Renewing UK Passport.... 11 WEEKS Waiting Time!!

[richard_smith237]

48 minutes ago, Surasak said:

By sending you PP out of the country, if you are in Thailand, I believe you are committing an offence. Correct me if I'm wrong!

You are wrong... 

 

When you renew your passport from within Thailand you do not send off your passport. 

Your passport remains with you.

When you collect your new passport the corner of your old passport is clipped off. 

 

 

[Surasak]

2 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

You are wrong... 

 

When you renew your passport from within Thailand you do not send off your passport. 

Your passport remains with you.

When you collect your new passport the corner of your old passport is clipped off. 

 

 

I was referencing sending a PP OUT of Thailand. NOT renewing within Thailand. Is that CLEAR for you?

[brewsterbudgen]

3 hours ago, chilly07 said:

Renewed mine in Jan this year. Took 7 w via an agent (to avoid traveling to Bangkok twice). Nothing goes to the UK. VFS instructs Indian passport makers direct which explains why renewing your passport in Thailand is faster and more reliable than in the UK

That's incorrect.  UK passports are issued in Liverpool by HMPO.  VFS do not "instruct" anyone.  They merely forward the application to Liverpool via DHL.

[richard_smith237]

59 minutes ago, Surasak said:

3 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

You are wrong... 

 

When you renew your passport from within Thailand you do not send off your passport. 

Your passport remains with you.

When you collect your new passport the corner of your old passport is clipped off. 

 

 

I was referencing sending a PP OUT of Thailand. NOT renewing within Thailand. Is that CLEAR for you?

Yep.

[scubascuba3]

5 hours ago, Surasak said:

I see you keep up to date very well......and obviously have money to burn.

i wouldn't do it but then I'm not desperate for a new passport. I see you don't keep up to date, look up the  online premium service

[billy54]

Did mine in 10weeks. Without the problems over photos it would have been 8 weeks 

[TKDfella]

8 hours ago, Satcommlee said:

Be cautious with agents, I knew very well about the long delays, so tried to get it done in March but the agent held onto the passport for 6 weeks without doing anything. Now my summer plans are possibly ruined because of this delay.

I used an agent (the first time ever) and 3 days later I received an email from VFS telling me that the application had been sent to HMPO. That was on 21-04-22. That was just over 7 weeks ago...

[brianthainess]

Slightly of topic but; If you have duel nationality OZ & UK and your Extension is in your OZ passport can you 'Enter' the UK on an expired UK passport ?

[TKDfella]

On 6/12/2022 at 3:53 PM, grain said:

I recently renewed my UK PP through Paul Aslett at Thai Visa Express, Pattaya. 11,000 bt total price for the extra pages PP. Took about 6 weeks for the new PP to arrive by post. I live up country and didn't even have to go to Pattaya, just sent my PP + forms + pic to Thai Visa Express by EMS. They took care of everything. Why would you want to frig around going to VFS?

I used the same agent. I received VFS email saying that application had been sent to HMPO on the 21st April. Over 7 weeks now and still waiting for an email from VFS to advise that new passport is ready for collection. 

[2long]

On 6/12/2022 at 4:09 PM, samtam said:

I submitted mine at VFS in Bangkok, (in which I live), on 11 May, and it will take 11 weeks, so the new one will not be available for collection before beginning of August, and quite possibly longer, if the horror stories at HMPO are in the majority - some 500,000 backlog and some cases taking over 3 months. My old passport expires on 30 April 2023, so as my new Extension of Stay is up until then, I hope I shall get it back before that....????

...well, a lot before then, as it would be nice to exit Thailand after more than 3 years, (6 months renovating my condo, and 2 1/2 years of Covid), when travel was too tedious. 

I applied for my daughter's at VFS around the same day as you.

Payment came out of my bank account a couple of weeks ago, so I'm expecting an email any day, but it's not urgent.

[sungod]

7 hours ago, transam said:

Way back when I did a PP at Trendy, I had some photos done in my town, cost me 50 bht, but when I got to Trendy I saw in the foyer a PP photo shop, thought, better safe than sorry, had some done there, 250 bht. ☹️

Went up to do my interview, I gave them the photos I just had done, there was a lot of chat going on about them, so I pulled out my town photos, waved my hand, they took my other photos, then smiles all round.

 

250bht down the shoot....????

 

Slightly off topic but still with VFS at Trendy, when my wife applied for a UK visa some time back they made her print off a copy of her passport that was not even asked for on the application form for a ridiculous price. I pointed out that had it been asked for I would have supplied, but show me where it was asked for? They have the original passport anyway.

 

Anyway, they couldn't and denied all knowledge of asking for it as it shouldn't have been, I told them to check the CCTV as it was very clear one of their staff did it and helped her print it off in their office.

