Thread: Transfer of Entry Stamp to New Passport

Get it done at Chaengwattana Immigration. All the departments are under one big roof.

Quickest way is bus 52 from outside Chatuchak Park.

Staff on the bus are used to farangs and they tell you in sign language where to get off.

Cheers Pat, do you know if it'll be a shorter wait than doing other visa type things? I've heard the waiting times can be horrendous!

When busy you always wait, depending which department. Yours should be faster.




There's an indoor market, shops and a food court in there.

I've never been there before, thanks for the heads up.

Could you not just leave Thailand with both old and new passports and get stamped out in the new PP ?

Originally Posted by Fluke

Could you not just leave Thailand with both old and new passports and get stamped out in the new PP ?

Possibly, but I have to extend my visa at some point in Korat. It's timings that are the issue. Not sure Saudi will give me a visa in a passport without an entry stamp and I want to get everything done in Bangkok early next week if i possibly can.

Thanks for the idea.

I emailed VFS Global who do British passports and they said they'll give me a letter to take to immigration.

That makes me feel a bit more confident of getting everything sorted in one trip.

Some trip, so take everything they might ask for because if the officer's in a playful mood he will want whatever he thinks you might not have.

Originally Posted by alwarner

I emailed VFS Global who do British passports and they said they'll give me a letter to take to immigration.

That makes me feel a bit more confident of getting everything sorted in one trip.

Be prepared though for the internal immigration not being able to do it and having to go to a border crossing , maybe you should ask Ubonjoe for confirmation, because he knows everything

Originally Posted by Fluke

Be prepared though for the internal immigration not being able to do it and having to go to a border crossing , maybe you should ask Ubonjoe for confirmation, because he knows everything

Already asked over there - his sentiment was that some will and some wont. Advice was to take copies or to be prepared to take copies of old passport for the Saudi embassy.

Do you mean go to a border and get the stamp done without crossing over into Laos or Cambodia?

Originally Posted by jabir

Some trip, so take everything they might ask for because if the officer's in a playful mood he will want whatever he thinks you might not have.

Absolutely right. I dont want to have to "pop" home for anything. ha ha

Originally Posted by alwarner

Do you mean go to a border and get the stamp done without crossing over into Laos or Cambodia?

No, when you leave Thailand to enter Laos .
Its quite a long process , takes about 40 minutes to transfer from an old PP to a new one at the border

Right, last time I did this I did it at Mukdahan, but this time I don't need to leave until end of June. I don't want to burn 3 months off this visa ( 30 days left and 60 day extension). That said, I'll do it if I have to I guess. I'll report back on Monday.

Thanks again.

Originally Posted by alwarner

Can I get the stamp transferred at immigration in Bangkok? If so where exactly do I need to go, somewhere at Chaengwattana I assume?

Had a somewhat similar situation myself last year. Had old passport with a valid non-imm 'O' visa and a newly issued passport. Picking up the new passport I was given a letter to present to immigration for transferring info from old PP to the new one.

I went to Chaengwattana a few days later, filled out a form for transferring PPs at the first counter, handed over my documents at the second counter where the staff checked them and then issued me with a counter number. I waited for 2 and a half hours to be seen, only to be told that I would have to go to the immigration office where I would be exiting Thailand. What a waste of friggin' time that was.

A few weeks later I did a border run at Mae Sot. I got to the bridge/border at 6am and tried to leave, only to be told that I would first have to go to the main immigration office at 8am.
Luckily the office is next to the bridge. Unluckily, I'd already bought my return bus ticket and the bus departure time was 8am.

As soon as the office opened I handed over my documents and PPs. I was told then that EVERY page of the old PP had to be photo copied. So I just had to pop-in to a shop next door for the extra copies of pages. The immigration officer queried with her superior whether the transfer forms from Chaengwattana were ok or not and was told 'no problem'. Every document had to be signed by me too.
Took about 20 mins overall. But it did make me think, suppose I was leaving by plane and I was late getting to the airport and/or there was massively long queues at the immigration counters.

Anyway, I did my border hop and for the next 3 hops I had to take both PPs with me, the old one because it had my non-imm visa in it, and my new one for entry and exit stamps.

PS.
The reason I tried to cross the border at 6am was because some years previous, I was in the same position of having a new PP and a 'Visa Exempt' entry stamp in my old PP.
Again, I'd been advised to go to immigration at Chaengwattana and transfer the PPs. And again, only to be told to just go to the border with my PPs and documents.
But when I got to the border at Mae Sot, I just got stamped out with my old PP and re-entered on my new PP. No letters or documents were asked for, obviously because no visa info had to be transferred.

