If someone is overstayed and the passport is about to expire, does the Embassy still renew the passport and can the renewal be precluded given the overstay? Thank you

When is expiry of pp and when is expiry of current permission of stay..

No, a citizens passport renewal will not normally be disallowed just because the holder has an overstay.  The embassy will obviously refer to it and give the relevant advice and warning.  They will note the situation in case the holder mysteriously "loses" the new passport in an fraudulent attempt to get around the overstay by claiming it to be lost.

Different countries might have different procedures, but I think in most cases an embassy doesn't want an overstayer to become their burden.

 

If they refused to renew an overstayer's passport to enable them to leave Thailand on their own, guess what, eventually one of their consular officials would need to visit that overstayer at the IDC - and that would just complicate matters.

 

I've seen many reports of overstayers obtaining a new passport, but not a single actual report of an overstayer who was refused a new passport just because of being on overstay. 

I have a friend with this problem and the embassy advised him to first clear up the immigration issue before applying for a passport, apparently because a valid visa is a requirement for such an application.

 

Absurd. Immigration won't touch his overstay paperwork with a ten foot pole unless they see a valid passport.

 

Avoid overstay. Go back home to native country before overstay, renew passport, apply for new visa at Thai Embassy or on entry into Thailand?

What country is involved in the passport renewal?

1 hour ago, Thomas KH said:

I have a friend with this problem and the embassy advised him to first clear up the immigration issue before applying for a passport, apparently because a valid visa is a requirement for such an application.

 

Absurd. Immigration won't touch his overstay paperwork with a ten foot pole unless they see a valid passport.

 

I don't where your friend is from, but I've never heard of "having a valid visa" being a condition of obtaining a passport.

You are being given the correct advice. If your passport has not already expired, leave for home country if possible while the passport is still valid. This might be tricky if you cannot take a direct flight, because transit via another country will often require that you have a passport with six months remaining validity.

 

If you cannot leave for home country before the passport expires, you should talk to your embassy about an emergency travel document (again as soon as possible, and with the intention of using it to return to home country).

 

Pay any overstay fines on the way out.

 

Return to Thailand after you have sorted out your situation and have a new passport.