Arrival stamp with wrong date and visa class

[stateofmind]

I have a one year non-o visa extension. I also have a multiple re-entry permit.

I recently arrived back to Thailand via Suvarnabhumi. The immigration officer first made a mistake and gave me an entry stamp with "Visa class 30 days" and "Admitted until" 30 days from my arrival. The correct Visa class should have been "non-re" (short for non-immigrant re-entry) and the correct "Admitted until" approximately 10 moths from now (when my non-o extension expires).

I pointed out the error, and he corrected the "Admitted until" date and signed the correction. But I later discovered that he did not change the "Visa class" on the stamp. Maybe he thought it was irrelevant as he put the correct date which is way more than 30 days anyway?

Should I worry about this? Do they enter the visa class into the computer at arrival, or is it actually just the arrival date that matters, as long as I have a valid visa?

Actually, during my last 8-10 entries, they've stamped the wrong date on the "admitted until" 3 times, but always corrected it when I pointed it out. No problem. But at those times they always got the "Visa class" correct. But not this time. That's why I worry now.

Also, he did not write the flight number next to the stamp. I checked all my other stamps, and they all have the flight number written next to them. Could this be a problem?

[sunnyjim5]

If you are uncertain then call into your local immigration office and ask that they check what you have.

Any error will be corrected.

[SOTIRIOS]

.....the onus is on us.....

[stateofmind]

OK, so I went to the immigration at the Government Complex today and explained the situation.

They have a dedicated counter for such things which is called "document check". They printed out a document which detailed my last entry into Thailand, and found that the information had been entered correctly into their computer system; only the entry stamp was wrong. They then corrected the "Visa class" on the entry stamp and assured me that everything OK.

It took me half a day to fix this, but the peace of mind is definitely worth it.

Lesson learned: I did check the "Admitted until date" immediately at the airport and got it corrected on the spot, but I did not see that the "Visa class" also was wrong until later. Next time I will check and double check. Sure, in the end "the onus is on us" (no excuses for that), but one definitely has to be alert and learn everything there is to know about these issues.

[sunnyjim5]

OK, so I went to the immigration at the Government Complex today and explained the situation.

They have a dedicated counter for such things which is called "document check". They printed out a document which detailed my last entry into Thailand, and found that the information had been entered correctly into their computer system; only the entry stamp was wrong. They then corrected the "Visa class" on the entry stamp and assured me that everything OK.

It took me half a day to fix this, but the peace of mind is definitely worth it.

Lesson learned: I did check the "Admitted until date" immediately at the airport and got it corrected on the spot, but I did not see that the "Visa class" also was wrong until later. Next time I will check and double check. Sure, in the end "the onus is on us" (no excuses for that), but one definitely has to be alert and learn everything there is to know about these issues.

Delighted that your problem was resolved !

[Daryle]

OP, thanks for the heads up. I never check my visa upon arrival. Will be doing going forward.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[tropo]

OK, so I went to the immigration at the Government Complex today and explained the situation.

They have a dedicated counter for such things which is called "document check". They printed out a document which detailed my last entry into Thailand, and found that the information had been entered correctly into their computer system; only the entry stamp was wrong. They then corrected the "Visa class" on the entry stamp and assured me that everything OK.

It took me half a day to fix this, but the peace of mind is definitely worth it.

Lesson learned: I did check the "Admitted until date" immediately at the airport and got it corrected on the spot, but I did not see that the "Visa class" also was wrong until later. Next time I will check and double check. Sure, in the end "the onus is on us" (no excuses for that), but one definitely has to be alert and learn everything there is to know about these issues.

Perhaps the way you went about this was best. If you'd interrupted the Immigration Officer at the airport a 2nd time to make another correction, it may not have been pleasant... or did you see a supervisor after you noticed the error?

I'm surprised you have had so many wrong stamps - I've never had one in 10 years but I always check. I'm just curious as you have quite a bit of experience with this and it could happen to anyone.

[JoeW]

When I applied for a re-entry permit the immigration office wrote the wrong date of validity on the stamp.

My extension is valid until 1 December 2016, but the re-entry permit valid until 1 January 2016.

I didn't double check and only found out because the immigration officer at Khon Kaen airport pointed it out.

When I returned from abroad I informed immigration at DM about this and they corrected all in the system, but it took 1 hour and a lot of going back and forth with Sakhon Nakhon immigration and DM.