It makes me wonder why VFS and the counter staff at Chaengwattana are not more aware of this transferring of PP data. How many others must go there and wait needlessly for hours?

Originally Posted by Gazza

But when I got to the border at Mae Sot, I just got stamped out with my old PP and re-entered on my new PP. No letters or documents were asked for, obviously because no visa info had to be transferred.

A few years ago they didnt require you to transfer the old PPs info to the new one , that only began a few years ago

Update : I got the ball rolling on my Saudi visa and came back to Korat. Just been to immigration who said they can transfer stamps, but not today. They will do it when I extend my visa at the end of May.

Who knows what they'll tell me when I go to extend the visa.

Originally Posted by david44

I had stamps transferred in 5mins at Mae Sai

As others note Bangkok Wattan is a huge busy place advise arrive early with a book could bea long wait

Are you 100% certain KSA will issue non Umrah, I've dealt with them but for business visa they sent me to KL.Although not resident in Malaysia they did issue after a fax from my sponsor.

Good luck, I'd avoid Jizan at present( a short lob for the regular Yemeni missiles) they are hitting Ar Riyadh occasionaly but not Dammam and the oil fields so far, Yanbu should also be out of range.
I'm sure it can all be done at some cost, insh'alla

Hi David, yes the embassy can issue a work visit visa, I spoke to them before contacting the agent. That said they do require a letter in English from my employer basically stating I'm needed urgently in Saudi. Maybe that's to speed up the process? No idea.

I'll be in Abha in the Eastern province up in the mountains. All seems very sleepy. I'm really looking forward to it.

Thanks for the advice.

Just so you know NO immigration office in the country transfers a VISA to another passport. They only transfer entry stamps, extension of stays and re-entry permits.

If you hold a valid year-long, multi-entry Non-Immigrant Type O visa in the old passport that hasn't reached its "enter before" date you will travel with BOTH passports until the visa in the old one expires. You'll get stamped out and back in on the new passport BUT you need the old one when you stamp in to show you hold a valid visa to get into the country.

Originally Posted by toddaniels

Just so you know NO immigration office in the country transfers a VISA to another passport. They only transfer entry stamps, extension of stays and re-entry permits.

The old passport will get a stamp with the new passport number and its date and place of issue, a "forward referral stamp" while the new passport will get a "backward referral stamp" which has the old passport number, date of issue, visa type, and last date of entry into Thailand.
They do also notate (in handwriting outside of the stamp) what type of VISA you had in the old passport and its expiry date, this is as close to a transfer of VISA you get without them actually ripping out the VISA page from the old passport and stapling it into the new.
You can now bin your old passport, the new one has all the info they'll ever need.

Originally Posted by toddaniels

Just so you know NO immigration office in the country transfers a VISA to another passport. They only transfer entry stamps, extension of stays and re-entry permits.

If you hold a valid year-long, multi-entry Non-Immigrant Type O visa in the old passport that hasn't reached its "enter before" date you will travel with BOTH passports until the visa in the old one expires. You'll get stamped out and back in on the new passport BUT you need the old one when you stamp in to show you hold a valid visa to get into the country.

Well Todd I did mine in Lop buri no problem at all, just went in with both passports and they did it no charge.

Originally Posted by lom

You can now bin your old passport, the new one has all the info they'll ever need.

You're a little off on that information IF you hold a year long multi-entry Non-O visa. In that case you'd use BOTH passports until the visa expires.
The only time you'd just use the original passsport is if you were on a yearly extension of stay (in which case they'll transfer the extension, the re-entry permit and your current admitted until stamp) OR if you were on the last entry of a multi-entry visa (which means the visa isnt any good anyway).
Don't get confused by a VISA <- that you get from a thai consulate in another country and an extension of stay that you get from the thai immigration office

Originally Posted by birding

Well Todd I did mine in Lop buri no problem at all, just went in with both passports and they did it no charge.

They won't transfer VISAS, period end of story. They will note you switched passports, and transfer entry stamps extensions of stays and re-entry permits.
You must be on a yearly extension of stay that you get from the immigration office and NOT a multi-entry visa that you get from a thai consulate.
All transfer of stamp requests are free (it's just some immigration offices extort you to do it)..

Originally Posted by toddaniels

They won't transfer VISAS, period end of story. They will note you switched passports, and transfer entry stamps extensions of stays and re-entry permits.
You must be on a yearly extension of stay that you get from the immigration office and NOT a multi-entry visa that you get from a thai consulate.
All transfer of stamp requests are free (it's just some immigration offices extort you to do it)..

As I said I have done this no theory. I am on a non immigrant for reason of retirement.

Just checked and the transfer was done on 1 October 2015 with an extension to stay due in December.