Travelling With 2 Passports

[CrankyCarrot]

@SAMRAN "One thing I don't understand is that if you really need to start using the brit passport, why didn't you get a new tourist visa in your Brit passport and then hoof it back to Thailand by Air on an Air Asia flight.Surely that would have been the best solution?

I thought the Thai embassy in Penang would question an empty passport the same way the Malaysian border control staff had. Would they not want to see an entry stamp into Malaysia in the passport they were issuing a visa for?

Also, I didn't take go to the embassy in person, so if questions had been asked I wouldn't have been there to at least show the pre-existing stamps in my Aus passport. Jim the visa-service guy suggested the best course of action was to just use the Aus passport first and if that failed, try a second time with the Brit PP. I was too exhausted after 12 and a half hours crunched up in a van to put up a fight, so I just filled out the forms and took my chances. There are a few Thai visa stamps in the Aus PP already, which I was worried the Penang office would use as grounds to deny me another, but fortunately they did not.

I still figure it's worth switching to the Brit PP for future travel before I completely fill up the Aus one, so next time I fly somewhere I'll give it a burl.

[CrankyCarrot]

@Samran again - "I wish I had replied to this thread sooner and told you not to bother trying.

I wish you had too!

[samran]

@Samran again - "I wish I had replied to this thread sooner and told you not to bother trying.

I wish you had too!

ha! Sorry mate that you had to go through all that.

FWIW...don't think the Thai consulate will care about the stamps.

[lopburi3]

I disagree as that is what proves you are in the country and allowed to apply for a visa from that Consulate. Even when passports went across borders without the holders such entry/exit stamps were a requirement.

[samran]

I disagree as that is what proves you are in the country and allowed to apply for a visa from that Consulate. Even when passports went across borders without the holders such entry/exit stamps were a requirement.

I understand that Lop, to the extent that they don't want to be stamping passports being posted to them, especially in light of the corruption and scandal surrounding this a few years back.

Havign said that, if the owner of the passport turned up to apply - surely that would allay any fears on the matter?

[lopburi3]

He would still not be in Malaysia on that passport. Do not believe they would issue.

[TeddyFlyfisherDavis]

should make no difference. if they want to see your exit stamp show them the australian passport. the key is to use the same passport to exit a country that you entered with.

Perfect advise...!

[sandrabbit]

I travel with 2 passports but both are British, one is for obtaining visa's for work. Sometimes I have to present 2 passports at check in at Bangkok, one has my Thai visa and the other my visa for the country I'm travelling to so that they can see I have the correct visa to travel and I haven't overstayed on my Thai visa. I've even accidently given Thai immigration the wrong passport when leaving and apologised and given the correct one with no trouble whatsoever. I frequently leave Thailand with one passport then present my other one on arrival as I don't want to fill my passport with the Thai visa full of stamps and ( touch wood) I have never had any trouble or been stopped and questioned over this.

Malaysia must have some reciprocal agreement with Thailand about checking exit stamps to check for people travelling illegally I would presume, I haven't done a direct flight to Malayasia but have had no problem with flights to China, Hong Kong, Myanmar & Singapore using different passports either end. It must be dependant on the country you are travelling to.

[Mario2008]

As already has been said, it is only checked at land borders. Not when arriving by air.

[NanLaew]

There is no reason for Thai immigration to calculate your total time in Thailand, there is no official limit.

I recall a few years ago that Thai Immigration on arrival were counting the cumulative days of each stay based on the existing exit/entry stamps. My passport was checked this way and the Immigration Officer that did it numbered each stamp sequentially and totalled up my days in country. Sometimes they do things based on what rule seems popular at the time and I can't recall what 'clamp down' initiated this procedure. I haven't seen them do it since.

Might they pick it up? Yes, and I would not be surprised if they have photo recognition software.

I have been travelling in and out of Thailand with dual UK passports for several years now and there doesn't appear to be any obvious signs of linkage. However, even the most basic of immigration systems (the US's for example) logs name and date of birth on passports and links them that way, not by pictures or biometrics. It could be assumed that Thai Immigration already do this but it serves no real purpose AT THE MOMENT. However, if they become part of revenue and tax liability checking mechanism like in the US and UK, it is possible that extra questions could be asked on arrival/departure or, like in the US, entry is only legal if you use the passport that has a visa.

