Renewing UK passport in Bangkok

[britishjohn]

I am intending to renew my UK passport in Bangkok and have made an appointment for early March. As well as photos and original passport I am required to bring a so called residency document.

 

The guidance document states:

 

Please provide one of the following:
• visa or resident permit (or colour photocopy)
• tax record eg a letter from a tax authority
• educational record eg school report
• employment record eg official letter from your employer
• letter sent to you from a central, regional or local government department
• medical/health card
• voter’s card
• immigration documents.

 

I intend to use my OA visa which I have recently extended. However the original visa has expired. Does anyone know if this is likely to be a problem ? Should I bring a copy of the extension also ?

[Jip99]

You are required to provide evidence of your address.

 

HMPO are quite flexible and will accept - for example - a wife/partner signing a copy of their passport/ID and stating that you live with them at XYZ address. Rental agreements have also been used.

 

Don’t forget the color photocopies of every page in the old passport.

[britishjohn]

2 minutes ago, Jip99 said:

You are required to provide evidence of your address.

 

HMPO are quite flexible and will accept - for example - a wife/partner signing a copy of their passport/ID and stating that you live with them at XYZ address. Rental agreements have also been used.

 

Don’t forget the color photocopies of every page in the old passport.

You may well be right but I can't see on the guidance where it states that you need to provide evidence of address. It just says I need to provide one of the following which I pasted in from the notes. And the first item on the list is "visa or resident permit (or colour photocopy)"

[johnray]

Make sure you arrive early as the elevators are busy and it's hard to find the correct floor.  The building is really nice inside.

[OJAS]

1 hour ago, britishjohn said:

I intend to use my OA visa which I have recently extended. However the original visa has expired. Does anyone know if this is likely to be a problem ? Should I bring a copy of the extension also ?

The important thing is that whatever doc you provide should be no older than 12 months. So that would clearly rule out your original OA visa. And your current extension of stay stamp will already be among the existing passport copies which you will be providing in any event.

 

Might not the latest statement from your occupational pension provider back in the UK do the trick? Or even the policy document for the 400k/40k health insurance policy you presumably had to take out prior to your latest extension based on an original OA visa (assuming that this states your address in anglicised format, of course)?

[Jip99]

9 hours ago, britishjohn said:

You may well be right but I can't see on the guidance where it states that you need to provide evidence of address. It just says I need to provide one of the following which I pasted in from the notes. And the first item on the list is "visa or resident permit (or colour photocopy)"

See header at top of Table A.

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/overseas-passport-supporting-documents-group-2

 

 

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/564956/OS_Guidance_G2_10.16.pdf

 

[britishjohn]

Well it says "one document as evidence of name and address and/or residency dated within the last year."  The word OR suggests to me that proof of address isn't necessarily required.

Furthermore it does list a visa as one of the documents which is accepted. My visa doesn't show my address.

 

 

[Jip99]

1 hour ago, britishjohn said:

Well it says "one document as evidence of name and address and/or residency dated within the last year."  The word OR suggests to me that proof of address isn't necessarily required.

Furthermore it does list a visa as one of the documents which is accepted. My visa doesn't show my address.

 

 

 

 

I am sorry but I can't make it any easier for you....... LOOK at the top of the form where it says AND address evidence.

 

It is quite clear.

[britishjohn]

10 hours ago, OJAS said:

The important thing is that whatever doc you provide should be no older than 12 months. So that would clearly rule out your original OA visa. And your current extension of stay stamp will already be among the existing passport copies which you will be providing in any event.

 

Might not the latest statement from your occupational pension provider back in the UK do the trick? Or even the policy document for the 400k/40k health insurance policy you presumably had to take out prior to your latest extension based on an original OA visa (assuming that this states your address in anglicised format, of course)?

I don't have a UK pension, I do have the health insurance documents you referred to however that doesn't appear on the list of accepted documents so I assume that's of no use. Like wise utility bills or leases are not mentioned.

I do have an undated copy document from HMRC which shows my UK national insurance number and also has my Thai address. No idea if that's any good.

 

[britishjohn]

3 minutes ago, Jip99 said:

 

 

I am sorry but I can't make it any easier for you....... LOOK at the top of the form where it says AND address evidence.

 

It is quite clear.

No need to apologize. We just see things differently, and I don't think it is clear.

It says "name and address and/OR residency evidence". Residency evidence doesn't necessarily mean address.

[CFCjeff]

Just use a visa agent, 11000 baht i believe, yes you are paying well over the top but you dont have the hassle of two trips to Bangkok, no hangin about, and all your docs are checked and translated if neccessary. I suppose it depends on what price you put on that.

