I happen to have to have 3 nationalities. So, I had the evil genius idea to ship one of my passports to a Thai consulate abroad to apply for a new tourist visa, while I am physically in Thailand.

Is this a) possible and legal?

I do not know if it is "legal" for a Thai consulate to give you a tourist visa in this situation, ie whether the guidelines issued by Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs allow it.

AFAIK most consulates will only mail to addresses in the country where they are located, not abroad. I know that this is true in the US and Canada.

As wayned said, low chance of them mailing to an address in Thailand. And you would still have to enter the country to make the visa `work`.

Edited April 6, 201313 yr by Carib

Do a search. There is another thread a few months back addressing this very topic.

Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app

If issued and the connection was made that your were in Thailand at the time issued it would be invalid. With 3 nationalities probably not much chance in the past of making the connection but today that may not be true as people have reported Thai immigration showing them different passport data on entry/exit so the computers are keeping track of some.

AFAIK most consulates will only mail to addresses in the country where they are located, not abroad. I know that this is true in the US and Canada.

I was thinking of having a friend (or mail forward company) forward it.

Do a search. There is another thread a few months back addressing this very topic.

In my defense, I used the forum search before I posted the original post. I found at least 30 threads regarding 90 day reporting by mail, but nothing about this.

However, this time I searched again using Google and found something:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/569072-mailing-passport-to-thai-consulate-in-los-angeles-for-triple-entry-tourist-visa/

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/136804-visa-by-mail-while-outside-of-thailand/

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/35068-anyone-sent-passport-by-mail-from-thailand/

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/204478-mail-your-passport-to-usa-while-staying-outside-thailand-but-not-in-usa/

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/43466-passport-by-mail-to-thailand/page-2

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/38086-non-immigrant-o-visa/

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/173963-non-imm-o-hull-through-the-mail/

The so-called 90-day report is something entirely different from getting a visa from a Thai consulate and the fact that you are comparing the two seems to indicate that you are very confused. It will be best for you to abandon any thought of getting a new tourist visa by mailing your passport to a friend outside Thailand for the visa application while you yourself remain in Thailand.

I think that your tone is unnecessarily hostile. I only compared the 90-day reporting to getting a visa in that they are both topics that turn up when you do a search for 'mail' in this forum.

I found a few more discussions about this topic:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/9143-getting-visa-without-going-to-consulate-in-person/

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/35068-anyone-sent-passport-by-mail-from-thailand/

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/237358-post-my-passport-home-to-get-a-visa/

I think that the topic has been discussed to dead already in the past and there is not much to be added. Everyone can draw their own conclusion.

I don't get what's illegal/wrong - let's say you're British and German, currently in Thailand on your UK passport. When your current visa expires, you fly to Malaysia, exiting Thailand & entering Malaysia on UK passport. Can stay up to 90 days in Malaysia without visa. You mail your German passport to a friend in Germany, your friend returns your German passport with visa. You fly from Malaysia, exiting on UK passport & enter Thailand on German passport. Your German passport has no entry/exit stamps from anywhere but so what, Germany doesn't use stamps - they don't know you flew in from Malaysia, not Germany, do they? I usually throw away my boarding card as soon as I leave the plane anyway, no one has ever asked for it once the flight has landed. Why should they care anyway - for Thai immigration, you're just some German guy with a visa issued in Germany. Sure, if they ran a check with all airlines, they'd see you came from Malaysia, but surely they don't do that and why would they.

I don't see the problem.

AngThong, read the OP again:

...ship one of my passports to a Thai consulate abroad to apply for a new tourist visa, while I am physically in Thailand...

AngThong, read the OP again:

...ship one of my passports to a Thai consulate abroad to apply for a new tourist visa, while I am physically in Thailand...

Well I can see the problem with that. I guess I forgot the OP's original idea, reading through the threads he posted above; most of them discuss leaving Thailand for a neighbouring country and sending your passport to US/Europe from there. As long as it's not your only passport, I don't see the problem. It'd be a waste of co2, money and time to fly back and forth to Europe just for a visa.

I contacted a visa agency in one of my home countries in Europe and they'll be happy to get me a 3-entry visa if I send them my passport from Malaysia. I explained my exact situation and they said no problems. I do need to provide flight confirmation in and out of Thailand though.

Question - it'd be easiest & cheapest for me to fly from Penang to Phuket. Do you think the Phuket immigration would be suspicious with no Malaysia (or any other) entry/exit stamps in my passport? Not that I'm obliged to use the same passport for travel in Malaysia and Thailand - as far as I know, I am perfectly at my liberty to choose which passport I use in which country, but I don't come to Thailand to argue with immigration officials. I know Phuket has its fair share of European tourists arriving on direct flights from countries that do not stamp passports, so I ought to get through without arousing suspicion - but not 100 % sure. Anyone?

Otherwise I could, of course, fly from Malaysia to Bangkok, but since I stay in the South, it would seem a waste of time etc.

At an airport, immirgation does not check for exit stamps from the country you are arriving from.

OK, nice. Should be easy enough to keep mailing one passport to Europe for 270 day tourist visas for however long I may want to.