Phuket expats corralled by new immigration rule for passports

[webfact]

Phuket expats corralled by new immigration rule for passports
Phuket Gazette


Lt Col Napat Niesen is hoping to avoid complications later with foreigners whose passports will expire within the coming year. Photo: Gazette file

PHUKET: -- Officers at Phuket Immigration are calling for all foreigners whose passports are set to expire within the coming year to ensure they are issued new passports and apply – and are issued – new long-term permits-to-stay* before their current permits expire.

The call follows a new regulation issued by the Immigration Bureau on August 13 (click here), explained Lt Col Napat Nusen at Phuket Immigration.

“The regulation is now in effect in Phuket, and all other immigration offices across the country,” Col Napat said.

Under the new regulation, immigration officers will no longer issue one-year permits-to-stay that extend beyond the expiry date on a passport.

“Previously, 12-month permits-to-stay could be issued in the current passport, and later transferred into the new passport. That is no longer possible,” Col Napat said.

Consequently, applicants whose passports expire during an extension of stay must reapply for a new extension of stay after receiving their new passports.

“The fee for applying for a 12-month permit-to-stay remains at 1,900 baht,” Col Napat said.

However, the new rule will not affect those who already have been issued permits-to-stay.

“Foreigners who already have a permit-to-stay that extends beyond the expiry date on their passport will be allowed to have their current permit-to-stay transferred into their new passport when it arrives,” Col Napat said.

“The new rule will phase this out,” he added.

The change in policy enables immigration officers to perform their tasks more efficiently, Col Napat said.

“We have not received any complaints about the new rule so far, but we would like to avoid complications later on,” Col Napat said.

“We strongly suggest that people have at least 18 months left on their passports when they apply for 12-month permits-to-stay. This gives them enough time to apply for their next passport and next permit-to-stay," he said.

“We are having a sign made to explain this to foreigners who come to our office in Phuket Town [map here],” Col Napat added.

* Long-term permits-to-stay issued by immigration are commonly referred to by many foreigners, although mistaken, as “long-stay visas” or “visa extensions”.

Source: http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket_news/2013/Phuket-expats-corralled-by-new-immigration-rule-for-passports-22112.html


-- Phuket Gazette 2013-08-29

[FDog]

Sounds reasonable.

[lee b]

This should have been done years ago. Good job.

[laislica]

Sounds reasonable.

Upon the issue of a new passport, is the visa/extension in the old one still viable?

The old passport is usually cancelled and defaced by the issuing authority.

[goldmonky]

Sounds reasonable.

Upon the issue of a new passport, is the visa/extension in the old one still viable?

The old passport is usually cancelled and defaced by the issuing authority.

“Foreigners who already have a permit-to-stay that extends beyond the expiry date on their passport will be allowed to have their current permit-to-stay transferred into their new passport when it arrives,” Col Napat said.

“The new rule will phase this out,” he added.

[laislica]

Sounds reasonable.

Upon the issue of a new passport, is the visa/extension in the old one still viable?

The old passport is usually cancelled and defaced by the issuing authority.

“Foreigners who already have a permit-to-stay that extends beyond the expiry date on their passport will be allowed to have their current permit-to-stay transferred into their new passport when it arrives,” Col Napat said.

“The new rule will phase this out,” he added.

What I mean is that if you have a year´s extension at say 18 months passport validity as they suggest. At what point do you apply for a new passport.

Clearly well within the extension period to give time to get the new passport.

However, say you apply at 8 to 10 months into the extension and your passport is replaced 1 month later, does that cancel your extension?

You are not allowed to transfer the remaining term into the new passport.

Are you on overstay as soon as the old passport is cancelled?

[Jimi007]

Sounds reasonable.

Upon the issue of a new passport, is the visa/extension in the old one still viable?

The old passport is usually cancelled and defaced by the issuing authority.

