizenship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbrenn Posted July 18, 2009 Share Posted July 18, 2009 Hi all, wanted to share this info with everybody, some quick background info, I'm a UK national married to a Thai lady and we live in the Uk and we have a small boy who was born in the UK and who has both Thai and UK passports. My wife arrived in BKK on the 24th July for a 4 week holiday with our son and I told my wife to use his UK passport to leave the UK and his Thai passport to enter Thailand. She's due back this Tuesday (21st July) and has only just told me about what happened on her arrival at BKK.It seems that after trying to use our son's Thai passport to enter Thailand, my wife was asked why our son's Thai passport didn't have an entry and exit stamp to the UK like her passport has and my wife explained that he was born in the UK and has a UK passport also and she was told that our son had to enter Thailand on his UK passport and not his Thai passport. A worrying change or just an over enthusiastic immigration officer? Brigante7. Ask to see a supervisor and complain about this incompetence. The immigration officer is wrong and has no right whatsoever in preventing a Thai citizen from entering Thailand on his/her Thai passport. Thai citizens have a right to freedom from immigration control, and this is exactly what the immigration officer is trying to impose by saying that a Thai national should use a UK passport to enter the country. As is stated elsewhere, dual nationality is not forbidden. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingthedream Posted July 18, 2009 Share Posted July 18, 2009 Hi all, wanted to share this info with everybody, some quick background info, I'm a UK national married to a Thai lady and we live in the Uk and we have a small boy who was born in the UK and who has both Thai and UK passports. My wife arrived in BKK on the 24th July for a 4 week holiday with our son and I told my wife to use his UK passport to leave the UK and his Thai passport to enter Thailand. She's due back this Tuesday (21st July) and has only just told me about what happened on her arrival at BKK.It seems that after trying to use our son's Thai passport to enter Thailand, my wife was asked why our son's Thai passport didn't have an entry and exit stamp to the UK like her passport has and my wife explained that he was born in the UK and has a UK passport also and she was told that our son had to enter Thailand on his UK passport and not his Thai passport. A worrying change or just an over enthusiastic immigration officer? Brigante7. Many thanks for the insight. I found this topic particularly relevant as I too am travelling to the UK next month with my wife and daughter to visit family. My daughter too has UK and Thai passports. My wife and daughter will be travelling back to Thailand without me as I have to stay and work for 4 months. I hope that she doesn't meet with our uninformed immigration friend as my daughter will be entering Thailand on her Thai passport and will not have an exit stamp from UK. I'm sure there are many of us with the same situation and have never encountered any problems before, I hope this was a 'one-off' I always thought that if you arrived in your own country with a valid passport all that was required was that it was indeed valid and the photo was of the person handing it over. In UK when I go through immigration they just look at my face and photo and hand it back, they don't look to see if I have an exit stamp from Thailand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankthetank Posted July 18, 2009 Share Posted July 18, 2009 (edited) Just curious, but I don't recall seeing anyone getting a passport stamped going out thru security and searches at Heathrow. The only stamps I have in my uk passport are from other countries. Obviously coming in, using a foreign passport, would entail getting a stamp, but do these people get stamped out from the U.K.? reason for edit: to correct grammar Edited July 18, 2009 by frankthetank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonw8uk Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 I am a British citizen and on entering the uk recently I requested an entry stamp (thinking ahead for any tax problems I may have) and the immigration officer told me that to give me an entry stamp would place restrictions on my stay in the uk, even though I hold a uk passport. So for the thai officer to expect an exit stamp is clearly wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbobbolton Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 Hi all, wanted to share this info with everybody, some quick background info, I'm a UK national married to a Thai lady and we live in the Uk and we have a small boy who was born in the UK and who has both Thai and UK passports. My wife arrived in BKK on the 24th July for a 4 week holiday with our son and I told my wife to use his UK passport to leave the UK and his Thai passport to enter Thailand. She's due back this Tuesday (21st July) and has only just told me about what happened on her arrival at BKK.It seems that after trying to use our son's Thai passport to enter Thailand, my wife was asked why our son's Thai passport didn't have an entry and exit stamp to the UK like her passport has and my wife explained that he was born in the UK and has a UK passport also and she was told that our son had to enter Thailand on his UK passport and not his Thai passport. A worrying change or just an over enthusiastic immigration officer? Brigante7. No