Winter Trip - Passport Question
Replies: 9 - Last Post: Oct 14, 2012 12:45 AM Last Post By: manchurianexile
jump to
Winter Trip - Passport Question
I'm planning a bit of a winter jaunt down through China, into South-East Asia for Jan/Feb 2013. I'm due to meet my brother in Kuala Lumpur in early Feb then head back to China... So: what I thought I'd do is head to Malaysia overland (Via Vietnam, Cambodia, possibly Laos, and Thailand) travelling by train as much as possible. I'm currently in Beijing so I intend to sort visas out fairly soon. Now, I know I'll need one for Vietnam (NZ/UK passport) having been there a couple of times before and I know not to get it until just before I leave. I know that I can get a visa on arrival for Thailand and that Laotian visas can be got at the border very simply (Having done both numerous times). I THINK Malaysia also offers a visa on arrival but I don't know about Cambodia.The other thing is that, as a duel-passport holder, I sometimes swap between them. Usually, this doesn't cause a problem (Like when I go between Mainland China and HK) but once, going between Thailand and Laos, there was a major problem and I got sent back to Nong Kai and had to get another visa in the passport that I left Thailand with because they told me that they needed to see an exit stamp.
The questions, therefore, are...
A) Do I need to pre-arrange visas for Cambodia and Malaysia? Would it be helpful to do this even if I don't actually need to (I still have time)? Will it be cheaper?
B) If I get a Vietnamese visa in my UK passport but leave China on my NZ jobby, will I have a problem? Is this need to see an exit stamp a universal requirement for some countries, just a situation where one has had to pre-arrange the visa or what?
1
For Thailand, no you wont get a visa. However, you will get a visa free exemption for 15 days. Malaysia also wont be a visa on arrival. It is also a visa free entry.Now for Cambodia and Laos, that is visa on arrival.
I cant see the need to swap passports as both have the same entry requirements for all countries.
Edited by: westwood
2
It's space as much as anything.Every year, in China, they slap a full page visa into your passport and want to keep the page next to it clear as well (For exit/entry stamps). Go to HK a few times and it starts filling up VERY quickly.
My NZ passport is getting pretty full already (I only got a new one last year and it already has 3 full-page chinese visas, 1 full-page Vietnamese visa plus 1 full-page Mongolian job and stamps from all over the place in it) whereas my UK one has plenty of free space and is due to expire next October.
Visa exemption/on arrival = same thing to me.
So, a Cambodian visa can be obtained on the Vietnam/Cambodia border? Would it be cheaper/easier to sort it out before I leave?
7
OK. But it's not necessarily a case of chopping ang changing. I could do this all on one passport (i.e the UK one) but my concern is actually getting out of China if I do that. Would I have trouble getting in to Vietnam on a passport that has no exit stamp? If I can, then that makes things a lot easier (I can take my UK passport in and leave it at the visa office for any amount of time as my Chinese ID is my NZ job). But, if they will refuse me entry and send me back to Nanning it's, obviously, not going to be a good thing to do.8
You will have to exit China on the same passport you enter on then enter Vietnam on the one that has the visa in it.9
Yes. I know that. But the issue I had when crossing from Thailand to Laos worries me. I had entered Thailand on my UK passport and exited with it, too. That was all fine. But my Laotian visa was in my NZ job, I'd got it in HK earlier; Lao imigration had a melt-down because there was no Thai exit stamp and sent me back. I'm worried a similar thing may happen in Vietnam.It would be handy to do the SE Asia leg on my UK passport but I don't want to take undue risks.
