I went to the Thai consulate in London and got a 3 entry tourist visa. I used my brand new passport and rather than putting the visa on the first page they've stuck it right in the middle page of the passport! Is that normal? Getting a bit fed up of the way the Thais treat my passport, in my previous one they would randomly leave blank pages and filled up the entire thing with their entry/exit stamps.

I would say normal as compared to every other country I've traveled to. If you're that upset, perhaps better to stay home.

theres no reason that the next guy cant use the blank pages preceeding the page that has just been used. all the pages will ultimately be used

I would say normal as compared to every other country I've traveled to. If you're that upset, perhaps better to stay home.

Every country you've travelled to puts your visas in the middle? Interesting I've travelled many places, seen many people's passports and never encountered that. Fantastic idea I'll stay home, thanks for your valuable input.

theres no reason that the next guy cant use the blank pages preceeding the page that has just been used. all the pages will ultimately be used

Ok thanks for the help. Good to know the order doesn't matter.

Consulates are free to put the visa on any free page in the passport but judging from my passports Thai consulates usually place it on the first available right-hand page. At any rate, it does not cause you any inconvenience but it will take the Thai immigration officer a second or two longer to find it.

theres no reason that the next guy cant use the blank pages preceeding the page that has just been used. all the pages will ultimately be used

Ok thanks for the help. Good to know the order doesn't matter.

just insert your arrival card in the same page as your visa and they will have no trouble finding it

I'd hate to have OCD & have a passport so disorganised!!

just insert your arrival card in the same page as your visa and they will have no trouble finding it

My past observations do not confirm this and were as follows:

1. The officer removes the arrival card from the passport without opening it.
2. Then he opens the passport on the ID page to pass it through an apparatus to read the machine-readable code or the biometric chip.
3. Next, he checks the data that comes up on his computer screen to see if I need to be refused entry or need to be arrested.
4. Next he takes the arrival card and if there is a number entered in the field for the visa number he leafs through the passport to look for the corresponding visa or re-entry permit.
5. Etc.

I'd hate to have OCD & have a passport so disorganised!!

Who or what is OCD in the context of your post?

www.acronymfinder.com/OCD.html

just insert your arrival card in the same page as your visa and they will have no trouble finding it

My past observations do not confirm this and were as follows:

1. The officer removes the arrival card from the passport without opening it.
2. Then he opens the passport on the ID page to pass it through an apparatus to read the machine-readable code or the biometric chip.
3. Next, he checks the data that comes up on his computer screen to see if I need to be refused entry or need to be arrested.
4. Next he takes the arrival card and if there is a number entered in the field for the visa number he leafs through the passport to look for the corresponding visa or re-entry permit.
5. Etc.

i must be lucky

I'd hate to have OCD & have a passport so disorganised!!

Who or what is OCD in the context of your post?

www.acronymfinder.com/OCD.html

• a need for symmetry or orderliness – for example, you may feel the need to ensure all the labels on the tins in your cupboard face the same way.http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Obsessive-compulsive-disorder/Pages/Symptoms.aspx

Consulates are free to put the visa on any free page in the passport but judging from my passports Thai consulates usually place it on the first available right-hand page. At any rate, it does not cause you any inconvenience but it will take the Thai immigration officer a second or two longer to find it.

Yes longer to find it and probably a grilling as to why the visa is in the middle of the passport.

Consulates are free to put the visa on any free page in the passport but judging from my passports Thai consulates usually place it on the first available right-hand page. At any rate, it does not cause you any inconvenience but it will take the Thai immigration officer a second or two longer to find it.

Yes longer to find it and probably a grilling as to why the visa is in the middle of the passport.

do you really believe the immigration officer would ask the tourist why the thai embassy put his visa on that page??

racist remark removed.

Minor issue and one which is repeated the world over.

It's when the Consulate in my case Hull actually cock the stamp up costing you valuable pages,see picture.

Some countries have a preference to issue a visa at a certain page and or give entry/exit stamps at a certain page.

Visiting Australia results in stamps being entered on the back pages of ones passport !

Visiting Australia results in stamps being entered on the back pages of ones passport !

˙ɹǝpun-uʍop ʇᴉ op ʎǝɥʇ ʎɐʍ ǝɥʇ s,ʇɐɥʇ

Visiting Australia results in stamps being entered on the back pages of ones passport !

˙ɹǝpun-uʍop ʇᴉ op ʎǝɥʇ ʎɐʍ ǝɥʇ s,ʇɐɥʇ

How did you do that !

