parryhandy

^ spot on. Proof of residence is a ridiculous requirement because it proves nothing, they cant verify the evidence properly and your dropping off/picking up the passports in person anyway.It cant/ doesn't work for oversees applications. Oh and don't forget your paying with a credit/debit card in your name so a credit check if your paying with a UK card should be enough to asses any fraud.

Cant give you advice regarding other countries but you want to give yourself as much time and options as you can. Leeway is good when you're a long way from home.

You're a little too hung up on the address

I'm sure many a backpacker staying in hostels has lost their passport and they haven't been told to f off home for a new passport.

Don't let your bad experience haunt you.

last word on this thread.

Its a fecked up system but its only been in place since March so its early days but as it stands they would have to buy an emergency travel document home.

Well I'm sure I can come up with something instead of needing to fly back home.

I always have the emergency travel visa as an option if I need more time.

Thanks for alerting me to the fact I'll need to pay close attention to the matter, but something will come up.

Since I'm going to Vietnam I guess the Sangkat letter won't apply, but there will be something I can do.

Maybe I could ask for it to be sent to UK embassy in Vietnam to pick up from there.

yup you can pick it up from there after you have proved where you are living lol

lol letter from the landlord or staying in a guest house is not valid proof,if only it was that easy . This Sangkat sounds a good option although what does it prove if you can just tell them you live there ?I got the certificate of residence (a letter from immigration) in Thailand by showing an internet bill with my wifes name on and our marriage certificate.

If you think I'm being pessimistic phone them up and ask what they will accept and I bet you have nothing that will suffice.

If you read this thread http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/713867-changes-to-british-passport-services-in-thailand/ you will see that a letter sent to an applicant at their address in Thailand from the passport office itself telling them they needed to prove their address wasn't good enough as proof.

It's taking months to get a new British passport right now, they have a massive backlog.

There's also issues about proving your address.

People have been forced onto overstay as you can NOT use the passport once you apply for it.

You're in the shit I'm afraid.

\

I also have 2 years worth of tourist visas, border jump stamps, and overstay fines (only by a day).

"People have been forced onto overstay ..."

Right.

you obviously have no idea what you are talking about. Procedures were changed with absolutely no warning a few months ago and at that time passport office guidance advised a 3 week waiting time which has now risen to 11 weeks+ meaning plenty of people being forced on to overstay .Self-righteouss fool.

While your debating on where to go could you please explain how you are going to "prove your address" to the UK passport authorities ? you have no long term history anywhere (especially so if you go wandering around Vietnam) . I have been in Thailand 7 years and struggled to prove my address (still dont know if what I supplied has been accepted). I cannot see how you can do it if your travelling about.

I thought the idea was to deny visa-runs to those whom the immigration officer suspects of working illegally in Thailand.

Does the OP sound like a genuine tourist or illegal worker?

The words baby and bathwater come to mind.

ha ha they cant do that because using discretion opens the door for officials to make some extra cash hence the blanket ban approach

A friend of mine finally gets to take his kids back to England after complaining to hiS MP after waiting months for their passports.He also received a package yesterday addressed to his daughter from DHL. It turned out to be someone's birth certificate who lives in Australia who has the same surname and first name initial as his daughter.

I phoned again yesterday and explained to them about the new overstay rules and that it would be nice to be able to continue to stay with/visit my family. After mentioning family he promised that someone from Liverpool would phone me within 72hours,

Its the first time since this whole mess started that I have actually spoke to someone who sounded like they actually gave a damn.

Oh and obviously I will give myself a week leeway for plan C which I am still drawing up.

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Hi all, Newbie here

Passport has been with Trendy since the 12th of May, tried emailing and calling but no answers or none that make any sense.

Non O 3 month visa is due to run out on the 23rd of this month. Have tried calling the local immigration offices but have yet to answer, will pop down tomorrow and see but could anyone confirm if immigration are able to give an extension until my passport arrives?

I am worried to hell that I will overstay if my passport is not back in time and from reading on here, my passport has been "zapped" so I can't go out of the country.

Passport has 1 year left and 3 pages spare if that makes any difference.

Will know tomorrow but been effecting my sleep for the past few days.

Thanks

you should be able to get a 60 day extension in the old passport at your local Immigration.This is my plan B.

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Really? Are you sure about this? So you can go into immigration here and tell them that you haven't got your new passport back and will be going onto overstay so they give you another 60 days? How would they even know that have a new passport on the way?

Basically yes after explaining that I planned to obtain a new year non o visa in Savanakhet but cannot because of the uk passport incompetence. Your are allowed one extension on a non o visa based on marriage. Also according to another poster on this thread immigration offices have been advised by Bangkok of this Uk passport fiasco and have been told to help if possible.

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Hi all, Newbie here

Passport has been with Trendy since the 12th of May, tried emailing and calling but no answers or none that make any sense.

