The Dreaded Red Stamp

[CrankyCarrot]

Had a few tourist visas in a row over 2011/2012, and on the last one I received the dreaded red stamp, which says:

"The holder of this passport travels to Thailand under a tourist visa several times which may result in refusal of a visa in the future"

If I exited Thailand over 8 months ago and have no visas from 2013, is this likely to affect me if I go for another single or double entry tourist visa now?

The last visa and redstamp were issued in Penang - I'd be applying for the new one in Sydney.

[ubonjoe]

No problem in OZ. Get a 3 entry.

[CrankyCarrot]

I'd love to get a 3 entry, but they don't seem to offer them in Syd.

There's no check box for it on the app form, nor any mention on the site, at any rate. Did you (or has anyone reading this) ever gotten a 3 entry visa from the Syd consulate?

Also, the site does say that if you get a 2 entry, you need to provide a flight ticket showing your 2nd entry date into Thailand:

"A copy of airline ticket confirming the date of your second entry into Thailand within 3 months of lodging visa application"

Does anyone know if they actually enforce this at the office when you apply? I plan to exit and re-enter via land, so I won't have a flight ticket.

[Gone]

In my opinion, I would say that what you obviously copied and wrote in your OP says it all.

"The holder of this passport travels to Thailand under a tourist visa several times which may result in refusal of a visa in the future"

[jrtmedic]

Is "may" a polite means of saying "will" ?

[darrendsd]

Get a new passport, problem solved

[CrankyCarrot]

In my opinion, I would say that what you obviously copied and wrote in your OP says it all.

"The holder of this passport travels to Thailand under a tourist visa several times which may result in refusal of a visa in the future"

Googling for info prior to posting here, I saw someone say you'd be refused a visa only if you applied at the same consulate. In my experience differing consulates are inconsistent with which rules/conditions are enforced.

[CrankyCarrot]

Get a new passport, problem solved

With an extra $233 Aud and up to a 6 week waiting period, I'll do that, but only as a last resort.

[poohy]

Hi

I got red stamped in Laos a few years back... amazingly enough I was working legally building a hotel in northern Laos and when I wasn't needed I was spending time in Thailand with the ladies hence I already had one tourist visa (all the other visas in my passport were non B from when I worked in Thailand) so I was hardly a serial tourist wallah ,anyway I applied for another double entry in Vientiane , got it, but got red stamped as well.

However the following year if memory serves me I applied for another tourist visa in Penang same passport no problems.

Given up hotel game now so On Multiple non O

[ubonjoe]

The stamp is to stop you from getting back to back visas from same location.

I suggest you get your visa from one of the honorary consulates such as Brisbane.

[dddave]

The fact that you have returned to your home country should negate the red stamp. What sets them off is repeated visas from neighboring countries without any intervening home country stays.

[CrankyCarrot]

The fact that you have returned to your home country should negate the red stamp. What sets them off is repeated visas from neighboring countries without any intervening home country stays.

That's good to hear.

[CrankyCarrot]

The stamp is to stop you from getting back to back visas from same location.

I suggest you get your visa from one of the honorary consulates such as Brisbane.

I notice the app form from Sydney has a check box for either a single or double entry, whereas the app from the Brisbane consulate website simply has a blank space next to "number of entries requested" where you just put whatever you like. I assume that if you wrote anything higher than 3 they'd give you a new form and tell you to do it again.

I was hoping to go for about 6 months or thereabouts, but since the validity on the Syd consul double entries is 90 days, the most you could reasonably squeeze out of that would be about 4-5 months (ie 1 x 60 day entry, then another 1 x 60 plus a 30 day extension). To get closer to 6 you'd have to fly out the same day your visa was granted, extend the first 60 days to 90, then do a super speedy visa run and get back to activate the second entry at the exact time you hit 90 days!

Ubonjoe - have you got triple entries from Brisbane in the past, and if so, what was the validity? It's obviously not so convenient for someone in Sydney to go there, but a special trip might be worth it in the long run for a triple entry with long validity.

