UK Passport Renewal

[StevieAus]

Anyone seeking to renew their UK passport might be interested in the following, regarding processing times.

We renewed our daughter’s UK passport at VFS in Chiang Mai on the 22 March this year.

We subsequently received an email from the UK Passport Office advising that due to Covid expect the passport in 8/9 weeks.

I received a call from VFS today 19 April advising that the passport was ready for collection.

 

[dick turpin]

That's quite appalling, trust you are going to write your local MP......... blah, blah. 

[ukrules]

That's about right then, it took just over a month instead of the potential 8/9 weeks.

 

My passport expires early next year, I must get around to renewing it come time this year, maybe August or September, I haven't decided yet as it involves a trip to Bangkok to get a new visa inserted.

[StevieAus]

1 hour ago, dick turpin said:

That's quite appalling, trust you are going to write your local MP......... blah, blah. 

Considering I am an Australian citizen who doesn’t live in the UK it might be hard to complain to my local MP.

If you care to read the post properly and could understand the first paragraph which obviously you can’t you would realize that it was posted for information not as a complaint.

Just for the record and certainly not to rub salt into the wounds, her Australian passport was delivered to our door within two weeks and her Thai passport within forty eight hours.

The English passport has to be collected in person, thankfully not from the UK.

[dick turpin]

2 hours ago, StevieAus said:

Considering I am an Australian citizen who doesn’t live in the UK it might be hard to complain to my local MP.

If you care to read the post properly and could understand the first paragraph which obviously you can’t you would realize that it was posted for information not as a complaint.

Just for the record and certainly not to rub salt into the wounds, her Australian passport was delivered to our door within two weeks and her Thai passport within forty eight hours.

The English passport has to be collected in person, thankfully not from the UK.

 

Only jesting.......but you being an Aussie that will have gone right over your head.

[StevieAus]

18 hours ago, dick turpin said:

 

Only jesting.......but you being an Aussie that will have gone right over your head.

It didn’t actually my father was born in the UK that’s how we get the UK passports just felt like having a bit of a dig.

To your credit you took it in good fun unlike some others on this site.

Suspect they live boring lives.

[hotandsticky]

21 hours ago, ukrules said:

That's about right then, it took just over a month instead of the potential 8/9 weeks.

 

My passport expires early next year, I must get around to renewing it come time this year, maybe August or September, I haven't decided yet as it involves a trip to Bangkok to get a new visa inserted.

 

 

Don't leave it too late (even though you are no longer credited with the unexpired term).

 

 

A friend almost did - office closures because of Covid (and public holidays) left him tight on time. I would usually suggest doing it immediately after a 90 day report.

Edited April 20, 2021 by hotandsticky

[WhiteBuffaloATM]

Access / Print / Complete UK Passport Renewal Form & Guidelines and use Intl Courier back and forth.

Point of using VFS , needing two trips to Bangkok, is what exactly ?

[Upnotover]

38 minutes ago, WhiteBuffaloATM said:

Access / Print / Complete UK Passport Renewal Form & Guidelines and use Intl Courier back and forth.

Point of using VFS , needing two trips to Bangkok, is what exactly ?

 

1) You'll be without your passport in Thailand for maybe 8-12 weeks.  Not ideal.

2) You'll need a 3rd party in the UK for HMPO to send you passport to.  They are not going to send it to Thailand by courier.

3) You'll have to fraudulently claim you are living in the UK.

[richard_smith237]

1 hour ago, WhiteBuffaloATM said:

Access / Print / Complete UK Passport Renewal Form & Guidelines and use Intl Courier back and forth.

Point of using VFS , needing two trips to Bangkok, is what exactly ?

 

And how you you get the HMPO to send a passport back to you ‘internationally’ when doing so is not permitted (when applying for a passport from outside of the UK you have to use the VFS). 

 

KTo apply for the passport ‘your way’ the passport would need to be posted to a ‘friends / family’s’ address and they forward on the passport with a courier. 

 

Additionally, you’d be without your passport in a foreign country. It would take just as long. There are extra steps where the passport could get lost etc.

 

VFS exists for a reason and it takes about 4 weeks... keep things simple and do things as we are supposed to !!!

 

------

 

I renewed a passport back in Oct. Exactly as the Op wrote, I received an e-mail informing me that it could take up to 8 weeks to receive my passport. It took 4. 

Edited May 30, 2021 by richard_smith237

[Kwasaki]

On 4/19/2021 at 3:41 PM, ukrules said:

That's about right then, it took just over a month instead of the potential 8/9 weeks.

 

My passport expires early next year, I must get around to renewing it come time this year, maybe August or September, I haven't decided yet as it involves a trip to Bangkok to get a new visa inserted.

I used an agent didn't want to go Bangkok.

It took 9 weeks because the UK passport office had delays caused by covid.

[hotandsticky]

On 5/30/2021 at 5:38 PM, WhiteBuffaloATM said:

Access / Print / Complete UK Passport Renewal Form & Guidelines and use Intl Courier back and forth.

Point of using VFS , needing two trips to Bangkok, is what exactly ?

 

 

This was the response I received from the Home Office to my proposal to do it that way:-

 

 

The Home Office advise that for security purposes a passport must not be taken over a border without the holder in possession.

If you post your passport to a residential address in another country it potentially could be retained by the Border Agency and cancelled, This could influence that actual granting of a UK Passport as there is no absolute entitlement.

The package you use could also be damaged during the delivery process and be compromised or end up in the possession of a 3rd party which could lead to identity theft.



To confirm the notes on the declaration form that you need to read before signing;



When the application form is completed and signed by yourself, if you are not resident at the address you provide, you are making a false statement for which you could be prosecuted and a potential prison sentence.

If the passport is lost in transit or has a delivery issue you will need to attend in person to collect it. As you possibly will not have any other travel documents to return to the UK it would leave you in a difficult position.



Taking the above into account and you state that the action you are suggesting will save time and money, the repercussions of being caught are severe.



I hope this has been of assistance and recommend strongly that you follow the standard process.

[WhiteBuffaloATM]

off topic. Uk gov website specifies VFS use as anti- fraud measure for uk passport applications.