A UK yoga instructor has been stranded in Thailand because of a "tiny" rip in her passport. Photo / Getty Images
A UK yoga instructor has been stranded in Thailand because of a "tiny" rip in her passport. Photo / Getty Images
Protect your passport at all costs, if you don’t want to unwillingly extend your holiday.
A recent incident involving a UK yoga teacher highlights the importance of checking your passport after a series of unfortunate events in Thailand.
Rosie Viscomi, 27, from Norfolk, UK was not allowed to board her flight with IndiGo Airlines due to a “tiny” tear on the photo page of her passport.
Viscomi is a dance and yoga instructor who had been staying on the island of Koh Pha-ngan, Thailand since April, after completing her yoga certification.
Viscomi shared that upon arriving at her departure area, a member of staff said, “You’re not going anywhere with that,” referring to a small rip in her passport.
She explained that her passport already had a tear when she arrived in the country.
“I had a tear already on my passport when I came here, I’m not sure if it’s got any bigger, it’s not that bad. I went to America and Jamaica with it, and it was fine,” she shared.
A "one-centimetre" tear in Viscomi's passport prevented her from boarding her flight. Photo / 123rf
However, the airline staff told her that she would be denied entry to India with her passport’s defect.
Because of this, she ended up missing her initial flight.
What’s worse, Viscomi shared that the authorities claimed her visa expired. She said she had to go to Cambodia to extend it, however, after she did so, the airport staff told her she “didn’t get the right stamps and I was here illegally”.
“Immigration is saying that they could charge me £320 [$677] on top of the flight cost because I’ve overstayed my visa,” Viscomi explained, “My 60-day visa had run out for Thailand, so I had to go to the Cambodia border to extend my visa.”
Stressed and fearing for her safety, she had to reach out to Thai immigration and the UK embassy to get her case sorted out, spending hundreds of pounds.
“I just want to go home — it seems like more and more problems keep arising,” she shared.
Because of the nature of her work, she was unemployed then, and while the case was taking place, she remained unemployed. The expenses got worse, so much so that her sister needed to set up a GoFundMe campaign to help cover her travel expenses.
After the long procedures, Viscomi safely left Thailand on July 9.
“I never thought a tear would be such a problem for me,” Viscomi told Kennedy News.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office recently released new passport warnings for tourists travelling from United Kingdom, including a warning regarding damaged passports which stated, “If your passport is damaged you must replace it. You may not be able to travel with it. HM Passport Office will consider your passport damaged if: you cannot read any of your details, any of the pages are ripped, cut or missing, there are holes, cuts or rips in the cover, the cover is coming away, or there are stains on the pages (for example, ink or water damage).”
IndiGo Airlines issued a statement through a representative, claiming the company followed protocols in regards to Viscomi’s case. It advised travellers to familiarise themselves with the air travel guidelines, which differ from country to country, to ensure a smooth journey and avoid unnecessary complications.
