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I have used the online system with no problem for some time. In early August I returned from a trip to UK (re-entry permit). 90 days was due last week so 8 or 9 days before, I submitted an online report, which was accepted and shown as "pending". As it went a week without confirmation I cancelled it and re-submitted, again shown as "pending". On the due day it was still outstanding so I printed off the acknowledgement and went along to Immigration. I was quickly handed a receipt with the next reporting date and out of the building in less than a minute. As it was dealt with so quickly and I'm only a short drive from the office I didn't bother to query why they hadn't dealt with my online submission. However, I have since recalled that in September we had a trip to Isaan, and one of the hotels we stayed in would not accept my driving licence and insisted on copying the copy of my passport on my phone (as I wasn't carrying my passport). Presumably they submitted this to local Immigration, so that the Rayong office looked at the computer and decided that after returning from Blighty I might have gone to live in Khorat - although the online report clearly showed my address as it has been for the last 13 years. I suppose it's too much to expect hotel check-in staff to distinguish between tourists and longer-staying residents.

I clicked on this thread out of interest and was surprised to see that it was I who started it nearly 14 years ago. As an update (after 13 years living in Thailand), I was facing a small operation about 4 years ago, and the surgeon was reluctant to proceed because of my poor blood/oxygen level. I was prescribed a course of Symbicort Turbuhaler (budesonide/formateral), and the transformation from the effect of the previous steroid inhaler I was using was amazing. I have used it ever since, one puff morning and evening. I have to resort to Ventolin so infrequently that the inhaler is 3 years old.

Not ridiculous. I have direct knowledge of a Thai lady, long-time resident in UK who showed both UK and a new Thai passport on arrival at BKK. On some pretext the IO declined to admit her as a Thai national and stamped her in for 30 days as a visitor. She went to the local Immigration Office who gave her an extension for 1 year as a "former Thai national", which suited her purpose at the time, and they advised her not to show her UK passport at a Thai border. That was a dozen years ago, and perhaps the officers are less antediluvian nowadays, but my point is that they don't need to see the US passport, so be on the safe side and don't show it to them.

And to be on the safe side, keep the US passport well out of sight. Some Thai Immigration Officers don't understand or agree with the concept of dual nationality and like to mess you around.

I can't speak for requirements for a visa application, but for the actual travel it might depend on which airline you use and even the check-in agent. The one on the Thai Airways desk at Heathrow yesterday had a little niggle at the screen grab of the Mor Prom app QR code which clearly showed my name and "vaccinated", and wanted to know how many times I'd been vaccinated. The app wouldn't let me in because it didn't recognise the UK sim in my phone, so I fished out the paper certificate which satisfied him. Whether his colleagues would have been so punctilious is anybody's guess. At Suvarnabhumi this morning there were no checks or demands for Covid documentation at all, just a couple of staff handing out little cards telling you to watch out for monkeypox. All you need at the Immigration desk is your passport and the boarding card for the flight you've just arrived on, so don't lose that. Covid insurance is long forgotten.

When I checked out at BKK a week and a half ago the young IO at the Fast-track desk seemed confused at my 3 year old TM6 with its faded stamp. She called over a senior officer who appeared simply to put date stamp on it and leave it on the desk. As well as the TM6 they seem to have dispensed with the triangular embark stamp, as there is none in my passport. As I supplied a full set of fingerprints and a photo I assume the re-entry permit is sufficient to get me back in next month, but I've kept the boardin card just in case.

Another reason for buying a throwaway ticket:- How desperate travellers waiting for new passports are booking one-way flights they won't take | Daily Mail Online

Interesting. Does the confirmation show any notional value of the ticket? I mean, if you actually turned up to catch the flight I assume the airline would have some indication that it wasn't a "real" booking?

So will they stop all those trucks grinding up the hills at 15kph and belching out black smoke? I doubt it.

You make me feel a whole lot better about the 89,000 Baht I paid in early May for 2 ("Flexible") return tickets BKK-LHR on Thai Airways leaving next Tuesday. Far more than I've ever paid before, and prices have always been higher for the same routes starting in BKK rather than LHR.

