Waiting Times First Uk Passport Newborn And Translations ?

[matsky13]

I just got my Newborn a Thai passport , 8 days including Songkran Holliday . Impressive Turnaround !

Now i will travel to Bangkok to apply for British passport , And also apply for Wifes and other Daughter's Family and general visitor Visa .Trying to synchronize visa start times (Is this possible or will they just start Visa from Proccessing date ?) and arrival of passport, on the UKBA website it states upto 6 weeks but anyone who applied lately may have a more accurate times . For either Passport and or Visa's.

Also reading some other posts , There seems to be some confusion as to weather the Birth cert needs to be translated and then Authenticated at MFA . (I understood only professional translation no need to go to MFA )

Same goes for Marriage Certificate .

Also I understand from previous posts that as i am taking Baby with me there is no need to have Photos Signed on the back , can anyone confirm this from experience lately ?.

From Mat, Stuck in Thailand under a mound of paperwork trying to see light at the end of the tunnel .

[MaprangHolmes]

Hello

You will need your full birth certificate (the long one) You can order these online if you have lost or do not have it.

I had my sons birth certificate translated but did not have to have it certified at the MFA but make sure that the persons name and company are stamped on the back of the translation.

When I applied for my sons which was a little while ago now his took about 4 weeks to come back.

The person who signs the application (‘countersigns’) must also sign the back of 1 photo, confirming it’s a good likeness of the child.

This may be of help to you https://www.gov.uk/get-a-child-passport/when-you-can-apply

Hope it helps

[7by7]

As far as UK visa start dates are concerned; they usually start from the date they are issued.

However, you can in the application ask for this date to be postponed for up to three months; but this is sometimes missed! So if you do ask for this, check the visa immediately it's received as mistakes cannot be rectified later.

Note that if you do ask for a specific start date the visas cannot be used to enter the UK until that date.

However, as the visas will be valid for 6 months, you may not need to do this; dependent on how long you intend to remain in the UK.

[matsky13]

Thanks for that , I do hope to stay the full 6 months , so i would like the visa to start from the date i put in the Visa Apps . Any advice as how to highlight this , I guess telling VSF will not have much effect ! good to know checking it immediately, but how easy is it for them to change it , they would have already posted it back to our home 5ookm from Bangkok ?

still anybody got any idea about waiting times over the last few weeks / months ? for Visa / new born passports ?

I don't know anyone in this locality who is British and known me for 2 years , I will not be able to get a counter signature ! I understand a leter explaining this is ok ? can anyone clarify that and same goes for passport photo's for baby , If baby is there , surely they can confirm its the said Baby ?. I would love someone who actualy knows . ie been there done it . please dont bother if you only think it or know someone who said it was ok . miss information , is a lady i don't want to know right now .

[theoldgit]

Just one point about the Visitor Visa for your wife and "other daughters family", how many people are you talking about?

You need to bear in mind a visitors visa is just that, somebody who wants to visit the UK for a holiday or to visit family, When applying for the visa the applicant must convince the ECO that the visit is genuine, affordable and, on the balance of probabilities, they will leave the UK at the conclusion of the visit.

The biggest thing to prove is the "reason to return", job in Thailand, business, property or long term rental, that sort of thing, it's going to be difficult to convince the ECO that this is a genuine visit if your wife, and the others in the group, are planning a six month holiday, the ECO may be forgiven for believing that your wife is attempting to circumnavigate the settlement route.

You talk about travelling to Bangkok, so do you live in Thailand? proof of this, and evidence as to why you intend to travel to the UK for six months could help your wife's application.

As for the passport application, the guidance is very clear, the supporting documents only need to be professionally translated, they don't need to go to the MFA, that's for Thai procedures.

I don't know if the Consular Staff at the Embassy will countersign the form, I suspect not, maybe somebody has recent experience, but again the guidance notes do say that if you don't know a British, Irish, EU or Commonwealth Citizen in the standings described, then you can request a local person who has known you for two years, in the same standings, to sign, again somebody may be able to provide recent experience.

[matsky13]

yes I would love some one with recent experience to give advice re countersignature of passport .Application !

I dont live in thailand , I am here for the recent birth of our mutual daughter . the wife has an existing daughter 3 years old so she is the one we need a general visitor visa for , as she is not directly related to me . i think ?

but we hope this to be a trial run for life in the UK , If it worksout for all of us as a family , we will go to the next step of applying for settlement visa . And i Hope .the UKBA will view this favorably . I have money in the bank to finance the trip , and evidence of self employment going back 23 years . with regular income . so i think ont he finance side of things i am ok .