“Foreigners who already have a permit-to-stay that extends beyond the expiry date on their passport will be allowed to have their current permit-to-stay transferred into their new passport when it arrives,” Col Napat said.

“The new rule will phase this out,” he added.

What I mean is that if you have a year´s extension at say 18 months passport validity as they suggest. At what point do you apply for a new passport.

Clearly well within the extension period to give time to get the new passport.

However, say you apply at 8 to 10 months into the extension and your passport is replaced 1 month later, does that cancel your extension?

You are not allowed to transfer the remaining term into the new passport.

Are you on overstay as soon as the old passport is cancelled?

When I got my new passport, my Embassy provided a letter to Thai Immigration requesting them to transfer my extension to my new passport, which they did free of charge. Other than the photocopies.

[N47HAN]

Makes perfect sense. Have a permit to stay on an expired passport ????

[GirlDrinkDrunk]

“We are having a sign made to explain this to foreigners who come to our office in Phuket Town [map here],” Col Napat added.

i cant wait to see the sign

[Chicog]

You shouldn't let your passport run down below 6 months anyway, many carriers will not take you.

Which is a bugger if it's an emergency.

[Mario2008]

Old rule:

You have a passport valid till September 1. On January 1 you apply for a 1 year extension of stay. Immigration gives you an extension of stay till September 1 and tells you to return to immigration with a new passport before September 1. (If you come back after Sept 1 you don't have a valid permission to stay anymore and are fined for overstay).

You go back to immigration on 15 August with a new passport and immigration transfers all details to the new passport, in addition immigration gives you a new extension of stay, now till January 1 of next year for free.

New Rule:

You have a passport valid till September 1. On January 1 you apply for a 1 year extension of stay. Immigration gives you an extension of stay till September 1 and tells you to return to immigration with a new passport before September 1. (If you come back after Sept 1 you don't have a valid permission to stay anymore and are fined for overstay).

You go back to immigration on 15 of August. Immigration transfers the details of your old passport to the new passport. So far nothing has changed. Now comes the new part. Instead of immigration giving you a new permission to stay till January 1 of next year for free your extension of stay ends on September 1 and you have to apply for a new extension of stay with all necessary paperwork for the extension. You now get a new 1 year extension of stay valid till September 1 of next year and pay the usual fee of 1,900 baht for that.

So you don't need passport valid for 1 year when you apply for an extension. Often it will be handier to get a new passport before you do the next extension if during that period your passport expires.

There is a transition rule for those who already applied for a 1 year extension of stay with an expiring passport. This time they just go to immigration when they have the new passport and get the details transferred and the remainder of the 1 year extension of stay in their passport for free as usual, without needing to apply for a new extension because the passport expired.

Applying for a new passport does not cancels your permission to stay. It just means you need to have the details transferred, including the permission to stay. But that permission to stay is no longer automatically extended. For that you need to apply (again) for a new extension of stay with all paperwork.

[LivinginKata]

"Under the new regulation, immigration officers will no longer issue one-year permits-to-stay that extend beyond the expiry date on a passport."

That seems to be the key point, so lets say your current one year extension expires on 1 Jan 2014, and you passport expires 1 Nov 2014 then your new one year extenion will only be valid until 1 Nov 2014, so you have the option to apply for a new passport before the 1 Jan 2014 from your government and present that to Thai Immigration or just accept the extension and apply again for the next one year extension with you new passport on the expiry day of previous extension, with your new passport. That's what I plan to do. The downside is we need to pay the fee 1,900 baht and processing paperwork earlier than ususal, but it's only a one time event to get synced into your passport expiry date.

There is a lengthy discusion in the visa forum ---> http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/663684-new-rules-for-extensions-of-stay-with-expiring-passport/

[tingtongfarang]

cant you just produce both passports if needed with the one with the extension having the corner cut off ? or is that too simple.

Edited August 29, 2013 by tingtongfarang

[JetsetBkk]

The change in policy enables immigration officers to perform their tasks more efficiently, Col Napat said.

