Urgent passport help (paranoia!)

bairn7 · 20 February 2019 at 10:40PM

Hi all

I'm due to fly to Thailand next Friday :j

Only problem is I've been reading up on requirements and according to .gov.uk, Thailand immigration officials are likely to deny entry if the passport is damaged. I'd been too busy looking into insurance, money, things to do, etc that I didn't check this til now (I know I can travel for 30 days without getting a visa so I thought I was ok).

One of my passport pages used to have a staple, which I removed. Unfortunately it left two staple holes and a rip (still intact) between the staples, so there is a triangular bit of one page which is intact but loose. It is over one of my US entry stamps but the stamp is still intact (just part of the writing is loose with the rip).

I looked into the passport service and it appears for a damaged passport I have to apply for 1 week service which means the passport won't arrive in time.There is an urgent service which would be perfect but this is only available when a passport is expired or 'due to expire' - although when I put in my details it just asks for the issue date not the expiry date and it appears to let me book and pay. I have 4 years left on the passport.

Question is - will I get away with using this service? Or will I take time off work, arrive at my appointment and get turned away? Has anyone used the premium online service for passports which are note due to expire?

I know I'm probably being paranoid about the tear, but I really don't want to risk not getting pass immigration and from a quick google, it appears that Thai immigration authorities are particularly strict and reject-happy.

Any advice appreciated, PLEASE!

Thanks

eDicky · 21 February 2019 at 8:34AM

bairn7 wrote: »

One of my passport pages used to have a staple, which I removed. Unfortunately it left two staple holes and a rip (still intact) between the staples, so there is a triangular bit of one page which is intact but loose. It is over one of my US entry stamps but the stamp is still intact (just part of the writing is loose with the rip).

I simply don't believe that this will be a problem. Thai immigration staple your exit card into your passport on arrival and rip it out on departure, leaving the staple. I occasionally de-staple my passport to tidy up. The point being that they are unlikely to think anything of a tiny staple-sized tear.

In any case a Thai immigration officer will avoid any interaction with the foreign owner of the passport they are dealing with, it's beneath their dignity to do so, they are unlikely even to look at you.

kazwookie · 21 February 2019 at 8:40AM

I agree at Suvarnabhumi airport they staple the paper visa in to your passport.

Make sure you have a pen with you on the plane to fill this in before you land (they hand them out on the plane) as it will save you time.

tacpot12 · 21 February 2019 at 11:56AM

If you are still really worried, you might try repairing the rip with the tiniest bit of Superglue. The technique I would use is to;

1) put some thin plastic under the tear to ensure you don't get any super glue on the adjacent page, and then fold the loose flap slightly out of the way (in the direction it wants fall naturally)
2) apply two dots of superglue using a pin's sharp point to the edge of the tear closest to the spline of the passport - squeeze a dot of Superglue onto a bit of plastic, and pick it up with the pin.
3) fold the loose flap back into position and put another piece of plastic over the tear and apply pressure and hold for 10 seconds.
4) remove the two pieces of plastic. If they have stuck to the paper, use a blunt knife to ease them apart from the paper.

You need to use the smallest amount of Superglue possible, just two dots the size of a pin's point. This tacking will provide additional support and stiffness at the tear.

EveryWhere · 21 February 2019 at 12:55PM

kazwookie wrote: »

I agree at Suvarnabhumi airport they staple the paper visa in to your passport.

Make sure you have a pen with you on the plane to fill this in before you land (they hand them out on the plane) as it will save you time.

No, they do not.
They used to do it years ago. They don't any more, for specifically the reasons mentioned. It damages the passport.

Paper visa?? You mean the TM.6 landing card. Once again, they no longer staple the departure portion into your passport.

But because they did, they will likely be more understanding than anyone else about staple damage.

EveryWhere · 21 February 2019 at 12:56PM

eDicky wrote: »

I simply don't believe that this will be a problem. Thai immigration staple your exit card into your passport on arrival and rip it out on departure, leaving the staple. I occasionally de-staple my passport to tidy up. The point being that they are unlikely to think anything of a tiny staple-sized tear.

In any case a Thai immigration officer will avoid any interaction with the foreign owner of the passport they are dealing with, it's beneath their dignity to do so, they are unlikely even to look at you.

Not true. They stopped doing that years ago.

EveryWhere · 21 February 2019 at 1:07PM

bairn7 wrote: »

Hi all

I'm due to fly to Thailand next Friday :j

Only problem is I've been reading up on requirements and according to .gov.uk, Thailand immigration officials are likely to deny entry if the passport is damaged. I'd been too busy looking into insurance, money, things to do, etc that I didn't check this til now (I know I can travel for 30 days without getting a visa so I thought I was ok).

One of my passport pages used to have a staple, which I removed. Unfortunately it left two staple holes and a rip (still intact) between the staples, so there is a triangular bit of one page which is intact but loose. It is over one of my US entry stamps but the stamp is still intact (just part of the writing is loose with the rip).

I looked into the passport service and it appears for a damaged passport I have to apply for 1 week service which means the passport won't arrive in time.There is an urgent service which would be perfect but this is only available when a passport is expired or 'due to expire' - although when I put in my details it just asks for the issue date not the expiry date and it appears to let me book and pay. I have 4 years left on the passport.

Question is - will I get away with using this service? Or will I take time off work, arrive at my appointment and get turned away? Has anyone used the premium online service for passports which are note due to expire?

I know I'm probably being paranoid about the tear, but I really don't want to risk not getting pass immigration and from a quick google, it appears that Thai immigration authorities are particularly strict and reject-happy.

Any advice appreciated, PLEASE!

Thanks

My advice would be to not worry. Even if your passport is held up to scrutiny, just be polite and friendly in your dealings.
If it is given to a supervisor to double-check, just stay pleasant.
They aren't reject-happy. It's just in the past many who were living and working in Thailand were doing so on Tourist and Education Visas.
So they scrutinise the people whose pattern looks like they may be living there.

If yours is just a normal holiday, you won't be under the same scrutiny.

yellowmug · 21 February 2019 at 1:26PM

Loads of places staple things into your passport. It'll be fine, I wouldn't give it a second thought.

zagfles · 21 February 2019 at 3:14PM

I entered Thailand (also Malaysia) with a passport with less than 6 months validity left - not allowed according to the rules but I didn't have a problem.

bairn7 · 21 February 2019 at 7:44PM

Thank you all. I'm going to go with what I have and just be smiley!

Voyager2002 · 21 February 2019 at 9:18PM

zagfles wrote: »

I entered Thailand (also Malaysia) with a passport with less than 6 months validity left - not allowed according to the rules but I didn't have a problem.

You were lucky: another poster on this forum was refused admission to Penang (!) in that situation, while I faced some rather heavy scrutiny crossing into Hong Kong. (I had been in China and only needed to enter Hong Kong to catch my flight back to the UK. They eventually determined that my passport validity was six months and a couple of days, so I was allowed to proceed.)

Urgent passport help (paranoia!)

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