 

After they said out the footage had gone, and an internal investigation where VFS exonerated themselves I complained to the FCO who made VFS refund me. 

[sungod]

4 hours ago, brewsterbudgen said:

8 hours ago, chilly07 said:

Renewed mine in Jan this year. Took 7 w via an agent (to avoid traveling to Bangkok twice). Nothing goes to the UK. VFS instructs Indian passport makers direct which explains why renewing your passport in Thailand is faster and more reliable than in the UK

That's incorrect.  UK passports are issued in Liverpool by HMPO.  VFS do not "instruct" anyone.  They merely forward the application to Liverpool via DHL.

And there are no Indian Passport makers, they are produced in Poland.

[Samuin]

Did anyone have their passport expire before the new one arrived?

If so, how was the situation resolved?

[champers]

Waiting time now up to 13 weeks according to a Pattaya radio station; 103FM; this morning.

[Satcommlee]

For anyone struggling with UK passport at the moment, we all know there are severe delays but if you apply from Thailand they cannot even trace your application as you don't get an application number.

Don't even waste hours on the phone or filling in online forms where they say they will get back to you in 72 hours..

 

I eventually got a reply after a week from a mail I sent to [email protected], which is where VFS told me they sent the application to.

 

 

Edited June 13, 2022 by Satcommlee

[StevieAus]

On 6/12/2022 at 2:18 PM, sanuk711 said:

My wife renewed her Thai passport last week-- so many people doing it they could only take 700 a day--- renewed it on Monday--sent to her registered post on Thursday.

 

She is just so happy that she lives in a backward third world country.........

My goodness, they must be slowing down, we renewed our daughter’s Thai passport in Chiang Mai a few months ago at lunchtime on Monday arrived on the Wednesday.

Just for the record and despite what some of the bigots on this site claim, Thailand was never a Third World Country.

[Thingamabob]

I  recently obtained a new UK passport via VFS in Bangkok. I was told it could take 12 weeks but in fact it took only 6 weeks. Simple and straightforward. Good service with no hassle.

[sanuk711]

5 hours ago, StevieAus said:

we renewed our daughter’s Thai passport in Chiang Mai a few months ago at lunchtime on Monday arrived on the Wednesday.

This is the trouble with this country StevieAus......  & they just wont listen to the farangs when we try to teach them...........

[yang123]

1 hour ago, Thingamabob said:

I  recently obtained a new UK passport via VFS in Bangkok. I was told it could take 12 weeks but in fact it took only 6 weeks. Simple and straightforward. Good service with no hassle.

How recent?

Tks

[NanLaew]

On 6/12/2022 at 2:39 PM, The Hammer2021 said:

Hasn't the OP heard of Covid and its impact  on work in the UK?

My passport expires in June 22 this month. SO being an adult who keeps myself  informed and proactively acts in a way to make  my life as simple as possible-

I took my passport  to an agency in October 2021 where they told me it might take 11 weeks to get a new one. I signed  a form. I yielded  my passport  for 24 hours.

About 8 weeks  later my new passport  arrived-6 months before my old passport  elapsed.

Apparently the 8 weeks was caused by a Christmas  rush after travel  restrictions were lifted.

BUT how is it possible  for adults not to  know about possible  delays  in issuing passports (and DLs) in the UK.

Why would anybody,  anywhere, at any time leave the renewal of such an important document  to the last  minute?

The OP needs to use a good, professional  agent to sort this  out and learn a lesson about proactive  planning.

I also renew my retirement extension  six weeks  early.

Hey, Tonto. Did you even read the OP?

 

The OP has 9 months validity remaining on his current passport and was simply confused over the status of his current passport during any renewal procedure. Nobody's doing the 'last minute' renewal that you're obsessing about..

 

Thanks for letting us know you're an adult and a bonus to learn you're retired one. I'm sure some will be pleased to know this.

[NanLaew]

6 hours ago, StevieAus said:

On 6/12/2022 at 2:18 PM, sanuk711 said:

My wife renewed her Thai passport last week-- so many people doing it they could only take 700 a day--- renewed it on Monday--sent to her registered post on Thursday.

 

She is just so happy that she lives in a backward third world country.........

My goodness, they must be slowing down, we renewed our daughter’s Thai passport in Chiang Mai a few months ago at lunchtime on Monday arrived on the Wednesday.

Just for the record and despite what some of the bigots on this site claim, Thailand was never a Third World Country.

Huh, that's nothing. Five years ago, my wife got her new passport a whole two weeks before she renewed it. Thailand's way, way ahead of the curve.

[NanLaew]

12 hours ago, Samuin said:

Did anyone have their passport expire before the new one arrived?

