Renewing UK passport in Chiang Mai

[DerekMarshall]

Hi there,

Can anyone confirm that I can renew UK passport in Chiang Mai and get a new (her first) passport for my daughter there and confirm her UK nationality.

If so where do I have to go address `please?

[theoldgit]

You will need to travel to Bangkok I'm afraid, there's a long running thread on this changes-to-british-passport-services-in-thailand

Also, due to the current problems with issuing passports, you might also want to read this https://www.gov.uk/overseas-passports

[eyecatcher]

As I understand all passports are now dealt with in the UK.

There are two application forms both can be downloaded from the passport website.

For you choose the form applying from overseas.

For a first passport,this may be where you run into trouble and if you are not planning to visit the uk, then yes for your daughter you may have to do the biometrics, fingerprints and photo at the uk embassy departments

Your best bet is to read it first hand from the passport website, as it seems now they are overrun with applications, struggling to cope and news and procedures is changing often.

[khwaibah]

As I understand all passports are now dealt with in the UK.

There are two application forms both can be downloaded from the passport website.

For you choose the form applying from overseas.

For a first passport,this may be where you run into trouble and if you are not planning to visit the uk, then yes for your daughter you may have to do the biometrics, fingerprints and photo at the uk embassy departments

Your best bet is to read it first hand from the passport website, as it seems now they are overrun with applications, struggling to cope and news and procedures is changing often.

There is an ongoing thread on Thai visas, residency and work permits forum. All UK passport holders in Thailand must now go to Bangkok. The thread is now up to 66 pages. http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/713867-changes-to-british-passport-services-in-thailand/page-66

Edited June 17, 2014 by khwaibah

[Dellboy218]

If you feel like discussing your requirements, the lady fronting the Consulate is very knowledgeable and helpful. She has been working there a long time. The Consulate is in the grounds of the British Council These are the websites

http://www.britishcouncil.or.th/en/english/schools/chiang-mai

For the consulate..

http://www.british-consulate.net/Chiangmai.html

To Get there from town, cross over the Nawarat bridge heading east, at the first traffic lights past the bridge turn left. a few hundred yards up there you will see some trees on the right with a building set back from the road and security barriers. Take the second entrance and wait for the guard to check your vehicle. The small Consulate building is in front of you on the left. The McCormack hospital is just a little further up the road on your right.

[jonwilly]

Sorry but you must join us Brits in suffering the Disgraceful Procedure now being inflicted on us.

I hope my 94 year old friend never needs to renew his UK passport, which the Thai authorities require as proof of identity.

john

[northernjohn]

If you feel like discussing your requirements, the lady fronting the Consulate is very knowledgeable and helpful. She has been working there a long time. The Consulate is in the grounds of the British Council These are the websites

http://www.britishcouncil.or.th/en/english/schools/chiang-mai

For the consulate..

http://www.british-consulate.net/Chiangmai.html

To Get there from town, cross over the Nawarat bridge heading east, at the first traffic lights past the bridge turn left. a few hundred yards up there you will see some trees on the right with a building set back from the road and security barriers. Take the second entrance and wait for the guard to check your vehicle. The small Consulate building is in front of you on the left. The McCormack hospital is just a little further up the road on your right.

There is a stop light as soon as you cross over the bridge it is not that one go to the next one about a kilometer from the bridge. Turn left there.

Hard to miss if you are looking for it.

[Ricardo]

The OP mentions wishing to "confirm her UK nationality", hopefully he did register her birth at the Consulate within the first year afterwards, if she was born here in Thailand ?

[phuket Mike]

The OP mentions wishing to "confirm her UK nationality", hopefully he did register her birth at the Consulate within the first year afterwards, if she was born here in Thailand ?

Just to clarify there is no requirement to register a British child at the consulate or Embassy within the first year that is a requirement in the UK to register the birth, it is purely optional here. A translated copy of the mothers and childs Thai birth certificate and the fathers is enough. I know because I have 3 children and none are registered at the embassy, I got my daughter's British passport last year and she was 5.

The child automatically becomes British, getting their nationality from their father.

[Beetlejuice]

If you feel like discussing your requirements, the lady fronting the Consulate is very knowledgeable and helpful. She has been working there a long time. The Consulate is in the grounds of the British Council These are the websites

http://www.britishcouncil.or.th/en/english/schools/chiang-mai

For the consulate..

http://www.british-consulate.net/Chiangmai.html

To Get there from town, cross over the Nawarat bridge heading east, at the first traffic lights past the bridge turn left. a few hundred yards up there you will see some trees on the right with a building set back from the road and security barriers. Take the second entrance and wait for the guard to check your vehicle. The small Consulate building is in front of you on the left. The McCormack hospital is just a little further up the road on your right.

I`m afraid not.

The nice lady fronting the Consulate will tell you that the consulate has nothing to do with the renewing of British passports anymore and all inquires must be made at Trendy House in Bangkok.

First the passport renewal applicant must make an appointment online via email for an appointment to visit Trendy House in person or send a third party on their behalf to make the application. Then when the passport has been processed and ready for collection, the applicant must again visit Trendy house in Bangkok in person or send a third party to collect the new passport. They give a period from application to ready for collection as between 4 weeks to 6 months but with the present chaos at the Liverpool passport office, how long the process may actually take is anyone`s guess.

[naboo]

The OP mentions wishing to "confirm her UK nationality", hopefully he did register her birth at the Consulate within the first year afterwards, if she was born here in Thailand ?

