thai wife passport question?

[Big Boy]

if i read this right my wife can show up at airport with a one way ticket to thailand. it will be some time before our next trip anywhere

I hope so - when we come in April, we have no plans to return. A return ticket would be a bit extravagant.

[PeteC]

if i read this right my wife can show up at airport with a one way ticket to thailand. it will be some time before our next trip anywhere

I hope so - when we come in April, we have no plans to return. A return ticket would be a bit extravagant.

It's good to be prepared though so you can show the ticket desk clerk all the relevant visas and explain it to them clearly. I don't travel back to the USA much at all anymore but when I did, each and every time I went through a third degree interrogation. They are overly zealous to sell more tickets. They did get me once long ago in Hawaii when I had no visa and coming in on a 30 day waiver. I bought an open o/w to Singapore on the spot and actually used it some months later. I think it was less than $200.00. Pete

[moose 961]

l was just writing about my thai wife 's plane ticket. l just assumed l had to have a departure date.
since l was just starting the visa process. maybe that singapore flight

[PJG]

Does anyone have any experience of Thai immigration where the wife's British passport is in the married name and the Thai Passport is in the maiden name. She is travelling using the married name. Formally she had an indefinite leave to remain stamp in the Thai Passport but that is no longer issued if the holder has a British Passport even though it is in another name.

[Frank Hovis]

PJG - That's the set up we've got, UK passport UK surname, Thai passport Thai surname. The only place we had a problem was Singapore where they queried the different names. We always travel with a copy of our marriage certificate (Thai & English version, Tabien Baan, Id cards etc) and that was enough for them. No problems in Thailand.

[PJG]

Thanks for that. Will certainly solve a few problems if that is the case. Was told by someone who works with immigration at the airport that she will need to exit Thailand next time and use the Thai passport in order to use it when she re-enters. Wonder if that is the case if the air ticket need to be booked in the Thai passport name?

[Frank Hovis]

Normally my wife travels with her Thai name on the ticket.
Yes - she must leave and enter Thailand on her Thai passport, get the Thai passport stamped. Thai nationals get a different stamp from non-nationals because there is no limit to how long they can stay here.
If she enters on a foreign passport then she will have to leave within a certain amount of time or get a visa. Likewise, if she leaves on a foreign passport then if she tries to re-enter on her Thai passport she will not have a 'leaving' stamp and they'll probably get annoyed.
If she got her Thai passport from the embassy in the UK/US, it will not have an exit stamp (from Thailand) but the authorities in Thailand will know that it's an overseas issued passport.

Always use the same passport when entering or leaving a specific country.

[hhfarang]

It may be different now as I haven't traveled in a while, but when I did, the airlines and TSA (or whatever the airport security is in a given country) checked the ticketed name against ID (passport) and they had to be the same... so if the ticket is booked in her Thai name, she would have to use her Thai passport (at least with the airlines) which could cause problems flying to the destination of her other passport with no visa...

So leaving Thailand you passport has to be shown three times, at least twice along with the ticket, (airline counter, immigration, security) correct? I would think the foreign passport would have to be shown at the airline counter and security and must match the ticket (foreign passport name) and the only time she would produce the Thai passport would be at Thailand immigration, both leaving and arriving.

[Frank Hovis]

Generally, both passports get shown at the ticket desk/check-in. They seem to be the only people who really care much about it. But the ticket does have to be the same as the name on the passport (either one has been OK in my experience). After that, leaving or entering Thailand they only want to see the Thai passport. So for tickets out of Thailand it's best to have the Thai surname on.