rwilem

Good experience. And great service from your embassy, to have a regular passport ready at the same time as the emergency one. Out of the U.S., UK and Australia, it appears AUS currently has the smoothest renewal process in place for those getting new passports in Thailand.

What happened? Were you not able to board the flight? Or realized on your own before it got to that point of the planned trip? But for sure, got to have six months validity left. Actually, best to have a good cushion of more than six months validity left. Thinking....what if a guy had say, 7 months validity on the passport, and traveled somewhere and stayed for six weeks. And then was going to travel onward to another country. (And not talking about an 'annual extensions w/re-entry permit' or 'valid visa' person returning to Thailand.) What would, or might happen in such a case? Could be a cluster?

Probably a good idea for those living here longer-term and getting yearly extensions to plan for their passport renewals sometime during year 9. From the halfway point to near the end of year 9 of it's validity, perhaps. Thinking 'the passport's good for 10 years' (and/or trying to 'milk it' for that time) can backfire. Plus, you've got the '6 months validity remaining on the passport' issue for most international travel. I renewed mine about a year-and-a-half prior to it's expiration date, as I wanted the new one well ahead of the next extension, as not to disrupt the long-held timing of the annual extension. If you want to get a new time frame for your extension--and some might want to do that--then you can plan the timing of a passport renewal vis a vis a future new extension time frame. And to play it safe, you wouldn't want to have a passport with less than six months validity, anyway. (If you're positive you will not travel internationally--unless it's to the home country--then you would not need to consider that.) The days of being able to turn up at the embassy in person with your passport, give a completed form and photo and rather easily get a renewal, are just about gone. Got to be proactive and get with the 'new program' even if it's got some complications.

Understand, thanks. If he had said 6, 7, or 8 years ago I'd have thought nothing of it. But that '5 years', it made me wonder.

This page on passport renewals for British people residing in Thailand was updated last week. Is the info accurate? It's not an 'official' source, but may have something helpful. https://mybritishpassport.com/british-passport-renewals-from-bangkok/ Is my understanding correct, that VFS is a private enterprise and that the UK and some other embassies 'outsource' the passport renewals of their nationals residing here? Or at least some of that process? Why would they do that? Seems to be a critical issue and as such one that embassy personnel would want to be in control of, and monitor themselves. And when the renewal still has to be processed 'back home', an extra layer of potential miscommunication and misunderstanding is added to the task.

Are British passports valid for only five years? That's kind of implied there. If so, that's a real pain for Brits living overseas

Victor Davis Hanson is a distinguished fellow of the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. He is an American military historian, columnist, a former classics professor, and scholar of ancient warfare. He has been a visiting professor at Hillsdale College since 2004, and is the 2023 Giles O'Malley Distinguished Visiting Professor at the School of Public Policy, Pepperdine University. Hanson was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2007 by President George W. Bush, and the Bradley Prize in 2008. Hanson is also a farmer (growing almonds on a family farm in Selma, California) and a critic of social trends related to farming and agrarianism. He is the author of the just released New York Times best seller, The End of Everything: How Wars Descend into Annihilation, published by Basic Books on May 7, 2024, as well as the recent The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won,and The Dying Citizen. He's worth reading and listening to. "We maintain a strict policy of accepting links or content only from mainstream and recognised media sources to ensure that information posted by members is both verifiable and trustworthy. We strive to remain impartial, prioritising content that meets these standards and removing content that, in our opinion, does not.” The censorship by this forum to disallow discussion of an article posted earlier and authored by a figure as prominent and reputable as Victor Davis Hanson is abhorrent. No matter how it's dressed up. 'In your opinion'. What is that backed up with?

At CW they stop issuing queue tickets at 3:30, at least that was the cutoff time as of two years ago. I've used the appointment system for everything the last few years, so a confirm is in order for that. I've been able to get queue tickets just before 3:30 and get my business done. They even had a sign I recall, something to the effect of 'no tickets after 3:30'. If you get a queue ticket you will get your task taken care of, and things tend to move quicker as the hour gets later.

Respectfully, just because something is spelled out on the immigration website does not mean it is followed by every immigration office. As far as making an online 90-day report up until the last day, that has become obsolete in Bangkok. CW has reverted to the previous time frame for submitting, 15-7 days before the due date. So it's probably good for those submitting online 90-day reports at CW to regard it as a '75-day report'. (Which I've noted in previous posts on the subject.) Best to submit it two calendar weeks ahead of its due date, which gives an opportunity for a 2nd submission (even 3rd) in case of a rejection, within the time frame. And the approved report has a 'next due date' set 90 days from the date you submitted--which is how CW handles it. You want to do the next one the first day you can. Thus, the '75-day report'. This is for CW.

I just completed this quiz. My Score 60/100 My Time 113 seconds  

You have not been approved yet? If you submitted on Monday the 10th, there's a high possibility that was one day early. Might be best to log In to the system, go to 'check status', and cancel that submission and immediately submit another one. You are still within the window to submit online, 15-to-7 days before the due date, if that limitation does apply to your locale. And if not, then you have plenty of time after a new submission. As far as I'm aware, I've never heard of anyone being informed that they submitted earlier than allowed. So maybe best to be proactive, do a cancel-and-resubmit.

Yes, should not be any problem with that. Proceed doing it online, with the new 'permitted to stay until date' from your recent extension.

Don't do anything. If it says pending, it's still pending. That red X that you see there, if you tap that the system will cancel your submission. You don't want to do that. Just hold on and monitor the status in the next few days. Which office are you dealing with? Bangkok can take a few days for a resolution (rejected or approved.) Oh, hang on, I just reviewed your post again. If your due date is the 15th, and you submitted on Monday (right?) which was the 10th, you might be too late, or past the 15-to-7 days before the due date for the period to submit a report online. HOWEVER, some (many?) offices are accepting online submissions up till the due date, so you might catch a break there, depending on how your office is handling them. At any rate, as long as you still see it pending, just wait it out. And if it ends up being rejected, or never moves off pending, you have until March 21 to do it in person.

I just completed this quiz. My Score 30/100 My Time 132 seconds  

There were several instances of President Trump offering tributes to Americans, his guests, sitting in the gallery during the speech. All state of the unions have these moments, that's how they go. Normally all congressional members will acknowledge them. But the Dems hatred for Trump is so overpowering that they have gone off the deep end. The guests and their stories, in most cases involving pain and loss of loved ones, deserved acknowledgement. That would be some polite applause at the minimum. Just some basic human decency. But the Dems couldn't even do that. They are heartless, soul-less creatures. This was among the best moments of the night. It is sad that the Dems are so blinded by hatred they've lost their humanity.