MY DILEMMA A NEARLY FULL PASSPORT.

A NEARLY FULL BRITISH PASSPORT.....CAN I STILL TRAVEL WITH ONLY TWO CLEAR PAGES ?


A Full Passport is not an uncommon problem in Asia and SE Asia you have to have a full page paper Visa and yeah they sure do mount up quickly and the humble, no pathetic 42 Pages issued by the British Passport Authorities is nigh on useless, my passport has only lasted me 4 Years and it's already Full. So no pages can be added the only option is to apply for a new passport. I really do think we could do a better job, particularly in these times of trying to promote a greener way of living. not very green just print out yet another passport. I guess you could argue that with E Visas it will reduce the number of pages used, OK good point, but E visas are usually only available for Tourist Visas, so I guess if you live here you'll still be faced with the same problem. So by a full passport I mean all of the available pages are used, no spare pages, particularly annoying when you have several part pages with date stamps on them, why don.t The Border Police do a better job of using a full page, I guess the answer is simple it's not their problem. when all of your pages are used and there are no more spaces left, that is NO FULL PAGES LEFT THAT CAN  BE USED FOR VISAS you only have one option and that is to renew your passport.
So Take that point, But, I still have Two Full Pages Left in My British Passport and I have Seven Year left before it Expires. So can I Push My Luck and Use these pages or are there any rules saying I must have X number of clear pages? Honestly at This Point In Time i Really Don't Know , and This is My Aim Here to establish What can I do, and I will go and DO It to see for my self well exactly what can you do, what is needed, what are the rules, is it all simple and clear?
Communication if the main concern,  Trying to get a collect accurate information is really difficult.
This is my Dilemma. I have my British Passport and It's Valid Until 2020 (7 Years left ). But I've been living in Thailand for several Years and I'm married and My Wife is Thai as is our Son, I don't work in Thailand so I have a O Visa and I renew it every 90 Days and this is not uncommon and this is where your passport gets full really quickly. So I accept my position.
 What is stupid, is that a US Passport ( for example) has more than Double the pages of a UK Passport and they can get extra pages for free, come on Mr. Britain Pull your Finger Out.
OK so right now my passport has two free pages and two partly used pages, OK so for Laos I will need a full page for my Visa, and then I'll need One Full Page for my Thai Non O Visa, in theory I 'll have enough pages for Entry  and Exit date stamps and all is OK and the Passport will be full and I've used my full allocation of my miserly 40 Pages. However, I'm trying to ascertain whether I'll be able to actually be able to get into Laos and then Into Thailand with no Spare Pages. This seems a simple problem, but one that is causing a lot of confusion. Does Loas require a specific number of FREE  CLEAR FULL PAGES TO ENTER THE COUNTRY AND EQUALLY WHAT ABOUT THAILAND FOR MY RETURN.
I do appreciate Forums on websites, but I don't like to use them as you do get too much conflicting advise and sometimes some really bad advise and illegal advise too. So They are great to get a feel but don't rely on them as gospel.
So here I'm trying to get advise from the horses mouth as it were. This is proving to be the sticking point. Thailand Immigration has several phone help lines and has a building that is solely dedicated for people using The Immigration Services in Bangkok,  (Foreigners who have a huge mix of languages and at a guess the majority can only speak a little bit of Thai). However, their Help Line seems to be Staffed by Staff with extremely limited English and can only offer limited advise, so it's a great idea but very poorly executed. This was at least my experience I did try several times on different Days and reached the same conclusion.
That was 50 % off the problem the Thai side reviewed.

THE LAOS EMBASSY, BANGKOK.

Now Let's see what Laos has to offer. I live fairly close to The Laos Embassy, I went and explained my Dilemma, I spoke to a really helpful member of staff, who explained regarding issuing me a Laos Visa in Bangkok will be no problem. She did point out  a huge potential problem and that is so unpredictable , my free page, nice and clear and 100% essential for my return Thai Visa  My O Visa, is open to be stamped by an  Immigration Officer on either side of The Border Thai Or Laos and therefore making my situation impossible and an limbo and having to stay in Laos to apply for my new British Passport for 4 Weeks. Do I take the chance and use up my pages or do I try a safer alternative.
My ongoing dilemma, the following day I decided to take trip to Thai Immigration Office in Their extremely Impressive Government Building Situated in Chaing Wattanna Road, Laksi, it's along trip, It'll cost you 100 or 200 Baht in a Taxi depending on where you live and how bad the traffic is. I decided to chance my luck and try to find the Free Express Bus,  it actually worked out really we'll, take the 166 bus, it is signed in English Free Express Bus, and it takes the Toll Road  at the moment it.s a really old open window style bus no AC, but it is FREE !, and it is very, very quick, GOOD NEWS!  So I got to Immigration easy enough, I made my way to Immigration and was greeted by two very pleasant University Students working on secondment to Immigration, it was their job to speak English and communicate, while Two Immigration Officers took the back seat, and offered advice and forms to the students to hand out. Same old problem, when a lot of Thai people speak English, they only hear one word and it sticks to their brain and they cling to that word like a drowning sailor to a life ring.  I explained my problem and the word she heard and stuck to was extension and that was it, no matter what I said or how I  explained my situation the word was now  firmly embedded,"oh you need extension take form and fill out please",she smiled ," but I don't have the necessary Finances for  an extension", I said, she smiled. OH!, she did try really hard but it was like walking in concrete each step getting harder and harder. I decided to smile and say Thank You, and I.ll go and catch the bus back, that was a short wait and hey presto back home in Bangkok.
I decided to pay the friendly British Embassy a visit,honestly if you visit and see them face to face they are very helpful, I've used their service on several occasions and they are very helpful, friendly and Polite, staffed by Thai people who can speak perfectly good English, see they do exist!
Although the British Embassy can not give advise on Thai Visas, I wanted to check if they foresaw any potential problems,I'm sorry we can not comment but she did suggest I read the small print in my Passport, good idea I got some clues from that.You Need To Renew your passport when there are no more free Full Pages available for Visas. OK I have my Two Pages will that be Good Enough!
OK, now decision time.
 I decided to just go ahead and do it, and travel to Laos and get my new Thai Visa, then my passport is Fullish and I can then renew my passport without anything running out of date and having to pay an over stay of 500 Baht a Day.
I took a Trip To The Laos Embassy In Bangkok and saw the same Lady and she processed my Visa

