Visa & Immigration

1. ང་གི་ལག་ཁྱེར་དེ་ཡིན།

   Nga-gi lag-kher de yin

   This is my passport.

   Usage

   Used when presenting your passport at immigration or a checkpoint.

   Grammar Note

   "Lag-kher" literally means "hand-held item," referring to a passport or document. The demonstrative "de" (that/this) points to the object being shown.

2. ལག་ཁྱེར་ལ་བདག་ཆ་ཡོད།

   Lag-kher la dag-cha yod

   I have a visa.

   Usage

   Used at immigration to indicate you have a valid visa.

   Grammar Note

   "Yod" is the existential/possessive verb meaning "to have" or "there is." Tibetan strictly separates existential verbs from copulas.

3. ལུས་མཐུན་ཡིག་ཆ་ཅི་ཞིག་དགོས།

   Lu-thun yig-cha chi-zhig dgos

   What documents are required?

   Usage

   Used at a visa office or government counter to ask which documents are required.

   Grammar Note

   "Dgos" is a verb of necessity meaning "to need/require." "Chi-zhig" is an interrogative meaning "what kind of thing."

4. ལག་ཁྱེར་གཞི་བཟུང་བར་ཞུ་འདོད།

   Lag-kher zhi-zung-war zhu-dod

   I would like to extend my passport.

   Usage

   Used when applying for an extension of a passport or stay permit.

   Grammar Note

   "Zhu-dod" is the humble form expressing desire/intent, used in formal/official settings — appropriate for government offices.

5. ལག་ཁྱེར་མི་ལྡན།

   Lag-kher mi-den

   I don't have a passport.

   Usage

   Used when you have lost your passport or in emergency situations.

   Grammar Note

   "Den" means "to have/possess" and "mi" negates it. An alternative is "yod-mi-dug" (experiential negation of having).

6. བདག་ཆ་ཡིག་ཆ་སྟོན་རོགས་གནང་།

   Dag-cha yig-cha tön-rok nang

   Please show the permit.

   Usage

   Expression used by officials requesting a permit. Tibet requires a Tibet Travel Permit.

   Grammar Note

   "Nang" is the honorific imperative form. All visitors to the TAR require a Tibet Travel Permit in addition to a Chinese visa.

7. ང་ཉིན་གྲངས་བཅུའི་རིང་སྡོད་རྒྱུ་ཡིན།

   Nga nyin-drang chü-i ring dö-gyu yin

   I plan to stay for ten days.

   Usage

   Used at immigration to state your planned length of stay.

   Grammar Note

   Tibetan has native numerals; "chu" is ten. Numbers typically follow the noun they quantify, consistent with SOV syntax.

8. ལག་ཁྱེར་ཉམས་སོང་།

   Lag-kher nyam-song

   I have lost my passport.

   Usage

   Used when reporting a lost passport to an embassy or authority.

   Grammar Note

   "Song" is a completive/change-of-state auxiliary. In Tibetan, sentence-final auxiliaries play a key role in expressing tense and aspect.

9. ཡིག་ཆ་ག་པར་བཤུས་ཐུབ་ཀྱི་རེད།

   Yig-cha ga-par shue-thub-kyi re?

   Where can I get a copy of the document?

   Usage

   Used to ask where you can photocopy documents needed for a visa application.

   Grammar Note

   "Re" (red) is the factual copula, and Tibetan wh-words stay in situ (SOV). The word for "where" is ག་པར, whereas གང alone means "what / which" and cannot ask about a place. "Thub-kyi re" expresses ability.

10. ཕྱི་རྒྱལ་ལ་འགྲོ་བའི་བདག་ཆ་ཡོད་དམ།

    Phyi-gyal la dro-we dag-cha yod-dam?

    Is an exit permit required?

    Usage

    In some parts of the Tibetan region, exit or movement permits may be required. Used to confirm.

    Grammar Note

    "Dam" is the yes/no question particle; "yod-dam" means "is there / do you have?" Note: travel within the TAR often requires an Area Travel Permit (ATP).

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