17 replies to this topic

[devee8]

Hi All
   This is the dilemma and I have spoken to the Thai Consulate and Australian Immigration and neither of them can give a clear answer. The dilemma is, I have a that wife and she has both a Thai passport and a Australian Passport. We are planning on going back to Thailand for approximately 4 months:
1. If she travels out of Australia and into Thailand on a Aust passport she will only get a 30 day visa.
2. If she try to leave Australia on her Thai passport she may get stopped by immigration or when she tries to return she may get stopped as she does not have a re entry visa on her Thai passport.
3. The Thai consulate said she can apply for a 12 month Visa but that costs over Aud$200, and it just does not make sense

I have thought about leaving Australia on her Australian passport and entering Thailand on her Thai passport but when she goes to leave Thailand they may ask for her Visa and she will not be allowed to leave.

I hope you see my dilemma, any suggestions ?

Edited by devee8, 31 August 2011 - 02:52 AM.

[Scumbag]

I know it is technically illegal but I have exited Australia on my Australian passport and entered Thaialnd on a differnet passport. I have never had any problems. Although it may be different on a Thai passport. It is illegal to exit Australia on anything but her Australiam passport. Why not get her the same visa that you will be on?

I don't know how strict the Thais are on entering on her Thai passport. They may ask why she has no stamp in her passport from the country she has just come from. The Thais do not allow dual nationality (I believe) so that could cause a problem. I mention this as you need to look at this problem from all sides.

A visa in her Australian passport may be a safest option.

[huskycock]

Scumbag, on 31 August 2011 - 03:05 AM, said:

I know it is technically illegal but I have exited Australia on my Australian passport and entered Thaialnd on a differnet passport. I have never had any problems. Although it may be different on a Thai passport. It is illegal to exit Australia on anything but her Australiam passport. Why not get her the same visa that you will be on?

I don't know how strict the Thais are on entering on her Thai passport. They may ask why she has no stamp in her passport from the country she has just come from. The Thais do not allow dual nationality (I believe) so that could cause a problem. I mention this as you need to look at this problem from all sides.

A visa in her Australian passport may be a safest option.

every body seems to have a different opnion on dual nationalities , one of my friends who has been married to a thai girl for a very long time and now lives in phuket says that his wife ( when they lived in australia ) leaves on an australian passport and enters thailand on a thai passport , then leaves thailand on a thai passport and enters australia on an australian passport ..i dont think he was bulshitting me

[Scumbag]

madjace, on 31 August 2011 - 03:35 AM, said:

every body seems to have a different opnion on dual nationalities , one of my friends who has been married to a thai girl for a very long time and now lives in phuket says that his wife ( when they lived in australia ) leaves on an australian passport and enters thailand on a thai passport , then leaves thailand on a thai passport and enters australia on an australian passport ..i dont think he was bulshitting me

It is probably a case of TiT!! Like I stated I am not 100% sure but it would be something I would check carefully if I was in the OP's position.

I have heard stories of TGs having problems when entering Thailand and having a foreign passport with them. They could just be made up stories though.

[AceFromNJ]

As far as I know, each country keeps their own records and minds their own affairs.  What that means is that when she leaves AUS, she shows her AUS passport.  AUS citizens allowed to go to LOS without visa so no problem with airline or immigration.  Get to Thai, shows Thai passport, she is a Thai coming home, OK, no problem.  AUS will no doubt admit her on arrival back home as she is a AUS citizen.  Leaving LOS is where I see the only potential problem.  They won't let you board the plane unless they see that you hold a valid visa for your destination.  She has no visa for AUS, just her AUS passport.  I'd assume that would be sufficient?  The BKK-back home leg of the trip is the only one that I'd research further.

[Scumbag]

AceFromNJ, on 31 August 2011 - 05:12 AM, said:

As far as I know, each country keeps their own records and minds their own affairs.  What that means is that when she leaves AUS, she shows her AUS passport.  AUS citizens allowed to go to LOS without visa so no problem with airline or immigration.  Get to Thai, shows Thai passport, she is a Thai coming home, OK, no problem.  AUS will no doubt admit her on arrival back home as she is a AUS citizen.  Leaving LOS is where I see the only potential problem.  They won't let you board the plane unless they see that you hold a valid visa for your destination.  She has no visa for AUS, just her AUS passport.  I'd assume that would be sufficient?  The BKK-back home leg of the trip is the only one that I'd research further.

The only people that will care about that is the airline. I have checked in with my Australian passport when I have entered the country that I was in on a different passport. That will not be a problem. I probably should have mentioned before that it is technically illegal to travel on more than one passport but nobody seems to worry about it much.

[lockie]

My wife has a British passport and a Thai passport.