If so, how was the situation resolved?

What situation?

 

By the letter of the law, the passport holder could be considered to be in Thailand illegally in the time between the old one expiring and receiving the new one.

 

If there's an extension in the old passport, I would think it expires on the same date the passport expires. If an extension expires while one is out of the country, it's irrecoverably gone.

 

However, with regard to a US visa, if a passport expires before the US visa expiration date, as long as the page in the expired passport that carries that visa does not have the corner clipped, it remains valid for it's duration when presented to US immigration in conjunction with the new passport. However, I haven't heard of that being the case with Thai visas.

 

It would be interesting to hear if anyone did present an expired passport with a 'current' extension in it and it was successfully transferred to the new passport by Thai immigration.

[sandyf]

20 hours ago, brewsterbudgen said:

That's incorrect.  UK passports are issued in Liverpool by HMPO.  VFS do not "instruct" anyone.  They merely forward the application to Liverpool via DHL.

Quite. Back in March 2014 when overseas passports were transferred from FCO to HMPO I had just returned from Malaysia.  I wasn't aware of the change and decided to renew my passport, still had 7 years validity but was full up. This was early April and my ME Non O was ok till early July so no apparent problem. Following the change a similar problem arose that exists now and come the end of June there was still no sign of the passport.

Early July I went along to Immigration and applied for an extension based  on marriage which gave me another 30 days on permission to stay. Immigration had some difficulty finding space for the under consideration stamp and told me not to bother coming back unless I had a new passport. Have to say started to get a bit nervous. I contacted the Embassy and explained the problem. A couple of weeks later they came back to me and said they had located my passport, it was still at the printers but Liverpool would have it prioritised and it would be back in time. I was starting to think about an ETD when 2 days before I got the email from Trendy that it had arrived. I was unfit to travel to Bangkok so my wife went to collect it and the following day we drove down to immigration. Not an experience I would like to  have again and have to say the embassy stepped up to the plate when it counted, but that was before the restructure.

[overherebc]

4 hours ago, NanLaew said:

What situation?

 

By the letter of the law, the passport holder could be considered to be in Thailand illegally in the time between the old one expiring and receiving the new one.

 

If there's an extension in the old passport, I would think it expires on the same date the passport expires. If an extension expires while one is out of the country, it's irrecoverably gone.

 

However, with regard to a US visa, if a passport expires before the US visa expiration date, as long as the page in the expired passport that carries that visa does not have the corner clipped, it remains valid for it's duration when presented to US immigration in conjunction with the new passport. However, I haven't heard of that being the case with Thai visas.

 

It would be interesting to hear if anyone did present an expired passport with a 'current' extension in it and it was successfully transferred to the new passport by Thai immigration.

Always wondered what the answer is on visa and extensions validity.

Visa stays valid after passport is clipped but what about an extension.

If it can be transferred to a new passport then is the answer yes, it stays valid????

Edited June 14, 2022 by overherebc

[overherebc]

Just been asked if it's possible to fill in the uk passport application on the computer then print and sign it.

Anyone ????

[Upnotover]

4 hours ago, NanLaew said:

 

It would be interesting to hear if anyone did present an expired passport with a 'current' extension in it and it was successfully transferred to the new passport by Thai immigration.

The extension in the expired passport would have expired on the same day as the passport.  So this situation should never occur.

[transam]

1 hour ago, overherebc said:

Just been asked if it's possible to fill in the uk passport application on the computer then print and sign it.

Anyone ????

I download the forms and print them off, the instructions are to fill it in and sign with "black ink", so I assume the personal touch is required..

[overherebc]

1 minute ago, transam said:

I download the forms and print them off, the instructions are to fill it in and sign with "black ink", so I assume the personal touch is required..

I will pass on.

[TKDfella]

1 hour ago, overherebc said:

I will pass on.

On page 'section 1 top left of the application form it states 'Get it right. Use black biro only'. So printed details apparently qualify as being incorrect.

[NanLaew]

3 hours ago, Upnotover said:

8 hours ago, NanLaew said:

 

It would be interesting to hear if anyone did present an expired passport with a 'current' extension in it and it was successfully transferred to the new passport by Thai immigration.

The extension in the expired passport would have expired on the same day as the passport.  So this situation should never occur.

Yes, thinking it through after a couple of large Leos' and I reckon you're right.

 

I guess there's a difference between a replaced passport where the old one still has date validity so the extension stays alive and can be transferred into the new passport and a date expired passport where everything expires on the passport's expiration date.

 

Is the US unique in keeping a visa alive regardless of the passport's expiration? That was with their standard 10-year visa but my passports were always chock full and needed replacing after maybe 6 years so had tell HMPO not to cut the corners off the visa page and produce both passports when entering.