Renewing Passports

[hellodolly]

I just renewed mine at the American consulate here in Chiang Mai.

I received a PM asking if I did it at another countrie consulate as I lived there longer than in the states.

I thought it would be a good idea to see how other countries handle their renewals.

I am an American and did it all at the U S consulate here in Chiang Mai.

[scotinsiam]

UK passport is no longer renewed in Thailand - You need to fill in a form (C1) and send with a copy of your passport to Hong Kong (currently) and your passport will be sent to you from the UK it takes around 4 weeks.

I believe in the future you will not send to HK but to the UK direct.

[Mapguy]

In the future, after Hong Kong, all of this will be done in London! Cheers!!

Edited August 13, 2013 by Mapguy

[CMKiwi]

Did my New Zealand passport via the internet. Very simple once you registered to join the government internal affairs site. Hardest part was getting the digital photo accepted, due in part to a very finicky computer algorithim at their end. Otherwise all good and got passport couriered from NZ about 10 days after application.

[super22k]

I renewed my British passport via Hong Kong and found that having to use and pay for couriers etc. The whole thing was quite expensive. Now I believe it is done direct to London. To get started go to your countries consulate for a form.

[personchester]

In the future, after Hong Kong, all of this will be done in London! Cheers!!

Why Cheers ...? in the past British passports were renewed in Thailand via the UK Embassy in Bangkok.

Brits in Chiang Mai went to the British Consulate in Chiang Mai and they did sent the application form with the existing passport to the British Embassy in Bangkok.

The new passport together with the old passport was returned within a week to the consulate for collection.

Not to be able to use the UK Embassy in Thailand together with local consulates to renew passports is a negative matter for British expats in Thailand.

[DiamondKing]

Just in the Process now and since mine was damaged it cant just go to Hong Kong first it has to be sent to Bangkok then onto Hong Kong who then sends it to London who then sends it back to me

What s stupid fkin system and EXPENSIVE.

[writeshack]

Did my New Zealand passport via the internet. Very simple once you registered to join the government internal affairs site. Hardest part was getting the digital photo accepted, due in part to a very finicky computer algorithim at their end. Otherwise all good and got passport couriered from NZ about 10 days after application.

CMKiwi can you please advise how you joined the government internal affairs site and all that stuff. I need to renew my passport and it seems intimidating from Isan. I don't know any NZers here who can identify me, as the foreign affairs website seems to demand. PM me is OK. thanks

[DagonKhan]

In the future, after Hong Kong, all of this will be done in London! Cheers!!

Why Cheers ...? in the past British passports were renewed in Thailand via the UK Embassy in Bangkok.

Brits in Chiang Mai went to the British Consulate in Chiang Mai and they did sent the application form with the existing passport to the British Embassy in Bangkok.

The new passport together with the old passport was returned within a week to the consulate for collection.

Not to be able to use the UK Embassy in Thailand together with local consulates to renew passports is a negative matter for British expats in Thailand.

I'm with personchester on this.

It seems that every few years any service we can expect from our Embassies reduces, at the same time the costs of the reduced services increase significantly.

I recently had to renew my passport through HK, it costs a small fortune to do. I had to pay over US$270 and it took a month. The last time I did it I don't believe it cost me more than US$100-150 and it took a week or two, that was about 7 years ago.

As I understand it, the FCO has for sometime now funded Embassies overseas purely from income received from Passports and Visas (check out their website), the tax payer in the U.K. actually contributes nothing. That's fine, I can agree with that. But why is it that the Embassy is full of non-Consular people doing non-Consular (i.e. Passport/Visa) type jobs?

[mesquite]

However the US Consulate in CM does it, it should be considered the Gold Standard. I had mine renewed a while back and it took 3 business days and the whole process was a piece of cake.

[johnlandy]

In the future, after Hong Kong, all of this will be done in London! Cheers!!

Why Cheers ...? in the past British passports were renewed in Thailand via the UK Embassy in Bangkok.

Brits in Chiang Mai went to the British Consulate in Chiang Mai and they did sent the application form with the existing passport to the British Embassy in Bangkok.

The new passport together with the old passport was returned within a week to the consulate for collection.

Not to be able to use the UK Embassy in Thailand together with local consulates to renew passports is a negative matter for British expats in Thailand.

"why cheers" because that is the way it is and that is the way that it is gonna be in the future. Get used to it.

I suppose you know that cars are now available in hybrid models

And the more things change the more they stay the same

[Mapguy]

To Messrs. personchester and Dagankhan, my apologies for a weak attempt at sarcasm! "Cheers!", indeed !!!

[hellodolly]

Well so far we have

1I am an American and did it all at the U S consulate here in Chiang Mai.

2 UK passport is no longer renewed in Thailand - You need to fill in a form (C1) and send with a copy of your passport to Hong Kong (currently) and your passport will be sent to you from the UK it takes around 4 weeks.

