A TEACHER was left bawling after she was stranded in Thailand when airport staff noticed an issue with her passport’s condition.
Rosie Viscomi , 27, from Norfolk, was due to return from Bangkok on July 4 but her flight home was abruptly put on halt.
The yoga teacher had booked a multi-stop flight from Bangkok to India to Turkey before arriving in London on Thursday.
But she claims she was barred from her flight back to London because of a ‘tiny’ tear in her passport and accidentally overstaying her visa – and has had to spend hundreds to get back home.
Rosie, who is also a dance teacher, had been staying in Thailand‘s southerastern Koh Pha-ngan island since April, shortly after qualifying as a yogi in India.
She said when she got to Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, staff from budget carrier IndiGo Airlines denied her boarding on the grounds of a ‘one centimetre’ rip on the photo page in her passport.
Rosie said she was also informed her visa had expired and alarmingly told she was currently in the country illegally, despite claiming she had extended her visa just days before.
Rosie said: “When I went to go for my flight on Thursday they said ‘you’re not going anywhere with that’ referring to a small rip in my passport and I said ‘well it was already like this’.
“They told me India won’t let me in and I need to book a direct flight from Bangkok to London.
“There’s been no issues with travelling until now. 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.
“It’s like a centimetre on the main page where my picture is. I went to America and Jamaica with it and it was fine.
“My 60-day visa had ran out for Thailand so I had to go to the Cambodia border to extend my visa. Everything was fine, then at the airport they told me that I didn’t get the right stamps and I was here illegally.
“I missed my flight which cost about £370. I’ve had to apply for emergency documents and am just praying I can get back now.
“I don’t actually have any money left – I did not account for this extra expense. Immigration are saying that they could charge me £320 on top of the flight cost because I’ve overstayed my visa.”
Frantic and fearful of arrest, Rosie has since been liaising with Thai immigration and the British Embassy to arrange her safe return back home – but the process is costing her hundreds of pounds.
She’s since forked out hundreds of pounds to pay for a new flight and acquire new emergency travel documents to travel back home.
The Sun's Travel Editor Lisa Minot has explained exactly what Brits need to know.
She said: “In order to travel to the EU, all passports must be no more than 10 years old on the day you arrive in your European destination.
“And you’ll need at least three months on your passport on the day you head back to the UK.
“Figures have shown up to 100,000 holidaymakers a year face being turned away at airports if their passport is more than 10 years old.
“The 10-year rule only applies to countries in the European Union but every country may have different rules on what is accepted.
“Some countries like South Africa, for example, insist you have at least six months left on your passport when you travel and a full clear page.”
Rosie, who also spent time volunteering in Thailand, has since booked a new flight from Bangkok to London and is hoping to return to England by July 9.
The yoga teacher said: “It’s very scary – I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know if they were going to arrest me because I didn’t have the correct stamp.
“There’s so many complications, I was at immigration just crying and everyone kept saying there’s nothing they can do.
“I thought I had all the right visa documents – I didn’t realise I had the wrong stamp, they wouldn’t let me fly anyway because of the tear on the passport.
“I just want to go home – it seems like more and more problems keep arising. It’s really stressful. I never thought a tear would be such a problem for me. This is all just added extra and I’m not working right now.”
Rosie’s sister has launched a fundraising page to help pay for the extra travel costs.
The Sun has contacted IndiGo Airlines for comment.