Please explain Col Napat (other than you no longer do something for free.)

Just like the address certificates.

How about charging for 90 day reports?

Yeah!! Go for it - we'll bend over and take it. What else can we do?

PS. "corralled" - perfect word to use showing how immigration look at foreigners.

[laislica]

Thanks Mario;->Snip<

Applying for a new passport does not cancel your permission to stay. It just means you need to have the details transferred, including the permission to stay. But that permission to stay is no longer automatically extended. For that you need to apply (again) for a new extension of stay with all paperwork.<Snip<

That´s what I wanted to know..

I think that this means that if an extension expires but the passport has a few months left, one could get a new passport, have the details of the old extension transferred to the new and extend again as normal before the extension expires.

This way one only loses a little time on the life of the passport.

[JetsetBkk]

Thanks Mario;->Snip<

Applying for a new passport does not cancel your permission to stay. It just means you need to have the details transferred, including the permission to stay. But that permission to stay is no longer automatically extended. For that you need to apply (again) for a new extension of stay with all paperwork.<Snip<

That´s what I wanted to know..

I think that this means that if an extension expires but the passport has a few months left, one could get a new passport, have the details of the old extension transferred to the new and extend again as normal before the extension expires.

This way one only loses a little time on the life of the passport.

Yes, exactly. And as passports are cheaper per year than extensions, by about a factor of 4, it makes sense financially to do it that way.

So best to lose some months validity of your passport (by getting a new one early) than lose a some months validity of your extension (by renewing your extension on a passport with less than one year's validity).

Clear as mud, eh?

[laislica]

Thanks Mario;->Snip<

Applying for a new passport does not cancel your permission to stay. It just means you need to have the details transferred, including the permission to stay. But that permission to stay is no longer automatically extended. For that you need to apply (again) for a new extension of stay with all paperwork.<Snip<

That´s what I wanted to know..

I think that this means that if an extension expires but the passport has a few months left, one could get a new passport, have the details of the old extension transferred to the new and extend again as normal before the extension expires.

This way one only loses a little time on the life of the passport.

Yes, exactly. And as passports are cheaper per year than extensions, by about a factor of 4, it makes sense financially to do it that way.

So best to lose some months validity of your passport (by getting a new one early) than lose a some months validity of your extension (by renewing your extension on a passport with less than one year's validity).

Clear as mud, eh?

Brit passport = 120 months

3 months is 2.5%

Extension is 12 months

1 month is 8.3%

2 months is 16.6%

3 months is 25%

However, note this, from https://www.gov.uk/renew-adult-passport :-

You can renew or replace your passport at any time. It costs £72.50 by post or £81.25 through the Post Office’s Passport Check & Send service. Time left on an existing passport is added to your new one - up to a maximum of 9 months.

This way, nothing is lost.

If your extension is less than 12 months because of an expired passport - well you were warned

Up to you!!

[jollyposty]

The change in policy enables immigration officers to perform their tasks more efficiently, Col Napat said.

Please explain Col Napat (other than you no longer do something for free.)

Just like the address certificates.

How about charging for 90 day reports?

Yeah!! Go for it - we'll bend over and take it. What else can we do?

PS. "corralled" - perfect word to use showing how immigration look at foreigners.

they don't look at foreigners they smell our money, some of us have and they want , jealously springs to mind

[virtualtraveller]

Actually most expat's passports don't expire in Thailand, they get too full of stamps and visas long before the expiry date and so require replacement.

Next, the ever helpful Tor Mor will be demanding passports with at least 5 remaining free pages in before issue year visas.

[belg]

asean 2015 my ass

this is just the latest: "we will show you you are just a tourist / we run the place here and you obay stupid farang and PAY"

100.000+ expats in thailand... when does TV start a UNION to fight for some basic rights here ???? i will gladly pay my contribution !!!

