cliveshep

Ref wife's visa, you are aware of the UK's draconian financial requirements for a foreign wife and child? Income Support rules say £8500 p/a is adequate for a husband to live on with a wife UNLESS she is foreign because foreign wives are, apparently, far more expensive to keep. The child goes free but seeing what finances are needed for a foreign spouse that is hardly magnanimous of them. This is the list of onerous and shameful rules our wonderful Labour Government have now amended. Those who pray Keir Starmer et al fall under a bus are on the right track - please pray harder! Below from Google:-

I've just got my renewed UK passport back after considerable stress with HMPO, by the time the fools finally agreed to issue my 5th passport renewal I had received a total of 27 emails. Out of those some were from VFS Global, subject ranging from confirmation of initial appointment through to notice to collect passport, confirmation I had  collected passport, then the day after collected passport one to say my original birth certificate could be collected, then one saying I had collected it, then one saying all my document photocopies the next day could be collected. Told them 3 times driving into BKK was enough, just bin them. They did not originally want the birth certificate but asked for it after costing my a whopping £38 to send it by DHL as they wanted an original. BUT they did return it after passport collection.

VFS Global were fine, they wanted photocopies of everything, even blank passport pages, but HMPO send everything back on consecutive days it seems meaning you got to travel in repeatedly which is a pain if you live far out. You only need photocopies of parent's passports as HMPO are fully aware of the legal requirement in Thailand for you to have your passport in your possession. But VFS Global will want to see the originals to compare with photocopies. Be aware you will need a translation of any Thai birth certificate to go with copies of original Thai, whether they accept photocopies of original Thai papers I don't know, certainly they only want photocopies of everything else but be aware - they (HMPO) are jobsworth pedants requiring every i to be dotted and every T to be crossed. 

1 hour ago, Ralf001 said:

And yet you posted 300m.

Because that was also a published story. What is wrong with you? Let it go!

1 hour ago, Ralf001 said:

 

Why flip flop your sooking.. you posted 300m.

WTH is a 'sooking'. And no flip-flop, dopy,  I was correct from the Bangkok Post's 2 articles, even if one of them was wrong. So it was 300m, but according to another BP article it was 5km. And I remember clearly the first published story was 5km, not 300m which they presumably published later as a correction. 

7 minutes ago, Ralf001 said:

 

300m of conductor rail falling is not same as KM's or rail falling !

True and as I said to the other guy you are right. Ok now? I mis-spoke from faulty memory although I'm pretty sure one article I read a year or more ago did mention rail in the order of kms long but the article I quoted does say only 300m although that is more than enough.

And I did not mis-speak - here is the original article clearly saying 5km of rail fell off:  

On 6/23/2025 at 11:27 PM, Liverpool Lou said:

"Kms of rails" have never fallen, there was one wheel that detached due to a faulty bearing from the manufacturer, nothing to do with any construction company.  The list is not endless, you've exhausted it already.  

You are right. 300m of rail fell damaging 3 cars on Christmas Eve 2023 in Nonthaburi. Bangkok Post reported it here: https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2711978/pink-line-conductor-rail-collapses-in-nonthaburi 

So who did not fix this rail that fell off? Fairies? Of course it was the construction crew, or do you have another culprit? Where were you on Dec. 34, 2023?

My wife listens to and reads news that not being a Thai speaker or reader I don't get to see. Apparently today on Ramkhamhaeng in Bkk another large lump of concrete fell off the overhead railway. No one was hurt and no vehicle damaged which was a mercy.

Seems like hardly a week goes by without something heavy coming adrift from one of those railways in the sky, be it bridge beams, kilometers of rail, train wheels, falling cranes - the list over the years seems endless.

When are the relevant authorities going to wake up and 'smell the coffee' and get to grips with construction's appalling safety record. indeed with construction safety generally because quite often it is members of the public who get killed and injured as well as workers? The Expressway Authority of Thailand (Exat) has reported over 2,500 construction-related incidents on Rama II Road since 2019. I do not think worker injuries are counted, these figures seem to refer to more major things than slips, trips or falls to workers but to incidents involving heavy plant and heavy objects, like liquid concrete falling onto a passing car and injuring a child or beams falling etc.

I'm sure this topic has been covered elsewhere but I can't find it. After all the unnecessary drama caused by the clots at HMPO I'm finally approved for my 5th British passport renewal that should arrive sooner or later with VFS Global in Bangkok. The old passport expired next January 16th which is the date my Marriage extension runs out. 

Here is my probably-done-to-death-elsewhere question:-

Do I turn up for my usual interview a few weeks before expiry of my 10th marriage extension as was my normal habit with the old maroon EU/British passport containing all the stamps and now my new virgin blue British Passport with no stamps whatsoever and let the I.O's in CW sort out the stamp transfer issue?

