Courier Option to return a passport for a UK standard visitor visa not working?

[Chopper]

I would like to use the courier option which is only 308 baht to have my wife's passport and hopefully UK visa returned.

The drop down country box which is set at Thailand is greyed out. When I have filled out all of the mandatory fields I cannot proceed to the next step ''Continue'' (to payment) which is at the bottom because I am unable to insert Thailand since it is greyed out.

 

Anyone else encountered this or have any suggestions. Her appointment at VFS Global is next week. If this won't work online will she be able to pay at the appointment to have her passport returned by courier?

[Bangkok Barry]

For some bizarre and to us unknown reason, VFS do not use a courier service. Not even EMS. You know, like any other business does anywhere. They demand that, no matter where you live in Thailand, you have to appear personally not only to apply for a passport but then return to collect it. There are exceptions, such as nominating someone to collect for you which is less than straight-forward, but using any form of courier post hasn't occurred to them.

[Muhendis]

51 minutes ago, Bangkok Barry said:

For some bizarre and to us unknown reason, VFS do not use a courier service. Not even EMS. You know, like any other business does anywhere. They demand that, no matter where you live in Thailand, you have to appear personally not only to apply for a passport but then return to collect it. There are exceptions, such as nominating someone to collect for you which is less than straight-forward, but using any form of courier post hasn't occurred to them.

This sounds like a typical British way of doing things.

However it does ensure that the person who applies is verified to be the passport holder.

How the agents get over that must be that they are the nominated representative of the applicant.

[krabi local]

1 hour ago, Bangkok Barry said:

For some bizarre and to us unknown reason, VFS do not use a courier service. Not even EMS. You know, like any other business does anywhere. They demand that, no matter where you live in Thailand, you have to appear personally not only to apply for a passport but then return to collect it. There are exceptions, such as nominating someone to collect for you which is less than straight-forward, but using any form of courier post hasn't occurred to them.

That is only for passport renewal, for visitors visa they return the Thai passport with the visa by courier.

As for the OP question I don’t know why not, my wife has just done hers and didn’t have that problem.  Maybe change to a different browser ?

[Upnotover]

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[Thingamabob]

As far as I know the requirement to attend in person only applies to the handing over of new passports, for security reasons.

[Chopper]

42 minutes ago, krabi local said:

That is only for passport renewal, for visitors visa they return the Thai passport with the visa by courier.

As for the OP question I don’t know why not, my wife has just done hers and didn’t have that problem.  Maybe change to a different browser ?

 

Thanks for you suggestion. I have just tried with a different browser but still have the same issue.

 

It is looking like it an extra trip for my wife to pick up her passport and visa when her visa application has been processed.

[Bangkok Barry]

58 minutes ago, Muhendis said:

This sounds like a typical British way of doing things.

However it does ensure that the person who applies is verified to be the passport holder.

How the agents get over that must be that they are the nominated representative of the applicant.

 

VFS do not only handle UK passports. And how does not returning the new passport by courier achieve anything?

[Tony M]

Don't worry. She should be able to pay for courier passport return when she attends her appointment for biometrics. VFS does not turn down  opportunities to sell "services".  It's mostly a money-grab.

[prakhonchai nick]

20 minutes ago, Thingamabob said:

As far as I know the requirement to attend in person only applies to the handing over of new passports, for security reasons.

The new British passport cannot be sent by courier as the old one has to be shown and cancelled by VFS. Cutting the corner off cannot be done by the passport holder and the old one cannot be cancelled upon application as it still needs to be valid whilst staying in Thailand.   We are told we cannot travel on the current passport whilst a new one is being processed, as it has been "electronically cancelled"  Surely this is sufficient and new passports could be couriered -but seemingly not!!!!!!!!!

[Tony M]

1 hour ago, prakhonchai nick said:

The new British passport cannot be sent by courier as the old one has to be shown and cancelled by VFS. Cutting the corner off cannot be done by the passport holder and the old one cannot be cancelled upon application as it still needs to be valid whilst staying in Thailand.   We are told we cannot travel on the current passport whilst a new one is being processed, as it has been "electronically cancelled"  Surely this is sufficient and new passports could be couriered -but seemingly not!!!!!!!!!

 

This is not a thread about applying for, or renewing, a British passport.  If you read the OP, it is a question about the return of a Thai passport to an applicant who has applied for a UK visit visa.

[prakhonchai nick]

4 minutes ago, Tony M said:

 

This is not a thread about applying for, or renewing, a British passports.  If you read the OP, it is a question about the return of a Thai passport to an applicant who has applied for a UK visit visa.

Fully appreciated Tony. Why however should Thai citizens receive more favourable treatment than UK subjects when it comes to returning documents concerning the UK.  Brits in Thailand are always 2nd class citizens, but seems these days in the UK, they play 2nd fiddle to just about everyone in the world!

[Tony M]

4 minutes ago, prakhonchai nick said:

Fully appreciated Tony. Why however should Thai citizens receive more favourable treatment than UK subjects when it comes to returning documents concerning the UK.  Brits in Thailand are always 2nd class citizens, but seems these days in the UK, they play 2nd fiddle to just about everyone in the world!

 

It's a reasonable question, but not for this thread. I don't think the OP is particularly interested in how British passports are returned to British passport applicants Perhaps you should address your question on the British Embassy Q&A page in this forum ?  Maybe they will answer you, but good luck with that.

[sandyf]

On 6/19/2024 at 12:52 PM, Chopper said:

I would like to use the courier option which is only 308 baht to have my wife's passport and hopefully UK visa returned.

The drop down country box which is set at Thailand is greyed out. When I have filled out all of the mandatory fields I cannot proceed to the next step ''Continue'' (to payment) which is at the bottom because I am unable to insert Thailand since it is greyed out.

 

Anyone else encountered this or have any suggestions. Her appointment at VFS Global is next week. If this won't work online will she be able to pay at the appointment to have her passport returned by courier?

My wife has done about a dozen visitor visas and I have never used any of the online options from VFS.

You can pay for courier return when submitting application.

[sandyf]

5 hours ago, prakhonchai nick said:

The new British passport cannot be sent by courier as the old one has to be shown and cancelled by VFS. Cutting the corner off cannot be done by the passport holder and the old one cannot be cancelled upon application as it still needs to be valid whilst staying in Thailand.   We are told we cannot travel on the current passport whilst a new one is being processed, as it has been "electronically cancelled"  Surely this is sufficient and new passports could be couriered -but seemingly not!!!!!!!!!

As far as I am aware passports were returned to the appllcant by courier when it came under the FCO.  In March 2014 foreign passports were transferred from the FCO to HMPO. It was originally intended that passports were returned by courier, hence the requirement for proof of address in Thailand.

However there was so much chaos in the beginning the policy never came about. I was one of the first to use the VFS service in April 2014 and had to get the British Embassy to intervene and try and get my passport back. When it did turn up my wife went to collect it and she was told by VFS that I should cut the corner off the old one. They never asked to see the old one, only interested in the letter of authority to collect the new one.

Looking at the Home Secretaries there has been since 2014, not surprising things are not as they should be. I went back to the UK in Sept to renew mine.