i have a british passport that will expire in april 2014 and has only 2 blank pages remaining.in june this year i'm planning to get a multiple entry non-immigrant o visa.could anyone please tell me whether or not i need to get a new passport before getting the visa?

The visa will easily fit on one page.

I think you will need a new passport. If I am not mistaken your passport will need to have a remaining validity of at least 18 months when applying for a one year multi entry visa.

Sophon

As said a one year visa will not be issued into that passport - if you actually mean an extension of stay from immigration it would be entered up to expiration date of passport and when new passport presented the remainder of year allowed.

at the moment i have a trilple entry tourist visa which expires in june,and i hope to get a non o based on marriage and children(no savings in the bank).i'd imagine this would not be classed as an extension of stay?

No that would be a visa issued from a Consulate outside of Thailand and as said no Consulate will issue such a visa in your current passport. You need a new passport and the only likely Consulate to issue visa in the region is probably Savannakhet without some proof of financials.

thanks for your help!do you think there is any possibility that penang consulate would issue the visa?

With or without a new passport? No Consulate can issue in current passport. KL would require 100k in bank account to issue in new passport along with normal marriage/id/home register copies and have no reason to think Penang would do with less - have seen old reports of needing normal extension requirement of 400k. There are a number of visa agents in Penang you would email for current conditions (once you get the new passport).

From MFA website under 2.1 for non immigrant visas. http://www.mfa.go.th/main/en/services/123/15398-Issuance-of-Visa.html

- Passport or travel document with validity not less than 6 months. The validity of 18 months is required for one year visa application.

Get a new passport now. You will get 9 months added on to your new passport meaning you will only loose a couple of the months left on your old one.

Since you have to apply by courier to the Hong Kong passport center it can take as long a a month to get your passport back you need to get it done soon.

Edited April 20, 201313 yr by ubonjoe

From MFA website under 2.1 for non immigrant visas. http://www.mfa.go.th/main/en/services/123/15398-Issuance-of-Visa.html

- Passport or travel document with validity not less than 6 months. The validity of 18 months is required for one year visa application.

Get a new passport now. You will get 9 months added on to your new passport meaning you will only loose a couple of the months left on your old one.

Since you have to apply by courier to the Hong Kong passport center it can take as long a a month to get your passport back you need to get it done soon.

Like the OP, I am in Thailand and found myself with plenty of time left on the validity of my UK passport, but only one page left. Knowing that the visa I needed and the exit/entry stamps take up more than one page, I applied for new passport. As the OP is in Thailand, application for a new passport will have to be made at the offfice of the British Consulate General in Hong Kong. The application form and guidance notes can be downloaded form the Foreign Office's website or the application made online and then printed off. Send your application by EMS.

If all goes smoothly, your new passport should be authorised within two or three days of days of payment being taken. Allow up to two weeks for the passport to be received. It goes via London and Germany as the Foreign Office uses the services of DHL.

Like the above post says, you will get an additional 9 months validity on your new passport.

Although the Foreign Office's website says it takes about a month for you to receive your new passport, I recommend thast you allow at least another two weeks for the process. My application went smoothly until the Consulate General's finance department made multiple applications for payment because they messed up the first request. That triggered my card issuer's anti-fraud security measures. More than two weeks was wasted in them faffing about after they screwed up taking payment.

The lessons are to get your credit or debit card issuer to pre-authorise payment to the Consulate General in Hong Kong and to track the progress of each stage of your application.

Edited April 20, 201313 yr by rreddin

The lessons are to get your credit or debit card issuer to pre-authorise payment to the Consulate General in Hong Kong and to track the progress of each stage of your application.

Very interesting , how is this pre-authorisation done (VISA) ?

From MFA website under 2.1 for non immigrant visas. http://www.mfa.go.th/main/en/services/123/15398-Issuance-of-Visa.html

- Passport or travel document with validity not less than 6 months. The validity of 18 months is required for one year visa application.

Get a new passport now. You will get 9 months added on to your new passport meaning you will only loose a couple of the months left on your old one.

Since you have to apply by courier to the Hong Kong passport center it can take as long a a month to get your passport back you need to get it done soon.

Like the OP, I am in Thailand and found myself with plenty of time left on the validity of my UK passport, but only one page left. Knowing that the visa I needed and the exit/entry stamps take up more than one page, I applied for new passport. As the OP is in Thailand, application for a new passport will have to be made at the offfice of the British Consulate General in Hong Kong. The application form and guidance notes can be downloaded form the Foreign Office's website or the application made online and then printed off. Send your application by EMS.

If all goes smoothly, your new passport should be authorised within two or three days of days of payment being taken. Allow up to two weeks for the passport to be received. It goes via London and Germany as the Foreign Office uses the services of DHL.

Like the above post says, you will get an additional 9 months validity on your new passport.

Although the Foreign Office's website says it takes about a month for you to receive your new passport, I recommend thast you allow at least another two weeks for the process. My application went smoothly until the Consulate General's finance department made multiple applications for payment because they messed up the first request. That triggered my card issuer's anti-fraud security measures. More than two weeks was wasted in them faffing about after they screwed up taking payment.

The lessons are to get your credit or debit card issuer to pre-authorise payment to the Consulate General in Hong Kong and to track the progress of each stage of your application.

I wouldn't bank on your new passport being authorised within two or three days of your payment being taken by HK. The new passport I applied for earlier this year took THREE WEEKS to be authorised by HK after the payment was taken! I can only assume that HK staff were short of stuffing material for their chair cushions over this period!!

Despite this inordinate delay, I still received my new passport within a calendar month (only just, however) of posting my application to HK.