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Transferring your Thailand Elite Visa to a new Passport


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So I want to share my experience here in case anyone else is in this situation. 

 

I currently live in Isaan and I mailed in my U.S. Passport in for renewal.

 

What I have been told from Thailand Elite is when I get the passport back I have to go to my local immigration and get the entry stamp transferred to the new passport.

 

But I will have to make a appointment with Thailand Elite to get the Visa transferred into my new passport. That appointment takes 5-7 days to schedule and it can only be done at Chaengwattana in Bangkok. 

 

I am a little bit frustrated I have to go to Bangkok and this can not be done at the local immigration but obviously replacing a passport doesn't happen often.

 

Would this situation be the same if I had a marriage extension or a retirement extension???? Could everything be done at the local immigration but just not the Elite visa????

Edited by flyingsaucersarereal
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I believe you can also do this at the airport. From a Thailand Elite email :

 

There are 3 options for you to obtain Elite Visa:

	(Recommended) Upon Arrival at Suvarnabhumi and Phuket International Airport (Direct International Arrival Flight Only) *24/7 availability (Tourist visa is required for some nationality)

	Upon Arrival at Chiang Mai Airport (Direct International Arrival Flight Only) *24/7 availability without Elite Personal Assistant (EPA) (Tourist visa is required for some nationality)

	While staying in Thailand: you can request to obtain Elite Visa at Chaengwattana Immigration Office in Bangkok *Business days only. Depend on availability of Elite Personal Liaison (EPL) this option necessary to have the TM.30 Form (for the Residence Notification as the responsibility from the house/building owner where you stayed with).

 

I had to go up to Bangkok to get my visa inserted when I first signed up, when I got the second 5 year visa I flew out of the country and got it at BKK on return, it's a pain in the ass but that's the way they've always done it.

 

If you're stamped in for some time to come you might be able to plan it around an international trip. Personally if I were you I think I would fly out of the country via BKK or another supported airport for one night and just pick it up on the return leg and transit back to Isaan.

 

This restriction is only on the Elite visa.

 

Edited by ukrules
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Yeah Thailand Elite is advising that I have to go to Chaengwattana to transfer the visa from the old passport into the new one. I probably could get a new one in the airport if I left the country and came back but I would rather not have to do that. So I think I will fly from Udon to Bangkok get the visa inserted and fly back. But would have been nice not to have to make a trip down to Bangkok. 

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6 hours ago, flyingsaucersarereal said:

Would this situation be the same if I had a marriage extension or a retirement extension???? Could everything be done at the local immigration but just not the Elite visa????

With any extension of stay issued by immigration you could have your stamps transferred. 

Immigration offices cannot transfer any type of visa.

Chaeng Wattana is the only place in the country where you can get a new Thai Elite visa to replace the one you have in your old passport. If you wanted to you could use both passport to use the PE visa in the old passport until expires.

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44 minutes ago, jackdd said:

Why do you need the visa if you are not leaving the country?

It should be possible to get the extension without a valid visa in your passport, so you can just get the visa the next time you enter Thailand.

The op is talking about the original stuck on visa from Elite that due to immigration and Elite, I don’t know why can only be obtained at CW or as UKrules has mentioned at the airport. It’s what happens, if you just turn up for the stick in 5 year visa by yourself, immigration don’t like that, I went through the same, I had to wait for an appointment by Elite, went down to CW, the imm. officer asked where is the Elite rep, I think he enjoyed female company also, and when he realized it was just me, he unhappily went about fixing the new visa stamp in the passport. The next time it happened I had to wait in the same way, for an appointment through Elite at CW, made sure an Elite rep was with me, and same, visa sticker attached into the passport and finished. 

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31 minutes ago, humbug said:

The op is talking about the original stuck on visa from Elite that due to immigration and Elite, I don’t know why can only be obtained at CW or as UKrules has mentioned at the airport. It’s what happens, if you just turn up for the stick in 5 year visa by yourself, immigration don’t like that, I went through the same, I had to wait for an appointment by Elite, went down to CW, the imm. officer asked where is the Elite rep, I think he enjoyed female company also, and when he realized it was just me, he unhappily went about fixing the new visa stamp in the passport. The next time it happened I had to wait in the same way, for an appointment through Elite at CW, made sure an Elite rep was with me, and same, visa sticker attached into the passport and finished. 

Yes, i understood this.

But what if you just don't get the new visa? Would an IO refuse to issue an extension if you don't have the visa, or could you instead show any other document showing that you still have an active Thai Elite membership?

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If I remember correctly, this is how it went for me. I could transfer the stamp at immigration in Chiang Mai from old PP to new PP. I did it a couple of months ago. No appointment with Elite needed. Took 20 mins. Next time I travel abroad I transfer the sticker when I arrive at BKK or CM I think as new PP still doesnt have sticker. Perhaps appointment needed for that.

 

This was a new rule they told me. Anyway not much bother. 

 

Obv need to travel with both PPs.

Edited by playyer
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I went to CW and sat and waited for several hours until lunch time. I was one number away from being called when the IOs all shut down for lunch. I went home. I have been traveling with two passports ever since, that was 4 years ago. I travel out of the country every other month, no one at the immigration booths has ever said a thing one way or the other about me having the visa in the old passport. Why bother going through the hassle of getting a new sticker in the new passport?

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1 hour ago, toolpush said:

I went to CW and sat and waited for several hours until lunch time. I was one number away from being called when the IOs all shut down for lunch. I went home. I have been traveling with two passports ever since, that was 4 years ago. I travel out of the country every other month, no one at the immigration booths has ever said a thing one way or the other about me having the visa in the old passport. Why bother going through the hassle of getting a new sticker in the new passport?

I assume that this was NOT an Elite Visa which you are referring too?!

If so, is this really the service you receive on Elite??

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2 hours ago, toolpush said:

Why bother going through the hassle of getting a new sticker in the new passport?

Passport expiry is the main reason, when they issue a TE visa it's not always 5 years, it will expire on the date your passport expires. They then 'owe you' a new visa when you replace the passport.

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7 hours ago, jackdd said:

Yes, i understood this.

But what if you just don't get the new visa? Would an IO refuse to issue an extension if you don't have the visa, or could you instead show any other document showing that you still have an active Thai Elite membership?

There are two desks at CW if I remember to use for a new passport, one is not elite issue just a desk which transfers all visa classes stamps from old to a new passport, then another desk which is the elite stamp visa, which you need an appointment for, the two processes are separate, I can get a transfer stamp by myself, no need for any appointment or elite rep, but the actual visa stamp needs a different process to be put into your passport

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