new passport from Bangkok

[harry94]

I am going to renew my Uk passport , i understand i have to have every page photo copied , does this have to be in colour or can i do in black print only , Thank you .

[Upnotover]

Colour.

 

From GOV.UK;

You must also bring your current passport with you when you apply, and a full colour photocopy of the entire passport (every page including blank pages).

[The Hammer2021]

Honestly just use an agent to deal with everything. It's worth it.

[dick turpin]

7 minutes ago, The Hammer2021 said:

Honestly just use an agent to deal with everything. It's worth it.

What can possibly go wrong.......

 

 

 

[The Hammer2021]

11 minutes ago, dick turpin said:

What can possibly go wrong.......

 

 

 

Don't understand your comment  but all I can say is using an agent to fill in the forms, do the photocopying,  collate the documents, go to Bangkok, wait around, submit documents etc etc was very useful  for me

[KannikaP]

1 hour ago, Upnotover said:

Colour.

 

From GOV.UK;

You must also bring your current passport with you when you apply, and a full colour photocopy of the entire passport (every page including blank pages).

How f...ing stupid can they get. And why?

[Tony M]

16 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

How f...ing stupid can they get. And why?

Maybe so they can tell the tax man where you live.

[Tony M]

13 minutes ago, Tony M said:

Maybe so they can tell the tax man where you live.

And the Pensions man.

[harry94]

Thank you for your comments ok colour it is then . now also i have printed off the passport forms in black , so i am guessing they also need to be colour . ?     For some using an agent is ok to renew a passport but for me i never let my passport out of my sight.

[86Tiger]

2 hours ago, Upnotover said:

Colour.

 

From GOV.UK;

You must also bring your current passport with you when you apply, and a full colour photocopy of the entire passport (every page including blank pages).

 

 

Holy oh my goodness what a pain, Batman!

 

Thank goodness Uncle Sam only needs an application.  And a payment of course, don't forget the payment.......

[harry94]

Sorry to be a pain , i have just checked the Pdf form for passport application is in Black wich i have had printed off .so colour for passport copies and application forms is in black . All good Happy

days i hope .

[Upnotover]

20 minutes ago, harry94 said:

Sorry to be a pain , i have just checked the Pdf form for passport application is in Black wich i have had printed off .so colour for passport copies and application forms is in black . All good Happy

days i hope .

Yep, don't forget to fill it in in BLACK CAPITALS also!

[harry94]

Thank you Upnotover i will do that .

[MrJ2U]

4 hours ago, The Hammer2021 said:

Don't understand your comment  but all I can say is using an agent to fill in the forms, do the photocopying,  collate the documents, go to Bangkok, wait around, submit documents etc etc was very useful  for me

Honestly a no brainer.

 

Hotels,pandemic, time waisted.

 

Agents can do everything.  I don't think its much cheaper to even do it yourself.

 

Having a business relationship with your agent over the years can help many problems that may arise in the future also.

[Speedo1968]

My passport being renewed in UK, the Passport Office ( PO ) misread the security number for my credit card payment and wrote a 3 instead of an 8, payment rejected.
I phoned my bank in UK and they told me of the number error and they would make payment once Passport Office corrected it

Received email from PO Friday 5pm, their office hours Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday 8am to 3.30pm.

Phoned them on Tuesday 8am phone lines not working properly so was called from someone working from home.   Told them the problem they called someone else presumably working at PO who called me about an hour later.    All sorted.

They told me it is taking 10 weeks for new passport and even though it was partially their error can not speed up the process.
 

[brewsterbudgen]

5 hours ago, Speedo1968 said:

My passport being renewed in UK, the Passport Office ( PO ) misread the security number for my credit card payment and wrote a 3 instead of an 8, payment rejected.
I phoned my bank in UK and they told me of the number error and they would make payment once Passport Office corrected it

Received email from PO Friday 5pm, their office hours Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday 8am to 3.30pm.

Phoned them on Tuesday 8am phone lines not working properly so was called from someone working from home.   Told them the problem they called someone else presumably working at PO who called me about an hour later.    All sorted.

They told me it is taking 10 weeks for new passport and even though it was partially their error can not speed up the process.
 

Not really relevant for people living in Thailand ????

[Eff1n2ret]

23 hours ago, KannikaP said:

How f...ing stupid can they get. And why?

The whole system is f...ing stupid. If the Civil Service wasn't so anal-retentive and still living in the middle of the 20th Century they'd offer the choice of applying online and sending in our passport, as you can in the UK. But then, we expats are second-class citizens.

[Upnotover]

4 minutes ago, Eff1n2ret said:

The whole system is f...ing stupid. If the Civil Service wasn't so anal-retentive and still living in the middle of the 20th Century they'd offer the choice of applying online and sending in our passport, as you can in the UK. But then, we expats are second-class citizens.

