Using Agent at Immigration - good idea?

[jippytum]

Yes you can use an agent but if you have funds and the correct paper work why folk out 5000 plus?.

Time frame for renewing your visa is flexible most office allow renewal 30 days prior some 45 or 60 days wlth a good reason and proof of onward travel. 

[Yellowtail]

18 minutes ago, jippytum said:

Yes you can use an agent but if you have funds and the correct paper work why folk out 5000 plus?.

Time frame for renewing your visa is flexible most office allow renewal 30 days prior some 45 or 60 days wlth a good reason and proof of onward travel. 

B5,000 for two days and two one-hour drives is a bargain. I'd be down for that. 

[sometimewoodworker]

On 5/24/2025 at 5:50 PM, DrJack54 said:

Say what. 

For expats living in Thailand doing pp renewal while in UK is not an option. 

Hence suggestion of agent if not in home country

Well! I live in Thailand. have done so for years. HMRC have my Thai address.

I visited the U.K. last year.

I replaced my soon to expire passport at HMPO western gateway in docklands. My documents were received on 29/4, paid £207.50 for the large version,  I attended the passport office by appointment on Saturday 4 May at 3:00pm.

 

Apart from the usual inclement weather will waiting outside to enter the actual office (about 30 minutes) the total time taken was less than an hour and a half the appointment was about 4 minutes.

The only difference was that I was told 

Quote

Appointments usually last up to 10 minutes. Don’t arrive any earlier than 10 minutes before your appointment.

The extra time was due to the bank holidays and weekend compressing the applicants time.

 

So your contention that an expat living in Thailand cannot do a renewal wile in the U.K. is dead wrong, and I have the evidence, and passport, to prove it. 
I could have opted for a faster or slower turnaround at more or less cost.

 

[DrJack54]

14 minutes ago, sometimewoodworker said:

 

So your contention that an expat living in Thailand cannot do a renewal wile in the U.K. is dead wrong, and I have the evidence, and passport, to prove it

Taken completely out of context... 

I also stated... "Hence suggestion of agent if not in home country" 

Obviously folk can obtain (renew) passport in their home country.. 

That's a given. 

I like many expats living in Thailand do NOT do many visits back to pp country. 

Hence suggestion of using an agent if in Thailand. 

Even moreso for UK folk that need to deal with VFS. 

Especially if located some distance from Bangkok or CM. 

[sometimewoodworker]

22 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

Taken completely out of context... 

I also stated... "Hence suggestion of agent if not in home country" 

Obviously folk can obtain (renew) passport in their home country.. 

That's a given. 

I like many expats living in Thailand do NOT do many visits back to pp country. 

Hence suggestion of using an agent if in Thailand. 

Even moreso for UK folk that need to deal with VFS. 

Especially if located some distance from Bangkok or CM. 

It was absolutely NOT taken out of context.

The absolute quote was 

Quote

For expats living in Thailand doing pp renewal while in UK is not an option. 
Hence suggestion of agent if not in home country

If it was not your intention to say that an expat living in Thailand could not do a renewal while visiting the U.K. then you are really bad a writing your meaning. Because that was EXACTLY what you wrote, and the omitted sentence was not relevant and only emphasised your wrong statement.

 

The number of visits to the U.K. is a snare and delusion and totally irrelevant and an attempt at obfuscation. Personally since 1990 I have visited the U.K. about 5 or 6 times so definitely not many.

 

[pest]

I have been using an ajent in Pattaya last few years

Saves lots of hassle

[Peterphuket]

On 5/25/2025 at 3:46 AM, zzzzz said:

US passport does it all by Mail in

 

yes 100% and currently offering extension for 14,000 ANY bank, no requirements to visit immigration, all done by  mail

Note ur extension will most likely be issued up country so u need ot a TM30 for where u live so u can do ur 90 day reports there

So you used that office.
Next week, I also want to use their services on renewing my retirement extension.
But have serious doubts regarding sending my passports (old and new) plus the bank book, you will lose it, then you have a big problem, or do they have their own courier service?
How are your experiences with this?

[zzzzz]

2 hours ago, Peterphuket said:

So you used that office.
Next week, I also want to use their services on renewing my retirement extension.
But have serious doubts regarding sending my passports (old and new) plus the bank book, you will lose it, then you have a big problem, or do they have their own courier service?
How are your experiences with this?

have used them, excellent communication and service 
I used EMS

[Sir Maxwell Greene]

8 hours ago, jippytum said:

Yes you can use an agent but if you have funds and the correct paper work why folk out 5000 plus?.

Time frame for renewing your visa is flexible most office allow renewal 30 days prior some 45 or 60 days wlth a good reason and proof of onward travel. 

Paying 5,000 baht to hand someone your own paperwork? Feels like tipping someone to scratch your own back

[Equatorial]

20 minutes ago, Sir Maxwell Greene said:

Paying 5,000 baht to hand someone your own paperwork? Feels like tipping someone to scratch your own back

 

That's simple - some people value their time more than their money. People have been known to tip girls to scratch their backs (and more). Can't argue with that! 

[treetops]

On 5/24/2025 at 12:02 PM, SpaceKadet said:

How can yours be biometric? How do you do your fingerprints online? Just a photo is not biometric.

 

The standard for defining biometric passports says facial, fingerprint or iris recognition are the current options for biometrics so a photo must be satisfactory.