Paying for your UK passport renewal using VFS.

[garygooner]

Surely many people have used their Thai credit/debit card to make payment. I'd like to know if anyone has ever had a problem and if so how was it sorted? I know you should check with your card provider first.

Thank you. 

[Liverpool Lou]

I take it that you mean problems after using the card for the transaction, not problems with the payment being authorised?

 

Never has a problem.  Why are you assuming that there may be a problem, what are you suggesting?

 

 

[scubascuba3]

Opening post is too vague, what happened?

[sandyf]

2 hours ago, garygooner said:

Surely many people have used their Thai credit/debit card to make payment.

You will have to wait and see on that one.

I used a UK card for mine and personally I would think there is a high chance of the transaction being rejected by a foreign bank.

[sandyf]

3 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

Opening post is too vague, what happened?

I don't think he said anything has happened.

I believe the passport application still requires a payment authorisation form to be submitted. In other words you give the passport office all your card details, or someone else's, and they will charge the card the amount required.

The OP is looking for experiences with this type of payment using a Thai card.

[AhFarangJa]

8 minutes ago, sandyf said:

I don't think he said anything has happened.

I believe the passport application still requires a payment authorisation form to be submitted. In other words you give the passport office all your card details, or someone else's, and they will charge the card the amount required.

The OP is looking for experiences with this type of payment using a Thai card.

Here is the first paragraph of the payment form......................

Applying for a passport from outside the UK Paying by Credit Card or Debit Card Please fill in the instruction below and include it with your passport application. A separate instruction should accompany each application. We accept Mastercard, Visa, Electron, Diners Club and JCB. You must ensure that you have checked with your card provider that your card is valid, for this international transaction, and that adequate funds are available

As you mention Sandy, maybe looking to use a Thai card. As it is for applying for a passport outside U.K. I would imagine a visa card for example issued by a Thai bank would suffice.

[sandyf]

9 minutes ago, AhFarangJa said:

Here is the first paragraph of the payment form......................

Applying for a passport from outside the UK Paying by Credit Card or Debit Card Please fill in the instruction below and include it with your passport application. A separate instruction should accompany each application. We accept Mastercard, Visa, Electron, Diners Club and JCB. You must ensure that you have checked with your card provider that your card is valid, for this international transaction, and that adequate funds are available

As you mention Sandy, maybe looking to use a Thai card. As it is for applying for a passport outside U.K. I would imagine a visa card for example issued by a Thai bank would suffice.

Yes, on the surface it shouldn't be a problem. If you look at it from the banks point of view, to them an unknown source asking for an international transaction without the support of OTP, the reaction may not be what is required.

I suspect it is one of those situations that may work for some and not others.

[garygooner]

Thanks for the comments. I simply wanted to know if anyone had used their Thai card for payment and had a problem or not. Of course I would visit my Thai bank and ask if I could use my card for this purpose, but after they tell me, "sure, no problem, we just activated it for you" I still wouldn't believe them completely.  

[Digitalbanana]

13 minutes ago, garygooner said:

and ask if I could use my card for this purpose, but after they tell me, "sure, no problem, we just activated it for you"

Sure, if the card is not activated you won't be able to use it at VFS or anywhere else for that matter.

[Jaxxper]

Just paid a VFS fee using a Thai Credit Card. Payment accepted , no problems.

[Upnotover]

1 minute ago, Jaxxper said:

Just paid a VFS fee using a Thai Credit Card. Payment accepted , no problems.

But for a UK passport you don't pay VFS in Thailand, you pay HMPO in the UK.  That was the whole point of the thread.

[sandyf]

52 minutes ago, Jaxxper said:

Just paid a VFS fee using a Thai Credit Card. Payment accepted , no problems.

VFS fees have always been separate to visa and passport fees. Visa fees up until recently were paid to UK immigration in USD via Worldpay, this year however I paid in Thai baht.

HMPO use a payment authorisation arrangement, different altogether, payment will be taken by the passport office as and when, will charge you what they think is required, not what you put on the form. You will not know if the payment has been successful until some time after your passport application reaches HMPO.

[Jaxxper]

42 minutes ago, sandyf said:

VFS fees have always been separate to visa and passport fees. Visa fees up until recently were paid to UK immigration in USD via Worldpay, this year however I paid in Thai baht.

HMPO use a payment authorisation arrangement, different altogether, payment will be taken by the passport office as and when, will charge you what they think is required, not what you put on the form. You will not know if the payment has been successful until some time after your passport application reaches HMPO.

All I can tell you is that I made two separate payments with my Thai credit card (In THB) , one to the HMPO for the visa, and a separate payment to VFS for processing using the same card. The Fees for both are fixed based on what you request on the applications. Both charges have shown on my CC statement in the last week. The Authors question was specifically about the VFS fees though.

