British Embassy Bangkok Change of Consular Section Opening Hours

[Jonathan Fairfield]

[steve187]

good hours, if only carling set all job hours.

[The Old Bull]

Ah lots of time for golf

[SpeakeasyThai]

I'm looking for a part time job, those hours would suit me just fine.

[Dogbarker]

Looks like they will have time to do an out reach at some of the outposts in the same way as other consuls do..... Shame pigs do not fly...

[worgeordie]

So they are putting in less than 3.5 days a week, they must be knackered.

regards worgeordie

[Jeremy50]

Pretty much tells you all you need to know about the place, and the kind of desultory service you will receive. 

[hobobo]

21 minutes ago, worgeordie said:

So they are putting in less than 3.5 days a week, they must be knackered.

regards worgeordie

They work 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. The above hours are the times open to public.

[Smee]

The embassy here used to be among the finest. Now its an embarrassment. 

[akampa]

By the way where is the  British Embassy  ? I  read that they sold the old place .Jolly good show what !

[wgdanson]

47 minutes ago, hobobo said:

They work 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. The above hours are the times open to public.

Are the Visa applications not now sent to India?

[BritTim]

In fairness, what would be the justification for longer hours? Most of the time consuming consular activities have been outsourced or only available by post, and you generally need an appointment before you can even get through the door of the British Embassy consular section.

Edited March 8, 2018 by BritTim

[anon789561]

12 minutes ago, akampa said:

By the way where is the  British Embassy  ? I  read that they sold the old place .Jolly good show what !

same place. for now. yes sold the land, Thailands biggest ever land deal apparently, but will take a while to relocate to their new premises

[BangkokNicky]

36 hrs per week monthly salary £1,500 .. 

 

Lets dig in a little more .. 

 

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) answered the FOI request, saying that the annual budget for the Bangkok Embassy in the financial year 2014 to 2015 was a total of £2,082,146 (฿110,950,040) to cover all activities.  The total cost of running the actual consular mission in Bangkok during the financial year 2014 to 2015 was calculated by the FCO to be £1,564,076 (฿83,349,335).

 

That figure includes the total direct expenditure of the consular operation together with its costs for management and support.  Money was clawed back by the British consulate by way of fees charged for their services – a whopping total of £576,233.47 (฿30,707,380) during 2014-2015.  The FCO explain that UK government policy is that consular fees are determined so they cover the full cost of the British mission all over the world.

 

https://whatsonsukhumvit.com/this-is-how-much-the-bangkok-embassy-costs-the-uk

 

BRITISH Embassy staff have been ordered to leave their new £13 million luxury apartments in Bangkok after the complex became contaminated by huge amounts of harmful mould back in 2012 ..

http://www.thailand-construction.com/british-embassy-staff-bangkok-flats-mouldy/

 

British embassy  sold for £420m hmm and moved into a AIA Sathorn Tower which is ridiculous when you can only rent in that build in all fairness it's seems like they don't care about anybody apart from themselves in all honestly once they moved they are going to wasting  more money due to staffing and ambassador needing new living accommodation on top of all this.. it's so true this at the end of the day ..  "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help." even everybody has to there own paper worker what is simply wrong for what they are changing with fees these days ..  

 

 

Edited March 8, 2018 by BangkokNicky

[Surasak]

Why do they bother to open at all, they don't do much for the British expats.

[VBF]

31 minutes ago, Happy enough said:

same place. for now. yes sold the land, Thailands biggest ever land deal apparently, but will take a while to relocate to their new premises

Does anyone have emergency contact numbers for them in case we who actually pay for these highly skilled civil servants need their assistance?

[BangkokNicky]

31 minutes ago, Surasak said:

Why do they bother to open at all, they don't do much for the British expats.

because corporate trading is more important these days and why should the tax payers be footing the bill for these embassies  when they offer little help or no support whatsoever in all fairness, it  should be the corporate establishments paying for the embassies overseas its them who are really benefiting and profiting from these embassies at the end of the day it's definitely not the expats who gain anything from this apart from stress ...  

Edited March 8, 2018 by BangkokNicky

[theoldgit]

6 minutes ago, VBF said:

Does anyone have emergency contact numbers for them in case we who actually pay for these highly skilled civil servants need their assistance?

Yes, their emergency contact number is freely available - "If you’re in Thailand and you need urgent help (for example, you’ve been attacked, arrested or someone has died), call +66(0)2 305 8333".

 

As a number of posters have rightly pointed out, just because the public desks aren't open doesn't mean the Consular team aren't working behind the scenes.

 

In my years here I've only been to the public desk to get a income letter or a letter to renew my driving licence, so much easier to carry out this chore by email or post.

 

I wonder how many members who are making remarks about the revised opening hours would actually need to go their in person?

 

Visa applications have never been processed by Consular staff and many of the interactions can be carried out from the comfort of your own armchair.

[anon789561]

1 hour ago, akampa said:

By the way where is the  British Embassy  ? I  read that they sold the old place .Jolly good show what !

it's a bit of a shame but i don't really see the point in them keeping the land. i think a lot of embassies will eventually end up in office blocks. the Canadians are in Abdulrahim place and just have a desk on the ground floor and it works for them. So much is done online and by post and most of the land they had was gardens not even any use. Might as well just get rid of it. Don't see why they need such opulence in this day and age

[steve187]

1 minute ago, theoldgit said:

Yes, their emergency contact number is freely available - "If you’re in Thailand and you need urgent help (for example, you’ve been attacked, arrested or someone has died), call +66(0)2 305 8333".

