Requirements of space in passport for exit/re-entry

[triffid]

My (UK) passport is pretty much full.

I've got a (current) thai retirement visa extension stamp on the top half of the last remaining full page of my passport; I intend to get a multiple re-entry stamped on the lower half at Suvarnaphum as I leave Bangkok (for a few days in Hanoi).

There is space a few pages back for the usual Thai exit and entry stamps; there is also space here and there for the usual Vietnam entry and exit stamps. (A British citizen is exempted from the need for a Vietnam visa for stays up to 15 days - and there is space for the 15-day limit Vietnamese stamp).

My query is as to whether immigration will kick up a fuss - either Thai or Vietnamese. I would much appreciate any info from someone with experience of such a situation or with certain knowledge about it.

(As soon as I get back to Thailand I shall send off for a new passport. But for now there is not enough time to get that before my planned travel.)

[ubonjoe]

How much space that is needed depends upon how they do the re-entry permit stamp. I have seen them stamped in cross ways in a passport and that only takes about a third of a page. Length ways they use about half a page.

Immigration will normally do the entry and departure stamps wherever they find room for them.

[Chicog]

Why don't you apply for a second passport?

I have four pages left until 2018, so that's what I did.

On the application you specify that it's for a second passport and attach the usual prequisities (signed photos) etc., but you don't need to send your existing passport.

You need a covering letter saying that you have problems travelling because of the need to get visas in advance, etc., or perhaps because you need to visit countries that aren't popular elsewhere (like Israel).

Better if you can get it on a company letterhead.

[Maestro]

If I understand you correctly, you have no completely empty page in your passport, want to get a re-entry permit and go on a trip to Vietnam. If as a UK national you need a visa for Vietnam, this will not work because the Vietnamese embassy in Bangkok needs an empty page on which to put the visa.

[BritTim]

If I understand you correctly, you have no completely empty page in your passport, want to get a re-entry permit and go on a trip to Vietnam. If as a UK national you need a visa for Vietnam, this will not work because the Vietnamese embassy in Bangkok needs an empty page on which to put the visa.

No, the OP is correct. At present, visa exempt entry into Vietnam is allowed for UK passport holders.

The IOs on entry into Vietnam and Thailand are likely to comment on the lack of space, but if there really is room for the required stamps, they will stamp you in under protest. It is lucky that you are not visiting the US. The US entry stamp takes more space than you would think, and US IOs will not allow even the tiniest overlap with any existing stamp.

[Maestro]

That means he needs space for the re-entry permit and two exit stamps and two entry stamps (one each for Thailand and Vietnam). That should be doable, as some other pages will surely have the little space available needed for the small exit and entry stamps.

[ubonjoe]

Why don't you apply for a second passport?

I have four pages left until 2018, so that's what I did.

On the application you specify that it's for a second passport and attach the usual prequisities (signed photos) etc., but you don't need to send your existing passport.

You need a covering letter saying that you have problems travelling because of the need to get visas in advance, etc., or perhaps because you need to visit countries that aren't popular elsewhere (like Israel).

Better if you can get it on a company letterhead.

You make that sound like it is very easy to do. But for many countries it not easy to do. You have to show a lot of supporting documents and for some you need a letter or a signed form from an employer to get it done.

[steve187]

you will need at least half a page for the re-entry permit and space for 4 x 1/6 page stamps.

if you have room for the 4 x 1/6 page stamps, then try immigration for the re-entry stamp, if they do it your ok to go if not then looks like you are stuck in Thailand, while you get a new passport.

but the thought springs to mind why have you left it untill now to think about a replacement

why is it that thailand issue a 66 page passport with a 5 year validity, and add no remaining period to the new passport, while the Uk only issue 32 pages ( 48 in a jumbo , extra cost passport) and its valid for 10 years, with up to 8 months added.

[triffid]

Thank you very much for the responses. I'd like to reply to the various points together below.

1) There is a clear half-page below the visa extension for the re-entry visa, which I intend to get at Bkk airport. [As mentioned

above, UK - and most European - passports don't need a visa for stays up to 15 days in VN.]

2) Elsewhere in the preceding pages there is definitely space for the four smallish Thai and VN entry/exit stamps.

[Actually there is also a big other blank space where a Cambodian visa which had been stuck on has fallen off, but the Thai

immigration officer, when he was putting the retirement stamp, refused to use it. But if the entry/exit stamps could be put

there I'll be home and dry.]

3) I have no good excuse for having left it so late - absentmindedness, senility.....take your pick!

4) The idea of a second passport is something I didn't know about. I'll give the consulate a ring tomorrow to ask first if

that's feasible given I don't have certifiable business reasons, business letter etc, and if so whether it could be

done in under three weeks. (I note the caveat above that it could be difficult.)

5) What I wanted to establish if I could before I commit to non-refundable advance ticket/hotel room is that there are no rigid

Thai or VN airport immigration rules on a minimum number of available blank pages; or if someone here had run into

uncooperative immigration officers who refused to put stamps in available spaces even if they are in previous pages.

[OJAS]

5) What I wanted to establish if I could before I commit to non-refundable advance ticket/hotel room is that there are no rigid

Thai or VN airport immigration rules on a minimum number of available blank pages; or if someone here had run into

uncooperative immigration officers who refused to put stamps in available spaces even if they are in previous pages.

If you haven't yet entered into any commitments for your Vietnam trip then why not simply postpone it until you have got your replacement passport sorted? That's certainly what I would be minded to do were I in your shoes!

[triffid]

5) What I wanted to establish if I could before I commit to non-refundable advance ticket/hotel room is that there are no rigid

Thai or VN airport immigration rules on a minimum number of available blank pages; or if someone here had run into

uncooperative immigration officers who refused to put stamps in available spaces even if they are in previous pages.

If you haven't yet entered into any commitments for your Vietnam trip then why not simply postpone it until you have got your replacement passport sorted? That's certainly what I would be minded to do were I in your shoes!

I want to join a friend who is booked on specific days next month - much sooner than the six weeks it would take me to get a new passport.