I believe in the future you will not send to HK but to the UK direct

3 Did my New Zealand passport via the internet. Very simple once you registered to join the government internal affairs site. Hardest part was getting the digital photo accepted, due in part to a very finicky computer algorithim at their end. Otherwise all good and got passport couriered from NZ about 10 days after application.

No other expats from other countries here. I heard a rumor Australians had to go back to Australia.

[whybother]

Well so far we have

 

1I am an American and did it all at the U S consulate here in Chiang Mai.

 

2 UK passport is no longer renewed in Thailand - You need to fill in a form (C1) and send with a copy of your passport to Hong Kong (currently) and your passport will be sent to you from the UK it takes around 4 weeks.

I believe in the future you will not send to HK but to the UK direct

 

3 Did my New Zealand passport via the internet.  Very simple once you registered to join the government internal affairs site.  Hardest part was getting the digital photo accepted, due in part to a very finicky computer algorithim at their end.  Otherwise all good and got passport couriered from NZ about 10 days after application.

 

No other expats from other countries here. I heard a rumor Australians had to go back to Australia.

I did mine at the Aus embassy in Bangkok. Went in with application, photos and passport (didn't have to leave the passport), and went back 2 weeks later to pick up the replacement.

Of course, I live in Bangkok. Not sure exactly how you'd do it from CM, but you wouldn't need to go back to Aus.

Sent from my HTC Desire HD A9191 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[hellodolly]

Well so far we have

1I am an American and did it all at the U S consulate here in Chiang Mai.

2 UK passport is no longer renewed in Thailand - You need to fill in a form (C1) and send with a copy of your passport to Hong Kong (currently) and your passport will be sent to you from the UK it takes around 4 weeks.

I believe in the future you will not send to HK but to the UK direct

3 Did my New Zealand passport via the internet. Very simple once you registered to join the government internal affairs site. Hardest part was getting the digital photo accepted, due in part to a very finicky computer algorithim at their end. Otherwise all good and got passport couriered from NZ about 10 days after application.

4 I did mine at the Aus embassy in Bangkok. Went in with application, photos and passport (didn't have to leave the passport), and went back 2 weeks later to pick up the replacement.

No other expats from other countries here. Canada European countries. Any country?

[djvolak]

Well so far we have

1I am an American and did it all at the U S consulate here in Chiang Mai.

2 UK passport is no longer renewed in Thailand - You need to fill in a form (C1) and send with a copy of your passport to Hong Kong (currently) and your passport will be sent to you from the UK it takes around 4 weeks.

I believe in the future you will not send to HK but to the UK direct

3 Did my New Zealand passport via the internet. Very simple once you registered to join the government internal affairs site. Hardest part was getting the digital photo accepted, due in part to a very finicky computer algorithim at their end. Otherwise all good and got passport couriered from NZ about 10 days after application.

No other expats from other countries here. I heard a rumor Australians had to go back to Australia.

Thanks for that information. I did my O Visa in New Orleans and the lady there told me when I go to renew my passport in Feb that I will have to mail it in as they do not do renewals in New Orleans on walk in basis any more. I had asked her then if I could just do it while home in Thailand at the Embassy and she did not know so this helps me out for sure if I can just do it there. I like to fly right out once I get off the boat so staying in New Orleans waiting for a passport would not be good and I have to take it with me to the boat too. Good post. Thanks.

[ytyt]

I lived in Michigan, U.S.A. until I moved to Thailand 10 years ago. I applied for my first (bar code only) passport in the Ann Arbor post office in July 2002, and it was mailed to me, no problem. I had more pages put into it at the embassy in Bangkok a while back, intensely obnoxious Thai employees at the gate, no problem inside. If you sign up for e-mail alerts on the Bangkok embassy web site, they will notify you of "outreach" events at a hotel in Phuket, Pattaya, etc. I went to one about a Social Security problem, they were very helpful; I went to another one in March of last year. They took my passport back to Bangkok and gave me a letter in case the police stopped me, long wait at the busy hotel session, they were extremely polite and thanked me for having everything in order and exact change. Both the new (computer chipped) and old passports arrived in a Thai Postal tracked envelope that they sold me at the hotel, sooner than promised. The university then internally lost everything for several days, somewhere between the mail room and my departmental office, even though I had warned both places to watch for a package from the embassy. The new passport expires in March, not July. You used to have to pick up the new passport in person or by proxy, outreach+postal was new at the time.

Edited August 15, 2013 by ytyt

[Halion]

As time progresses the British FO and it's Embassy's and Consulates have provided less and less for their subjects overseas. The British Embasy in Bangkok is a shadow of it's former self, a toothless tiger with a most apathetic attitude to the level of service and support they provide to the public.

