Obese Brit lost so much weight Thai Immigration refused to believe he was same person

[Suradit69]

Ah,Phuket immigration at their finest.

Irish immigrations at their finest.

Drogheda Man Paul Faulkner (43) has decided it is time to ditch his old passport and get a new one as he keeps landing in hot water instead of hot climates! Passport control has stopped him 3 times this year as they don’t recognise him from his passport photo after he shed a whopping 9 stones!

http://www.mediahq.com/pr1/40124/new-passport-for-weight-loss-hero-as-airport-control-says-no-go-drogheda-man-advised-to-get-a-new-passport-as-he-is-unrecognisable-in-his-photo-after-shedding-9-stones.html

And the Dutch & Germans at their finest.

My passport photo was taken when I was 18 and weighed at least 19st - fast forward to 2011 and a total weight loss so far of over 10st and complete makeover (I started my weight loss journey in 2005 when I was 21 so I was even heavier than 19st). Anyway I have concluded that unless I want to be detained during future travel I'm going to need to get a new passport. Thankfully Dutch and German officials were quite willing to listen to my weight loss story as they questioned whether I was the person in the picture, held it up to the light, re-scanned it, in Germany they had me stand almost against the glass as the border control person had a good look at my eyes and asked me if I was 'sure' that I was the person in the passport. The Dutch lady was amazed by the number of pounds I had lost as she prodded me about what diet I used, how long it too etc - but in hindsight I may not get such responsive border officials.

http://www.weightwatchers.co.uk/community/mbd/post.aspx?page_size=25&rownum=1&threadpage_no=1&sincedate=08%2F03%2F2011+00%3A00%3A00&thread_id=38564401&board_id=350&forum_id=1&thread_name=Passport+dilema%27s+after+a+huge+weight+loss&mod_no=&daterange=2days&viewchange=OPENDATEDESC

[Bkungbank]

He should join big loser game to win the championship.

[Morakot]

................But he's trying to get out of Thailand, not in............Who cares what he looks like.................One less pesky Farang in the Kingdom!

[h90]

To those who don't know from "stones" this fine dude lost well over 100 pounds in a year. Wow! That is remarkable. Good luck to him to keep it going (the even harder part).

Do I get it right?

From the photo on the right side, he lost 100 pounds or 50 kg?

Well he looks fat but not that fat that he could loose 50 kg + has a lot more muscles than before.

If he has on the photo 120 kg, than he would have now 70 kg?

Or do I get something wrong?

21 stone is 294 pounds.

The article says he went from 21 to 13 stone.

That's an 8 stone loss to 182 pounds.

8 stone is 112 pounds.

stone and pounds....hmmmm

Thanks for the information.

[skildpadden]

Well the only way is to take this as a compliment that your strict diet and exercise really paid off.

[UdeBoCM]

To those who don't know from "stones" this fine dude lost well over 100 pounds in a year. Wow! That is remarkable. Good luck to him to keep it going (the even harder part).

Can you speak like the rest of the world in kilos? Imperial system has been done away a long time ago... ThaiVisa is a compulsory English forum, but it'a a truly International one...

[Jingthing]

To those who don't know from "stones" this fine dude lost well over 100 pounds in a year. Wow! That is remarkable. Good luck to him to keep it going (the even harder part).

Stones? LBs(sic) come on guys. This is a metric country!!

The news story refers to stones. Get a grip.

[saltandpepper]

To those who don't know from "stones" this fine dude lost well over 100 pounds in a year. Wow! That is remarkable. Good luck to him to keep it going (the even harder part).

Stones? LBs(sic) come on guys. This is a metric country!!

So how many meters did he lose?

[masuk]

To those who don't know from "stones" this fine dude lost well over 100 pounds in a year. Wow! That is remarkable. Good luck to him to keep it going (the even harder part).

Do I get it right?

From the photo on the right side, he lost 100 pounds or 50 kg?

Well he looks fat but not that fat that he could loose 50 kg + has a lot more muscles than before.

If he has on the photo 120 kg, than he would have now 70 kg?

Or do I get something wrong?