Reason to return , well the missus has a small farm in her name , but the not jeapordising future applications is the angle i am coming from , with one succesfull visit from the Wife to be last yer ,ihope it helps our case ,

I have a mountain of evidence all duplicated for both visa apps (wife family and general for step Daughter) as proof of relationship going back 2.5 years .

Just hope i dont miss something obvious. Its very Dauntig!

[matsky13]

could anyone give a recomendation for a nice hotel for me the wife and 2 kids near VFS . also need to visit British embasy . while in Bangkok. any reasonable priced hotel nearby . for me thats 1500 baht ish .

[tullynagardy]

could anyone give a recomendation for a nice hotel for me the wife and 2 kids near VFS . also need to visit British embasy . while in Bangkok. any reasonable priced hotel nearby . for me thats 1500 baht ish .

There are hundreds near there. www.agoda.com best bet.

Citadines has several near it and fit that price.

[theoldgit]

You don't need to restrict yourself to being near the Embassy and VFS, both are steps away from the BTS.

Have to agree that Agoda is a good tool and Citadines are pretty good.

[matsky13]

Thanks for your help guys , Visa and passport apps where handed in on Tuesday and Wednesday . got a lovely little hotel smack in between both Embasy and Regent house , I needed something without too much hassle as i had missus newborn and 3.5 year old in tow . didn't realy want the hassle of BTS .
As for Passport , They didn't even look at the baby .
I had got the impression from somwhere that they needed to see the baby .
Lots of conflicting advice about baby photo's . both localy in Bangkok at photo shop and on the UKBA site ." a cream or light grey background" ?. all the photo shops have white backgrounds and insist they are used and accepted all the time , also in the shop they told me it was fine to use sofware to cut out parent holding the baby . I used photos we had got done in My lady's home town on grey paper i bought at stationers with baby laying flat . The employee at the British embbasy and her college insisted mine where fine . I hope so !

Also at vfs I was told I had filled in the wrong Vissa app for Daughter . It should have been a special visitor visa and not a general one ! rectified this by using one of the three computers they have available for customers and filled out another App . Identical questions and answers only difference is the title of the form .

I personaly think the whole system needs an serious update , the software they are using is terrible .

Also this is the first time i have been to Regent house and was asked to go inside , I was amazed to see that no real interview takes place only the checking of the documents from a check list , whilst applicants stand at a post office type counter , and then the biometrics are taken seperatley in a side room ..

I assumed they asked the applicant a few personel questions to back up the statements . This was the biggest eye opener for me .

Now its sit and wait .

I will update results as and when i get them . If anyone is interested ?

[7by7]

I was amazed to see that no real interview takes place only the checking of the documents from a check list..............

The visa application centre is just that; a centre for handing in the application and supporting documents, paying the fee and having biometrics taken.

VFS staff play no part in the decision making process and so do not interview applicants. Having collected all the necessary documents etc. they then forward them to the embassy where an Entry Clearance Officer will assess the application and make the decision whether to issue the visa or not.

If the ECO does want more information before making that decision they will phone the applicant, or in the case of a young child the child's parent or carer.

In very rare cases they may call the applicant into the embassy for a face to face interview, but I've not heard of that happening in Bangkok for a very long time (doesn't mean it hasn't happened, though).

Edited April 27, 2013 by 7by7

[Jay Sata]

A friend of mine has a child who was born in Khon Kaen where he lives.

He did the whole application via post and it was handled in Hong Kong.

They even phoned him at home to check a couple of points but he saved the cost of flights/hotel etc to BKK.

[matsky13]

A friend of mine has a child who was born in Khon Kaen where he lives.

He did the whole application via post and it was handled in Hong Kong.

They even phoned him at home to check a couple of points but he saved the cost of flights/hotel etc to BKK.

A friend of mine has a child who was born in Khon Kaen where he lives.

He did the whole application via post and it was handled in Hong Kong.

They even phoned him at home to check a couple of points but he saved the cost of flights/hotel etc to BKK.

Thats good to know , not for me though , I am hanging my boots up ,well not my boots but you get the idea .

But for anyone else , save yourself the trip to Bangkok if its possble to do remotely , go for it . Anyone else done the same ?

[bobrussell]

Hopefully the visa for the daughter was a child visitor visa! VFS should not be giving advice at all about visa types. They are there to process applications only.

The ECO's do seem to show some degree of common sense in these cases!

[matsky13]

Quick Update on Baby Passport waiting time , 3 weeks and 6 days . weird thing was the passport arrived in the morning the family took delivery as we where out so not spoken to them yet . but in the evening the Embassy called to say the Passport could not be delivered as they "DHL could not find the Address " . I think i seen on here someone else having same problem . Its not a remote place but i guess its a translation of address problem , even the main town has a couple of different spellings from one road sign to the next . They have Never had any trouble with standard postal service though .

Good luck to anyone else waiting for new passports .