It's mainly Thai expats that are 2nd class.  In many/most countries you do an online application and send your passport.  The system in Thailand has been devised to comply with the need for you to have access to your passport at all times.  I suppose the reason VFS is involved is primarily to cancel your old passport when you get your new one, as they don't trust you with a pair of scissors to do it yourself.

[Eff1n2ret]

1 minute ago, Upnotover said:

The system in Thailand has been devised to comply with the need for you to have access to your passport at all times

But it's ok for you to post it off to an agent and be without it for a couple of months or more.

[OJAS]

On 2/1/2022 at 5:45 PM, 86Tiger said:

Holy oh my goodness what a pain, Batman!

 

Thank goodness Uncle Sam only needs an application.  And a payment of course, don't forget the payment.......

Indeed! I think that most of us Brits are green with envy at the ease and grace of the American passport renewal procedures, as described in the link below, when compared to the cumbersome bureaucracy of ours!

 

https://th.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/passports/adult-passport-renew/

 

In addition I understand that the State Department prioritises passport renewal applications submitted from abroad over those submitted domestically. Quite the reverse to the situation applying in the case of us Brits: according to the latest official info it is only taking HMPO 3 weeks to process UK applications - whereas those of us applying from Thailand are expected to wait 11 weeks for our new passports!

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-passport-office/about-our-services

 

https://www.passport.service.gov.uk/overseas/information/thailand/renew/adult

 

[OJAS]

On 2/2/2022 at 2:42 PM, brewsterbudgen said:

Not really relevant for people living in Thailand ????

I strongly suspect that HMPO are equally capable of misreading a credit or debit card security number on a payment authorisation form accompanying a passport renewal application submitted from Thailand, with similar consequences to those described by @Speedo1968 in all probability!

 

[Orinoco]

On 2/2/2022 at 4:50 PM, Eff1n2ret said:

The whole system is f...ing stupid. If the Civil Service wasn't so anal-retentive and still living in the middle of the 20th Century they'd offer the choice of applying online and sending in our passport, as you can in the UK. But then, we expats are second-class citizens.

We are viewed as traitors by the government and most of the people in the uk.

 

[OJAS]

On 2/2/2022 at 4:58 PM, Upnotover said:

The system in Thailand has been devised to comply with the need for you to have access to your passport at all times. 

And this appears to stem from what is IMHO a ridiculously over-cautious interpretation on the FCDO's part of the alleged requirement for foreigners to have their passports on them at all times here in LOS. Certainly the US State Department doesn't appear to have any problem with our American cousins being temporarily passport-less during the renewal process, and I'm not aware of any reports of any of them in this situation being rounded up by the BIB as a result!

 

[OJAS]

1 hour ago, Orinoco said:

We are viewed as traitors by the government and most of the people in the uk.

 

As a result we are, I strongly suspect, cannon-fodder for what I can only see as an increasingly concerted drive by the corridors of power in the UK government to make life as difficult as humanly possible for us expats here in Thailand (as also exemplified by excessively cumbersome procedures relating to the provision of State Pension life certificates, for instance) - in fulfilling which aim they are, of course, being eagerly aided and abetted by their Thai counterparts!

[DezLez]

On 2/2/2022 at 5:00 PM, Eff1n2ret said:

But it's ok for you to post it off to an agent and be without it for a couple of months or more.

The agent does not need to keep the passport and I would not post it to one, I would deliver by hand.

[thonglorjimmy]

2 hours ago, DezLez said:

The agent does not need to keep the passport and I would not post it to one, I would deliver by hand.

That's ok if you live near an agent, if not it might be better to take by hand to VFS.

[elwood]

6 hours ago, thonglorjimmy said:

That's ok if you live near an agent, if not it might be better to take by hand to VFS.

That is my problem, not living near an agent. Travelling to Bangkok will be very difficult, but I don't fancy posting my passport to an agent, then waiting months without it until  old and new are posted to me.

Incidentally, I am aware that UK no longer adds on unexpired dates, but can I renew a year before expiry, or is it 9 months at the earliest? I have seen both dates stated on google.

[ubonjoe]

25 minutes ago, elwood said:

That is my problem, not living near an agent. Travelling to Bangkok will be very difficult, but I don't fancy posting my passport to an agent, then waiting months without it until  old and new are posted to me.

You passport is returned after the application is completed. Pay the agent to send it back to you and then send it back to him when the new one can be picked up.

[Upnotover]

31 minutes ago, elwood said:

but can I renew a year before expiry, or is it 9 months at the earliest?

You can renew whenever you like, there is no maximum time before expiry.

[elwood]

2 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

You passport is returned after the application is completed. Pay the agent to send it back to you and then send it back to him when the new one can be picked up.

Fair enough UJ, but concerned at the amount of times that my  passports are travelling backwards and forwards???? But I guess that this is what I will have to do.