21 stone is 294 pounds.

The article says he went from 21 to 13 stone.

That's an 8 stone loss to 182 pounds.

8 stone is 112 pounds.

stone and pounds....hmmmm

Thanks for the information.

Hmmmm is correct? When I was at primary school 65 years ago, we were taught that we had inherited a Roman system of LIBRA for weights, which is abbreviated to LB, being both singular and plural. No such thing as LBs.

We were bored to tears with grains, ounces, pounds, stones, bushels, pecks, hundred weight, tons, ad nauseum

Thanks heaven that in the late '60s, we went metric in Australia, New Zealand and other neighbouring countries.

Now it's just grams, kilograms, litres and tonnes and degrees C.. Much, much easier. No messing with mixed calculations (ask NASA).

And while I'm rattling on, please remember that the US Senate passed into law that the USA went metric - in 1875 or thereabouts. Some things take a while to catch on.

[brancodug]

I had a similar problem, I used up a passport in 4 years. When applied for a new one in Bangkok at my embassy, I was told I was not me and I had to prove who I was. In those 4 years I lost a lot of weight. I ended up getting the passport but what a hassle.

[Dogberry]

...... refused to let him fly home as he looked so unlike official photos taken of him on arrival.

Photo on arrival??? I don't remember having a photo taken but then again maybe I just don't remember 55..

[winstonc]

To those who don't know from "stones" this fine dude lost well over 100 pounds in a year. Wow! That is remarkable. Good luck to him to keep it going (the even harder part).

my mate lost a 100 pounds on some 19 yr old brass in patong last yr worth every penny he said..(sorry jing)

[SoFarAndNear]

Why the bad comments about immigration officers. I guess this happens many thousand times daily around the world. He was questioned shows his proofs with pictures and flew home.

The only thing this guy makes him special is that he really weight-loss in this country. Everyone who I know living here increases his weight

[Andre0720]

Congratulations....

(But McDonald's must be missing you a lot)

[smotherb]

About a year ago I completely quit drinking beer and lost a great deal of weight. Last month I was in Australia and the immigration officer didn't believe I was the person on my passport photo. It took 2 supervisors to sort it out.

How much weight did you lose?

My passport lasts 10 years.

I imagine a lot of people change a lot in 10 years!

I imagine if it was ten years since your arrival and you were attempting to leave swampy with the same passport; immigration may be cautious. However, a sort through your apparently well-positioned ten years of visa extensions should help.

Now if that were dozens of entry/tourist visas instead of year-long visa extensions . . .

Edited May 14, 2014 by smotherb

[masuk]

To those who don't know from "stones" this fine dude lost well over 100 pounds in a year. Wow! That is remarkable. Good luck to him to keep it going (the even harder part).

Stones? LBs(sic) come on guys. This is a metric country!!

So how many meters did he lose?

meters? I have two meters with this house, one is a water meter, that other is a power meter oh yes, a speedometer in the car and a voltage/ampmeter.

Everything else is metres. It's System Internationale (SI) not System US!!!

[RubbaJohnny]

The incredible shrinking man

[NomadJoe]

Looks like authorities doing their job...and a good job.

There was enough difference in the guys physical characteristics to warrant further scrutiny before being allowed to board an international flight.

As soon as he explained the situation they let him board.

Nothing wrong with that from my window seat.

Agreed. Especially in light of the MH370 fiasco, immigration made the right call IMO. My country requires a new photo if "significant changes" in the appearance of the bearer occurs. Probably the same in other countries.

"Losing or gaining lots of weight may also fall into the "significant change" category."

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/07/15/passport.photos.reality/

[BudRight]

Looks like authorities doing their job...and a good job.

There was enough difference in the guys physical characteristics to warrant further scrutiny before being allowed to board an international flight.

As soon as he explained the situation they let him board.

Nothing wrong with that from my window seat.

A good job!? What if he didn't have all that damn evidence? You are a kiss ass moron.

[h90]

Do I get it right?

From the photo on the right side, he lost 100 pounds or 50 kg?