She leaves England on her British passport and enters Thailand on her Thai passport.
She leaves Thailand on her Thai passport. She has her residency visa in her Thai passport. She enters England on her British passport.  
All Thais going to the UK need to have a visa. Your wife must have a visa in her Thai passport that will allow her to leave the country. Unless it has expired. Or maybe it is different for Australia.

It is correct that Thailand do not allow dual citizenship (this is true with Britain)
Most my wife’s friends do this and as far as i know none have ever had any problems in Thailand or England.

If you have any concerns it may be better to get her a visa from Australia. As said in previous posts.

[superconsult]

lockie, on 31 August 2011 - 07:49 AM, said:

My wife has a British passport and a Thai passport.

She leaves England on her British passport and enters Thailand on her Thai passport.
She leaves Thailand on her Thai passport. She has her residency visa in her Thai passport. She enters England on her British passport.  
All Thais going to the UK need to have a visa. Your wife must have a visa in her Thai passport that will allow her to leave the country. Unless it has expired. Or maybe it is different for Australia.

It is correct that Thailand do not allow dual citizenship (this is true with Britain)
Most my wife’s friends do this and as far as i know none have ever had any problems in Thailand or England.

If you have any concerns it may be better to get her a visa from Australia. As said in previous posts.

You got the point right.  TW should have a UK visa in her Thai Passport, say for 2 years.  In future, if she has got her permanent residence, her passport will have the stamp to show that. So, there shall be no problem with the airline in Thailand at all.  

For Australia, they don't attach any visa labels anymore.  But the airline will be able to get access to the Australian Immigration Sytem to verify that she has the visa.  So, during the subsistence of her visa, there shall be no problem at all.  When the TW gets her permanent residence from Australia, I am sure an official stamp will be affixed unto the Thai Passport.  Again, there shall be no problem of showing her right of residence in Australia.

For Thai to get an one year visa from Thai Embassy seems to be ridiculous.  I really don't understand how the Thai Embassy can deal with a visa application by a Thai.

[Scumbag]

lockie, on 31 August 2011 - 07:49 AM, said:

My wife has a British passport and a Thai passport.

She leaves England on her British passport and enters Thailand on her Thai passport.
She leaves Thailand on her Thai passport. She has her residency visa in her Thai passport. She enters England on her British passport.  
All Thais going to the UK need to have a visa. Your wife must have a visa in her Thai passport that will allow her to leave the country. Unless it has expired. Or maybe it is different for Australia.

It is correct that Thailand do not allow dual citizenship (this is true with Britain)
Most my wife’s friends do this and as far as i know none have ever had any problems in Thailand or England.

If you have any concerns it may be better to get her a visa from Australia. As said in previous posts.

If she has a British passport I do not understand why she requires a visa in her Thai passort. Surely she has the same rights in the UK as you. If it is the airline that is asking about a visa show them the UK passport. As far as I am aware Thai immigration (or any other) don't care if you have a visa for the country you are travelling to.

I have travelled between Australia and the UK a number of times. Exited on my Australian passport and entered the UK on my UK passport and the opposite on return. No visas were needed in either passport. Maybe I have missed something.

[lockie]

Scumbag, on 31 August 2011 - 01:35 PM, said:

If she has a British passport I do not understand why she requires a visa in her Thai passort. Surely she has the same rights in the UK as you. If it is the airline that is asking about a visa show them the UK passport. As far as I am aware Thai immigration (or any other) don't care if you have a visa for the country you are travelling to.

I have travelled between Australia and the UK a number of times. Exited on my Australian passport and entered the UK on my UK passport and the opposite on return. No visas were needed in either passport. Maybe I have missed something.

She was given a visa (residency permit) in her passport after we had been married for 2 years and she had completed her ESOL course.

After 3 years in England we applied for citizenship, and after got her a British passport (This makes it easier to travel to America and Europe.

Thai immigration checks all passports and visas on entering and leaving Thailand in my experience.

[devee8]

If my wife (Thai) enters Thailand with her Thai passport, this won't be an issue but when she goes to leave Thailand imigration will naturally look for her Visa to leave thailand. If she tries to leave she can not say to them "look I am an Australian Citizen and shows them her Australian passport " they could then take a strange approach and tell her no visa no leave.

[lockie]

devee8, on 01 September 2011 - 07:08 AM, said:

If my wife (Thai) enters Thailand with her Thai passport, this won't be an issue but when she goes to leave Thailand imigration will naturally look for her Visa to leave thailand. If she tries to leave she can not say to them "look I am an Australian Citizen and shows them her Australian passport " they could then take a strange approach and tell her no visa no leave.

I agree if she has not got a visa in her passport then it could cause problems.

If she was to show her Australian passport after entering on her thai passport she would have problems for not having an entry card or visa.
Visa over stay and taking her thai passport away would be the minimum she could expect to get away with.

If my wife didn't have a visa in her passport i would not take the risk. It not worth it for the sake of a few pounds for a visa if we was to stay more than a month.