Their core mandate is with regard to political and commercial affairs with scant regard or concern to the needs of their own subjects.

They are possile running second to the Behemoth of H.M. Government office's, HM,Revenue and Customs which is the most ignorant,arrogant and ineficient Government organasition of the past 5 decades, however, given time our Embasy's and Consulates may well catch up..

Gone are the days when these public officials used to end their correspondence with 'Your Obedient Servant"

[personchester]

However the US Consulate in CM does it, it should be considered the Gold Standard. I had mine renewed a while back and it took 3 business days and the whole process was a piece of cake.

Hi mesquite ... This appears to be good news, please give us a bit more details about how this passport renewal system was carried out with the activities of the CM Consulate.

Was the renewal done in Bangkok or in London, since you received the new passport within three working days it appears to have been done in Bangkok, that would indeed be splendid again, as it was in the past.

[luther]

Well so far we have

1I am an American and did it all at the U S consulate here in Chiang Mai.

2 UK passport is no longer renewed in Thailand - You need to fill in a form (C1) and send with a copy of your passport to Hong Kong (currently) and your passport will be sent to you from the UK it takes around 4 weeks.

I believe in the future you will not send to HK but to the UK direct

3 Did my New Zealand passport via the internet. Very simple once you registered to join the government internal affairs site. Hardest part was getting the digital photo accepted, due in part to a very finicky computer algorithim at their end. Otherwise all good and got passport couriered from NZ about 10 days after application.

4 I did mine at the Aus embassy in Bangkok. Went in with application, photos and passport (didn't have to leave the passport), and went back 2 weeks later to pick up the replacement.

No other expats from other countries here. Canada European countries. Any country?

How does the transfer of a retirement visa work when you get a new passport? Is there a smart way to time all that?

[mesquite]

However the US Consulate in CM does it, it should be considered the Gold Standard. I had mine renewed a while back and it took 3 business days and the whole process was a piece of cake.

Hi mesquite ... This appears to be good news, please give us a bit more details about how this passport renewal system was carried out with the activities of the CM Consulate.

Was the renewal done in Bangkok or in London, since you received the new passport within three working days it appears to have been done in Bangkok, that would indeed be splendid again, as it was in the past.

US Consulate in CM. Not British.

[hellodolly]

Well so far we have

1I am an American and did it all at the U S consulate here in Chiang Mai.

2 UK passport is no longer renewed in Thailand - You need to fill in a form (C1) and send with a copy of your passport to Hong Kong (currently) and your passport will be sent to you from the UK it takes around 4 weeks.

I believe in the future you will not send to HK but to the UK direct

3 Did my New Zealand passport via the internet. Very simple once you registered to join the government internal affairs site. Hardest part was getting the digital photo accepted, due in part to a very finicky computer algorithim at their end. Otherwise all good and got passport couriered from NZ about 10 days after application.

4 I did mine at the Aus embassy in Bangkok. Went in with application, photos and passport (didn't have to leave the passport), and went back 2 weeks later to pick up the replacement.

No other expats from other countries here. Canada European countries. Any country?

How does the transfer of a retirement visa work when you get a new passport? Is there a smart way to time all that?

There is another thread on that subject. I just took my old one and my new one into immigration along with the same paper work I take for my renewal once a year also a photo copy of the new passport,

I guess I was lucky in and out in an hour and a half in the morning. The girl went through my old passport and put paper clips on two of them and said she needed copies. I had taken my wife and she did all the talking. She went out the back door to the photocopiers behind the building in five minutes she was back with the two copies.

In the other thread there was posters who had to photocopy every page. I would have had to do about 33 give or take as was I only had 6.

One poster came in the afternoon and was told to come back in the morning. He did at 7:20 and didn't get out until 11:30. Just a ro;; pf the dice for the best time to go in.

I think it all depends on the agent and what kind of a mood they are in. Also in my case I am sure letting my Thai wife do all the talking helped.

I will add that it does take a little time. As I said I was in there for only an hour and a half. When I went in they were servicing 306 and I was 310. That is roughly a little over 20 minutes a person.

[BuriramRes]

Did my New Zealand passport via the internet. Very simple once you registered to join the government internal affairs site. Hardest part was getting the digital photo accepted, due in part to a very finicky computer algorithim at their end. Otherwise all good and got passport couriered from NZ about 10 days after application.

CMKiwi can you please advise how you joined the government internal affairs site and all that stuff. I need to renew my passport and it seems intimidating from Isan. I don't know any NZers here who can identify me, as the foreign affairs website seems to demand. PM me is OK. thanks

I simply weent to the NZ embassy (in BKK) & they were very helpful. I signed a stat dec saying I did not have any NZ people that can identify me. (The person does not have to be in Thailand, they can be a friend anywhere in the world). Betty, at the embassy stamped my stat dec & confirmed my passport was mine. I then filled out the form & mailed it to them, as I did not have a time constraint. It was very easy. It came through to me about 10 days after they recorded the credit card payment. Very good & easy service from the NZ embassy.