Chuffed now - "we Brexiteers have waited years, changing red to blue without the tears", sorry about that, it's my age you know!

9 hours ago, bannork said:

Could be one reason Donald really doesn't like Trudeau 

 

Take a look at yummy Melania's body language. She looks like she'd love to jump his bones right there and then. Pure lust and idol worship, Donnie must be fuming if he's smart enough to actually notice.

2 hours ago, cmsally said:

I found this page, which is basically a guideline for their staff. If I were you I would get in contact with your nearest British Consul and explain the situation. Considering your age and need for the passport to get a Thai visa, I can't see why they would be unable to process everything, maybe with an interview with the Consul or someone at the embassy. 

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-documents-not-available/supporting-documents-not-available-accessible

Thank you for your concern, as I said elsewhere my current passport doesn't expire until next January so there is no immediate urgency but googling before the advice was to apply 6 months before expiry in case of c**k-ups. Clearly good advice. Phoned them this morning - automated check line which said they are looking at the application. I confess the waiting is very stressful.  I don't think the issue is one of identity and given the fact I have had 4 passports to date the only thing they queried was my address now we fled here to avoid my wife being deported under Theresa May's pogrom it is not as before - in the UK. I explained all that and even gave them the old UK address since when it has gone quiet.

Update - there is none. Over a week since they received the original birth certificate from DHL, not a peep from them. I'm going to call their phone line to check progress later today when they open.

Looking back over the last 40 years and noting the milestones in my life when I did foreign travel this application is almost certainly for my 5th passport which makes HMPO's behaviour even more stupid and unnecessary. If only someone with a brain could see that.

On 6/11/2025 at 6:50 PM, sherlockh said:

Cliveshep, I don't know if this is any help but I checked "Ancestry" and "Find my past". the only person I came up with was ~Frederick C. Sheppard born January 1946 in HITCHIN, Herts. Mothers maiden name 'GROUNSELL' Could this be you.

 

Sorry no, born Christmas Day 1945, thanks for trying.

Just checked if I can get pre-adoption details and came up with the answer which is yes but as I was adopted at 6 months old (presumably the papers were submitted a whole lot earlier) the law says if the adoption was before 1976 which if course it was, before the details can be released I have to attend a counselling session in the UK which is mandatory.

So I would need around £1000 air fares, pay for hotel accommodation and attend this counselling all to satisfy the little minds in HMPO that I am British and was born in xxx town or village if the gnomes insist on that detail. At that point it is official complaint time and probably have to go the ombudsman route if I am still alive. No way can I on a fixed tiny pension afford that, we struggle to survive now. Catch 22 - left or right I'm screwed over by mindless moron jobs-worths perhaps.

This is the next to last mail I got from them, the last one promises to return documents. Of concern is the insistence I prove what town or village I was born in. No problem, I'll track down the midwife via a seance.  I hope and pray the original birth certificate that gives details of adopted parents suffices else I'll be in deep dodo.

There is no way I can prove that almost 80 years later especially in the chaos so close to the end of the war.

Update - decided to bite the bullet as there is no way I can go back to the UK and if no passport Thailand will boot me out and I'll be effectively stateless forced to leave my home and wife. What a showa'o'<deleted>e our Government civil servants are? We are only here in the first place because Theresa May, wicked witch of Maidenhead while Home Secretary and refusing to endorse calls to leave the EU to cut immigration instead attacked foreign spouses and students instead. She raised financial thresholds way over twice the UK Standard Pension rate meaning those whose wives failed the Life in the UK test (designed for failure of course) would, unless their retired spouses could prove income over £18,650 , be deported irrespective of the family breakups this would cause. That figure I understand has now been increased dramatically. There has to be a special place in hell reserved for Theresa May and Priti Patel.

So seeing this red light I sold everything and we fled here to stay together and 10 years later I do not miss the UK and it's over-reaching laws one bit. We have a nice home and apart from the minor inconvenience of annual extensions and 90 day reports life is good  - until now!

HMPO promised to return document with passport this morning so beloved wife has toddled off in the car with it and a letter in the packet to the nearest DHL Express some 10 miles away to get it expensively transported to HMPO in England. Letter tells them there is no documentation of what town I was born in, such details are sealed to protect the birth parent's anonymity so all the Birth Certificate does is prove I am British, adopted, and entitled to the last 3 passports and the new one applied for.

Well, following Googled advice although my passport does not expire until 16th January next year I decided to play it safe and apply now. At 79 I figure I can afford to loose a few months, So after initial hiccups with VFS caused by their web site being down and complaining I did get to make an appointment for 21st May once they settled in to their swanky new offices.  I downloaded the form, filled it in, laboriously scanned and printed colour copies of every page of my extended passport (only used about 6 pages so won't do that again) and put together proof of residence and address - an AIS bill in my name with full address all in English and scans of my car and motorbike licences also giving the address in English. This will be my 4th renewal and HMPO have mailed the wrong email address needing more info, in spite of VFS Global emailing me from the address on the application form confirming sending the docs to the UK but the HMPO muppets were too careless. I only realised when they sent a text advising email sent but it never arrived.