[Scumbag]

devee8, on 01 September 2011 - 07:08 AM, said:

If my wife (Thai) enters Thailand with her Thai passport, this won't be an issue but when she goes to leave Thailand imigration will naturally look for her Visa to leave thailand. If she tries to leave she can not say to them "look I am an Australian Citizen and shows them her Australian passport " they could then take a strange approach and tell her no visa no leave.

How will Thai immigration know that she has a visa for Australia? They no longer put a visa in passports as it is all electronic now.

[nightwatch]

Are you not in the same boat? Will you not get only a thirty day visa as well? If you can get a longer visa to visit as an Austrailian then she should be as well applying under her Austrailian passport. I would not recommend doing the two passport thing to many ways to find trouble unless she had a visa like some of the others seem to. I think Americans can apply for a nintey day visa before arrival at a consulate and I heard of getting an extension on that as well but do not know the particulars of any of this since I will probably never be able to spend more than the thirty days there so have never looked into it.

[superconsult]

lockie, on 01 September 2011 - 07:52 AM, said:

I agree if she has not got a visa in her passport then it could cause problems.

If she was to show her Australian passport after entering on her thai passport she would have problems for not having an entry card or visa.
Visa over stay and taking her thai passport away would be the minimum she could expect to get away with.

If my wife didn't have a visa in her passport i would not take the risk. It not worth it for the sake of a few pounds for a visa if we was to stay more than a month.

She should have a visa to stay in Australia in her Thai Passport especially when she got her stamp for permanent residence from the Immigration Office in Australia.  She came to Thailand with her Thai Passport.  When she left Thailand, she uses her Thai Passport with that visa or showing that she has permanent residence in Australia, she wouldn't have any problem to leave Thailand.  Why is it necessary for her to get a Tourist Visa from Thai Embassy by using her Australian Passport when she is Thai and has a Thai Passport?  I have many clients who have been doing this for Australia, UK and USA and none of them has ever had any problem.

[superconsult]

Scumbag, on 02 September 2011 - 03:26 AM, said:

How will Thai immigration know that she has a visa for Australia? They no longer put a visa in passports as it is all electronic now.

As they don't use label any more, the information has been stored electronically.  There's a slip attached to the Passport which confirms some details about the visa.  If the immigration officer has any doubt, he could see that slip. So, the Airline staff can check this information through internet.  As far as the Immigration is concerned, if the Airline gives her the boarding pass, it would mean that the visa status has been checked.  If it doesn't work, that practice would have been cancelled, but it has been running for many months.

[devee8]

superconsult, on 02 September 2011 - 09:55 AM, said:

As they don't use label any more, the information has been stored electronically.  There's a slip attached to the Passport which confirms some details about the visa.  If the immigration officer has any doubt, he could see that slip. So, the Airline staff can check this information through internet.  As far as the Immigration is concerned, if the Airline gives her the boarding pass, it would mean that the visa status has been checked.  If it doesn't work, that practice would have been cancelled, but it has been running for many months.

Let me clarify a few items:
1. My wife has been in Aus for over 17yrs and does not have her old passport with old original Visa in it
2. I have a APEC card which gives me 3 month Visa on entry but unfortunately she is not entitled to this
3. She is an Aus citizen

I am just against paying for a Visa for a Thai citizen

[Scumbag]

devee8, on 23 September 2011 - 03:51 AM, said:

Let me clarify a few items:
1. My wife has been in Aus for over 17yrs and does not have her old passport with old original Visa in it
2. I have a APEC card which gives me 3 month Visa on entry but unfortunately she is not entitled to this
3. She is an Aus citizen

I am just against paying for a Visa for a Thai citizen

It appears that even though she is a Thai citizen she should still have a visa to visit Thailand. Don't worry it sounds ridiculous to me as well. Here is the information from the Thai Consulate in Sydney:

If you currently hold or had a Thai citizenship, you may apply for a Non-immigrant “O” visa before entering Thailand. The Non–immigrant “B” visa has 2 categories:

    Single entry visa will allow you to stay up to 90 days in Thailand and is valid for 3 months.

    Multiple entries visa will allow you to stay up to 90 days in Thailand on each visit and is valid for multiple entries within 12 months.

SINGLE ENTRY AND MULTIPLE ENTRIES

Documents required

    A passport or travel document with validity not less than 6 months
    A completed and signed visa application FORM A
    A photo (3.5x4.5 cm.) taken within last 6 months without wearing glasses or headwear (photocopy not accepted)
    A copy of passport or travel document personal detail page
    Proof of Thai citizenship such as a Thai passport, national identification card or birth certificate with a copy

Visa application processing fee
The visa application processing fee is AUD$ 90 for single entry and AUD$ 225 for multiple entries.

Validity of visa
The validity of visa is 3 months for single entry and 12 months for multiple entries.

It might be a good idea to contact your nearest consulate and ask them the best way to proceed.