[CraigInBangkok]

I did mine in Novemeber ... 

My rental contract is in Thai ... so I just downloaded a contract from the internet, filled it in and got the landlord to sign it.

[OJAS]

31 minutes ago, britishjohn said:

I don't have a UK pension, I do have the health insurance documents you referred to however that doesn't appear on the list of accepted documents so I assume that's of no use. Like wise utility bills or leases are not mentioned.

I do have an undated copy document from HMRC which shows my UK national insurance number and also has my Thai address. No idea if that's any good.

 

As @Jip99 has already pointed out, HMPO do appear to be pretty flexible in what docs would be acceptable. Might be worth your while contacting them if you had nothing else other than your health insurance docs to offer and your mind needed to be set at rest on this whole matter - please click on link below for details as you could go about doing this over the phone or online:-

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-passport-office/contact/passport-advice-and-complaints

 

Doubt whether your undated HMRC doc would do the trick, though. Incidentally, do you file annual tax returns with them? If so, then their documentation relating to your latest return would be ideal for this purpose.

 

Edited February 20, 2020 by OJAS

[britishjohn]

Just now, OJAS said:

As @Jip99 has already pointed out, HMPO do appear to be pretty flexible in what docs would be acceptable. Might be worth your while contacting them if you had nothing else other than your health insurance docs to offer and your mind needed to be set at rest on this whole matter - please click on link below for details as you could go about doing this over the phone or online:-

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-passport-office/contact/passport-advice-and-complaints

 

Well I do have a lease and Thai bank statements but since none of those items are mentioned in their list I assumed they would not be acceptable.

[Canuck1966]

Cut out the middleman

Just send your passport to a friend or relative in the UK.

They can forward it on to Liverpool and then back to you in Thailand

Your only cost will be a bit of postage each way and the 75 quid renewal.

You can do the whole thing online (inc pics) and no docs are required.

[OJAS]

3 minutes ago, britishjohn said:

Well I do have a lease and Thai bank statements but since none of those items are mentioned in their list I assumed they would not be acceptable.

In that case I would strongly suggest that you contact HMPO as I have indicated to clarify what might be deemed acceptable in your case, rather than jumping to conclusions based on assumptions which might well turn out to be dumb!

[Canuck1966]

13 minutes ago, CFCjeff said:

Just use a visa agent, 11000 baht i believe, yes you are paying well over the top but you dont have the hassle of two trips to Bangkok, no hangin about, and all your docs are checked and translated if neccessary. I suppose it depends on what price you put on that.

 11k , does that include the 75 quid renewal cost?? 

You can send it back and forth yourself for less than 1000 baht

[britishjohn]

5 minutes ago, Canuck1966 said:

Cut out the middleman

Just send your passport to a friend or relative in the UK.

They can forward it on to Liverpool and then back to you in Thailand

Your only cost will be a bit of postage each way and the 75 quid renewal.

You can do the whole thing online (inc pics) and no docs are required.

Yes that seems to be a good backup plan. The only thing is you do have to declare you live in the UK, which I suppose theoretically could become an issue with HMRC if you're supposed to be a non resident.

Same thing with renewing a UK driving licence. Strictly speaking you can't so it if you're not resident in the UK and you have to declare you are UK resident. So that's another issue I have coming up.

 

[tinca tinca]

13 hours ago, johnray said:

Make sure you arrive early as the elevators are busy and it's hard to find the correct floor.  The building is really nice inside.

passport office is on the eigth floor, well it was when I last went !! In October 2018. IT TOOK 3 weeks to receive my passport.

One has to collect oneself because you have to sign for new passport.

Edited February 20, 2020 by tinca tinca
after thought

[tinca tinca]

18 minutes ago, Canuck1966 said:

 11k , does that include the 75 quid renewal cost?? 

You can send it back and forth yourself for less than 1000 baht

why pay an agent 275 quid ?? at a rate if 40 to the pound

I did mine myself, OK I paid for 2 ngts in a hotel and bus fares to Bkk. Worked out very much cheaper than any AGENT !!

[ThaiBunny]

Strangely enough not everyone feels comfortable with handling any bureaucratic interaction. Look at the very large number of people in your home country who use a professional tax agent to lodge a simple wage-earner tax return

3 minutes ago, tinca tinca said:

why pay an agent 275 quid ?? at a rate if 40 to the pound. I did mine myself, OK I paid for 2 ngts in a hotel and bus fares to Bkk. Worked out very much cheaper than any AGENT !!