 

As a number of posters have rightly pointed out, just because the public desks aren't open doesn't mean the Consular team aren't working behind the scenes.

 

In my years here I've only been to the public desk to get a income letter or a letter to renew my driving licence, so much easier to carry out this chore by email or post.

 

I wonder how many members who are making remarks about the revised opening hours would actually need to go their in person?

 

Visa applications have never been processed by Consular staff and many of the interactions can be carried out from the comfort of your own armchair.

why not save money and close the public access office altogether, and do everything by web or phone and have a click and collect office, or send by ems, nearly ever service they used to provide has been taken over by a private company anyway, what do the embassy staff do now.

[BangkokNicky]

3 minutes ago, steve187 said:

why not save money and close the public access office altogether, and do everything by web or phone and have a click and collect office, or send by ems, nearly ever service they used to provide has been taken over by a private company anyway, what do the embassy staff do now.

Totally agree with you spot on .. Steve  

[BangkokNicky]

6 minutes ago, Happy enough said:

it's a bit of a shame but i don't really see the point in them keeping the land. i think a lot of embassies will eventually end up in office blocks. the Canadians are in Abdulrahim place and just have a desk on the ground floor and it works for them. So much is done online and by post and most of the land they had was gardens not even any use. Might as well just get rid of it. Don't see why they need such opulence in this day and age

Agree even look at the bottom of this http://www.aiasathorntower.com grade a offices for rent .. what's the point even offering a service when they offer little help or support what so ever .. its seems like a butlins all inclusive holiday for these  civil servants .. 

[NanLaew]

Just now, VBF said:

Does anyone have emergency contact numbers for them in case we who actually pay for these highly skilled civil servants need their assistance?

Typed 'british embassy bangkok emergency contact numbers' in google and got this.

 

 

Now that's done, are you going to print it out or write it down somewhere or has the potential UK taxpayers bellyache been put to rest?

Edited March 8, 2018 by NanLaew

[theoldgit]

3 minutes ago, steve187 said:

why not save money and close the public access office altogether, and do everything by web or phone and have a click and collect office, or send by ems, nearly ever service they used to provide has been taken over by a private company anyway, what do the embassy staff do now.

I would agree that most the services they provide don't require a visit to the Embassy, many of which are forced on them by Thai bureaucracy, income letters and the like, as they are already handled by email and post.

I'm not sure which services have been taken over by private companies though, visa applications are still handled by UKVI staff and will still do so when the processing is carried out, though VFS carry out the mail drop function.
To be honest I'm inclined to agree that they don't need to have a public desk and indeed a lavish Embassy which must cost a fortune to run. 

[BangkokNicky]

4 minutes ago, theoldgit said:

I would agree that most the services they provide don't require a visit to the Embassy, many of which are forced on them by Thai bureaucracy, income letters and the like, as they are already handled by email and post.

I'm not sure which services have been taken over by private companies though, visa applications are still handled by UKVI staff and will still do so when the processing is carried out, though VFS carry out the mail drop function.
To be honest I'm inclined to agree that they don't need to have a public desk and indeed a lavish Embassy which must cost a fortune to run. 

even looking at this do they really need all this staffing and this isn't even including local staffing a bit crazy if you ask me in all fairness .. 

 

http://www.mfa.go.th/main/en/information/1694/25738-UNITED-KINGDOM.html

[BritTim]

22 minutes ago, theoldgit said:

Visa applications have never been processed by Consular staff and many of the interactions can be carried out from the comfort of your own armchair.

It is not true that visa applications have never been processed by consular staff. It is true that they outsourced this earlier than passport applications, but I once had the experience (unsuccessful) of trying to get a UK visitor visa for a friend from the consular section.

[BangkokNicky]

Just seen this while back in the UK,  I wonder how this is going effect expat living abroad and what new fees are going to be on offer for expats  living abroad .. amazing but they need to find money for the  new blue & gold passport anyhow .. 

 

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/news/passport-fees-to-increase-making-postal-applications-£1250-more-expensive-than-online/ar-BBJZXUO?li=AAmiR2Z&ocid=spartandhp

[theoldgit]

43 minutes ago, BritTim said:

It is not true that visa applications have never been processed by consular staff. It is true that they outsourced this earlier than passport applications, but I once had the experience (unsuccessful) of trying to get a UK visitor visa for a friend from the consular section.

You will be aware that the Consular and Visa Sections are totally seperate, and whilst they share the same building have a different line management, one reporting to the FCO and the other to the Home Office. A previous ECM was, and still is, a FCO employee but when she was an ECM she was in the Home Office Line Management  structure. 

Neither point is really relevent to this discussion though.

[eddysmit]

4 hours ago, The Old Bull said:

Ah lots of time for golf

Add in every bank Holiday from around the world,as they do here,and 'working hours' are even less than a UK MP, which are low.

[eddysmit]

48 minutes ago, BangkokNicky said:

Just seen this while back in the UK,  I wonder how this is going effect expat living abroad and what new fees are going to be on offer for expats  living abroad .. amazing but they need to find money for the  new blue & gold passport anyhow .. 

 

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/news/passport-fees-to-increase-making-postal-applications-£1250-more-expensive-than-online/ar-BBJZXUO?li=AAmiR2Z&ocid=spartandhp

The money would have needed finding anyway, they will be updated with new security information,new contract coming up now, an for sure they will go up,even if not leaving the EU.