[lopburi3]

A few years ago there was a 90 days visa exempt restriction that caused a lot of problems for everyone but that was rescinded when they changed to 15 day entry by land.

[Arkady]

I have been refused entry to Laos overland because of no Thai exit stamp in the passport, so switched back again, but had no problem doing the same thing flying into Luang Prabang using other passport of same nationality. Some embassies won't give you a visa in a passport that has no entry stamp for the country you are in. I was refused by the Chinese and Burmese embassies in Bkk for this but had no problem with the Vietnamese embassy. I don't know if Thai embassies overseas do the the same thing. I try to use the second passport so the main one doesn't get full so quickly.

[Arkady]

I travel with 2 passports but both are British, one is for obtaining visa's for work. Sometimes I have to present 2 passports at check in at Bangkok, one has my Thai visa and the other my visa for the country I'm travelling to so that they can see I have the correct visa to travel and I haven't overstayed on my Thai visa. I've even accidently given Thai immigration the wrong passport when leaving and apologised and given the correct one with no trouble whatsoever. I frequently leave Thailand with one passport then present my other one on arrival as I don't want to fill my passport with the Thai visa full of stamps and ( touch wood) I have never had any trouble or been stopped and questioned over this.

I have had to do this in Bkk too and the airline check in girl told me it was illegal for me to have two foreign passports and called the supervisor. I told her it was up to my government not her if it wanted to issue me with a second passport. The supervisor agreed and told the girl to shut up.

I gave the wrong passport to Immigration by mistake once to get an endorsement in my residence book (PR). After passing it round to everyone in the department to scrutinise they stamped it and passed it to the supervisor to sign which he did and and no one noticed that the passport had no other Thai stamps in it at all which would be odd for a permanent resident. After I noticed the mistake myself I asked them to cancel the endorsement so I could re-apply with the correct passport. It cost me a modest amount of tea money but they were very nice about it and did it for me immediately as I was going on a trip.

I believe it has become a lot harder to get two British passports now.

[BigJohnnyBKK]

It is your choice which passport you use when entering a country, there is nothing illegal in your action.

Generally true except in my experience most countries **require** that if you hold a passport for that country you use it when entering (and therefore exiting).

Definitely illegal for a US citizen to enter the US with their other passport, believe the same holds for Thais.

[CrankyCarrot]

@Samram "FWIW...don't think the Thai consulate will care about the stamps."

Although it worked out for me in the end, I was mainly concerned because I'd read on TV Penang have recently acquired a rep for denying visas based on people having "too many" previous ones.

Unless I'm reading it wrong, this forum page suggests the Penang embassy have been known to deny new tourist visas to people with an extension of stay on a previous stamp (in the notes for 'c'), which I did. I guess it's enforced selectively, rather than as a blanket rule.

[mungostjohn]

I have a Canadian and British passport. I've tried exiting on one and entering on another a couple of times, by land.

I had lots of problems. Technically, I've been told it's legal. Tryi telling that to immigration. It doesn't work.

By air, it's not a problem to get an entry stamp in one while the exit stamp is in the other.

[spatz]

I too have 2 passports, a few years ago, I was crossing the border into Malaysia from Singapore, using one passport, I had my other passport in my passport holder and the immigration girl saw it and asked to see it, she asked me why I have 2 and I told her, she said no we are not allowed to have 2, I told her we are allowed duel citizenship and than the s*%t hit the fan, she took both of my passports away, went to her supervisor, he came out asked me some more of the same questions, like why do I have 2 passports etc. in the end after about an hour (and missing my bus) I finally got both my passports back and allowed to travel throught Malayasia. What a hassle, if you have 2 passports crossing into Malayasia, don't let them know you have the 2.

[lopburi3]

It is your choice which passport you use when entering a country, there is nothing illegal in your action.

Generally true except in my experience most countries **require** that if you hold a passport for that country you use it when entering (and therefore exiting).

Definitely illegal for a US citizen to enter the US with their other passport, believe the same holds for Thais.

Thailand has no such requirement and is happy to stamp into country on a foreign passport and extend your stay for one year in that passport on request (and payment of normal extension fee).

[lopburi3]

@Samram "FWIW...don't think the Thai consulate will care about the stamps."

Although it worked out for me in the end, I was mainly concerned because I'd read on TV Penang have recently acquired a rep for denying visas based on people having "too many" previous ones.