Visiting Australia results in stamps being entered on the back pages of ones passport !

˙ɹǝpun-uʍop ʇᴉ op ʎǝɥʇ ʎɐʍ ǝɥʇ s,ʇɐɥʇ

How did you do that !

Very carefully.

Every country you've travelled to puts your visas in the middle? Interesting I've travelled many places, seen many people's passports and never encountered that. Fantastic idea I'll stay home, thanks for your valuable input.

If you travel a little bit more, you will find by example that many middle-East or North-African countries put stamps in your passport beginning by the last page of the passport ! (reverse order).

In the 90's at Rio de Janeiro they used to put their stamp at the first free space from the middle of your passport !??

Even in Thailand they sometimes put it at a "random" place in the passport.

To want stamps in "the right order" is just dreaming

I picked up my passport and double entry tourist visa from London yesterday. It's the 7th Thai visa in my passport and they are all beautifully in sequence starting (almost) at the front. The only exception is a Chinese visa which they stuck on the last page!

Visiting Australia results in stamps being entered on the back pages of ones passport !

˙ɹǝpun-uʍop ʇᴉ op ʎǝɥʇ ʎɐʍ ǝɥʇ s,ʇɐɥʇ

And if the country's language is read from right to left, the officer may head for the back of the passport which he would normally think of as the front.

The US does mine at the end for some reason - very specifically selected twice now.

I also have an accidental upside down Hull stamp with a big cross through it...

I was also a bit annoyed that they wouldn't use up the available space in my passport, which forced me to apply for a new passport as there were no blank pages left. Having said that they were happy to go back and use the blank spaces when there were no blank pages for them to stamp. Looking over my old passport, the immigration officers of other countries are far more helpful and tend to stamp in a way that uses up least space. Thai immigration officers seem to have an unusually cavalier attitude when it comes to stamping.

You really want to have some fun, try asking a Thai Consulate or Embassy to stamp a (no longer valid) visa in your passport as being USED and it will delay the issuance of a new visa for several days while someone discovers that they don't have a USED stamp

The Consular Officer in New York agreed that it would be a good idea to have a USED stamp but evidently that was above his pay grade

so he placed a thin line corner to corner on the used visa's to make it quicker for the Immigration Officer to check the correct visa.

Consulates are free to put the visa on any free page in the passport but judging from my passports Thai consulates usually place it on the first available right-hand page. At any rate, it does not cause you any inconvenience but it will take the Thai immigration officer a second or two longer to find it.

Yes longer to find it and probably a grilling as to why the visa is in the middle of the passport.

do you really believe the immigration officer would ask the tourist why the thai embassy put his visa on that page??

That actually happened to me! On one of the occasions I left the country on a multiple entry visa and came back through with a re-entry stamp, it was not placed in chronological order, and the next time I went to leave the country, the immigration officer couldn't find my stamp at first and it took him a minute or so because it was mixed in with some old stamps from Africa and Europe. He asked me why my stamp was out of order. I really didn't understand the process well at that time and just kind of did what people told me I was supposed to do, so I really didn't have an answer. I'd wondered the same thing myself but thought it was just the way they did it here. I didn't even know it was "wrong" until he brought it up. So I didn't have to play dumb, I really didn't know, and he saw the bewilderment and let me through.

In another instance, an officer forgot to sign the stamp. I was grilled about that, too, the next time I left the country, but they eventually let it slide as well.

In both instances, the officer reacted in irritation/anger and I couldn't tell whether it was directed at me or someone else, but looking back, it was probably irritation at the inconsistency of their system, and a bit of irritation at how it made them look bad.

My book is so full of stuff that I am amazed immigration can find the correct detail when exiting or re-entering Thailand. Most do it faster than I can, and I do it to double check my dates 90 day reports, renewals, etc. Furthermore, I find some other authorities - Drivers Licence Bureau or Banks etc. either find it fast and know what they are doing or hand it back to me and ask for my assistance, which I gladly offer. For some books it is not easy as stamps and such are never in chronological order. And I have added the maximum pages so it further confuses things.

In my experience, officials in countries all over the world put the thing wherever the heck they want to. Sometimes, if they are stamping the passport right in front of me, I will ask them if they can put it in a specific place, a strategy which has met with some success. Other times (not talking about Thailand, here) they just ignore me....what can you do...immigration the world round.

But yeah, like others said, it doesn't matter what page they put it on. What I hate it when it is a small stamp but they put it in a place that eats up more of the page than it needs to.