 

[tinca tinca]

1 minute ago, ThaiBunny said:

Strangely enough not everyone feels comfortable with handling any bureaucratic interaction. Look at the very large number of people in your home country who use a professional tax agent to lodge a simple wage-earner tax return

 

i do not pay tax in the Uk

[tinca tinca]

why not GOOGLE "how to obtain NEW UK passport.??"

[Tropicalevo]

You do need to provide proof of address and all docs have to be in English.

My address was partly in Thai but there is a translation service a couple of floors down that will translate very quickly. I cannot remember how much but it was not expensive. (And much cheaper than another return flight to Bangkok.)

[theoldgit]

20 minutes ago, tinca tinca said:

why pay an agent 275 quid ?? at a rate if 40 to the pound

I did mine myself, OK I paid for 2 ngts in a hotel and bus fares to Bkk. Worked out very much cheaper than any AGENT !!

I think you’ll find that the going rates for agents to carry out the process is 5,000 Baht, which is a lot less than £275, in fact it’s less than half.

[ThaiBunny]

13 minutes ago, tinca tinca said:

i do not pay tax in the Uk

Nor apparently do you understand how to infer a general rule of human behaviour (bureaucrat-avoidance) so  it can be applied in hundreds of scenarios across the world

[Jip99]

1 hour ago, britishjohn said:

I don't have a UK pension, I do have the health insurance documents you referred to however that doesn't appear on the list of accepted documents so I assume that's of no use. Like wise utility bills or leases are not mentioned.

I do have an undated copy document from HMRC which shows my UK national insurance number and also has my Thai address. No idea if that's any good.

 

I would use that undated document and write a covering note explaining why this is the ONLY document you have showing your address......... you need to show address evidence for extensions - what did you show immigration?

As said, UKPO are flexible and I have an email from them saying that “in 5he absence of anything else being available we will accept a signed copy of your wife’s ID.......”

[Canuck1966]

51 minutes ago, tinca tinca said:

why pay an agent 275 quid ?? at a rate if 40 to the pound

I did mine myself, OK I paid for 2 ngts in a hotel and bus fares to Bkk. Worked out very much cheaper than any AGENT !!

Mine cost less than 20 quid.

Send passport to friend in the Uk from Thailand 5 quid (200 baht)

Send passport to Liverpool - 2 quid

Send passport to Thailand - 8 quid

 

Didn't even need to enclose hard copies of passport pics.

Just used a photo app and then uploaded to the site

Edited February 20, 2020 by Canuck1966

[petedk]

1 hour ago, OJAS said:

As @Jip99 has already pointed out, HMPO do appear to be pretty flexible in what docs would be acceptable. Might be worth your while contacting them if you had nothing else other than your health insurance docs to offer and your mind needed to be set at rest on this whole matter - please click on link below for details as you could go about doing this over the phone or online:-

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-passport-office/contact/passport-advice-and-complaints

 

Doubt whether your undated HMRC doc would do the trick, though. Incidentally, do you file annual tax returns with them? If so, then their documentation relating to your latest return would be ideal for this purpose.

 

I had a few problems regarding renewal of passport and used the above link for guidance as it was impossible to contact anyone in Bangkok 

 

The person I chatted was friendly enough, but I received no more advice than I could read on their website, so I feel it was a complete waste of time and I am glad I didn't make the phone call/

 

Regarding proof of address. Yes, they do ask for it. Luckily I had my employment contract, but I also had a health check-up report from the hospital. They would have accepted that.

 

My biggest problem was getting an appointment. For various reasons it took me 3 to 4 weeks to get an appointment and then I had to wait 14 days.

 

I had an appointment last Thursday at 13.05 and I arrived 20 minutes early for my appointment and stood at the back of a long queue of all Asians. A security guard approached me and guided me through to the office and I got in immediately and was finished within 10 minutes (Before the official opening time). No problems at all and the girl was extremely polite and helpful. So mush so that we had a good laugh because I sat at the "disabled" window and I asked why she put me there.

 

My only fear now is that there is a 4 week processing time and my passport expires on March 2.

 

[tinca tinca]

2 hours ago, britishjohn said:

No need to apologize. We just see things differently, and I don't think it is clear.

It says "name and address and/OR residency evidence". Residency evidence doesn't necessarily mean address.

just take a utility bill that you have paid recently that is proof of address, it is as simple as that, why dont you go to Trendy house and seek info from there Soi 13 Bangkok, or google "what is required to renew Uk passport " get the info from the horses mouth !!

Edited February 20, 2020 by tinca tinca
wrong spelling