CNXBKKMAN

I renewed my passport in June and it took about 3 weeks and cost £147. Yes the staff are friendly and at least there is an office in Chiang Mai. It could be worse. It's 2024 and if I was renewing a UK passport neighbouring Malaysia its an online process with no agents(VFS) involved and the cost is £101. I didn't go through every step with the online form, there may be some other charges but it's a good £30 cheaper to renew in Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong etc. £30 must be VFS's cut. I renewed my passport in Hong Kong in the past and it took about 2 days. I renewed in Taiwan which was covered by the Hong Kong office and that took 5 days. So from my perspective things have not improved. The cost is higher, its slower and the passport is now made in Poland! UK production has been shut down.

Get a new passport asap. Then visit immigration to get the visa transferred into the new pp and have all the docs ready for the 1 year extension. Play dumb when they notice they made a mistake giving you a extension beyond the May date. Play on their mistake and you acted in good faith etc. They can fix it they want to, bend the rules however they see fit. If you are lucky they will sort it out. If not you may have to pay a fine and hopefully not be black listed. Depart Thailand and get a new o visa. Return and go through the process of a new retirement/marriage extension.

Chiang Mai immigration offered me a one month extension to my marriage renewal last year. The Immigration officer said because I had never made a one month extension to my o visa, just yearly marriage extensions, I could so it.

If you have never extended your O visa you can pay for normal one month extension of 30 days 1900 baht. That will make your enewal due around 20 July. I was had a similar situation last year. The immigration officer said I could do this no problem but in the end I just accepted the under consideration block on travel and cancelled my plans.

If you look on ebay uk and use the filter "sold completed items" you can see what the current prices are from recent sales. List it on FB marketplace, specific thai FB watch groups, kaidee? etc at at small discount on the current secondhand price and see how it goes. A real buyer may want to haggle a bit from this price but it probably way higher than you will get from a shop in Bangkok.

I have not posted on here for a while. The adverts especially ANA are relentless! Google maps reviews are useless. I tried a burger pizza place in Santitham. It was cheap and I wasnt expecting much. I ordered a pizza and a burger to take home. It was truly the worst food I could ever remember eating. Tossed it in the bin after a couple of bites. Later I check the reviews for it on Google maps and they were glowing, delicious, so good, the best... blah blah blah. This is when I realised Google maps reviews are mostly bogus and useless.

Traditionally it was possible to stay out all night in bars if you wanted to. Go home at dawn. That all ended when Thaksin Shinwatra's government clamped down on nightlife and introduced midnight closing about 20 odd years ago. Now his team is back in charge they are reversing it. If you are going to do it why wait until the new year?

The third paragraph is where i dismissed the whole article as a waste of my time.

I have not made my application yet but i hope you are right.

I visited the Chiang Mai VFS office today and asked the question. They said at the moment some people get a passport in 3 or 4 weeks but other people it can take months. Fast or slow you only find out after making the application.

Previously i have renewed my passport at the Hong Kong consulate. No appointment just turn up and collect it 2 days later. Same price as the UK. Also in Taipei just turn up fill the forms and it took 5 days as the passport was actually created in Hong Kong and posted to the Taipei consulate. This was all in the past. I am in Chiang Mai now and you have to use VFS Global who at least have an office in the city. Email for an appointment. Colour copies of every page of your passport required, download the forms, print, get some photos etc. You have to do it all yourself. Passport cost is £138 including postage. VFS charge 1520 baht for accepting your application and forwarding to the UK. Current turn around time is 3 or 4 weeks if its fast and many months if its slow. Fast or slow you will find out only after applying.

I have just skimmed this thread. The UK Consulate dont seem to reply to any queries. Does anybody have the latest turn around times for a renewing a UK passport with VFS?

Whats the latest on the turn around time for a UK passport renewal with VFS from people who have done it recently? UK Gov online its advising up to 11 weeks and £138 total for a 50 page passport.

Its hard to say. It can be one of the following. Cool season comes early. Get up early and you will feel the chill in of 18-20'c. Afternoon 30'c ish and noticeably cool in the evening. Dry and sunny. Cool seasons do come early but not very often. 20/1 outsider. Its seems unseasonably hot, very little or no rain. No hint of the cool season. Rainy season has ended. This would be my predication for this year. Some years the end of Oct early Nov is very wet and the feeling is, will the rainy season never end? Floods in the city but only in the usual places by the river. No hint of the cool season. You could also get a combination of all 3. A couple or wet days, generally hot and sunny and one or two cool season mornings. Also the air quality will be much better than FEB MAR so no worries there.