Lesson that I learned was to always double check both validity and class because even if it's not your fault you still got to waste time getting it fixed.

happy the OP got it cleared up!

[stateofmind]

OK, so I went to the immigration at the Government Complex today and explained the situation.

They have a dedicated counter for such things which is called "document check". They printed out a document which detailed my last entry into Thailand, and found that the information had been entered correctly into their computer system; only the entry stamp was wrong. They then corrected the "Visa class" on the entry stamp and assured me that everything OK.

It took me half a day to fix this, but the peace of mind is definitely worth it.

Lesson learned: I did check the "Admitted until date" immediately at the airport and got it corrected on the spot, but I did not see that the "Visa class" also was wrong until later. Next time I will check and double check. Sure, in the end "the onus is on us" (no excuses for that), but one definitely has to be alert and learn everything there is to know about these issues.

Perhaps the way you went about this was best. If you'd interrupted the Immigration Officer at the airport a 2nd time to make another correction, it may not have been pleasant... or did you see a supervisor after you noticed the error?

I'm surprised you have had so many wrong stamps - I've never had one in 10 years but I always check. I'm just curious as you have quite a bit of experience with this and it could happen to anyone.

Exactly my thoughts as well; I did notice the Visa class mistake on my way out after picking up my luggage, but I did indeed fear what was going to happen if I went back to that officer to "complain" a second time. So you are spot on. And after all, this is the officer that messed up twice in the first place, so as you said I think it was for the best that I got someone else to check up on his "handy work" to be sure that what's in their computer system is correct. Also, that particular officer at the air port gave the three people in front of me in the queue a hard time with some details on their arrival cards. I guess he was stressed after those incidents. Could explain why he did mistakes twice in my case.

I have also been traveling to Thailand for around 10 years now. The three wrong dates have been during the past 18 months or so. Before that I cannot recall any mistakes.

I did not know that there are "supervisors" at the air port. Where are they located, and are they there to help out in cases like this? Or are they there for more serious cases?

[ubonjoe]

I have one question for the OP. Did you put your re-entry permit number in in the space for a visa number on your arrival card? If you leave it blank the officer can assume you don't have a visa or a re-entry permit for entry and will do a visa exempt entry stamp.

[tropo]

I did not know that there are "supervisors" at the air port. Where are they located, and are they there to help out in cases like this? Or are they there for more serious cases?

I've had no personal experience with Immigration supervisors at the airport, but I've heard on here about people talking with them.

[Jimi007]

OK, so I went to the immigration at the Government Complex today and explained the situation.

They have a dedicated counter for such things which is called "document check". They printed out a document which detailed my last entry into Thailand, and found that the information had been entered correctly into their computer system; only the entry stamp was wrong. They then corrected the "Visa class" on the entry stamp and assured me that everything OK.

It took me half a day to fix this, but the peace of mind is definitely worth it.

Lesson learned: I did check the "Admitted until date" immediately at the airport and got it corrected on the spot, but I did not see that the "Visa class" also was wrong until later. Next time I will check and double check. Sure, in the end "the onus is on us" (no excuses for that), but one definitely has to be alert and learn everything there is to know about these issues.

I just left Thailand today with an O-A non immigrant extension and it took the immigration officer a while to sort it out. It's dated Dec 13, 2015 and it's good for a year. For some reason the person that did my re-entry permit at the Phuket Immigration office, put it 7 pages later in my passport than my one year extension of stay... Brilliant!

[stateofmind]

I have one question for the OP. Did you put your re-entry permit number in in the space for a visa number on your arrival card? If you leave it blank the officer can assume you don't have a visa or a re-entry permit for entry and will do a visa exempt entry stamp.

Hi! Yes, I understand why you ask. I did indeed put my re-entry permit number. I am very particular about such things. We even discussed the visa a bit, as he wanted to know the reason for issuing it, and so I had to show him the page where it was located so that he could cross-reference with the re-entry permit. And when I checked with the immigration at the Government Complex today, this field was correct in their computer system.

Actually, the officer at the air port had already made a stamp ready with the correct date for me laying on his desk together with his "regular" 30 days stamp, and just because of that he was puzzled to see that he had used the wrong stamp in my passport. I can understand how he could have grabbed the wrong stamp, but the strange thing is that he wrote "30 days" on the Visa class field instead of "non-re". Perhaps one thought followed the other. He was clearly distracted.