Raybangkok

So that was not water flowing into my house. I can rest easy knowing that.

in the early 90s when it took 2 days to get a passport no appointments required and always British staff available to talk to and sort out problems.

Of course i realise that not stupid but they have access to the depts that deal with these matters and could flag up problems.

Thanks for the comments but would have been happy to have one from the British Embassy with information as to why. But as usual it would be too much to expect that the Embassy would do anything to help people. So wish we were back in the old days with a helpful and friendly embassy where we were made to feel welcome and our needs met.

Why is there such a difference in the claim form from claiming in the UK to claiming from abroad? To claim in the UK you just fill out some information nothing difficult. Claiming from abroad you have to fill in the addresses where you lived in the UK over the last 50 years. Your work record over the last 50 years employers work numbers company addresses. Yet none of these are asked for when claiming from the UK. If you have moved around a lot and did not work at the same place over the years not many people keep accurate records of every place they have worked and the details appertaining to them. You are also asked for you birth certificate when applying from abroad but not from the UK just your NI No: and permanent address. Why is there such a huge discrepancy between the 2 forms?

I have written about this before why can the government form designers not tick the box that says a document can be copied and saved. I got some replies before saying that if you use different programs you can do it. I am asking for maybe people who are not computer literate why we have to go to so much trouble to be able to submit a form when the form designers can make every bodies life so much easier.