Passport defaced by childs scribbling

shadowcomplex

I am due to go on hols to thiland in 2 weeks and my passport has been defaced by what looks likes a childs scribbling, my 3 year old nephew must have got a hold of it at home , pages 6 and 7 of the documents just have a few lines of scribble on them with black marker, they are the pages used to stamp the documents, im beginning to panic now, will it be rejected?

Kristopherus

Very Likely to be rejected. Cannot be defaced. And you should be getting on to the Passport Office pronto,where you will get the best advice, instead of coming on here.

catonkey

Potentially, yes. Passport Express applications are taking a bit longer than the 10 days they're supposed to so you would need to apply at one of the Passport Offices (Cork or Dub) to get one in time for your journey. They can issue it within 3-5 days but will need to see proof of your travel arrangements and it is much more expensive.

Passport express costs 88.50 (80.00 for the passport plus 8.50 service fee) for a standard passport. Normal counter applications cost 95.00 (80.00 plus 15.00 counter fee) and the urgent service as mentioned above costs 150.00 (80.00 passport + 15.00 counter fee + 55.00 urgent fee). The 15 euro counter fee only came in in the last few months btw.

Davidth88

Hi

My friend traveled ( still does ) with a passport that had been defaced in exactly that manner .

He basically gets a laugh from the border control because they all can see it was done by a child.

He has traveled to China/US and Europe like this

Now of course I don't know how bad your one is , his one the child had scribbled on a number of pages with a crayon , the ' working ' parts like the photo page etc were untouched.

Do you have enough blank ( un defaced ) pages that they can still stamp on a blank one ? That maybe a factor.

zagmund

It's very risky to travel with a defaced passport. All you need is some border control person who has had a bad day and the holiday goes up in smoke. Sure, your friend is probably not a terrorist and ultimately everything will get sorted out by the department and he will get home, but it's really not a risk worth taking in most peoples books.

z

AGC

shadowcomplex wrote: »

I am due to go on hols to thiland in 2 weeks and my passport has been defaced by what looks likes a childs scribbling, my 3 year old nephew must have got a hold of it at home , pages 6 and 7 of the documents just have a few lines of scribble on them with black marker, they are the pages used to stamp the documents, im beginning to panic now, will it be rejected?

If you have free pages for stamps it should be fine once the main page isn't damaged.

Stinicker

If you were going to America I'd be more concerned as they are so paranoid over there, however for Thailand I really wouldn't be that concerned, worst case they will ask for a bribe. If you have lots of visas in the Passport it will be a pain in ass having to get them re-issued onto your new passport, also how long is left on it? It up to yourself really!

Benny_Cake

Try and sort out a passport if you have time.While there is every chance you would get through immigration without any problems,there is also the small chance you might run up against someone who would reject it - and immigration staff at Bangkok airport would not take too kindly to being offered a bribe so don't even think about doing that! I'd spare myself the worry and get it changed.

ANXIOUS

Id say you'll be grand. As a result of a drunken night in sweden im the proud owner of a passport that has a drawing of a police badge and a caption "**** you in god we trust" Ive been all over the world on it since.

Stinicker

Benny_Cake wrote: »

Try and sort out a passport if you have time.While there is every chance you would get through immigration without any problems,there is also the small chance you might run up against someone who would reject it - and immigration staff at Bangkok airport would not take too kindly to being offered a bribe so don't even think about doing that! I'd spare myself the worry and get it changed.

I wouldn't suggest you offer them a bribe in a thousand years, however they may ask you for one! or most likely there would be some forms and paperwork to fill in and you'd be fined, this would be unofficial and a roundabout corrupt form of bribery.

Two common scams in Bangkok airport involves the planting of drugs in your luggage and then its discovery and you being asked to pay two or three thousand Euro to make it go away, this usually happens to departing passengers, they demand the money threatening jail and the lengthy Thai legal system and basically even though people have done nothing wrong most will pay the money to buy their freedom and escape from the country.

Another scam then involves the Duty Free where you could be looking at say perfume in one part of the Duty free and carry it over to the liquor part as people would do intending to pay for the whole lot altogether, they then find themselves accused of theft as the different shops are not properly marked and again a "fine" is imposed upon the totally innocent and unsuspecting tourist.

Thailand is an extremely corrupt country and as a westerner you can find yourself targeted for made up offenses and made to pay up, similarly you can get away with Murder, if you have enough money to make the problem "go away". The whole society is based around saving face and if you read up the net you will see these things are a regular occurrence there. Don't get into fights there because no matter how right you are, you will always be wrong in their eyes!

Benny_Cake

Oh, there is corruption in Thailand alright. I spent a few months working near the Lao border a few years back and I know of a Dutch guy who was caught with drugs, issued with a €3000 euro "fine", and told to leave the country. And I'm aware of the duty-free scam, but it was a few years ago and the duty-free staff concerned are doing time for it as I understand - tourism is very important to Thailand and that is publicity they could do without. As for the drugs in baggage - that's a new one on me! Anyway, bribery is very unlikely to be an issue with immigration officers at Suvarnabhumi.