A passport is a document that must be handled with great care. In addition to being used when traveling abroad, it is also sometimes used as proof of identification. But in all cases it should never be issued.
A passport remains the property of the issuing country. Abroad, the issue of a passport can be arranged by the embassy. It is the only authority to issue a passport and only the (Thai) court can confiscate it. But it is possible to reclaim the confiscated passport in case one needs to travel back to the country of origin. In some cases, this can be attempted by contacting the embassy.
In other cases, even the police are not allowed to confiscate a passport. In some cases she will try to confiscate the passport through intimidating action, but she has no right to do so and the owner can rightly refuse to hand over the passport. The latter is an important point to know.
It is wise to make a copy of the passport and keep it safe. In case of loss, it is always possible to prove which passport it concerns. Loss or theft must always be reported to the police.
Source: Pattaya People
– Relocated in memory of Lodewijk Lagemaat † February 24, 2021 –
I was involved in a motorcycle accident in Pattaya in 1990 through no fault of my own. A girl on a moped drove off the sidewalk on the Jomtienbeachroad into me, we were both seriously injured.
I was guilty of course, according to the police, had to hand over my passport. I pointed out to them that this was forbidden. Ok it was said, you can keep it, but then you have to stay in monkeehouse (prison). I was allowed to view this residence and then immediately handed over my passport. So in theory a good tip to never hand over your passport, but the practice is unfortunately, even now I think, different with this bunch of corrupt little men.
Everything.nice and nice and they are right.
Small example, if I am discharged from the hospital and payment has to be made and in my case, if the bank guarantee has not yet arrived or is insufficient from my ZKV, then I have 2 choices whether to stay there, or pay, or issue a passport and receive from the hospital a written statement that they have taken my passport.
If they want to rent a motorcycle, they want to take your passport, or pay with an X amount.
Otherwise you won't get the engine.
never issued my passport when renting a motorbike and never will
I have often rented a motorbike in Hua Hin and never surrendered my passport.
They did make a copy of it.
So far the theory.
Translate into Thai and let it be read to Thai police officers, car and scooter rental companies, etc…? No doubt they will never ask for your passport again 🙂
Practical: I rarely have my passport with me in Thailand, only a copy, including the pages with visa and last residence extension. I leave the passport at home or at the hotel.
And what to do at immigration with a visa extension? Stay sleeping? Or drop it off and come back the next day to pick it up?
Indeed. Sometimes there is no other solution.
Ok one Thai who applies for a Schengen visa has lost his passport for a few days.
Remaining pragmatic is the motto. remember that police officers (anywhere in the world) always have the first word. The last word belongs to a judge, but do you have the patience and time to await his judgment, whether or not in a monkey house?
When my wife applied for a visa to get married in Belgium, she lost her passport for 4 months, the time it apparently took to grant the visa.
Prawo,
Are the desk staff of the (Belgian/Dutch) embassy authorized to request/require the issue of a passport?
And what about (the employees of) VFS Global?
I assume that (employees of) visa mediation agencies have no authority.
When we go to Thailand I always make a few photocopies of our passports beforehand. I'll stick our BSN's on this first. If the hotel reception does not handle copies of passports carefully, criminals can commit fraud via the BSNs. Covers are available from the ANWB that cover the BSNs. Advice: never let the hotel receptionist make a photocopy of your passport, even if you are 100% convinced that the employee in question is completely reliable. After you have checked out, the passport copies will be thrown in the trash and not destroyed. This is good fodder for criminals.
P.de Jong, you say “never let the receptionist make a copy of your passport”. My response, I am a frequent traveler, I used to stay in the higher hotel segment, but nowadays it is more average. Just try it: don't have a photocopy made. You can't. Next hotel same problem.
Make a copy yourself at home, cross out BSN and I have a room… Once the reception was difficult, but they never saw me again.
Always have a copy with you and NEVER hand it over. In Chiang Mai you are stopped by the police twice a week on average, so we always have a copy with us, but the driver's license is often also good.
I have never had to show my passport to the police in CM, but I have never been arrested. If you are stopped you have done something wrong and then it is normal that you have to identify yourself.
What is the reason that you are detained in CM twice a week on average?
I've never been arrested. Have had ID checks before, but rather exceptional.
In 26 years of Nongkhai, I have never been stopped or stopped as a pedestrian. As a motorcyclist, I was stopped a few times a year for a paper check, but then I drove into a trap where everyone had to stop.
I have been to CM regularly and have never been stopped or stopped there either. I doubt the story of Aad van Vliet.
I have been coming to Chiang Mai for 14 years, 7 months a year. Get arrested maybe 7 times in those 3 months. Strange 2 x a week. Ride a scooter every day. Incidentally, how can you be stopped 2 x a week these days, there has been no control in Chiang Mai for almost a year.
It's theory, that's true. But the passport is not your property. It is owned by the State of the Netherlands.
And if a police officer anywhere takes my passport, I will be the last to protest. When I lived in Thailand, I only gave a copy of my passport and visa pages to hotels, rental companies, etc. They always accepted that.
By the way, it says in the passport in different languages that you can only hand over the passport to authorized authorities. The law states that only the State of the Netherlands may confiscate the passport and only by a court decision. Also a court ruling in “the foreign”.
But that's theory. In practice it is different. But you are responsible for your Easter gate at all times, you get it on loan.
yes all nice, and then issue at the Thai embassy, hand in your passport, otherwise no visa,
they also do not take any responsibility if it is lost or misplaced,
kindly reply to this,
An embassy is a competent authority. In case of missing or lost, a statement from that Embassy and you will receive a new passport. But it will cost you money or the travel insurance will pay for it.
You will receive a proof of delivery
Indeed Theory because also in a hotel (anywhere in the world) they immediately hold your passport for half a day.
