Mailing Passport Abroad To Process New Visa While In Thailand. Is This Possible?

[libya 115]

Sending your passport by courier outside of Thailand is fraught with risks:

1. If you have to provide your passport to police, while it's out the country.

2. It gets lost. (courier service can never be 100%)

3. It is now forbidden to obtain Thai visa's 'not in person' in another country.

PLUS: I sent my passport, by courier to the U.K. for a travel visa (NOT THAILAND) and it got opened at Bangkok; and 'held' by immigration upon return.

It took a lot of Thai-Language phone calls to explain that no Thai visa had been added, then it was released, and I had to pay a hefty fine C.O.D. to the DHL man.

I count myself lucky. I won't do it again.

[simcity]

3. It is now forbidden to obtain Thai visa's 'not in person' in another country.

that must be very recent , 1 month ago i obtain my 1 year visa by courier , sent and received !

[Totster]

3. It is now forbidden to obtain Thai visa's 'not in person' in another country.

that must be very recent , 1 month ago i obtain my 1 year visa by courier , sent and received !

You may have done that.. but that visa will be invalid. Immigration will be able to see you were still in Thailand when the visa was issued in another country.

totster

[geoffphuket]

3. It is now forbidden to obtain Thai visa's 'not in person' in another country.

that must be very recent , 1 month ago i obtain my 1 year visa by courier , sent and received !

You may have done that.. but that visa will be invalid. Immigration will be able to see you were still in Thailand when the visa was issued in another country.

totster

No problem in Ranong, they asked how I got my visa and I told them the truth.

However, I don't really think that's its the best way to get a visa as too many things could go wrong. I did it the one time but never again....my nerves couldn't stand it

Edited August 13, 2006 by geoffphuket

[Beavis and Butthead]

All this passport sending stuff, successful or not, sounds really mfing shady if you ask me. Having 2 passports and juggling them around doesn't sound very ethical either. I'd say that 99% of folks do things the legitimate way and then there's these other folks

[number6]

I'm a single American 47 yrs. old with no work permit. My 1yr. Multiple entry Non-immigrant "B" is about to expire. Can I send my passport by mail to process a new one while still in Thailand? Is this against regulations? I will probably send my passport home and have a family member mail it to Thai Consulate in Houston then return to me in Thailand.

[/quote

not legal - i know some have tried this and believe even sometimes they get new visa but you have no exit stamp on your passport - at consulate in cardiff uk staff told me they were warned of this and now look for exit stamp - that was 3-4 years ago

dont even think about it just leave for a trip and do it right

[simcity]

3. It is now forbidden to obtain Thai visa's 'not in person' in another country.

that must be very recent , 1 month ago i obtain my 1 year visa by courier , sent and received !

You may have done that.. but that visa will be invalid. Immigration will be able to see you were still in Thailand when the visa was issued in another country.

totster

To be precise I was out Thailand when I got the new visa on my second passport ! I did not go in person to the consulate

[dr_Pat_Pong]

CRIME DOES NOT PAY. The IDC is a real low class shIthole too. And a Deportation Order can ruin your future in Thailand FOREVER ... the Black List lasts forever ie Persona Non Grata. Don't listen to these shady bastards.

[Totster]

3. It is now forbidden to obtain Thai visa's 'not in person' in another country.

that must be very recent , 1 month ago i obtain my 1 year visa by courier , sent and received !

You may have done that.. but that visa will be invalid. Immigration will be able to see you were still in Thailand when the visa was issued in another country.

totster

No problem in Ranong, they asked how I got my visa and I told them the truth.

However, I don't really think that's its the best way to get a visa as too many things could go wrong. I did it the one time but never again....my nerves couldn't stand it

Jasus.. talk about "sit on the fence"..

If you don't think it's the best way as things can go wrong, then why bloody well say it was no problem. ??

totster

[visarunner]

Already informed by other members , that it's illegal to obtain any Thaivisa from a consulate while you still here.

http://www.aranimmigration.com/eng/main.htm

Some consular staff might overlook these details , but any border official will take this issue serious and the decision to grant you entry to LOS lies solely on him .

Do not send your passport abroad.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

The smartarses simply do not want to listen.

[mbkudu]

I used to teach English years ago for an agent. He also offered the above visa services. He would send the passports back to his home country and a relative would take them to the Thai consulate to have the visas processed. Let's just say that this was very lucrative for him and he made millions of baht doing it. This method was never actually legal to begin with, but was tolerated by the consular officials. I never used his services at the time because I was marreid and didn't mind the trip to Penang. I'm glad I never did. Then a few years ago the door shut and he had to stop it. Now he is a paranoid wreck and won't meet anyone at his residence for fear that the Thai authorities may check into his past business practices. The last time I ran into him on the street he said that Thailand was no longer a viable place to run a visa business and he was thinking of doing it in Cambodia.

The TM card has no record of the passport holder leaving and re-entering the country. If you want to fiddle with that paper work, you could end up like the Iranian/Austrian Prince who kicked the bucket recently.

Edited August 14, 2006 by mbkudu

[Maestro]

The TM card has no record of the passport holder leaving and re-entering the country.

How did this enter into the discussion?

Of course, the TM.6 has information about entry and exit. It contains all the information you have to write on the card, including name, flight number and passport number, plus the stamp put there by the immigration officer.

--------------

Maestro

[lopburi3]

I believe mbkudu was saying the card would not show the passport holder as being outside of Thailand when the visa was issued.

[mbkudu]

Like Lopburi says and what I was trying to say is that if you send your passport out by mail, there is no exit stamp in the passport, and when the consulate where ever it may go sends it back, there is no new entry stamp. To an immigration official here in Thailand this shows that you never left the country; only your passport did. This could cause trouble for you. Now, maybe I'm missing something. maybe an exit and entry stamp with dates on each are being stamped into the passport by the overseas consulates for the passport holders. If this was the case, there still is no record in any database or log book of the person ever physically crossing a border or departing an airport terminal. Or, maybe everything is back the way it was and it's totally safe to do it and my agent friend is back to making tons of money, but I doubt it

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Like Lopburi says and what I was trying to say is that if you send your passport out by mail, there is no exit stamp in the passport, and when the consulate where ever it may go sends it back, there is no new entry stamp. To an immigration official here in Thailand this shows that you never left the country; only your passport did. This could cause trouble for you. Now, maybe I'm missing something. maybe an exit and entry stamp with dates on each are being stamped into the passport by the overseas consulates for the passport holders. If this was the case, there still is no record in any database or log book of the person ever physically crossing a border or departing an airport terminal. Or, maybe everything is back the way it was and it's totally safe to do it and my agent friend is back to making tons of money, but I doubt it

You'd be right on the money. The Visa 'Business' of years past is just history now. No go and highly illegal.