I just renewed my British passport using VFS Global in Bangkok. It took eleven weeks. A mate did his at the same time and it took nine weeks. In the UK, they used to renew passports in Liverpool, but now they do this in Corby. Think this might be the main problem, as they were unaware that we have to retain our passports in Thailand, thus the reason for photo coping all pages. In the end, I had to sign a paper saying I would return my lost passport if I found it.

Sent many emails, but each team did not seem to realise what had gone on before.

Reckon this will be my last passport renewal before I die, thank God. What a nightmare.

Glad to hear that you finally managed to get your passport renewal woes sorted out. Given the extreme level of clueless idiocy on the part of HMPO's office in Corby with which you have been faced throughout this nightmare process, you may wish to consider lodging a complaint with HMPO about the unacceptably abysmal treatment you have been on the receiving end of, through following this link:

https://www.passport.service.gov.uk/help/what-do-you-want-to-do

 

Yep, everyone must complain otherwise the rubbish service will continue

It does seem astonishing that there seems to be no communication between VFS in Bangkok and HMPO in Corby.  I wonder how the agencies that deal with UK passport renewals in Thailand are coping?

16 hours ago, kidneyw said:

I just renewed my British passport using VFS Global in Bangkok. It took eleven weeks. A mate did his at the same time and it took nine weeks. In the UK, they used to renew passports in Liverpool, but now they do this in Corby. Think this might be the main problem, as they were unaware that we have to retain our passports in Thailand, thus the reason for photo coping all pages. In the end, I had to sign a paper saying I would return my lost passport if I found it.

Sent many emails, but each team did not seem to realise what had gone on before.

Reckon this will be my last passport renewal before I die, thank God. What a nightmare.

 

Did mine while in the UK, took 4 hours and no photocopying of pages, they never even looked at the old one, just clipped the front and gave it back. 

3 hours ago, brewsterbudgen said:

It does seem astonishing that there seems to be no communication between VFS in Bangkok and HMPO in Corby.  I wonder how the agencies that deal with UK passport renewals in Thailand are coping?

thai visa service on here had a handle on the problem a few months back

4 hours ago, brewsterbudgen said:

It does seem astonishing that there seems to be no communication between VFS in Bangkok and HMPO in Corby.

 

For which the responsibility lies fairly and squarely with those clueless HMPO clowns in Corby IMHO. But, if perchance, they have, in fact, determined, for their inscrutable reasons, that fictitious police reports of lost and stolen passports (along with certified English translations + completed LSO1 forms) are now to accompany all passport renewal applications submitted from Thailand as a matter of course, then they also need to communicate this fact to those responsible for administering the gov.uk website so that those of us who are about to renew our passports are aware of this particular new requirement up front.

 

Personally I rule nothing out as far as HMPO are concerned when it comes to crass stupidity!

 

I did contact the British embassy in Bangkok, but got no reply.

On 5/7/2025 at 4:47 AM, scubascuba3 said:

Yep, everyone must complain otherwise the rubbish service will continue

I did contact the British embassy in Bangkok, but no reply.

1 hour ago, kidneyw said:

I did contact the British embassy in Bangkok, but got no reply.

I did contact the British embassy in Bangkok, but no reply.

It's nothing to do with the embassy, so not surprised.

7 hours ago, brewsterbudgen said:

It's nothing to do with the embassy, so not surprised.

Not really, you'd expect at least a reply to confirm where a complaint should be sent

13 hours ago, kidneyw said:

I did contact the British embassy in Bangkok, but got no reply.

I did contact the British embassy in Bangkok, but no reply.

Details below

 

  Send a complaint to:  
  hmpo.correspondence(at)hmpo.gov.uk
  (Include your full name, application reference, and details of the issue.)  

 

- Phone (from Thailand):  
  Call +44 (0)300 222 0000 (UK Passport Advice Line, charges apply).  

 

2. Escalate to UKVI (UK Visas & Immigration)
If the issue remains unresolved, you can escalate to UKVI:  
complaints(at)homeoffice.gov.uk
- **Subject Line**: *"Complaint regarding British passport processing delays in Thailand"*  
- Include:  
  - Your **application reference**  
  - Dates of submission & delays  
  - Any communication with VFS/HMPO  

20 hours ago, brewsterbudgen said:

It's nothing to do with the embassy, so not surprised.

Thought they should also be made aware of the problems.

Also contacted HMPO with about eight emails. Just went round in circles.

1 hour ago, kidneyw said:

Thought they should also be made aware of the problems.

Also contacted HMPO with about eight emails. Just went round in circles.

Why?  Since 1984, UK passports have been issued by HMPO which comes under the Home Office.  It has nothing to do with the FCO.

 

HMPO, however, should answer emails!

On 5/6/2025 at 6:10 PM, kidneyw said:

I just renewed my British passport using VFS Global in Bangkok. It took eleven weeks. A mate did his at the same time and it took nine weeks. In the UK, they used to renew passports in Liverpool, but now they do this in Corby. Think this might be the main problem, as they were unaware that we have to retain our passports in Thailand, thus the reason for photo coping all pages. In the end, I had to sign a paper saying I would return my lost passport if I found it.

Sent many emails, but each team did not seem to realise what had gone on before.

Reckon this will be my last passport renewal before I die, thank God. What a nightmare.

I submitted my daughter's renewal on 24th April. I haven't had any correspondence regarding holding the passport or saying it is lost so maybe they have worked that out now.

I did get an email to say I had only paid £14.51 and owed £129 though - even though they had my card details and on that super secure paper payment form you have to fill out it was clearly written £143.51, AND my card had a pending charge of £143.51 on it, no charge at all on my card for £14.51.

So they are still a shambles, maybe they are now a payment shambles rather than a "did you lose your passport" shambles.

A phone call to them did appear to sort it out (I had to pay the £129 over the phone). But I'll only really believe it when I receive the new passport.

On 5/11/2025 at 7:48 PM, josephbloggs said:

I submitted my daughter's renewal on 24th April. I haven't had any correspondence regarding holding the passport or saying it is lost so maybe they have worked that out now.

I did get an email to say I had only paid £14.51 and owed £129 though - even though they had my card details and on that super secure paper payment form you have to fill out it was clearly written £143.51, AND my card had a pending charge of £143.51 on it, no charge at all on my card for £14.51.

So they are still a shambles, maybe they are now a payment shambles rather than a "did you lose your passport" shambles.

A phone call to them did appear to sort it out (I had to pay the £129 over the phone). But I'll only really believe it when I receive the new passport.

Today I got a notification that the passport is ready for collection.

Just under three weeks from submission to collection, including the time it took for me to resolve their weird payment mistake (that was 2-3 days as I waited to see if it would resolve itself first).

To be fair, that's a pretty decent turnaround - maybe they've sorted themselves out.

On 5/14/2025 at 8:33 PM, josephbloggs said:

maybe they've sorted themselves out.

 

Maybe they could now turn their minds to sorting out the whole antiquated renewal process from Thailand??

 

10 minutes ago, OJAS said:

 

Maybe they could now turn their minds to sorting out the whole antiquated renewal process from Thailand??

 

That would be nice!