That's all I've ever had to do at Rayong Imm.

Won't your Immigration Office accept your passbook, or don't you update it regularly?

I've often thought that these trophy hunters should be made to eat what they shoot - all of it.

I'm no great defender of the Consulate and its service level, but in this case I can't see what would be the purpose in passing on such information to the Thai authorities, whose response to the news that a British Government department can't get its Rse in gear would probably be the same as the Sergeant-Major in 'It ain't half hot, Mum' - "Oh dear, how sad, never mind." The notion that the Thais should start making special arrangements for individual countries with self-inflicted minor administrative problems is nonsense.

It's about a dozen years ago when I went to the Bangkok Rayong Hospital following some angina pains. After the usual tests the doc said "You could have a CT scan if you want" The quote was 15k Baht. I thought, shall I bother, but was glad that I did. In the end they sent me to Bangkok and the cost was about 18k Baht for, as you say, a short procedure. They found 70% stenosis of one artery and 30% in another. With medication and regular exercise I've been fine since then. The point is that you have to pay to find out, and if you don't find out you'll never know how to look after yourself. Looks like the cost has gone up a fair bit in the last ten years.

A disaster indeed! They've put you in the position of a first-time applicant, but when I first applied (in Rayong) the UK licence was accepted as not requiring a written test. But that was nearly 13 years ago, so perhaps things have changed. Sorry, can't help further.

Test? Bl00dy hell, wouldn't they accept your foreign licence, or don't you have one?

"Certified copy of a British passport This service is available by post or by booking an appointment to attend the British Embassy Bangkok. It costs £25. A postal service is not available for passport holders under 16 years of age. See certify a copy of your child’s passport. You need to submit a valid and original British passport to obtain this service. We cannot accept copies or scans." etc., etc.... Notarial and documentary services guide for Thailand - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

In the other thread on this topic I mentioned that I'd messaged Paypal to ask why I couldn't link my account to my UK bank or credit card. There was a fairly quick response, asking me to submit a copy of my passport, which I did. This was acknowledged, and they would get back to me "within 48 hours". 2 weeks later I've heard nothing..

Then you're between a rock and a hard place. Unless your pension is very low to start with you could still eke out a subsistence life in Thailand with some sort of roof over your head and no cold winters to endure. Back in the UK you might be able to claim some sort of income support in addition to your pension, but as far as accommodation is concerned you're at the bottom of a very large heap - and public healthcare is now rationed for many, weeks to get a GP appointment, waiting lists of more than a year for many treatments. Maybe it's easier to be poor in Thailand, but I'm grateful not to be facing this dilemma.

Of course you can. A current visa or residence permit in the old passport remains remains valid and can be shown in conjunction with a new passport.

Best to ask the agent. My understanding is that they have to submit the passport along with the application. Whether they send them or take them along to VFS as a batch of clients' applications, or whether they then return the passport to you pending receipt of the new passport is also something you should ask them. The passport has to be re-submitted when the new passport is available for collection. They shouldn't be hanging on to your passport for weeks.

AA Insurers, past or present sponsors of ThaiVisa/Asean Now recommended me to MSIG for travel insurance to UK - (don't know about Israel). I'm late 70s. https://psmart.msig-thai.com/aainsurancehh/travel

Not unusual, illegal. Any rightful holder of a British passport has the Right of Abode in the UK and there is no power for him/her to be refused entry. The only grounds Thai Immigration would have to prevent a foreign citizen leaving for their own country would be either if they had committed an offence in Thailand, or as is apparent in this case, a child protection issue. We are told that the lady didn't get as far as discussing the matter with Immigration, and I agree with you that the zeal of the airline in turning them away was not helpful to the children - but this is the world we live in, nothing can be taken on trust and fail to tick the right box or have the right paperwork and "computer says no."

OS_Payment__Instruction_07.13.pdf (publishing.service.gov.uk) "We accept Mastercard, Visa, Electron, Diners Club and JCB. You must ensure that you have checked with your card provider that your card is valid, for this international transaction, and that adequate funds are available." It depends on your card provider - ask them.