application in less than One Hour,  Part One completed, Now Only One Spare Full Clear Page Left in my passport.
Now for my trip to Laos, I'll take an Overnight Bus from Bangkok To Nong Khia and then the Border Crossing into Loas.
So how am I going to make sure I keep my page clear ? How will I do it, well first of all, no iffy practises or dodgy stuff.
The Biggest Potential Problem is a Border Police Person Stamping my free page with a Leaving stamp for

THAI BORDER CROSSING FRIENDSHIP BRIDGE.

Thailand or an arrival stamp for Laos, so a bit of cunning and placing a piece of paper over my spare page, well fixed in position with paper clips, and a guiding hand towards my page that already has a stamp on it,
 I 'll watch them like a hawk. If all goes to plan I should have a free clear page for the Thai Consulate in Vientiane, Laos, and plenty of room for departure and arrival stamps, sorted. But, will my plan fall at the first hurdle...let's see!

Well I got to the Thai Border at Nong Khai feeling a little bit apprehensive, but I reckoned I had covered any eventualities and pushed on, big smiles from the Thai immigration Police so stamp in place and not on my free page, mission one accomplished.
 Now for the Laos side, we crossed the friendship bridge and headed towards the Laos side of the crossing, got off the bus, got an entry form and then bought

THE FRIENDSHIP BRIDGE, LAOS BORDER CROSSING.

THE  THAI CONSULATE IN VIENTIANE, LAOS.

Now for the Thai Consulate in Vientiane where I'll apply for my Non Immigration Visa, all the paper work completed, photocopies in order and photos in place. It's an early morning start planning to get there for 8.30ish, a good walk on a beautiful sunny, but not too hot, morning. I saw a fairly large queue but I was number 85, so not too bad. After a long wait that did seem longer than normal, it was my turn, always smile at the Immigration Officer I think they have a hard job and must get really fed up with the same old problems of people with missing forms etc., so me I gave a big friendly smile, after thumbing through the pages for a long time, he said "Original,"  "No, only photocopy, that is what I have done for a long time now",... "No Original", oh No will I be scuppered by an unforeseen curved ball!  "You need original next time new rule", thank goodness, wow that scared me! So I payed my money and returned the next day to pick up my passport, a quick check,always check your visa type and date even your name is spelt correctly. Yes, all done..Well Nearly, one final Border crossing checking out of Laos and across into Thailand.
I got the International Bus and headed towards the bridge, got my super quick pass card, which was free this time, and got my exit stamp all smiles again, final check by two police and Oh, Oh No I don't believe it, they keep going over my passport backwards and forwards checking all the pages, "everything OK?" I enquired, we have a problem with your arrival date sir!"  Problem .The Police on my entry forgot to give me an exit date and they were stumped, What shall we do?  Let me through, Please I thought, one Police Lady was really grumpy and the other one was all smiles and she declared "No problem, not correct but not your fault,bye bye", YES! Was this an Omen for what may happen on the Thai Side.Oh No !
We crossed the bridge and I filled in My Arrival Form and made my way to the Queue which was big, but was moving OK, I have a theory about a friendly Policeman and a really Grumpy One, so I put it to the test, I got the friendly one, big smile from me," Ah O Visa," it was the friendly one, he chatted and asked about my family and stamped away and soon all finished done MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
So the answer to the question can it be done, YES.
Does Laos need free pages for you to enter, seemingly not.
Does Thailand require free pages for you to enter, seemingly not.
 BUT....like many things there are some many variables and just because it worked for me doesn't mean it'll work for you or anyone else, Embassies,Consulates, Immigration Officers all seem to play a major part, I think I covered the options of a misplaced stamp well, but you never know, will I do it again, well it'll be a few years so things will change so who knows. I am applying for my New British Passport so I'll let you know how that goes and how easy it is or not!
Please Remember I am Talking about what Happened to me and My O Visa. The Rules and Regulations differ from Visa to Visa, from Country to Country and from Embassy to Embassy even down to Individuals and how they may perceive you or even just down to Human nature!
 Good Luck, I hope you found this helpful. Thanks for your Time.