[ubonjoe]

You can mail in application.

3 entry will be good for 6 months.

Many good reports about Brisbane.

[CrankyCarrot]

I forgot about the mailing option.

They wouldn't question someone mailing an app to Brisbane when there's a consulate in Sydney where they live?

[ubonjoe]

No problem.

[CrankyCarrot]

Cool.

If it did get knocked back on account of the old tourist visas, I suppose I could always then send away for a new passport and just go for a double at the Sydney embassy... or suck it up and just spend winter in Sydney.

[CrankyCarrot]

Get a new passport, problem solved

With an extra $233 Aud and up to a 6 week waiting period, I'll do that, but only as a last resort.

For anyone who's curious, it'd actually be $343 for a new Aus passport - $238 for the doc, plus a $105 fee for "losing" the old one. Another $105 expedites your application reducing the processing time from 10 to 2 business days (plus postal time of course).

The Aus Passport site was down for a few days, but seems to be back up and running now.

[lopburi3]

Why would you pay for losing? You just request a replacement passport - people do that all the time when they get filled up with stamps or damaged. You do not have to lose it.

[CrankyCarrot]

I've still got about 6 pages left. I imagine they'd refuse to replace a passport that wasn't full or very close to it.

[lopburi3]

Don't know that country but I have never heard of a new passport request being refused. There are many valid reasons for obtaining a new passport.

[Salapoo]

Soak it in water for a few days.

[ubonjoe]

Six pages is not much left considering you will have one page used up by the visa when you get it. Then for a border run for the 2nd entry could mean another full page for a visa to another country.

But any way you should contact the consulate in Brisbane and tell them about your silly stamp. I am sure they will tell you that it is not a problem.

[CrankyCarrot]

I'll give them a ring tomorrow.

Having never replaced an Aussie passport that wasn't expired before, I can only guess they might refuse if it wasn't full or left with less than 6 months validity or whatever. Might be worth making a phone call about, but replacing it will take at least 2-3 weeks and be cutting it close with my flight date.

If I have a triple entry visa, then that's the only stamp that's going to take up a whole page. The rest of the stamps/re-entry stamps, even accounting for extensions, surely wouldn't take up more that 1-2 pages.

Ideally I'd switch to my British passport (I'm a dual citizen), which is empty, except I don't think that's possible without first flying into the UK. I've tried switching to it before, when entering Malaysia, but border control freak out when there's no exit stamp from a previous country. That may have just been them though, since from what I could garner they couldn't even fathom the concept of dual citizenship.

Might call the airport and see if I could fly out of here on the Brit passport and, if so, check with the Thai embassy to see if they'd put a visa stamp in a new Brit passport for me. Don't suppose anyone here has experience with something like this?

[lopburi3]

For flights it is no issue changing passports - in fact it is a requirement for many countries (including the USA) to only use your home passport for entry/exit if a citizen of that country. The issue as you said is land borders where they look for an exit stamp from other country. For flights this is not done as many countries do not stamp exit passengers.

[CrankyCarrot]

Oh yeah?

So in theory I could arrive by plane in Thailand with a totally blank British passport and they'd stamp me in? I guess it's worth checking with the Aus/Brisbane consulate as to whether they'd issue a triple entry tourist visa into a blank/new Brit passport.

[ubonjoe]

I have entered the country with new passport that had no stamps. The US has no departure stamps.

[CrankyCarrot]

Yeah, I never really thought about it but looking at my Aus passport now it doesn't seem to get stamped on the way in or out either.

So I guess the question is, will Thai immigration question someone arriving on a flight from Australia with a blank British passport? They do see which country you've departed from on the little white and green arrival cards.

[lopburi3]

They don't care - as said many of us have arrived on new passports with no entries and if you have a visa you will have an entry.

[CrankyCarrot]

Yeah, it seems like switching passports when you fly is a lot easier than doing it when you cross borders by land.

Guess I'm probably best off calling the consulate in Brisbane and asking if they'd have a problem issuing a visa into the new British passport of a dual citizen. Might as well start using that one if I can.