Currently in Thailand, my Passport has 18 months and 6 pages left....so no panic.
However, although I've had no problems yet, it is in poor condition having been through the washing machine twice.
Some of the old stamps are unreadable and some pages were threatening to fall out so I applied sellotape.
The important stamps after several years of extending are still OK.

I am returning to UK in a couple of months and I have time to make an appointment at Peterboro' to get a new one.
That would obviously mean travelling back on a new empty Passport with my old one as proof of visa validity.
Any problems envisaged?

The alternative is to renew it and get the stamps t/f before I go, either using a Pattaya agent (expensive?) or going to the Trendy building in Bkk myself....probably the former. 

Your thoughts please.

23 minutes ago, mickba said:

That would obviously mean travelling back on a new empty Passport with my old one as proof of visa validity.
Any problems envisaged?

What category of visa do you have?

If you have a extension of stay you would show your valid re-entry permit in your old passport on entry.

 

56 minutes ago, mickba said:

Any problems envisaged?

I would be more concerned with possible problems with travelling back to the UK on a damaged passport in the first instance, if I were in your shoes. Is the photopage at least still undamaged? If so you should be OK but, if it is not, I would strongly advise you to take the precaution of obtaining an Emergency Travel Document from the Embassy.

 

But you are definitely right to renew your passport while back in the UK rather than here in Thailand IMHO. And, depending on your visa type, I really do wonder whether you might be better off starting all over again with a new visa in the new passport if this were possible to obtain in the UK - rather than run the risk of your local immigration office throwing a wobbly when you eventually asked them to transfer your existing stamps from your old to new passport - despite them not being damaged, as you say.

4 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

What category of visa do you have?

If you have a extension of stay you would show your valid re-entry permit in your old passport on entry.

 

Correct I'm on an Extension of Stay which has a couple of months still to run when I come back....plus a Re-entry Permit to get back in.

Then I assume I would have to get the relevant stamps t/f into my new Passport before applying for my next Extension?

Thus my Q is about whether I would have any problems coming back in with the 2 Passports.
 

2 minutes ago, mickba said:

Then I assume I would have to get the relevant stamps t/f into my new Passport before applying for my next Extension?

Correct

2 minutes ago, mickba said:

Thus my Q is about whether I would have any problems coming back in with the 2 Passports.

Not a problem to use both passports on entry to use your re-entry permit.

4 hours ago, OJAS said:

I would be more concerned with possible problems with travelling back to the UK on a damaged passport in the first instance, if I were in your shoes. Is the photopage at least still undamaged? If so you should be OK but, if it is not, I would strongly advise you to take the precaution of obtaining an Emergency Travel Document from the Embassy.

 

But you are definitely right to renew your passport while back in the UK rather than here in Thailand IMHO. And, depending on your visa type, I really do wonder whether you might be better off starting all over again with a new visa in the new passport if this were possible to obtain in the UK - rather than run the risk of your local immigration office throwing a wobbly when you eventually asked them to transfer your existing stamps from your old to new passport - despite them not being damaged, as you say.

The main photo page is fine as are the current visa pages, just old Thai stamps may be/are unreadable but that hasn't caused a problem here so far and I don't see why UK would be concerned.

No it's not convenient to start again from scratch in UK visa wise and I don't see why I need to.
 

The main reason I see for renewing in UK is the lower cost.
If I'm going to renew it here then there must be an argument for waiting until I need to i.e. some time after the next Extension?

Attempting to travel on a damaged passport held together with sellotape is a risk. I would advise a new passport is obtained prior to any travel.

2 minutes ago, Swimman said:

Attempting to travel on a damaged passport held together with sellotape is a risk. I would advise a new passport is obtained prior to any travel.

He writing about a trip to his home country. Perhaps if he was traveling to somewhere else it could cause a problem.

1 minute ago, ubonjoe said:

He writing about a trip to his home country. Perhaps if he was traveling to somewhere else it could cause a problem.

That might be true if a direct flight is taken but if the journey involves entering another country the risk is real.

2 minutes ago, Swimman said:

That might be true if a direct flight is taken but if the journey involves entering another country the risk is real.

To me direct means transiting through another county which does not require entering another country. You seem to be writing about a non stop flight to his home country which is possible.

16 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

To me direct means transiting through another county which does not require entering another country. You seem to be writing about a non stop flight to his home country which is possible.

My flight is direct, but not non-stop.

As you suggest, I'm not too worried about entering UK.
However, is it relevant that when I return to Thailand my old damaged Passport would be a fundamental part of my right to enter, as it will still contain all my visa information, albeit it is all acceptable once inside?

why not take photos of the legible pages on yur phone??

2 minutes ago, essox essox said:

why not take photos of the legible pages on yur phone??

I forget where, but I read that it was a requirement for Passport renewal to provide copies so I have scanned every page and I will be carrying hard copies plus they will be on my phone and accessible via internet.
I'm not sure Immigration will be too interested though? 

16 minutes ago, mickba said:

I forget where, but I read that it was a requirement for Passport renewal to provide copies so I have scanned every page and I will be carrying hard copies plus they will be on my phone and accessible via internet.

Copies of your old passport are only needed if apply here for your new passport. They want them since you are allowed to keep the old one after doing the application.

54 minutes ago, essox essox said:

why not take photos of the legible pages on yur phone??

What is the benefit of doing that?

They have no value to an IO who wants the physical document.

 

the only value is in the event that you have lost the original passport they may possibly make getting a new one slightly more simple.

 

the downside is that if you lose the phone you have just made identity theft very much easier. 

8 hours ago, mickba said:

However, is it relevant that when I return to Thailand my old damaged Passport would be a fundamental part of my right to enter, as it will still contain all my visa information, albeit it is all acceptable once inside?

As long as your current extension and re-entry stamp are legible in your old passport there shouldn't be any problems.

 

Another thing to consider, I assume you'll be booking a return flight using your current passport ID number.

It may be worth notifying the airline you'll be getting a new passport so returning on a different ID.

You may have to contact the airline once you've received your new passport with the new number to avoid any issues at check in for your return journey.

On 4/10/2018 at 6:33 PM, mickba said:

No it's not convenient to start again from scratch in UK visa wise and I don't see why I need to.

Well I only hope for your sake then that neither the extension stamp immediately preceding your current one nor the initial visa/stamp have been damaged since Immigration specifically annotate these on the first page of a new passport as part of the stamps transfer process. At least that was my experience at Rayong Immigration in 2013.

On 12/04/2018 at 12:35 PM, OJAS said:

Well I only hope for your sake then that neither the extension stamp immediately preceding your current one nor the initial visa/stamp have been damaged since Immigration specifically annotate these on the first page of a new passport as part of the stamps transfer process. At least that was my experience at Rayong Immigration in 2013.

Miraculously the initial visa/stamp is OK ...they asked for a copy of it for the last 3 Residence Certs for some reason, never before.....also the last several extensions.

@ubonjoe  A further Q occurs to me.
Assuming that I arrived safely back with new and old Passports, with about a month to go before I apply for another Extension, do I need to get the stamps transferred ahead of that application or could it all be done at the same visit?

1 hour ago, mickba said:

Assuming that I arrived safely back with new and old Passports, with about a month to go before I apply for another Extension, do I need to get the stamps transferred ahead of that application or could it all be done at the same visit?

Not knowing which office you use, you may be required to submit a new TM30 within 24 hours of arriving back at your residence, in which case you could transfer the stamps at the same time. 

You can also apply for your next extension 30 days prior to expiry of your exiting extension (45 days at some offices).