it's quite normal if you think about it? In Thailand passports are stamped when you leave the country, so when your son arrives with a Thai passport that has no such stamp then it would raise an eyebrow or two? After all how can you come back to a country if your passport shows that you haven't actually left the country? Unfortunately the concept of dual nationality is somewhat harder to deal with when there are so many people traveling around on false papers. The same thing happened to a guy at work he has Thai and Australian passports having been born in Australia to Thai parents. When he came out here to work he showed his "clean" Thai passport and was asked lots of questions. So I wouldn't worry. I have dual Nationality, UK and Canadian. When leaving Canada to go to Australia I checked in with my Canadian passport because it makes traveling through the USA easier. My Australian visa was in my UK passport and so I was asked lots of questions as to why I didn't have a visa in my Canadian passport until I explained that I would use my UK passport at Australian immigration not the Canadian one. That took some explaining too :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lopburi3 Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 The key factor was arrival on a passport without a departure/arrival card. Thai get the card on exit of Thailand and present remaining part to Immigration when they return. Without that card you get questioned and then the excuse of no stamp was used (which is invalid as most countries do not stamp departures anymore and arrival never checks for them at airports). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianh68 Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 What is wrong with just handing over the UK passport and moving on? Am I missing something here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lopburi3 Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 The UK passport requires permission to stay/extensions of stay the same as any other UK visitor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
singa-traz Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 ...A worrying change or just an over enthusiastic immigration officer? Brigante7. No it's quite normal if you think about it? In Thailand passports are stamped when you leave the country, so when your son arrives with a Thai passport that has no such stamp then it would raise an eyebrow or two? After all how can you come back to a country if your passport shows that you haven't actually left the country? Unfortunately the concept of dual nationality is somewhat harder to deal with when there are so many people traveling around on false papers. ... Quite simple to explain, he got his Thai Passport in UK, so would not have any Thai Stamp on it. An uninformed or lazy immigration officer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lingyaiyai Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 Presumably the passport was issued by the Thai embassy in London, I can't imagine why the immigration officer couldn't put 2 and 2 together in this case - but at least Thailand has one extra 'tourist' to show on the stats as a result of his or her actions! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crocodilexp Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 Some countries have such a law, the USA being one of them. But Thailand does not. How can they tell? If you pitchup at US INS with your Thai/UK/whatever passport how do they know you have a US passport? Consequences of U.S. citizen using another passport to enter the country are severe, up to and including the loss of U.S. citizenship. "How can they tell" is irrelevant -- maybe the computer could search by name only and flag you (assuming same name on both passports). Fortunately, Thailand has no comparable law, so you can use any passport. The officer in question was obviously uninformed. You can *always* use the passport to enter the country of which you're a citizen, even if it's expired. He can ask for an explanation, but cannot deny entry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mario2008 Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 Not every country allows the use of an expired passport to enter your own country. the Netherlands for example doesn't allow it. You must have a valid ID. IATA database says this: Netherlands (NL) Passport required. - Passports and/or passport replacing documents issued to nationals of the Netherlands must be valid on arrival. Passport Exemptions: - Holders of a National Identity Card issued to nationals of the Netherlands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samran Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 (edited) Presumably the passport was issued by the Thai embassy in London, I can't imagine why the immigration officer couldn't put 2 and 2 together in this case - but at least Thailand has one extra 'tourist' to show on the stats as a result of his or her actions! exactly. My sister, a Thai/Australian dual national living in London had a new Thai passport issued in London in November last year. She turned up in BKK a few weeks later with a 'clean' passport and was stamped in no worries. Having said that, I did warn her of the potential uninformed immigration officers giving her grief (and for her to politely to stand her ground untill she was stamped in on her Thai PP), though she sailed straight through. Edited July 19, 2009 by samran Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlenaBrunetti Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 