Unless I'm reading it wrong, this forum page suggests the Penang embassy have been known to deny new tourist visas to people with an extension of stay on a previous stamp (in the notes for 'c'), which I did. I guess it's enforced selectively, rather than as a blanket rule.

There were many reports for this happening for an extended period of time (Penang has always been a place with frequent changes in policy as very active Consulate for those traveling in the region to obtain visas) but for a few months now it appears they have returned to a more normal policy for issue of tourist visas.

[Arkady]

I too have 2 passports, a few years ago, I was crossing the border into Malaysia from Singapore, using one passport, I had my other passport in my passport holder and the immigration girl saw it and asked to see it, she asked me why I have 2 and I told her, she said no we are not allowed to have 2, I told her we are allowed duel citizenship and than the s*%t hit the fan, she took both of my passports away, went to her supervisor, he came out asked me some more of the same questions, like why do I have 2 passports etc. in the end after about an hour (and missing my bus) I finally got both my passports back and allowed to travel throught Malayasia. What a hassle, if you have 2 passports crossing into Malayasia, don't let them know you have the 2.

It's a bad idea to let immigration officers to see you have a second passport, even though it's perfectly legal. They might suspect you are a criminal with several fake passports. At best they might just not the idea of people having two legal passports because they might think it diminishes their ability to track movements through passports. I was once advised to keep my second passport out of sight while entering India in case the immigration officer might demand that I should have a visa in both passports!

[Arkady]

It is your choice which passport you use when entering a country, there is nothing illegal in your action.

Generally true except in my experience most countries **require** that if you hold a passport for that country you use it when entering (and therefore exiting).

Definitely illegal for a US citizen to enter the US with their other passport, believe the same holds for Thais.

Thailand has no such requirement and is happy to stamp into country on a foreign passport and extend your stay for one year in that passport on request (and payment of normal extension fee).

Thailand may not have an explicit requirement to that effect but in 2004 it was announced in the Royal Gazette that a dual British/Thai national, who was Thai through birth in the Kingdom to foreign parents before 1971, had had his Thai nationality revoked on the grounds that he was making use of the nationality of his father. Evidence cited was that he had used his British passport to enter and leave Thailand. It is a bad idea and pointless for a Thai national to enter Thailand on a foreign passport. If a Thai immigration officer tries to refuse entry to a Thai national using their Thai passport, the traveller must ask to see the immigration supervisor and demand to know on what legal grounds immigration is denying a Thai citizen his or her constitutional right to enter the Kingdom as a Thai - Article 35 "No person of Thai nationality shall be deported or prohibited from entering the Kingdom." There are several cases of this type reported on TV and in all cases the supervisor has quickly agreed to stamp in the Thai national on their Thai passport. If the supervisor should refuse to budge, you should take down his name and notify him or her that you will file a case against him in the Administrative Court for violation of your constitutional rights as a Thai. That might cause him to have second thoughts.

The UK is one country that explicitly allows its own nationals to enter the country on foreign passports. However, they no longer issue UK visas in foreign passports. This has seriously inconvenienced many living in the UK from countries like Singapore, Malaysia and Nigeria that are vigilant on tracking down dual nationals and revoking their original nationality. Previously they could get a UK Right of Abode visa stamped in their foreign passports which immigration officers from their countries of origin were fooled into thinking was a type of permanent residence for foreigners.

[CrankyCarrot]

@Lopburi - Re: Change in proceedings in issuing visas to people with previous extensions - I thought it might be something like that.

There were definitely eyebrows raised when I showed my two passports at the Malay border, and questioning their judgement really riles them up. Luckily I had the option of backing down and using the Aus passport instead because otherwise I would have missed my ride out of there for sure - probably wound up spending the night in no man's land or at the very least paying for a very expensive taxi ride.

I'd think twice before showing two passports at any land border in the future given what I'm reading here. Seems like dual citizenship is a foreign concept to a lot of the SE Asian land border staff, so to speak.

[Eff1n2ret]

Previously they could get a UK Right of Abode visa stamped in their foreign passports which immigration officers from their countries of origin were fooled into thinking was a type of permanent residence for foreigners.

Dual nationals still can have a Right of Abode sticker in their foreign passport but now only as an alternative to having a British passport. They have to choose one or the other - a measure introduced to limit the opportunities for fraudulent use of a second passport giving the right of entry to the UK.