Wife refused boarding to US with valid visa. Airline or Thai policy?

[steelepulse]

A few weeks ago my wife and I went to the airport and were all set to head to the US.  My wife had her valid 10 year visa in her expired passport along with her new passport in hand.  At the check in counter, the staff were adamant that she had to had a stamp in her new passport basically confirming the existence of the old passport.  After 30 minutes of speaking with various reps at the airport, they basically said there was no way she would be allowed to leave unless she had "the stamp" in her new passport.

 

12,000 baht  for a ticket change  and a day later along with  a stamp in her new passport she was finally allowed to leave.

 

We have done this same thing in past trips with expired passports and valid visa stamps and have never encountered this before.  Furthermore, the Thai passport office never once mentioned to my wife when she got her new passport that she needed this "stamp" put in.  

 

Question is, who's policy is this as the airline says it's not theirs but the Thai goverments policy? The US immigration officer said that what we were told is complete BS about having the stamp in the new passport to be allowed into the US. 

 

Needless to say I'm not happy with the airline or the "policy" about having some stamp in the new passport to allow her to leave and I'd like to get my 12,000 baht back, but as typical, finger pointing on both sides saying it's the others fault and not theirs.

 

 

[brewsterbudgen]

Which airline?   A US carrier?

[tonray]

If she only has a Visa in an expired passport they have every right to stop her. Expired means no longer valid for ID or travel purposes. You should have transferred the stamp when she got the new one. 

[steelepulse]

7 minutes ago, tonray said:

If she only has a Visa in an expired passport they have every right to stop her. Expired means no longer valid for ID or travel purposes. You should have transferred the stamp when she got the new one. 

 

US embassy says they won't transfer the stamp, simply bring the valid visa and expired passport with current passport. Immigration official at Newark said the same thing.

[steelepulse]

51 minutes ago, brewsterbudgen said:

Which airline?   A US carrier?

 

No it wasn't a US carrier, but an Asian carrier.

[tonray]

5 minutes ago, steelepulse said:

 

US embassy says they won't transfer the stamp, simply bring the valid visa and expired passport with current passport. Immigration official at Newark said the same thing.

 

Then how did she get the stamp in her new passport as you have stated ?

[Clamhua]

15 minutes ago, tonray said:

If she only has a Visa in an expired passport they have every right to stop her. Expired means no longer valid for ID or travel purposes. You should have transferred the stamp when she got the new one. 

Not correct, passports expire not visas. Visa is still valid

[tonray]

1 minute ago, Clamhua said:

Not correct, passports expire not visas. Visa is still valid

 

Never stated Visa expired but perhaps you did not read my post.

[Jip99]

19 minutes ago, tonray said:

If she only has a Visa in an expired passport they have every right to stop her. Expired means no longer valid for ID or travel purposes. You should have transferred the stamp when she got the new one. 

 

 

Many expats do not bother to transfer theirThailand visas to a new passport - this is no diffrent?

[Jip99]

10 minutes ago, steelepulse said:

 

No it wasn't a US carrier, but an Asian carrier.

 

 

It would be helpful if you named the carrier

[lopburi3]

A US visa can not be transferred to a new passport - it remains valid in an expired passport - you just have to show both passports to use.  Thailand operates in the same manner - unexpired visa remains valid in old passport.

[Morch]

10 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

A US visa can not be transferred to a new passport - it remains valid in an expired passport - you just have to show both passports to use.  Thailand operates in the same manner - unexpired visa remains valid in old passport.

 

Thai immigration at CW insisted on transferring (or re-stamping) my visa to my newly issued passport, as there was no space left in the old one. I thought it was no hassle carrying both, but they said it might cause (unspecified) problems. 

[lopburi3]

7 minutes ago, Morch said:

 

Thai immigration at CW insisted on transferring (or re-stamping) my visa to my newly issued passport, as there was no space left in the old one. I thought it was no hassle carrying both, but they said it might cause (unspecified) problems. 

Immigration can not touch visas issued by Consulates - not even the same government agency - suspect you got a normal reference stamp to arrival visa placed in the new passport along with permitted to stay stamp.  A visa is the document issued to allow entry into country - not the stamp allowing your stay.

[tonray]

1 hour ago, Jip99 said:

 

 

Many expats do not bother to transfer theirThailand visas to a new passport - this is no diffrent?

