I recently learned of a traveler's unfortunate experience when attempting to enter the Kingdom of Thailand using his second passport.
"An acquaintance of mine purchased a (ridiculously expensive) Caribbean passport and jumped on a plane to Thailand where he was going to settle down and ride out the financial crisis. On arrival in Bangkok (also one of the friendliest airports in the world) he was asked why his passport had no exit stamp in it. He gave the worst possible answer: 'I just paid $350,000 for it and it arrived by courier last week. That's how I got it.' He was refused entry….As it happens, an acquaintance of mine had very comparable experiences in two countries with very different results. Arriving in Singapore, he was questioned as to why his new (moderately priced) second passport had no exit stamp. He was aware of this question, gave the officer a truthful answer that did not involve 'I bought it for $$$' and was allowed to enter without problems."
The letter didn't identify the ridiculously expensive Caribbean passport, but the minimum real estate investment to qualify for citizenship from the Federation of St. Kitts & Nevis was $350,000 until Dec. 31, 2011. The minimum real estate investment to qualify now is $400,000, although a contribution of $250,000 will also qualify you for St. Kitts & Nevis citizenship and passport.
Let's analyze what happened here. Put yourself in the hands of the Thai immigration official dealing with the passenger who disclosed he was entering using a passport that cost him $350,000. The first thing you assume as an immigration official is that the passenger is just another tourist. (I'm assuming the passenger had obtained a Thai tourist visa in advance, since St. Kitts & Nevis passport holders aren't eligible for visa-free entry to Thailand.) You ask how long he plans to stay in Thailand. If the passenger responds that he is there "to ride out the financial crisis" and/or can't produce a return ticket, wouldn't you refuse him entry as well? If he has a return ticket, but doesn't have a residence visa in his St. Kitts & Nevis passport, you as the immigration official would naturally assume he is also resident in St. Kitts & Nevis. Since St. Kitts & Nevis requires a nominal departure tax upon departure by air, not having either a residence visa for another country or a receipt for payment of the exit tax from St. Kitts & Nevis, or at least an exit stamp, could arouse suspicion.
I suspect the passenger could have avoided this ordeal simply by acting like a tourist, having in his possession the required tourist visa, along with a ticket departing Thailand within 15-30 days. This is the usual number of days a tourist entering Thailand on a tourist visa can stay in the country.
With these precautions, I doubt the immigration official would have made an issue of the lack of a St. Kitts & Nevis exit stamp. If he did, the passenger could have told him that he did not live in St. Kitts & Nevis and had departed from a country not requiring an exit stamp. Of course, the passenger would need to prove departure from that country (e.g., with a boarding pass for a flight originating there).
It's also possible that the immigration official would then request a passport or residence permit from the passenger's residence country. In this situation, if the passenger was also a U.S. citizen, and also lived in the United States, he could present his U.S. passport and a copy of his itinerary showing a U.S. departure. It's likely that the immigration official would then process the entry on the U.S. passport, since this travel document is much more common than a St. Kitts & Nevis passport. Also, visa-free entry to Thailand is possible on a U.S. passport.
Finally, if the passenger didn't want to present a U.S. passport and wanted to be absolutely certain that his entry would be uncontested, he could arrange to depart from St. Kitts & Nevis so as to obtain the requisite exit stamp. In my view, this would be "overkill," but it would have avoided the problems he experienced entering Thailand.
It's unfortunate this passenger wasn't a client of The Nestmann Group, Ltd. We coachclients who purchase second passports from St. Kitts & Nevis, the Commonwealth of Dominica, and selected EU jurisdictions through the entire process, including the proper procedures to follow when clearing customs and immigration in most countries using that passport.
Click here to learn more about the advantages of a second passport. And if you'd like to obtain these benefits yourself, contact us today for a complementary preliminary second passport consultation.
Copyright (c) 2012 by Mark Nestmann