[diehard60]

Sounds reasonable.

Upon the issue of a new passport, is the visa/extension in the old one still viable?

The old passport is usually cancelled and defaced by the issuing authority.

They realize that and there has never been any problem.

[cnx355]

Thanks Mario;->Snip<

Applying for a new passport does not cancel your permission to stay. It just means you need to have the details transferred, including the permission to stay. But that permission to stay is no longer automatically extended. For that you need to apply (again) for a new extension of stay with all paperwork.<Snip<

That´s what I wanted to know..

I think that this means that if an extension expires but the passport has a few months left, one could get a new passport, have the details of the old extension transferred to the new and extend again as normal before the extension expires.

This way one only loses a little time on the life of the passport.

Yes, exactly. And as passports are cheaper per year than extensions, by about a factor of 4, it makes sense financially to do it that way.

So best to lose some months validity of your passport (by getting a new one early) than lose a some months validity of your extension (by renewing your extension on a passport with less than one year's validity).

Clear as mud, eh?

Brit passport = 120 months

3 months is 2.5%

Extension is 12 months

1 month is 8.3%

2 months is 16.6%

3 months is 25%

However, note this, from https://www.gov.uk/renew-adult-passport :-

You can renew or replace your passport at any time. It costs £72.50 by post or £81.25 through the Post Offices Passport Check & Send service.

Time left on an existing passport is added to your new one - up to a maximum of 9 months.

This way, nothing is lost.

If your extension is less than 12 months because of an expired passport - well you were warned

Up to you!!

Brits are lucky as with Canadian passport and many other countries, the validity time left in the old passport is not added to the new passport.

So this new rules kind of shorten the useful time of some passport and/or extension of stay.

Not really an improvement except increasing Immigration revenue.

[diehard60]

asean 2015 my ass

this is just the latest: "we will show you you are just a tourist / we run the place here and you obay stupid farang and PAY"

100.000+ expats in thailand... when does TV start a UNION to fight for some basic rights here ???? i will gladly pay my contribution !!!

It looks to me like you got a vey bad attitude. You need to smile more.

[Maggusoil]

Thank you to TV and to the posters who have made this unequivocally clear and understandable. . .

[Johnniey]

Another case if " lets make our lives easier at the expense of the farang"

I suggest we all follow the law that ALL foreigner must apply for an alien certificate within 14 days and see how they like that. They conveniently dont remind us about that to save them extra work.

Lets all go down and demand our alien certificate.

[phuketrichard]

key point is u pay an extra 1,900 baht unless u want to renew ur 10 year passport after 8 years and 11 months ( for Americans)

just a way for Thailand to pick up a few extra baht for little work an irritate more long term residents .

[BudRight]

Don't give them the chance. Go back go where you're from and tell your countrymen not to visit Thailand.

You can't win a game when they keep moving the goal posts.

Edited August 30, 2013 by BudRight

[Hunter88]

Here is the problem. Some countries will not allow applying for a new passport more than six months before the old one expires. Another well thought out idea to put people in a catch 22 position and make more money for Thai immigration.

[DannyS1951]

Seems like a passport will need to be replaced 18 months early. Seeing that these have now become a rather expensive item in many countries and that 10 years is a common period of validity, it in effect becomes a 15% reduction in a passport's use or a 15% increase in price, whatever way you want to look at it.

[Thaddeus]

asean 2015 my ass

this is just the latest: "we will show you you are just a tourist / we run the place here and you obay stupid farang and PAY"

100.000+ expats in thailand... when does TV start a UNION to fight for some basic rights here ???? i will gladly pay my contribution !!!

It looks to me like you got a vey bad attitude. You need to smile more.

It looks to me like he is just another law abiding chap who has been made to jump through every hoop possible and a few made up on the spot at the whim of a chap in a uniform who wouldn't even get a job as a car park attendant in any other country,

When you get there, you will know how it feels.