Hi all,

Tom, 33

USA and Israeli passports

 

Came into thailand on 60 day visa with Israeli passport... Extended another 30 on same passport. Extension about to expire. Want to go to Laos for visa run... Can i come back into Thailand with USA passport. 

 

Reason: USA gets automatic 30 days and israel only 15. 

 

Ko thot if this has been addressed. It's kind of urgent i know. 

 

Khab khun khrap!!!

You can only make the switch if you re-enter by air (which may not be as expensive as you fear).

BritTim, 

 

Can you elaborate? For example, i land in laos and present my USA passport at the airport and then come back land in Thailand and present the same passport at the airport... Or do i have to go to the thai consulate in laos and get a new thai visa on my USA passport there?

 

Thanks much and sorry i am new to all this. First time in thailand

26 minutes ago, TomKorat33 said:

BritTim, 

 

Can you elaborate? For example, i land in laos and present my USA passport at the airport and then come back land in Thailand and present the same passport at the airport... Or do i have to go to the thai consulate in laos and get a new thai visa on my USA passport there?

 

Thanks much and sorry i am new to all this. First time in thailand

 

You can do an in/out by air, anywhere leaving Thailand on your Israeli passport and otherwise using your US passport throughout. You will be back in Thailand with a visa exempt on your US passport with no trouble. If going to Vientiane, you would also have the option of getting a tourist visa in your US passport before your return.

The Laos/Thai border immigration have a joint policy that they want to see an exit stamp from the country you have just left in the passport being used to enter the other. 

If you fly out and back in it doesn't matter which passport you use as you'll get 30 days with either.

Thanks to all for responding. 

 

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Edited September 15, 20169 yr by ubonjoe
removed reply to a removed post.

On 9/14/2016 at 8:41 PM, BritTim said:

 

You can do an in/out by air, anywhere leaving Thailand on your Israeli passport and otherwise using your US passport throughout. You will be back in Thailand with a visa exempt on your US passport with no trouble. If going to Vientiane, you would also have the option of getting a tourist visa in your US passport before your return.

When i get to Vientiane airport for my visa on arrival do i use my israeli or american? 

 

 

If you are travelling by plane, both ways, you can swap passports without any problems, no matter which one has the Lao stamp.

 

If you are crossing a land border, you have to have the Lao stamp in the same passport that you are using to re-enter Thailand.

47 minutes ago, TomKorat33 said:

When i get to Vientiane airport for my visa on arrival do i use my israeli or american? 

 

 

You will show your US passport on entry to Laos.

3 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

You will show your US passport on entry to Laos.

Didn't work. At Vientiane airport at visa on arrival i presented my usa passport with no exit stamp. Officer asks me where i came from. I decided not to lie to him and my arrival card already had a flight number from a flight from thailand. They made me use my israeli passport. Not happy. I think i misunderstood the instructions given to me here or did something wrong. 

40 minutes ago, TomKorat33 said:

Didn't work. At Vientiane airport at visa on arrival i presented my usa passport with no exit stamp. Officer asks me where i came from. I decided not to lie to him and my arrival card already had a flight number from a flight from thailand. They made me use my israeli passport. Not happy. I think i misunderstood the instructions given to me here or did something wrong. 

 

 

of course you would not have a stamp and when they ask you where you came you only needed to say you transited in Bangkok.

But i did have a stamp. On my israel passsport. They asked specifically to see exit stamp. The only plausible way to not have exit stamp would to have come directly from usa. But they knew air asia 1040 was not coming from any where in the usa. Maybe im dense but i dont get it

48 minutes ago, Asiantravel said:

 

 

of course you would not have a stamp and when they ask you where you came you only needed to say you transited in Bangkok.

Ok i think i get what ur saying. But that would still mean i would have had to explicitly lie. I got no qualms acting dumb but im not comfortable lying to immigration officer 

14 minutes ago, TomKorat33 said:

Ok i think i get what ur saying. But that would still mean i would have had to explicitly lie. I got no qualms acting dumb but im not comfortable lying to immigration officer 

 

 

I also have two passports which I have changed between many times and I have never had an immigration officer show the slightest interest where my travels actually originated. All I can think of as you must've said something or your body language communicated something to arouse suspicions.

1 hour ago, Asiantravel said:

I also have two passports which I have changed between many times and I have never had an immigration officer show the slightest interest where my travels actually originated. All I can think of as you must've said something or your body language communicated something to arouse suspicions.

It's a small airport so the IO probably knew he was processing travellers from Thailand.

7 minutes ago, elviajero said:

It's a small airport so the IO probably knew he was processing travellers from Thailand.

 

but it doesn't mean his journey had to start in Thailand? Phnom Penh airport isn't that much bigger and I have used that place to swap passports many times and never once been asked when flying from Thailand where my journey started.

 

so now leave Laos on the same passport and enter Thailand on you USA passport

47 minutes ago, Asiantravel said:

 

but it doesn't mean his journey had to start in Thailand? Phnom Penh airport isn't that much bigger and I have used that place to swap passports many times and never once been asked when flying from Thailand where my journey started.

 

Sure, but there was a good chance, and the lack of exit stamp was probably why the IO asked where he'd travelled from. Laos and Thailand seem to want to exit entry stamps for people moving between the two countries.

Should i even try going to the thai consulate to get a tourist visa on my usa passport now or is that also no longer an option?

2 hours ago, TomKorat33 said:

Should i even try going to the thai consulate to get a tourist visa on my usa passport now or is that also no longer an option?

• It's no longer an option as the Thai Embassy will want to see the entry stamp in the passport being used to apply for the visa.
• You should have no problem getting a SETV using your Israeli passport as long as you haven't already had several from Vientiane that are in that passport.
• You would get 30 days if returning to Thailand by air using the Israeli passport.

16 hours ago, TomKorat33 said:

When i get to Vientiane airport for my visa on arrival do i use my israeli or american? 

 

Quote

leaving Thailand on your Israeli passport and otherwise using your US passport throughout.