They can't handle it anywhere and never right.
But even in the Netherlands the government makes a copy of your passport.
Even if you say something about them breaking their own laws, they look at you like they see water burning.
How can you be identified without a passport? Because that is the only official document outside the Schengen area.
As an NL-er in NL, should you try the NL police: keep your passport in your own hands, and only show them…
Another typical civil servant who made this up.
But.. as long as a Dutch judge sees a shaggy copy without a real signature on it as proof of identity, this is a story of mopping with the fire hose wide open.
In Thailand I always had to sign it on the spot with a blue pen. Without.. just a piece of paper.
When I returned from Thailand via Schiphol, I was always taken aside for a check. The last time that person asked if he could SEE my passport. I took it out of my pocket and opened it to the identity page. When he went to take it, I pulled my hand back a little. He said “are we going to play a game” to which I replied as I handed it over “you are not playing a game, you asked to SEE it”. I had to catch my train to Antwerp.
Something new for the readers Went to change money Passport I do not give a copy and state what it is for. At various exchange offices they make a copy and it goes on the heap. So take lots of copies with you on holiday. And note on the copy what it is for. And big thick stripes that don't matter to them.
No longer readable.
Is the NL/EU embassy so much different.
Does a Thai who applies for a Schengen visa also have to hand over his passport?
ja
A Thai friend of mine from Isaan applied for a Schengen visa at the Dutch consulate a few years ago. Her application forms and... Thai passport were confiscated by a VSF Global employee. Due to the friend's illness, her application was postponed and canceled by her. Despite many phone calls and emails asking for her passport to be returned, her Thai passport was not returned by VSF Global.
Ultimately, after 2 months and through the involvement of my lawyer and direct intervention by the Dutch consul, she was ONLY able to collect her passport forms in person in BKK. A few months later she came to Europe with a Schengen visa for 3 months.
I cherish the Dutch passport and keep it safe somewhere in my house here in Thailand.
It rarely sees the light of day with me and only comes out when there is really no other way.
It therefore still looks brand new as I got it at the last sale for 10 years.
I have not been out of Thailand for a long time, so an Immi official asked me a while ago if I ever had plans to go elsewhere, I replied that I am still having a good time here and it grass is always greener in other countries for many.
I always carry one of my Thai driving licenses with me when I go away with my bike or car.
Of course I always have the pink Thai ID with me.
Do I have to change money again at the Krungsri bank from my FCD to my regular account, then a copy alone is sufficient because they have known me as a regular customer at this bank for years and years.
Only at the annual visa extension spectacle at the local Immi and the 90 days does he come out the door.
Even my recently renewed Dutch driver's license never makes it out the door.
Jan Beute.
Not handing over your passport is just book wisdom. In reality, you cannot do otherwise or you will get into even more problems with the police or governments.
It's not bookish. It is not your property. It is an identification document issued by the State of the Netherlands on loan to you. The Dutch State guarantees by means of the passport that it is you who say who you are.
Police and other government agencies may use the passport to verify your identity. These authorities may use the passport for this purpose. If it happens that the passport has to stay in their hands for some time, that is possible. The competent authorities may do so. But only with proof of receipt. The State of the Netherlands holds the holder of the passport responsible at all times for what you do with the passport. Proof of intake is allowed. Of course only from an authorized body. And these are almost always embassies, legal departments of a friendly country. If an authority is unwilling or unable to provide proof of confiscation, inform the embassy as soon as possible.
For years I worked in the company that produced passports and tested new security features in the paper type and could be introduced into the production process.
Read Visa Application Thai Embassy,
Does not take responsibility for missing items etc
All competent authorities will let you know. It is to avoid legal liability. Not a problem in itself if the passport is missing by the competent authority. The Embassy will issue a new one. Naturally, the Embassy will ask the competent authority about the how and why.
The competent authority is obliged to provide you with proof of missing. Legal culpability of that missing person will usually not be mentioned in that document.
ask for a copy of your passport back and write it in large letters COPY HOTEL, I have been doing that for years without a problem,
It is even with many companies where you have to hand over your passport or you just won't get in. And your employer will just tell you not to be difficult and give your passport now.
The owner of the passport is the Dutch state.
In principle, you are not allowed to hand over your passport. An app has been created by the government called copy ID.
It is clearly indicated whether or not the copy is allowed,
a passport may only be issued if there is a legal obligation.
That is difficult to find out.
I assume that the police, as part of the Government, may withhold a passport if there is good reason to do so. This can differ from country to country.
Quite strange actually, if you think long and hard about it, that a few sheets of paper about you tell who you are.
As a person you have nothing to say about who you are, but the booklet with a few stamps and a photo of which the average receptionist or civil servant cannot even read what it says is believed.
Even if you stand on your head: I'm Jan Jansen, it won't help.
But if the booklet you carry with you says you are Jan Jansen…..quite crazy, isn't it?
Nothing strange or crazy about it.
He would be rather strange if people just assumed that you are Jan Jansen.
And suppose it was accepted, which of those thousands of Jan Jansen are you?
In the many years in which I have been coming and living in Thailand, I have traveled a lot, and...
still do that. I estimate that I have owned a few hundred in all these years
checked into different hotels. In the vast majority of them, a
passport was requested, and I spontaneously issued it. In all those cases the passport
also received back almost immediately, sometimes after making a photocopy.
Never experienced any problem with it, so beware of cold feet!
By the way, I do not deny that there are opportunities for abuse, only
I have never experienced that here in Thailand.
When I enter a Thai bank with a view to withdraw money by credit card for a higher amount than I can obtain via the ATM (and then cheaper than via ATM), I must also present my Passport for copying!
t' Yes…. that's actually normal isn't it!?!
Of course, malicious persons can always use the identity data … but that is more the exception than the rule.
Serge