[OJAS]

1 hour ago, sandyf said:

VFS fees have always been separate to visa and passport fees. Visa fees up until recently were paid to UK immigration in USD via Worldpay, this year however I paid in Thai baht.

HMPO use a payment authorisation arrangement, different altogether, payment will be taken by the passport office as and when, will charge you what they think is required, not what you put on the form. You will not know if the payment has been successful until some time after your passport application reaches HMPO.

But it truly beggars belief IMHO that VFS are not, for some ridiculously absurd reason, permitted by their HMPO masters to offer an alternative payment service for new UK passports in THB - in precisely the same way as they are now permitted by their UKVI masters in the case of UK visa applications.

 

[Sharp]

5 hours ago, Upnotover said:

But for a UK passport you don't pay VFS in Thailand, you pay HMPO in the UK.  That was the whole point of the thread.

VFS will send your credit card form( which you fill in and give to them) to the UK with the passport application

[Sharp]

This form????

OS_Payment__Instruction_07.13.pdf

[blackshadow]

i think you have to pay cash ......not too sure.....

[Sharp]

4 minutes ago, blackshadow said:

i think you have to pay cash ......not too sure.....

Cash isn't accepted i tried ...The form above is what is required 

[TropicalGuy]

Card (Debit or Credit) Bank Country doesn’t matter if supported by Visa or MasterCard. ????

[sanuk711]

There is an (English) agent that does it all...if you want to use him, including using his Credit Card..... I think they charge 5,000 baht--maybe not bargain if you live near the embassy. But defiantly an option if your in Chiang Mai-- Issan or Phuket.

 

[sandyf]

15 hours ago, OJAS said:

But it truly beggars belief IMHO that VFS are not, for some ridiculously absurd reason, permitted by their HMPO masters to offer an alternative payment service for new UK passports in THB - in precisely the same way as they are now permitted by their UKVI masters in the case of UK visa applications.

 

Quite. The UK government has always been problematic. Nothing more bizarre than the way it was for visas.

If you applied in Thailand  you paid in USD.

If you applied in China you paid in Yuan.

If you applied in Gibraltar you paid in GBP.

[sandyf]

16 hours ago, Jaxxper said:

The Authors question was specifically about the VFS fees though.

Where in the OP does it mention VFS fees?

[sandyf]

16 hours ago, Jaxxper said:

one to the HMPO for the visa,

That must be something new.

[Thailand]

11 hours ago, sanuk711 said:

There is an (English) agent that does it all...if you want to use him, including using his Credit Card..... I think they charge 5,000 baht--maybe not bargain if you live near the embassy. But defiantly an option if your in Chiang Mai-- Issan or Phuket.

 

There is a VFS office in Chiang Mai

[garygooner]

Thanks again for all the replies. I am referring to the payment form that is sent to the UK with your application. 

I guess, go to your bank, check that your card is activated/verified & can be used for this purpose ... and then later hope for the best and check your account to see if payment has been taken.  

[Sharp]

5 hours ago, garygooner said:

Thanks again for all the replies. I am referring to the payment form that is sent to the UK with your application. 

I guess, go to your bank, check that your card is activated/verified & can be used for this purpose ... and then later hope for the best and check your account to see if payment has been taken.  

I used my Krungsri Visa Card details using the form already posted above .It was sent with my application and debited in GBP about 5 days after being posted from Thailand by VFS.

[OJAS]

On 7/6/2022 at 7:40 AM, sandyf said:

That must be something new.

Maybe @Jaxxper had availed himself of some or all of VFS's so-called "premium" services referred to in the link below??

 

https://visa.vfsglobal.com/tha/en/gbr/hmpo

 

[esaandaz]

I have just had a payment for my passport renewal rejected. I used my wife's credit card she assured me it was ok for international transactions. Apparently not.  She's now authorized the bank to make the payment but so far nothing has been charged to her account. What can I do? Will the passport agency contact me? It's a worry.

[esaandaz]

Update; passport agency sent me an email saying my payment had been rejected.  They gave me a phone number to call with a reference code.  Can only contact them on Tuesday and Thursday 09:30 to 15:30 . Anyways I called and asked for them to use my  wife's same card. RESULT:Payment accepted. Happy again ????

[OJAS]

1 hour ago, esaandaz said:

They gave me a phone number to call with a reference code.  Can only contact them on Tuesday and Thursday 09:30 to 15:30

If this was the dreaded +44 300 222 0000 number, you did remarkably well to be able to speak to a real live human being within the available 6-hour slots on either of those 2 days!