 

That fact that immigration oftren ignores it does not mean you should not do it correctly. Why go thru the hassle of carrying 2 docs every trip...more chances to lose something.

[theoldgit]

There is absolutely no need to transfer a visa from an expired passport to a new one, it's nothing to do with not bothering, there's just no need to do so, in this case the carrier was wrong  https://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/general/frequently-asked-questions/about-visas-the-basics.html

 

The UK has similar rules, they will however issue a new visa vignette but at considerable cost.

 

[lopburi3]

47 minutes ago, tonray said:

 

That fact that immigration oftren ignores it does not mean you should not do it correctly. Why go thru the hassle of carrying 2 docs every trip...more chances to lose something.

Again - you can not transfer a visa - only the permission to stay is a valid entry in the new passport - you can not use the new passport for entry without a new visa, visa exempt, or re-entry permit.  If you have a valid multi entry visa in your old passport that passport must be shown to use it.  

[IMA_FARANG]

She should hav asked for a supervisor from the aieline and pointed out he U.S. visa was still valid even in an old passport.

If thy had relented and let her board, she wold have pobably been allowed to rnter the U.S. as her 10 year entry visa was still valid, I believe.

However,  I admit I am not an expert on that point and i could be wrong.

Lopburi3 is correct VISAS are not transferred, but a note can be put in the old passport referring to the old passport and that there is a valid visa still in that old passport.

That is exactly what was done in my new U.S. passport at CW when i got my new U.S passport in May 2015.

The difference was that the note that i still had a valid Thai visa in my old U.S. passport was done by Tha iimmigration in CW, but the purpose was the same, and of course the note was in Thai for thr Thai immigration officer to read when i departed Thailand legally.

 

 

 

 

[steelepulse]

20 hours ago, andy said:

The stamp I think that is being mentioned is the one near the front of a new Thai passport that states "the holder has previously travelled on passport number xyz and all visas remain valid".  My wife has had 3 new passports since her US tourist visa was issued, and only 1 I think had that stamp.  Never had a problem, and it is not a requirement.  You got hosed, the airline is wrong.  If you paid the 12k baht with a US credit card, I would explain the situation to your credit card company and see if you can get it removed as a fraudulent charge.

 

This is absolutely correct.  Airline was Air China (a complete POS, but that's another story) and I never will travel with them again.  it was a last minute purchase and every other airline was considerably more, or took 12-24 hours longer to reach Newark.

 

To conclude the story, another family member and myself traveled the same night my Mrs. was delayed, and Mrs. SP traveled the next day, but not before almost not being allowed to travel again.  It took a number of 'supervisors" ( all whom were present the night of the denial) and higher ups to somehow allow her to travel.  Mind you, these were all Thai staff and not Chinese airline personnel and even staff from other airlines came over to see what was going on.

 

 

[Clamhua]

same check in person both nights?

 

Sounds like it was being personal and not professional...

 

Staff needs to be retrained in accordance with proper procedure or moved to an inactive post

[kotsak]

The new passport needs an endorsement from the Foreign Affairs Ministry:

 

 

[steelepulse]

2 hours ago, kotsak said:

The new passport needs an endorsement from the Foreign Affairs Ministry:

 

 

Not quite sure this is  correct as we had traveled with an expired Thai passport with valid US visa and a new Thai passport and never had a problem numerous times between when the 2011 thread was posted until this instance last month.  

 

On a separate note, if this was some sort of Thai government policy, why wouldn't the officers at the Foreign Affairs Ministry automatically link the two passports when the old passport was presented to get the new passport?

 

So back to the OP, is the airline responsible for this event which should have been a non event, or is it gov't policy to require the stamp that they never put in unless specifically asked at the Foreign Affairs Ministry?  I'd like to know who I should ask to pay for the 12,000 baht I had to pay for a ticket change for Mrs. SP ( of course there will only be finger pointing and no responsibility taken by the airline or the gov't).

 

[steelepulse]

So I asked Mrs. SP yesterday if she ever found out about this new policy and whether it's the airline or gov't.  She said she asked the foreign office where she got "the stamp" and they told her it was a new regulation, only a month old, and applies differently depending on which country you are visiting. ( not sure I believe this)

 

I then asked the Mrs. if she paid by CC or cash, she said Air China office told her she had to pay cash for the new ticket at the counter, so we won't be able to get the 12K baht back either as we should be able to if it was paid via CC.