2 passports, 1 with Ext. full but 4 years left - how to proceed?

[topt]

I have two passports both with 4/5 years left. Unfortunately when converting to my first Extension of Stay due to retirement I had to use the passport with my visa waiver stamp and it now has less than one full page remaining. My extension is due for renewal 1st April.

At Chonburi Immigration (Jomtien) today I was told they could transfer to the other passport but I needed a letter from the British Embassy saying that the passport with the extension in was cancelled and that my other passport was valid.

Has anybody tried this or knows how it should work -

What is the process to get hold of this letter?

Any email or preferably phone contact detail so I can check it out?

(I can find no online info that allows me to cancel a passport for the reasons mentioned)

From the Thai side -

Can I do this just before my extension is due for renewal so not having to have all the current stamps transferred and taking up even more space or am I going to have to transfer the existing stuff first?

Thanks

PS - I obviously want to avoid having to get a new passport if possible as I no longer need 2.

[OJAS]

You can obtain the Embassy letter (blank specimen attached) by email application free of charge, and the Embassy will send it by EMS to your home address. Email their Consular Section at [email protected] with your address details, scans of your almost full and other passport photopages, plus details of current visa/extension type and last date of entry to Thailand.

When you have received the Embassy letter, you should immediately complete a Transfer Stamp to a New Passport Form (downloadable from the Immigration Bureau website at http://www.immigration.go.th/nov2004/en/base.php?page=download) and take this along with your almost full and other passports (plus copies of same and your TM6 departure card) to get your existing stamps transferred from the former to the latter. Don't wait until your next extension of stay is due before doing this.

[digitalchromakey]

Interesting problem.

What your local immigration dept. says seems reasonable, but I haven't personally come across this particular scenario before.

The process to obtain a transfer pro forma is straight forward, email consular services at the British Embassy in BKK with scans of both your passport ID pages, details of your current visa/extension and address.

They will send the Pro Forma free of charge to your home address in Thailand.

As your passport if full, it has kind of cancelled itself, however Consular Services should also be able to advise you as to if there is a process to formally cancel said item.

[topt]

You can obtain the Embassy letter (blank specimen attached) by email application free of charge, and the Embassy will send it by EMS to your home address. Email their Consular Section at [email protected] with your address details, scans of your almost full and other passport photopages, plus details of current visa/extension type and last date of entry to Thailand.

When you have received the Embassy letter, you should immediately complete a Transfer Stamp to a New Passport Form (downloadable from the Immigration Bureau website at http://www.immigration.go.th/nov2004/en/base.php?page=download) and take this along with your almost full and other passports (plus copies of same and your TM6 departure card) to get your existing stamps transferred from the former to the latter. Don't wait until your next extension of stay is due before doing this.

Thanks Ojas and digitalc. but reading that form it says lost, stolen, cancelled - of which mine is not and theoretically still has room for a number of stamps. Hopefully it means they will cancel it?

I think I will email them and ask - do you know if they respond fairly speedily?

[digitalchromakey]

You can obtain the Embassy letter (blank specimen attached) by email application free of charge, and the Embassy will send it by EMS to your home address. Email their Consular Section at [email protected] with your address details, scans of your almost full and other passport photopages, plus details of current visa/extension type and last date of entry to Thailand.

When you have received the Embassy letter, you should immediately complete a Transfer Stamp to a New Passport Form (downloadable from the Immigration Bureau website at http://www.immigration.go.th/nov2004/en/base.php?page=download) and take this along with your almost full and other passports (plus copies of same and your TM6 departure card) to get your existing stamps transferred from the former to the latter. Don't wait until your next extension of stay is due before doing this.

Thanks Ojas and digitalc. but reading that form it says lost, stolen, cancelled - of which mine is not and theoretically still has room for a number of stamps. Hopefully it means they will cancel it?

I think I will email them and ask - do you know if they respond fairly speedily?

When you email consular enquires you will get an automated response promising they will get back to you within 20 days, but often, depending on your enquiry, it is much quicker.

Better you phone them, it is possible to navigate the embassy's automated switchboard and connect to a real human (as I recollect I tried various dead end sequences before I managed to get through).

[ubonjoe]

I think you will have to go to the UK embassy to have them formally cancel the passport you used for your extension. That means a cancelled stamp and the corners cut off, Then they would issue the letter.

[topt]

I think you will have to go to the UK embassy to have them formally cancel the passport you used for your extension. That means a cancelled stamp and the corners cut off, Then they would issue the letter.

Just an update to share how well consular enquiries responded.

Even though I had two automated replies for each mail sent and one of them quoted 20 days as dc mentioned I actually had a reply the following day. They followed up on the subsequent emails very quickly and after sending the information they requested (by email) they sent out the relevant letter by EMS which I received a couple of days after they sent it.

Completed the form OJAS mentions along with passports and copies of all the stamps and took to Immigration. They asked me to cut off the corner of the "cancelled" passport (the consular guy had actually suggested I do that anyway) and I had to come back to collect the passports the next day.

So a big thumbs up to consular enquiries especially for not having to make a trip to the embassy