Give one reason to register the birth at the consulate. I looked, tried hard, and found none.

OP, rules changed about 6 months ago, got to go to Trendy House in Bangkok. This apparently makes things easier for us.

[Dellboy218]

If you feel like discussing your requirements, the lady fronting the Consulate is very knowledgeable and helpful. She has been working there a long time. The Consulate is in the grounds of the British Council These are the websites

http://www.britishcouncil.or.th/en/english/schools/chiang-mai

For the consulate..

http://www.british-consulate.net/Chiangmai.html

To Get there from town, cross over the Nawarat bridge heading east, at the first traffic lights past the bridge turn left. a few hundred yards up there you will see some trees on the right with a building set back from the road and security barriers. Take the second entrance and wait for the guard to check your vehicle. The small Consulate building is in front of you on the left. The McCormack hospital is just a little further up the road on your right.

I`m afraid not.

The nice lady fronting the Consulate will tell you that the consulate has nothing to do with the renewing of British passports anymore and all inquires must be made at Trendy House in Bangkok.

First the passport renewal applicant must make an appointment online via email for an appointment to visit Trendy House in person or send a third party on their behalf to make the application. Then when the passport has been processed and ready for collection, the applicant must again visit Trendy house in Bangkok in person or send a third party to collect the new passport. They give a period from application to ready for collection as between 4 weeks to 6 months but with the present chaos at the Liverpool passport office, how long the process may actually take is anyone`s guess.

I know the Consulate has nothing to do with renewing passports and has not done so for a long time. They can however give you advice or at least they used to. I went there in mid February to get the forms for a new passport and find out what was required. The forms were couriered to Liverpool and couriered back with a new passport. I guess things must have changed yet again.

[bristolgeoff]

most people should know that the passport office in the uk have big problems in renewal.taking longer so expect a long delay

[Ricardo]

The OP mentions wishing to "confirm her UK nationality", hopefully he did register her birth at the Consulate within the first year afterwards, if she was born here in Thailand ?

Give one reason to register the birth at the consulate. I looked, tried hard, and found none.

Certainly, it used to make it slightly-easier to get a passport, if one had registered the birth of a new British-citizen (born overseas), if you told them within the first year.

That's what I was referring to, not the (pretty useless IMO) register of locally-resident citizens, in case of emergency/major-disaster.

[mccw]

I just did this.

Trip to bangkok needed. To the VFSF visa centre on Suk Soi 13; not the British embassy.

Once there it was actually really fast service. In and out in about 20 minutes. It's the same place as the Thais have to go for apply to visit the uk- but us UK Citizens get a dedicated window and there was no que at all for that window. You need to contact them by email through the web site and they give you an appointment time- do not just go and turn up expecting to do it- appointment only.

Download the relevant forms from the web. Ie the application from abroad. Check you have all the supporting documents you need. Proof of address might be a bit of a pain for some as the definition / allowable sources of proof has been tightened. No more bills or bank statements- has to be an official letter from the Thai gov or educational institution, so I got a letter from my kids school head master for example.

At the visa centre they advised me that they would call me and I must come back to collect my passport in person- but then last week it arrived at my home in chiang Mai by courier.

Total time was about 6 weeks to get it back from the booking of appointment.

[Maejo Man]

I just did this.

Trip to bangkok needed. To the VFSF visa centre on Suk Soi 13; not the British embassy.

Once there it was actually really fast service. In and out in about 20 minutes. It's the same place as the Thais have to go for apply to visit the uk- but us UK Citizens get a dedicated window and there was no que at all for that window. You need to contact them by email through the web site and they give you an appointment time- do not just go and turn up expecting to do it- appointment only.

Download the relevant forms from the web. Ie the application from abroad. Check you have all the supporting documents you need. Proof of address might be a bit of a pain for some as the definition / allowable sources of proof has been tightened. No more bills or bank statements- has to be an official letter from the Thai gov or educational institution, so I got a letter from my kids school head master for example.

At the visa centre they advised me that they would call me and I must come back to collect my passport in person- but then last week it arrived at my home in chiang Mai by courier.

Total time was about 6 weeks to get it back from the booking of appointment.

Did you have to surrender your original passport or did they adope the same process as they have done in the past? i.e. full copies of passport pages, which allowed you to keep the original to be within the law in Thailand.

[mccw]

I just did this.

Trip to bangkok needed. To the VFSF visa centre on Suk Soi 13; not the British embassy.

Once there it was actually really fast service. In and out in about 20 minutes. It's the same place as the Thais have to go for apply to visit the uk- but us UK Citizens get a dedicated window and there was no que at all for that window. You need to contact them by email through the web site and they give you an appointment time- do not just go and turn up expecting to do it- appointment only.

Download the relevant forms from the web. Ie the application from abroad. Check you have all the supporting documents you need. Proof of address might be a bit of a pain for some as the definition / allowable sources of proof has been tightened. No more bills or bank statements- has to be an official letter from the Thai gov or educational institution, so I got a letter from my kids school head master for example.

At the visa centre they advised me that they would call me and I must come back to collect my passport in person- but then last week it arrived at my home in chiang Mai by courier.

Total time was about 6 weeks to get it back from the booking of appointment.

Did you have to surrender your original passport or did they adope the same process as they have done in the past? i.e. full copies of passport pages, which allowed you to keep the original to be within the law in Thailand.

Copies and inspection of old passport on the day- but they give it you back to hold on to yes.