Visa Transfers - Do They Seem Strange To You?

[fauxie]

Ok, so through my own slackness I ran out of time in which to renew my passport (which is still valid, but full), so I got an Emergency Travel Document from the British Embassy. It allows me to take our planned trip in a hired minivan to Cambodia on the 24th (this Friday). No problem, but today I had to go over to that huge building in Chaeng Wattana to transfer my visa from my old passport to the ETD. They sent me upstairs as my last entry in Thailand wasn't at Suvarnabhumi. Great! No queues, everything was done within 5 minutes.

BUT... I noticed what they printed up, stamped and wrote in the ETD actually contains no details from my visa (non-imm multi-entry good well into next year) except that I last entered on a 'Non-O'. I had thoughts of coming back into Thailand on Friday and them giving me at worst 15 days or maybe 90 days and declaring that the end of my visa, so I asked what would happen. They said it's fine, just take the old passport along, the visa's still good until it expires. Seems odd that I would effectively use a visa that's in a canceled passport, but ok, I went back downstairs.

Still thinking about it I decided to go and ask elsewhere to double-check. I told them how my normal replacement passport will be ready in a couple of weeks and that I will return to transfer again, this time from the ETD to the new passport. Then my visa won't even be in my last passport, but rather the one before that! Again, she reassured me that it's no problem, my visa is still good.

This seems all wrong. Why can't they just put some details in the new passport like visa number and whatnot so that the actual visa is transferred over? It all seems fishy, but if I ask and ask and ask what can I do but go on what I've been told by immigration? I hope I don't have any problems on Friday as there is no way I want to go fork out for a new visa when I could ride this one until June 2011.

Has anybody here had any experience of transferring visas to new passports?

[fauxie]

Ok, did a search of the forums and from what a few posters have said it seems there really is no problem traveling with two passports with a visa in an old, canceled one. Phew! Let's hope everything's ok

[fauxie]

Still, if someone could chime in and say 'yeah, it's cool' I wouldn't mind lol.

[lopburi3]

Give people time - they don't have forum on speed dial. Yes that is the way it is always done here and USA and I suspect most countries. Visa is never transferred - only the permitted stay and data so if you have a valid visa you show old passport on entry and stamp is made in new/valid passport. The visa itself remains valid in old passport.

[fauxie]

Thanks Lopburi. They come to view in droves though lol.

Ok, so now it still seems weird to me but I'm suitably reassured. Thanks again. Phew! (an unreserved, whole-hearted 'phew')

[Maestro]

You will definitely have no problem at all by following the advice posted by Loburi3, ie show both the old and the new passports to the immigration officer on entry into Thailand. That's why the Chaeng Wattana immigration office put a note in your new travel document about the visa in your old passport.