Non O 3 month visa is due to run out on the 23rd of this month. Have tried calling the local immigration offices but have yet to answer, will pop down tomorrow and see but could anyone confirm if immigration are able to give an extension until my passport arrives?

I am worried to hell that I will overstay if my passport is not back in time and from reading on here, my passport has been "zapped" so I can't go out of the country.

Passport has 1 year left and 3 pages spare if that makes any difference.

Will know tomorrow but been effecting my sleep for the past few days.

Thanks

you should be able to get a 60 day extension in the old passport at your local Immigration.This is my plan B.

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I handed my passport in on 26th May, reading delboys posts it's looking like I'm gonna go onto overstay, I'm good up to around 21st August.

Will call them next week and hopefully get this Martin chap on the phone. I think I should have just flown home and got this done. Ridiculous situation.

I`m 27th May (money taken on 31st) so now nearly 7 weeks and my entry stamp is valid until 22 Aug.

Phoned them Friday and just told me it was in processing but they sounded as if they were just guessing really. Told me to phone again next week.

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yes you can apply from Cambodia but can someone please explain to me how would you prove your address there when you have just checked into a hotel there ?

you will also have to have proof of address in Malaysia

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read what Terry said. He advised exiting Thailand with a BORDER PASS to Laos then asking if they can switch/use both BP and US passport in Laos then come back on US passport.

They wont state that the evidence will be accepted in the first place because like most evidence of that nature here its totally worthless and uncheckable.There is no evidence not on their list that they can legally check or they shouldn't be able to under Thai data protection laws.

This is how stupid and dangerous their rules are. My wife and I had a row last week and she tried to drag me down the local cop shop for a divorce. Now after going to such ridiculous lengths to prove residency do you think I would dare phone them to say my address had changed and potentially leave myself in the crap. I would imagine there's a lot of people who sometimes will find it a lot easier to provide evidence for where they don't live as opposed to where they actually do live.

Yeah i read that post. I've also been told that if the cash hasn't left your account it hasn't' been processed. Maybe his was processed quickly.

But it's ludicrous that we have to go to a border to discover whether our passport works or not. Why can't the passport office give this information? My old lady was told by Liverpool that i was good for a week, as did the guy at the Trendy building. We'll see.

But none of this addresses the elephant in the room:

Why is the British government disabling passports when it's unable to process new ones? Passport renewals are relatively simple affairs but apparently they're far too busy to do it. However they have the time to go through new arrivals and disable them without renewing them. How can this be? Surely if they have time to pull them out of a bag and start playing with them, they have time to turn them around around and send them on? Why are they disabling them for weeks (sometimes months) before they've had the chance to do what they've been paid to do? The system is completely bonkers!

and not just that the same government have the nerve to charge people caught up in the fiasco 95 quid for ETDS.

overseas passports should have a promise to deliver (documents in order) within a certain time frame or any expenses should be reimbursed as part of its charter.I am hoping someone who has really been stung financially by this takes HMPO to court for expenses.

has anyone got the helpline number please ? save me going through this entire thread again looking for it.

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June 25th is ok, all being well you'll have it back some time early/mid September. You can't get an extension if your passport is full.

Amazing that still the frigging embassy can only spare us 3 hours of their day .8 to 11 in these circumstances is a piss take, just a bunch of free loaders..

thats security for ya eh ?? 2 random foreigners can confirm your address ! if I was a fraudster I'd never be able to do that

just hoping one day some one puts their Thai address as the moon in Thai obviously translated into a random address from the phone book . just as easy/cheaper to fake address evidence than to provide the real thing.

and now due to the latest rule changes (can get someone to apply to trendy on your behalf) there's absolutely no real evidence that the person renewing the passport is the person it belongs to.

yes but a political game has ensued and I believe us expats have suffered so as to prove a point

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The funny thing is, I can foresee this passport thing going full circle and you will need to apply at the BE again and pick your PP up from as it was in the past

Exactly what I said on the first page on the previous passport topic a few months ago. There were many good reasons as to why it was done this way which are still valid today.

Can anyone advice of my situation.

My passport is full, and within the next 2 months I will be leaving my job, and subsequently my visa will need to be changed. I have no pages left and I'm concerned about the time it will take to renew my passport. I read a 12 month extension will be granted in some cases, but my passport isn't due for renewal, it is full. I am concerned as I will be leaving leaving my Job as I change in October.

I'm concerned about the visa issue.

Married with child.

Any advice much appreciated.

I would phone the Embassy/HMPO and ask them because at the moment you have no chance of getting your renewal back in time if you start the process now. Extension wont help if your passport is full.

This is what these idiots don't realise is that you cant just up sticks on an ETD (emergency travel document) when you have children and family to consider.

Now if they could issue you with a temporary passport valid for a year then that would help or an ETD that can take visas and the like and make them free.