Visas and border crossings forum

Dual nationality query, travel between Laos and Thailand

okokokok

newbie
Posts: 2

Hi

I wonder if anyone who has dual nationality can help me?

In short: If I have dual British/ Irish nationality, can I do the following...?

-Enter Laos on UK passport
-Exit Laos on UK passport at border crossing with Thailand
-Enter Thailand on Irish passport
-Exit Thailand on Irish passport
-Re-enter Laos on Irish passport

If you want more of a detailed explanation, see below...

At the moment I have a British passport, but it only has 5 pages left even though it doesn't expire until 2017. I am about to travel to Laos for probably 3 to 6 months, and I've been told that I'll need to keep renewing my 1 month tourist visa. So with my current passport I would only be able to stay 5 months max before running out of space in my passport.

I am entitled to dual British/ Irish nationality, and I've realised it would actually be cheaper for me apply for a new Irish passport than to renew my British one, not to mention the benefits of having two passports.

I will enter Laos on my British passport, as I won't yet have the Irish passport, that will be sent to me once it is issued. Once I have the Irish passport and come to renew my visa, I will need to get the new visa in the Irish passport. I assume I will need to leave and re-enter Laos to do this, but this won't be a problem as I can cross over into Thailand easily. The only problem is whether there are any issues with leaving a country on one passport and entering another country on a different passport, as outlined above. This may be really common, I just thought I'd better check as I'm new to this dual nationality thing!

Are there any other issues with travelling on two passports that I may not have thought of? Any advice gratefully received!

Thanks

Jenny

#1 Posted: 28/12/2009 - 20:22
Gorey

tourist
Posts: 58
Located in:

Hello Jenny,

I have dual citizenship too (British/German), I cant imagine it would cause any problems leaving on one and entering the new country of your other. Infact i did spend some time with a girl from Israel who also had a German passport and she used her German one when she visited Laos but had entered Thailand (via air and overland from laos) with her Israeli passport. I only would guess an immigration official might quickly question why you had no laos visa stamps in your passport (having just left) but on showing them your other passport that would put it to rest.

#2 Posted: 28/12/2009 - 23:13
okokokok

newbie
Posts: 2

Thanks Gorey. That would certainly seem logical, though I've received conflicting answers on another forum. I guess the question is whether border guards are always going to act in a logical way...

#3 Posted: 29/12/2009 - 00:09
christay2009

adventurer
Posts: 408
Located in:
Private message

i don't know about this crossing but China into Laos or Laos into China you must have the China and Laos stamps in the same passport. I know its not the same but maybe other Lao borders will follow suit? i think it matters less if you fly from country to country

#4 Posted: 29/12/2009 - 01:45