Wife useing both passports, British , and Thai.

[Thongkorn]

We have just returned from Thailand to the UK,  In the past the wife has used her Thai passport to go out of the UK to Thailand , for obvious reasons, Dont need a visitor's visa, and quicker entry in Thailand with no queuing at Immigration. Returning on her British passport.

 

We did this again this year having done this for the past ten years,  The wife used her British passport to leave Thailand. No problem at  Emirates flight check in desk. We both went to queue at Immigration to leave.

 

The Thai Immigration official that checks your photo and passport at the desk before you enter the departure lounge in the airport,  Told the wife she had to use her Thai passport

becasue she had entered Thailand on her Thai passport, and that she could not use her British passport, He made her go  and  fill in the slips that you fill in on entering and leaving Thailand, which she did,  then queued again. When she got to the front,  he then sent her to the Immigration desk  to explain what she had done, entered on her Thai passport and wanted to return on her British passport. they made her fill some forms in, and use her Thai passport,

 

 I thought you could enter Thailand on her Thai passport and leave on her British passport with no problem, quite legally.

Dont know if this has been changed in the last year, The question i would like to ask, Thought you had to have a Visa in your Thai passport to board the plane and Enter Britain.

Nobody spotted that she did not have a visa in her Thai passport, So are we wrong or was the Thai Immigration wrong, or has the law changed about Thai passports.

[maprao]

Dual Citizens should always change passports in the air. Enter and leave Thailand on the Thai passport enter and leave UK on UK passport.

 

Most countries legally require you to use the passport to enter. For example US dual Citizens are required by law to use their US passport when entering the USA.

 

Bottom line always use the passport you used to enter a country to leave.

 

 

[p_brownstone]

Your wife must use the same Passport to leave Thailand as the one she used to enter; this has always been the case so I do not understand how she was able to exit Thailand in the past on a different Passport to that which she used on entry.

 

If she has two Passports there is no need for a British Visa in her Thai Passport when she leaves Thailand.

 

At Airline Check-in they will want to see both the Thai and British Passports - so they know that she has the right to enter the UK without a Visa.

 

At Immigration, leaving Thailand, just show them the Thai Passport NOT both. There is no problem holding two Nationalities but some junior Immigration Officers may not know that, best not to confuse them!

 

At the Boarding Gate she may be asked to show both Passports - again to confirm to Airline staff that she has the right to enter the UK without a Visa.

 

Enter UK on her British Passport; next visit to Thailand exit UK on her British Passport but enter Thailand on her Thai Passport; happens probably a thousand times a month here, never a problem.

 

Patrick

 

 

 

Edited May 1, 2017 by p_brownstone

[Thongkorn]

p  brownstone,

Thats what we have done for  years,  The wife was not challenged once about not having a Visa in her Thai passport, or asked about any other Passports. I think we put it down to an over zealous Thai Immigration officer, probably does not like the fact the wife has a British passport, as Some Thai people look down on Thais who have other passports. they think the should always put Thailand first,

[7by7]

You say she entered Thailand with her Thai passport but

15 hours ago, Thongkorn said:

The wife used her British passport to leave Thailand.

and that was the problem.

 

15 hours ago, Thongkorn said:

 I thought you could enter Thailand on her Thai passport and leave on her British passport with no problem, quite legally.

Sorry, you thought wrongly.

 

As already said

8 hours ago, p_brownstone said:

Your wife must use the same Passport to leave Thailand as the one she used to enter; this has always been the case

 Enter on Thai passport, leave on Thai passport.

 

One must always use the same passport to leave the country, any country, used when entering.

 

15 hours ago, Thongkorn said:

Thought you had to have a Visa in your Thai passport to board the plane and Enter Britain.

The airline will not board anyone who does not have entry clearance for their destination; which is why she needed to show them her British passport , or if she didn't have one a Thai passport with a UK visa in it. This is because they are subject to a substantial fine if the knowingly carry a passenger who is without the proper entry clearance for their destination.

 

Obviously, a British passport is entry clearance for the UK!

 

37 minutes ago, Thongkorn said:

Thats what we have done for  years,  The wife was not challenged once about not having a Visa in her Thai passport, or asked about any other Passports

Thai immigration only want to know that she was not in Thailand illegally, or overstayed. Her Thai passport tells them this. It's not their problem if a passenger exiting Thailand does not have a visa for that destination and so is refused entry when they get there.

 

36 minutes ago, Thongkorn said:

I think we put it down to an over zealous Thai Immigration officer, probably does not like the fact the wife has a British passport,

No, they did not like the fact that she was leaving Thailand on a British passport which did not have a Thai entry stamp in it. Had she shown them her Thai passport instead, she would have had no problem.

 

 

[steve187]

operator error.

[GuiseppeD]

7 hours ago, Thongkorn said:

Thats what we have done for  years,  The wife was not challenged once about not having a Visa in her Thai passport, or asked about any other Passports. I think we put it down to an over zealous Thai Immigration officer, probably does not like the fact the wife has a British passport, as Some Thai people look down on Thais who have other passports. they think the should always put Thailand first,

Sorry, but not buying this at all.  As every post here attests your wife cannot arrive on Thai passport and leave on British.  Forget about jealous IOs as this doesn't cut it either.