So according to this immigration officier when Taksin arrives he must use one of his other passports Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arkady Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 Posters in other threads have complained of similar problems with immigration officers attempting to refuse entry to dual national Thai citizens, both adults and children, on their new Thai passports issued abroad on the idiotic grounds that there are no stamps in them. This is tantamount to the officer trying to use his authority to deny a Thai citizen their basic rights in clear contravention of The Nationalilty Act and the various immigration laws. A puu yai would no doubt sue the officer and the Immigration Bureau if this happened to his family and there is no reason why they should not win the case. You have to remember that Immigration is part of the police and many of the junior officers have the typical police mindset that they have mysteriously become important people as a result of putting on a uniform. They and their own dimwitted understanding of the law is what counts in their minds and there is no need to familiarise themselves with the actual laws. I recently saw a foreign couple with Elite cards hauled off for interrogation while trying to leave Suvarnaphumi because the moronic immigration officer had never heard of the Elite card and refused to believe there was such a thing as a five year visa in Thailand. He consulted his equally stupid colleague who had also never heard of the five year visa. I don't know if the elite couple made their flight to Europe or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gioste Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 To the OP: In case it was not already obvious: make sure she gets out with the UK passport, not with the Thai one just to get a departure card or a nice stamp (which would certainly avoid problems next time). If they don't get an exit stamp on the UK pp, they are going to overstay their visa as long as they stay in the UK! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkk_mike Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 Just curious, but I don't recall seeing anyone getting a passport stamped going out thru security and searches at Heathrow.The only stamps I have in my uk passport are from other countries. Obviously coming in, using a foreign passport, would entail getting a stamp, but do these people get stamped out from the U.K.? reason for edit: to correct grammar This is actually why, when it was asked in Parliament, the Home Secretary had to say that they have no idea how many people are in the UK overstaying their visa, because they don't keep track of people leaving. Since then, there is now a visa check (but no stamping) on exit at Terminal 3, although it seems to not always be manned, and I don't remember seeing similar checks at Terminal 4. I assume they're simply looking to add the "black mark" at the back of the passport if someone's been found to overstay (like when a visa is refused.) - But I don't know for sure... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveH Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 Hi all, wanted to share this info with everybody, some quick background info, I'm a UK national married to a Thai lady and we live in the Uk and we have a small boy who was born in the UK and who has both Thai and UK passports. My wife arrived in BKK on the 24th July for a 4 week holiday with our son and I told my wife to use his UK passport to leave the UK and his Thai passport to enter Thailand. She's due back this Tuesday (21st July) and has only just told me about what happened on her arrival at BKK.It seems that after trying to use our son's Thai passport to enter Thailand, my wife was asked why our son's Thai passport didn't have an entry and exit stamp to the UK like her passport has and my wife explained that he was born in the UK and has a UK passport also and she was told that our son had to enter Thailand on his UK passport and not his Thai passport. A worrying change or just an over enthusiastic immigration officer? Brigante7. My wife has both Thai and U.K. passports, never had a problem in BKK, however the first time she used the new Thai passport (which was issued throught the Thai Embassy in London) the officer did ask where the departure card was, she told them that it was issued in London and has never had a problem since. Make sure your wife uses your sons British passport for him to depart BKK or else he won't be stamped out of the country. As others have stated this was an ill informed officer. One point you may not have thought of, in the future your son may be called up into military service, you have probably got a long time to find out about that and I don't have any experience to offer, maybe others can advise you on the possibility or otherwise of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BAZZAT Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 So according to this immigration officier when Taksin arrives he must use one of his other passports yes he will have to untill he Buys a little island someware and sets up his own country preferrabaly taking all his little pre paid shirts with him, and they can all be happy together arguing between themselve and leaving Thailand and most of the poulation alone yes some of us live in hope that day will soon come Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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