So I emailed the help line who came back quite quickly asking for various info like proof of address etc and sundry other info they already had. After the 1st 3 0r 4 replies to me it became clear they could not find the application based on what they said. However, each time they emailed me it was to ask a different question but the real killer came with their email no 7 where they basically refused to renew the passport unless I submitted documentary proof showing the town or village where I was born and proof I was British. Now I was adopted and apart from my parents telling me I was born in Herts there is nothing in writing. They have been dead for 40 years so I cannot ask them. HMPO apologised for waiting over 30 years (3 passports to date) to discover they didn't know the town or village I was born in but demanded documentary proof like original birth certificate. I have the one my parents were given after the adoption order in 1946 - but I have no Adoption Certificate nor am I likely to ever get one. The UK birth certificate notes I am an adopted child. Doesn't say where from of course and adoption details were mostly kept secret. 

So I am waiting HMPO email no 8 hopefully answering my query about if I send them this nearly 80 year old document, the original birth certificate, will they undertake to (a) not lose it and (b) send it back safely. Unspoken of course is how much more do they want to know that they've already been told

This is  totally farcical and with high blood pressure I don't need all this effing stress from morons. Who can I complain to as I feel a formal complaint is justified?

1 hour ago, johng said:

 

Maybe easier to take the  train/underground  there is a stop really close to the "Shopees"  in the huge mall just next door.

I don't walk so well so SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed) decided to drive. Happy Wife = Quiet life!

I prefer it actually, easier on legs and hips, plus aircon all the way. Wife says there is parking underneath so all good. Now busy printing colour copies of every page in a extended passport - didn't need it in the end - plus trying to see if I need anything else apart from Thai Driving Licence scans for address proof.

Cannot find a payment mandate form anywhere on line so assume VFS will sort that out. Everything on old computer so doing it now, new super-dooper computer coming tomorrow so dealing with this while I got one still more or less working.

Well, either my somewhat pointed letter about corporate responsibility worked or my earlier (three) complaints bore fruit or none of the above but this morning the web site worked, albeit slowly, and I was able to register and activate account and sign in and get my booking at preferred time and date.

So come May I'm off to do penance in Bkk traffic jams, I'll be taking a tent and sleeping bag and loads of provisions for a 2 day stay plus oxygen for breathing clean air.  Ok, just kidding - I hope - but anyone who has driven in Bkk traffic will understand the thinking. You lose the will to live waiting to move sometimes.

18 hours ago, sandyf said:

 I had problems a couple of years ago with a visa and as you say, a bunch of cowboys, i registered a complaint and got this response

UK Helpline<ukvisaservicesaspac(at)vfsglobal.com>

To:You

Mon 2/17/2020 9:08 AM

Dear Customer, 

Thank you for your email. 

We understand that you are facing an error on our VFS website. 

We request you to Log out from the website and clear the cache and cookies along with the browser history / for apple user clear history at Safari. Restart the system and try again after 30 minutes. Highly recommended browser - Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome.

 

Sord for word that is the letter I got from them. I've written to them pointing out that

42 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

https://visa.vfsglobal.com/tha/en/gbr/hmpo

 

That's the one I used!

Cannot email them because the response is automated no reply, cannot phone them - no Thai number. My wife found a number - it was VFS-Global India. Anyone else getting stone-walled from making a booking or contacting them? I wanted to renew my passport and being a compliant idiot tried for 3 hours to follow the rules, both on my computer and my android smartphone and my wife's i-phone. Just cannot get past the initial filling-in  of the form, no button to submit so no way to verify my email address. Tried with an alternative email - same same! Any ideas - is it because they are all at lunch, having a gang=bang, moving offices, too lazy or whatever. I am fast losing the will to live. Looks like we'll have to go in person later on and demand answers and help from an actual living being and not a useless ai assistant. 

Anyone got  similar problems?

To the kind and helpful folk who are setting my paranoid mind at rest - thank you so much. FWIW as my UK- debit card expires in June my wife and I have decided to go for a renewal in May, in 3 weeks time, before the debit card expires. They won't post the new one here - it will go to my daughter but she won't be able to bring it until December and while I realise I only need the card number and the 3 digit number on the back going in May ties in with Google saying apply 9 months before expiry.

Not wishing it on myself but 10 years from now I might well be long gone so going early and losing 9 months is no problem realistically.

So we will run with the old passport and forget the new pics issue thanks to you guys!

Just now, Andrew Dwyer said:

Not me, but i do think that you are recognisable.

But if you have already set the wheels in motion for countersigning it will do no harm.

Thanks Andrew.