Well he looks fat but not that fat that he could loose 50 kg + has a lot more muscles than before.

If he has on the photo 120 kg, than he would have now 70 kg?

Or do I get something wrong?

21 stone is 294 pounds.

The article says he went from 21 to 13 stone.

That's an 8 stone loss to 182 pounds.

8 stone is 112 pounds.

stone and pounds....hmmmm

Thanks for the information.

Hmmmm is correct? When I was at primary school 65 years ago, we were taught that we had inherited a Roman system of LIBRA for weights, which is abbreviated to LB, being both singular and plural. No such thing as LBs.

We were bored to tears with grains, ounces, pounds, stones, bushels, pecks, hundred weight, tons, ad nauseum

Thanks heaven that in the late '60s, we went metric in Australia, New Zealand and other neighbouring countries.

Now it's just grams, kilograms, litres and tonnes and degrees C.. Much, much easier. No messing with mixed calculations (ask NASA).

And while I'm rattling on, please remember that the US Senate passed into law that the USA went metric - in 1875 or thereabouts. Some things take a while to catch on.

hmmmm-ing while reading and thinking.

in the primary school in the 71-75 in Europe we didn't hear about these we were metric since almost ever. Later we learned it a bit as "strange things" other cultures uses.....OK, inch, miles, feet and pounds, (and most important pint for the beer) I know but I didn't know "stone".

[Loles]

I only don't understand how some-one could manage to use other person's passport without any picture changing cross Thai borders.

[Borzandy]

Look carefully at the pics, it's not the same man, the first one has a yellow shirt.

[Borzandy]

Look carefully at the pics, it's not the same man, the first one has a yellow shirt.

[Shiver]

So- can any of you stone-age guys convert that into kilograms?

1 Stone =14 lbs

1 Kg = approximately 2.2 lbs

So 13 stone would be (13 x 14)/2.2 = about 82.7Kg (182 lbs in old money).

Can we get on to discussing the differences between Centigrade and Celsius now? (we can retro fit Fahrenheit later).

[Dogberry]

To those who don't know from "stones" this fine dude lost well over 100 pounds in a year. Wow! That is remarkable. Good luck to him to keep it going (the even harder part).

Stones? LBs(sic) come on guys. This is a metric country!!

So how many meters did he lose?

meters? I have two meters with this house, one is a water meter, that other is a power meter oh yes, a speedometer in the car and a voltage/ampmeter.

Everything else is metres. It's System Internationale (SI) not System US!!!

Wow. Sorry you feel you can accept spelling differences. Why did you attack this guy? If it is spelled meter in the US so what? It doesn't make you wrong or stupid for spelling it differently so why is he wrong and stupid? Sheeech. If I spell color colour will you attack me too please?

[ggt]

Another good reason...not to worry...about losing weight...give me another beer...please...

[saltandpepper]

To those who don't know from "stones" this fine dude lost well over 100 pounds in a year. Wow! That is remarkable. Good luck to him to keep it going (the even harder part).

Stones? LBs(sic) come on guys. This is a metric country!!

So how many meters did he lose?

meters? I have two meters with this house, one is a water meter, that other is a power meter oh yes, a speedometer in the car and a voltage/ampmeter.

Everything else is metres. It's System Internationale (SI) not System US!!!

Chill out ! I was making a (maybe bad) joke.

Thanks for the lesson teacher...

But next time you see one of my posts, please don't read it. It will spare you the time to lecture me about this I could not care less.

[shrimpythailand]

had to google how a stone was - 14 lbs or 6.35 kgs.... wow - nice job... only 6000 gbp for a year here - not bad if you can get a year off work... way to go - at least he had all his docs and pics so they let him get on da plane.... very cool...go home to England and stay off the beer and kick some butt now that he knows kick boxing if anyone laughs at him...

[Showbags]

Wasn't a member in here prancing about some muay thai gym trying to lose some weight last year ?

[momtaz]

what if it was the opposite? he the guy was skinny slim style and gained lot of wait here ?

will he be allowed with the extra kgs? or they probably charge him some extra for the over weight? hehe