[personchester]

In the future, after Hong Kong, all of this will be done in London! Cheers!!

Why Cheers ...? in the past British passports were renewed in Thailand via the UK Embassy in Bangkok.

Brits in Chiang Mai went to the British Consulate in Chiang Mai and they did sent the application form with the existing passport to the British Embassy in Bangkok.

The new passport together with the old passport was returned within a week to the consulate for collection.

Not to be able to use the UK Embassy in Thailand together with local consulates to renew passports is a negative matter for British expats in Thailand.

"why cheers" because that is the way it is and that is the way that it is gonna be in the future. Get used to it.

I suppose you know that cars are now available in hybrid models

And the more things change the more they stay the same

Funny that you support "with Cheers" negatively changed matters, in this case the current UK passport application, then no doubt "Cheers" for the Frozen UK pension in Thailand, and "Cheers" for the reduced value of the GBP vs.THB because as you said, that is the way it is, and will be in the future, hence Cheers.

Five months ago I bought a Toyota Camry Hybrid the cost with some extras was 1.9 Million, a very good comfortable and speedy car particularly regarding "kick-down, sound, and softness" and the Camry Hybrid is very different from the other Camry's, not the same, and first class.

During the past 10 years I had three top 2.4 Toyota Camry's and each time the productive items changed both inside and outside, thus your saying that ... " the more things change the more the stay the same" is as funny as your outline on "Cheers"

[hellodolly]

Well so far we have

1I am an American and did it all at the U S consulate here in Chiang Mai.

2 UK passport is no longer renewed in Thailand - You need to fill in a form (C1) and send with a copy of your passport to Hong Kong (currently) and your passport will be sent to you from the UK it takes around 4 weeks.

I believe in the future you will not send to HK but to the UK direct

3 Did my New Zealand passport via the internet. Very simple once you registered to join the government internal affairs site. Hardest part was getting the digital photo accepted, due in part to a very finicky computer algorithim at their end. Otherwise all good and got passport couriered from NZ about 10 days after application.

4 I did mine at the Aus embassy in Bangkok. Went in with application, photos and passport (didn't have to leave the passport), and went back 2 weeks later to pick up the replacement.

No other expats from other countries here. Canada European countries. Any country?

I simply went to the NZ embassy (in BKK) & they were very helpful. I signed a stat dec saying I did not have any NZ people that can identify me. (The person does not have to be in Thailand, they can be a friend anywhere in the world). Betty, at the embassy stamped my stat dec & confirmed my passport was mine. I then filled out the form & mailed it to them, as I did not have a time constraint. It was very easy. It came through to me about 10 days after they recorded the credit card payment. Very good & easy service from the NZ embassy.

Seems like there are only 4 countries where people have had experience I would have expected more but such is life.

Thank you to the people who responded. I had hoped to create a thread with a little more information as it is some thing many will face I know there are people from Nordic countries living here in retirement. It would be nice if the Mods could create a pinned topic for this as I am sure there will be people down the line looking for the information.

In the mean time Mods you might as well close this down it is going no where.

[Gonzo the Face]

Give credit where credit is due......

I have to say this about the US Consulate here in CM. If there is one thing they do super great, that is handle passport renewal. I have done it twice now through the CM consulate. This last time was put it in on Tuesday, with the form and photos and money of course, and it was back at the consulate 3 days later on Friday.

Good work to those involved.

[hml367]

Give credit where credit is due......

I have to say this about the US Consulate here in CM. If there is one thing they do super great, that is handle passport renewal. I have done it twice now through the CM consulate. This last time was put it in on Tuesday, with the form and photos and money of course, and it was back at the consulate 3 days later on Friday.

Good work to those involved.

Maybe they are efficient because of the money collected for Notarial services?

[AhFarangJa]

As a matter of interest maybe to the Brits reading this, British passports are renewed at an office in Germany now, I believe either Dusseldorf or Frankfurt, and the issuing body on the passport is IPS. international passport services. All in the name of cost cutting probably!! somehow!!

[personchester]

As a matter of interest maybe to the Brits reading this, British passports are renewed at an office in Germany now, I believe either Dusseldorf or Frankfurt, and the issuing body on the passport is IPS. international passport services. All in the name of cost cutting probably!! somehow!!

If your saying is correct and the Brits in Thailand have to make their passport renewal at offices in

Germany either Dusseldorf or Frankfurt then this is another strange UK decision, and A.H . will be smiling in his grave.

[bristolgeoff]

sometimes can not be helped to renew the passport in Thailand.i find it better if you can do it back in your own country,cheaper and easier sometimes