Hi all,

My wife has her initial settlement visa in the uk and everything is going well,i have a question though,my wifes passport expires before the visa expires so what do i do? Can i get a new passport for her when we travel back to Thailand and show both passports for the next stage of the visa or can she stay here until the visa is up on her current passport?any help would be great,its still a long way off but better to know now than wait until the last minute,which is what i usually do!

Thanks in advance

There is no reason to wait for a Trip back to Thailand to get her passport. She can apply for it at the embassy in London. Info here: http://www.thaiembassyuk.org.uk/?q=node/6

Once she has her new passport, you can pay an exorbitant fee to have the visa transferred to the new passport; but there is no need to do this as it is still valid even though the passport it is stuck into has expired.

So most people don't bother with this. She simply carries both passports.

When she applies for the next stage the appropriate stamp/sticker will be placed in her new passport.

No stamps/stickers in passports...all biometric cards now

RAZZ

I thought that the initial visa was still a vignette stuck into the passport; but if that has changed I stand corrected.

However, many people who received their visa or leave to remain before the introduction of biometric permits will not have a biometric permit but still have an old style visa vignette or leave to remain stamp in their passport. So:-

• Anyone who does have a vignette or stamp in their passport; see my post above
• Anyone who has a separate biometric permit, obviously that isn't transferred to a new passport.

Edited October 11, 201312 yr by 7by7

A friend who returned to the UK in September with myself and my wife, still uses the two passports (i.e. including an expired one containing a ILR visa sticker). My wife also did this before she got UK citizenship. I don't know if there is a switch over date when this ceases to be possible.

No cut off date, unless the visa or leave to remain expires.

If the visa or leave to remain is valid, then it is valid; even if the passport the vignette or stamp is in has expired.

ECB17.1 Transferring a visa (or leave)

Where an applicant's passport expires during the validity of a multi-entry visa, the visa (or leave) may be transferred to the new passport at their request. Applicants may be advised that any visa (or leave) endorsed in the expired passport remains valid so applicants can, if they wish, keep their expired passport with the new passport and therefore do not need to request any transfer.

Most people, including my wife and step daughter, do what your wife did; i.e. carry both old passport with the vignette or stamp in it and their new one, until they become British citizens, after which they use their British passport to enter the UK.

Edit:

If one does want to transfer the visa or LTR to a new passport the fee is £147 by post or a whopping £522 in person!

That's if you do it in the UK. For some reason, the fee for doing so outside the UK is £105 (paid in local currency); but there is still no need to do it.

Visa and LTR fees are high enough as it is; why pay more when you don't have to?

Edited October 11, 201312 yr by 7by7

No stamps/stickers in passports...all biometric cards now

RAZZ

I can confirm this. Wife got a FLR(M) this week and no stamp in her passport.

If you're coming to Thailand before the passport expires - just get the new passport here (2 days in Thailand - 2 months from the embassy in the UK).

If you're not coming to Thailand until after the passport would have expired, you can travel to Thailand on an expired Thai passport, and renew it here (saves the two month wait), but you might be restricted to direct flights (i.e. BA / Thai / EVA from Heathrow)

If you're in London, the embassy route is probably not a major problem, but if you're a long way from London, I'd only go the embassy route for a passport, given the delays involved, if you're planning a trip somewhere else before your next trip to Thailand.

Edit: As others have said, the visa in the passport is still valid after the passport has expired, but she wouldn't be able to re-enter the UK on an expired Thai passport. So you just carry the new passport, and the old passport with the visa in it.

Edited October 15, 201312 yr by bkk_mike