Well i've just taken my passport to the Trendy building at Soi13. After completion i asked the guy how long my current passport would be valid for. "maybe a week or so' was the reply.

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So i'm likely to have to wait 7 or 8 weeks for the new passport (his estimate) but my visa runs out in a month and i have to go to Cambodia to get a 90 day extension on my Non-Imm O visa which runs out next month. Can the UK government really be terminating my "old" passport 6 weeks before returning the new one? In which case i won't be able to travel on this document anyway.

3 weeks ago i went to the Trendy building regarding my daughters passport. I made a point of asking about when my old passport would be terminated and she told me it was up to me and that it would remain valid until i decided to change passports. Now this guy says there are "new rules".

Should i go on a visa run asap and just lose a month on my visa? or is there any way of finding out when my current (old) passport is going to become invalid?

Any advice what to do about this? Presumably it's illegal to have no valid passport as an expat and i can't believe the UK government are putting us in this situation due to their failure to clear the backlogs in time.

Thanks

I suggest you make a border run to get another 90 days. Loosing some time on your current entry would be better than ending up on overstay because you have not gotten your passport back before your permit to stay ends.

Have you looked at this topic for info: Changes To British Passport Services In Thailand

I think that's what i'll have to do. What i don't understand is why on earth they insist on deactivating a passport 7 weeks before they issue the new one. If they're too busy to process the passport, how do they find time to terminate it at great cost and inconvenience to the passport holder?