Hi,

To cut a long story short my wifes old passport containing her ILR visa along with her newly issued passport was stolen (along with another 60+ passports) from a Royal Mail van back in October.

The wife has requested a new passport from the Thai Embassy in London and should be with us sometime this week.

Issue is that we booked a flight to Thailand departing on the 23rd of December, this was before her passports were stolen, now I'm sure we'll get her new passport in time but what about her ILR visa? There are no appointments available at any of the 5 UK Border Agency Public enquiry offices that deal with the Premium NTL service (a snip at £515) until February!

I'm aware that my wife will be able to travel to Thailand she won't be able to return without the ILR, has anyone any thoughts on what the hel_l I can do about this?

I've called the UK Border Agency but the response back was "sorry but there's nothing we can do", an e-mail has also been sent to them explaining the issue further pleading they arrange an appointment, I've even been forced to contact my Local MP for all that's worth

Another thought was that we go and while in Thailand arrange for a replacement ILR but I'm not sure how long that would take, I doubt my wife's boss would be to happy if she was absent for months.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Cheers,

Ronnie...

Edited November 23, 200916 yr by ameldridge

As soon as you have the passport, can you not take it in to the appropiate place and have a replacement visa attached....

Edited November 24, 200916 yr by gburns57au

Cancel/postpone your trip and claim on your travel insurance.

There's no good reason for you to jump the queue of everyone else who's paying for the premium service.

You could travel to Thailand and whilst there she applies for entry clearance as a returning resident.

See SET09 - Returning residents.

You would need proof that she has ILR. Normally this would be the ILR sticker in the passport, but as you don't have this, do you still have the letter granting it? You should also include the police report confirming that her old passport has been stolen, plus the other documents on this list.

I would also include in the application an explanation of why she did not get an ILR stamp in her new passport before leaving the UK, e.g. lack of time, could not postpone the trip etc.

There is, of course, no way of knowing how long it would take to process such an application.

PS, I've edited the topic title to show you are asking a UK question.

As suggested a returning residents visa can be applied for we have done this for a client several months ago his partner lost her passport in Pattaya.

As suggested a returning residents visa can be applied for we have done this for a client several months ago his partner lost her passport in Pattaya.

Just did the returning resident for my wife (lost her old passport with her ILR here).

It took 3 weeks, and although it's market indefinite leave to enter, it's got an expiry date on it. (2 years from the last time she left the UK). I still don't know what she's supposed to do travel-wise once that date is reached as her passport will have 2½ more years, and the ILE would actually allow her into the country (the until date is simply for the first entry), but I can just imagine how much hassle we'll have with airline staff at checkin.

I pointed this out at the embassy, and they said something about regularising her status with the Home Office, but that sounded odd as she already got her ILR, so there's nothing to regularise, so it may simply be they want us to ALSO do the NTL (£185 on top of the £215 for the Returning resident).

Couldn't you try the postal service for the NTL, and pray the passport's back in time, and claim on your travel insurance if it isn't. If nothing else, you'll save £330 on the cost of the NTL.

Note: All these monster charges make me remember why I left the UK in the first place. We're flying back next month, and the tax is over £1.000 because there's 6 of us travelling. (Why kids are full tax, despite being lower fares, I don't know).

I still don't know what she's supposed to do travel-wise once that date is reached as her passport will have 2½ more years, and the ILE would actually allow her into the country (the until date is simply for the first entry), but I can just imagine how much hassle we'll have with airline staff at checkin.

As I understand it you are correct and the expiry date on her ILE is the date it must be first used by. Airline staff should be aware of this so she should not have any trouble at check in.