 

As has already been mentioned, arrive at BKK immigration with Thai passport and it's stamped.  On leaving Swampy it's both passports to check-in staff and then produce Thai passport at immigration departures.  BKK IOs are not interested in your wife's British passport and would 100% definitely require her Thai passport every single time on departure and nothing to do with looking down at your wife.  You're getting confused somewhere along the line.  

 

The only way this could possible have been achieved is that your wife arrived on her British passport and departed on her British passport.  There's absolutely no way to circumvent the procedure. 

 

 

Edited May 1, 2017 by GuiseppeD

[Mattd]

On 01/05/2017 at 1:07 AM, Thongkorn said:

 I thought you could enter Thailand on her Thai passport and leave on her British passport with no problem, quite legally.

Dont know if this has been changed in the last year, The question i would like to ask, Thought you had to have a Visa in your Thai passport to board the plane and Enter Britain.

Nobody spotted that she did not have a visa in her Thai passport, So are we wrong or was the Thai Immigration wrong, or has the law changed about Thai passports.

Unbelievable is the only word I can think of!

 

Firstly, why on earth would you even try to do what you did, what possible reasoning is there?

 

The procedure HAS to be as follows.

 

1. Wife checks in for the flight to Thailand at the UK airport and produces her Thai passport to the check in staff (and the British one if asked), this then shows the check in staff that she has the right of passage to Thailand and that no visa is required.

2. Wife produces the THAI passport to the immigration official upon arrival into Thailand, she is Thai and does not need a visa!

3. Wife checks in for the return flight to UK at the Thai airport and produces her BRITISH passport to the check in staff, this then shows the check in staff that she has the right of passage to the UK.

4. Wife produces her Thai passport and newly filled out TM6 to the Thai Immigration official after checking in, she does NOT even show her British passport at this point, there is no need and this would only cause problems.

5. Wife produces her British passport to the immigration official upon arrival in to the UK airport.

 

Remember, the check in staff are only verifying that the passenger has the correct passport or visa to fly to the destination country, they are not in the slightest interested in how many passports a person may have.

 

[GuiseppeD]

10 hours ago, Mattd said:

1. Wife checks in for the flight to Thailand at the UK airport and produces her Thai passport to the check in staff (and the British one if asked), this then shows the check in staff that she has the right of passage to Thailand and that no visa is required.

My wife produces her British passport at UK check-in.  Really no need for Thai passport, though some Thais will have their Thai passport in one name and British passport in another so will need the passport that matches the name on the ticket.

 

10 hours ago, Mattd said:

3. Wife checks in for the return flight to UK at the Thai airport and produces her BRITISH passport to the check in staff, this then shows the check in staff that she has the right of passage to the UK.

 

Return flight check-in will need both passports if the Thai entered on their Thai passport.  One to verify their entry clearance and one to verify the entry stamp in the Thai passport.   

[Mattd]

6 hours ago, GuiseppeD said:

My wife produces her British passport at UK check-in.  Really no need for Thai passport, though some Thais will have their Thai passport in one name and British passport in another so will need the passport that matches the name on the ticket.

 

Return flight check-in will need both passports if the Thai entered on their Thai passport.  One to verify their entry clearance and one to verify the entry stamp in the Thai passport.   

1. This would depend on the duration of the trip and if there is a return flight, if the duration is longer than 30 days or has no fixed return flight, then they would need to show their Thai passport in order to satisfy the check in procedures.

2. Check in procedures in Thailand do not check any entry clearances or entry stamps, this is only done by immigration, the only reason the check in staff require the passport is to verify that the passenger is OK to fly, i.e. passport is valid and that there is the required visa or right of abode etc. at the destination country.

Both of my sons have dual nationality and we have never shown their Thai passport at a Thai airport check in counter, never been an issue at all.

 

In this age of internet flight booking and where the passport details had to be submitted during the flight booking process, then it is wise to show both passports at check in, this would of course depend on which passport was used to book the flight with.

 

The main thing to remember is that the British (or any other Nationality other than Thai) passport should never be produced at the Thai immigration counters, either arriving or departing.

To enter with one Nationality and try to depart with the other is just plain stupid!

[IMA_FARANG]

Dual Nationals and Thai citizens are usually better off in entering and exiting Thailand on a Thai passport.

use your British or Foreign passport when leaving the U.K. most times.

Remember that if A Thai national enters Thailand on a U.K. passport, they should always exit on that same U.K. passport to avoid overstay problems.

Every entry stamp in your foreign passport REQUIRES a corresponding exit stamp.

Otherwise they may call you on an overstay, even though technically they can't.

But never give immigration a chance, if you enter as Thai most often you should also exit Thailand as a Thai.

 

[SiamBeast]

I see so many of those threads here. I have 3 passports (my wife as well) and it's dead simple: Always exit a country on the same passport than you enter.

 

The ONLY time where you should get both passports out of your bag is at airline check-in counter. That's it. And switch passports only in the air. Never show 2 different passports to an IO, it makes their brain hamster spin on overdrive.

 

There's just no excuse for getting in trouble with that, because it's just so simple.