Carrying your passport in Thailand, yes? No? Maybe? Don't know?

I have to. 

I don’t have to.

 Just pay the police if they stop you.

 Don’t be stupid, I’m not carrying my passport in Thailand you ****.

Not unusual for Thailand, you will hear different rules from different people.

The Law

The law actually states that a foreigner (alien is the term they use, I prefer foreigner) must carry their passport upon their person at ALL times when in Thailand.

The Reality

No one does.

So, that’s cleared that up.

More and more stories are coming out about police actually taking this law into action. Random police checks on foreigners are becoming more and more frequent, especially in Bangkok. More specifically, Sukhumvit. The Asok junction, soi 21 and soi 23 seem to be popular. However, one story we will focus on happened around Sukhumvit 33.

A young Englishman, smartly dressed was on a night out on his first night in Bangkok after arriving for his job (a well paid, professional job). It was before midnight and he was travelling home in a taxi, this taxi was pulled over. The police sent the taxi on its way, keeping the young, bewildered foreigner.

Now this dispels the myth that the police target drunk, scruffy foreigners and are looking for easy money.

He was asked to produce his passport, which he did not have. He was told to wait on the kerb, while the police officer pulled over more taxis. Eventually, an hour later, he was handcuffed to a friendly Cambodian man. Together with 6 other non-Thais, they were taken to Thong Lor police station and kept in a cell. He had no idea what they were doing; he didn’t even know you were supposed to carry your passport.

About 3 hours later a police officer produced a ‘ticket’. This said he was being fined 500 baht. He paid the fine, signed the form and was sent on his way, around 4 AM.

This would be a bit of a nightmare for the seasoned expat, let alone someone brand new to the city.

Maybe you can talk your way out of it, maybe you can pay a smaller fine before the journey to the station. How was he to know? The police didn’t seem to be in the mood for negotiating.

One off? Won’t happen to me.

Wrong.

Less than a week later, another new expat (from the same place of work, believe it not!) was stopped, this time while walking in Asok at around 9PM. He was forced to pay a fine of 500 baht direct to the officer and sent on his way.

Our Advice.

Carry your passport. We know it’s a pain, you could lose it, whatever. In reality we know that most people won’t, I myself don’t.

After these latest stories however, I made a copy of my passport that fits inside my wallet. This should be sufficient in the unlikely event I get stopped (it’s still extremely rare that you would be stopped, just a huge coincidence that these latest stories happened to these people).

At least make the copy, it’s really not worth the hassle!

Any other stories? Let us know.

Hopefully you learnt something new today!