14 replies to this topic

[darkcloud]

my wife is thai after living in england for some time she now has a british passport.we want to return to thailand and settle down if she uses the british p/p she will have to do visa runs??? if she uses the thai p/p will she have to return back to england as the indefinet leave/to/remain visa in the passport last only 2yrs whats the correct way to solve this problem.i am 55yrs old and intend to get a marriage visa.

Edited by darkcloud, 14 October 2011 - 01:33 PM.

[kansuwan]

darkcloud, on 14 October 2011 - 01:24 PM, said:

my wife is thai after living in england for some time she now has a british passport.we want to return to thailand and settle down if she uses the british p/p she will have to do visa runs??? if she uses the thai p/p will she have to return back to england as the indefinet leave/to/remain visa in the passport last only 2yrs whats the correct way to solve this problem.i am 55yrs old and intend to get a marriage visa.

Here's what a pal's Thai wife with UK nationality has been doing for 20 years:

Present the Thai passport on entry and departure from Thailand: then no need for visa runs.

Present the UK passport on entry to the UK: then no need to re-validate the ILTR stamp in the Thai passport;

When boarding flight to the UK, present UK passport with boarding card to the gate staff.

Retirement visas on age + income grounds are much less of a paperwork burden than marriage visas: check out the web-site of the Thai Consulate in Hull here: http://www.thaiconsu...-and-visas.aspx

[darkcloud]

thanks kansuwan but wont the gate staff look for entry/leaving stamps from thialand back in england?? in tne british passport

Edited by darkcloud, 14 October 2011 - 03:00 PM.

[superconsult]

darkcloud, on 14 October 2011 - 01:24 PM, said:

my wife is thai after living in england for some time she now has a british passport.we want to return to thailand and settle down if she uses the british p/p she will have to do visa runs??? if she uses the thai p/p will she have to return back to england as the indefinet leave/to/remain visa in the passport last only 2yrs whats the correct way to solve this problem.i am 55yrs old and intend to get a marriage visa.

Of course, she should use her Thai passport when she returns to Thailand.  Why should there be any problem if she wants to go back to UK ?  As you said, she has a british passport and she will have no problem in going back to UK by using her british passport.  She doesn't need to use her Thai passport when she returns to UK even though she had used her Thai passport in going back to Thailand.  

If you want to stay in Thailand, you will find it easier to get the 1 year retirement visa than a marriage visa as the latter one involves interview at the Immigration Office and the procedure involved is more complicated.

[kansuwan]

darkcloud, on 14 October 2011 - 02:55 PM, said:

thanks kansuwan but wont the gate staff look for entry/leaving stamps from thialand back in england?? in tne british passport

If you mean the gate staff on departure from trhe UK for Thailand, it's most unlikely: as a British passport holder, the missus is automatically entitled to a 30 day Thai visa waiver.

[darkcloud]

if the gate staff in thailand spot the leave/to remain as over ran in her thai p/port would they be botherd if then she produced her british p/port to get back to england

Edited by darkcloud, 18 October 2011 - 02:43 PM.

[Wedders]

My daughter's got dual nationality, Thai/British. As described above, that's exactly what we've been doing for trips between Europe and Thailand. Thai passport in/out Thailand, Brit passport in/out Europe. Never a problem. No need for visas. No one bats an eyelid.

[darkcloud]

thanks wedders thanks to you all

[travelling_man]

My wife has dual nationality ... Thai and USA.  The post about presenting Thai passport to Thai immigration and USA passport to USA immigration is correct.  Check-in agents will sometimes want to see both, but it is not important nor is it a problem.

[devee8]

I quick catch I found regarding this is if your wife has the two passports in two different names

[eXplosief]

darkcloud, on 14 October 2011 - 02:55 PM, said:

thanks kansuwan but wont the gate staff look for entry/leaving stamps from thialand back in england?? in tne british passport

The airline is responsible for the costs and transportation back in case you get reused entry into the destination country. So on a flight back from BKK to the UK, they will make sure that you are entitled to enter the country. So at the gate (leaving back to the UK) present your UK passport. If you would present your thai passport they could deny you as it doesn't hold a visa for the UK.

[kansuwan]

Easy and cheap to change names (officially) in LOS: a Thai civil servant I know changed her name because she thought a luckier name would improve her chances of promotion.

[smacko]

devee8, on 23 March 2012 - 04:18 AM, said:

I quick catch I found regarding this is if your wife has the two passports in two different names

not an issue, just be sure to carry both.

[kansuwan]

smacko, on 04 May 2012 - 02:17 PM, said:

not an issue, just be sure to carry both.

Not so: devee8's post is correct:  On departure, Immigration correlate passport presented (Thai in the example we've discussed here), boarding card and Immigration form TM6 (departure card) and enter data into computer.  Gate staff also match name on passport with name on boarding card (Britrish in this example).
As indicated above, no problem if both passports are in the same name, but if a jobsworth is on duty at Immigration or at the boarding gate and spots any mismatch between passport/boarding card/TM6, exit or boarding rights can be denied - seen it happen.
Changing names of Thai ID and passport is easy and cheap - not worth winging it.

Assume the lady concerned has a Thai passport in the name of Noi and a UK passport in the name of Norma.  So, in the example we've been discussing, the Noi passport is presented to Immigration with a boarding card for Normawith a discussing here

[smacko]

never seen a problem with dual passport and different surnames.