John1thru10 Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 It's taking months to get a new British passport right now, they have a massive backlog. There's also issues about proving your address. People have been forced onto overstay as you can NOT use the passport once you apply for it. You're in the shit I'm afraid. That doesn't even make sense: Get 3 months in Thailand and apply for passport Get a month + 3 month extra in Cambodia and apply for passport. Even if it takes longer than 12 weeks I can still apply for an emergency travel document. I just don't want to have 24 hours to turn around at Chiang Mai airport because I will have to pay more for a flight than it would cost me for 3-6 month business visa in Cambodia, plus I'll be stuck in Malaysia where you can get a box room for the price of a house on Samui. It makes sense due to the fact that you only have 2 pages left in your passport ! Think about it. Do you mind explaining because you've well and truly lost me? 2 pages + a few halves will be enough for either option I mentioned, but I can understand why you're being overly cautious. For some long time now, many countries require 3 to 4 blank pages in your passport to deal with you in any way. They will never be happy about using your last page, under any circumstance. Not sure exactly why that is, but it is rather world wide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finy Posted July 17, 2014 Author Share Posted July 17, 2014 I have 2 so hopefully everything should be okay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digitalchromakey Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 (edited) Heard earlier it is only 3-4 weeks for a new passport when overseas as they are being fast-tracked. Backlog in the UK (I'm here now) is being managed on an individual basis so if you can prove need (booked ticket) it is also fast-tracked. Think this is a fantasy. Any evidence of this happening would be interesting to read. Currently there is no fast tracking option available.for UK Passport overseas renewal applications which are currently taking 10 weeks+ from application in BKK to collection in BKK. Edited July 17, 2014 by digitalchromakey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Changoverandout Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 Maybe times have changed but I applied to Hong Kong for a new passport on Oct 1 2013 and received the new one by post from UK to my home address in Thailand in 3 weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ukrules Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 (edited) Maybe times have changed but I applied to Hong Kong for a new passport on Oct 1 2013 and received the new one by post from UK to my home address in Thailand in 3 weeks. Oh yes, things have very much changed. To see some of the horror stories which are ongoing right now check out this thread (80 pages long at the moment) : http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/713867-changes-to-british-passport-services-in-thailand/ They took a system that worked quite efficiently and broke the whole UK passport system including the part that operates inside the UK ! Edited July 17, 2014 by ukrules Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digitalchromakey Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 (edited) Maybe times have changed but I applied to Hong Kong for a new passport on Oct 1 2013 and received the new one by post from UK to my home address in Thailand in 3 weeks. Times have changed, oh boy have they changed. Since March 26th 2014 UK passport issue overseas is now done by the Home Office, no longer the Foreign Office/Embassies. You apply in BKK and your papers are sent to Liverpool to fight it out alongside UK Resident applications, there is a current backlog of 500,000 plus passports as yet unissued. Correct description of the new system is a cluster f..k of fiasco, a real life train wreck. UK Citizens overseas are going onto overstay with all the delays. Then to add insult to injury you have to travel back to BKK to collect your passport when it's sent (you pay 23.01 GBP courier fee for it to be couriered only to the agent VFS trendy towers BKK). HMPO and their side kicks are a bunch of useless Muppets, hardly anybody gives a toss and we are currently being treated like fully paid up third class citizens. Current overseas UK Passport application to delivery times are now running at 10-11 Weeks. Edited July 17, 2014 by digitalchromakey 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mutha289 Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 For U.S. passport holders you can go to any U.S. embassy and have extra pages added for a fee and its done on the spot. I have no idea if that is available to UK passport holders but it may be worth looking into. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ukrules Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 For U.S. passport holders you can go to any U.S. embassy and have extra pages added for a fee and its done on the spot. I have no idea if that is available to UK passport holders but it may be worth looking into. Not possible in a UK passport but it would be very useful if they introduced this service to help make amends with the recent cockup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrtoad Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 For U.S. passport holders you can go to any U.S. embassy and have extra pages added for a fee and its done on the spot. I have no idea if that is available to UK passport holders but it may be worth looking into. Not available for UK passport holders Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ripper15 Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 Hue is not a beach town. Does have a river though. That is unless they have moved it since 1971. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jack71 Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 At this time I would say go for number one. The only confirmed reports of people being turned away that have a tourist visa has been at the southern borders. Some of the news also has gotten a bit confused because of the confusion of exempt entries and tourist visas. An article posted yesterday clearly was confusing the two. I'll try to stay with option number 1 until the last minute, but I'll keep an eye on what is happening over the next few weeks. I sort of agree with the guy who posted first in a way. I'm so sick and tired of feeling like I'm in limbo and I just want somewhere I can relax while applying for new passport, but at the same time I love where I'm staying on Samui. Does anyone know if Sihonoukville is the same as Samui as far as a beach is concerned. I just need a decent place with kitchen and internet access to work, so nothing fancy matters such as cinemas, night clubs, fancy foreign food stores, etc. sihanoukville is the most dangerous place in SE Asia. Its the wild west and I would avoid it if I were you. Go to bali, lombok, gili islands. Its peak season there and NO RAIN. its the dry season. Beaches, clear water and turtles as opposed to crap beaches and danger in sihanoukville Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shurup Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 ^ A good strategy to keep your fav place tourist free for a little longer is to try to scare them away. Can you elaborate on the dangers and crap beaches? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DesertRose Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 British passport office is in chaos. My husband waited ten weeks to get his after he applied in March and I believe it's gotten worse since then. The only way to fast track is to go back to the UK and do it which is what I'm doing. Now that you have to apply in person in BKK they will snip your passport so it is clear to any immigration people that it has been cancelled. A few months ago when you could apply by post it was possible to use the old passport while waiting for a new one. Google British passport delays. They closed seven overseas passport offices and expected the same number of staff to cope with 350k of additional applications. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HooHaa Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 It's taking months to get a new British passport right now, they have a massive backlog. There's also issues about proving your address. People have been forced onto overstay as you can NOT use the passport once you apply for it. You're in the shit I'm afraid. my one overstay happened because of passport processing delays, by the time i got the doc i was at 20k and couldnt see the urgency to leave. of course that was years ago, i would not react the same way now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finy Posted July 17, 2014 Author Share Posted July 17, 2014 Hue is not a beach town. Does have a river though. That is unless they have moved it since 1971. Haha I did realize this after looking at Google Maps, but tbf it's less than 10km to the beach. I'm looking at a few other places on the coast though, plus Nha Trang further down south. If you have any recommendations please let me know. There are some decent places in Hue anyway, so I might start there and look around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finy Posted July 17, 2014 Author Share Posted July 17, 2014 At this time I would say go for number one. The only confirmed reports of people being turned away that have a tourist visa has been at the southern borders. Some of the news also has gotten a bit confused because of the confusion of exempt entries and tourist visas. An article posted yesterday clearly was confusing the two. I'll try to stay with option number 1 until the last minute, but I'll keep an eye on what is happening over the next few weeks. I sort of agree with the guy who posted first in a way. I'm so sick and tired of feeling like I'm in limbo and I just want somewhere I can relax while applying for new passport, but at the same time I love where I'm staying on Samui. Does anyone know if Sihonoukville is the same as Samui as far as a beach is concerned. I just need a decent place with kitchen and internet access to work, so nothing fancy matters such as cinemas, night clubs, fancy foreign food stores, etc. sihanoukville is the most dangerous place in SE Asia. Its the wild west and I would avoid it if I were you. Go to bali, lombok, gili islands. Its peak season there and NO RAIN. its the dry season. Beaches, clear water and turtles as opposed to crap beaches and danger in sihanoukville Can't go to Bali because you only get a 2 month visa and you have to apply in person in Jakarta, but once I have new passport I'll be going to Bali for sure. Been a few times already and I love it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandyf Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 Do you mind explaining because you've well and truly lost me? 2 pages + a few halves will be enough for either option I mentioned, but I can understand why you're being overly cautious. For some long time now, many countries require 3 to 4 blank pages in your passport to deal with you in any way. They will never be happy about using your last page, under any circumstance. Not sure exactly why that is, but it is rather world wide. Another urban myth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jawnie Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 Can you simply have more pages added to your passport rather than getting an entirely new passport? That only takes a couple of days, I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haikurd Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 I would say go with option one, the news on TVF seems overly influenced by what's happening at the Southern border land crossings and a lot of crotchety folks not even affected by the changes on TV sounding the alarm. Of course I may feel differently tomorrow after my Mai Sae run. I applied for a Cambodian visa online a few years ago and never actually received it, ended up just getting one at the border - so you may want to investigate that further before applying. I liked PP quite a lot but I was there for work short-term. I haven't heard great things about Sihanoukville. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbolai Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 Hue is a very nice town. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xray Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 Are lost or stolen handled quicker than simple renewals? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bergenser1 Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 Don't report your passport lost/stolen. You might end up waiting longer then for a renewal. Stick it in the washing machine and destroy it that way, take the leftovers with you and apply for a new one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larsjohnsson Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 It's taking months to get a new British passport right now, they have a massive backlog.There's also issues about proving your address. People have been forced onto overstay as you can NOT use the passport once you apply for it. You're in the shit I'm afraid. That doesn't even make sense: Get 3 months in Thailand and apply for passport Get a month + 3 month extra in Cambodia and apply for passport. Even if it takes longer than 12 weeks I can still apply for an emergency travel document. I just don't want to have 24 hours to turn around at Chiang Mai airport because I will have to pay more for a flight than it would cost me for 3-6 month business visa in Cambodia, plus I'll be stuck in Malaysia where you can get a box room for the price of a house on Samui. It makes sense due to the fact that you only have 2 pages left in your passport ! Think about it. Do you mind explaining because you've well and truly lost me? 2 pages + a few halves will be enough for either option I mentioned, but I can understand why you're being overly cautious. For some long time now, many countries require 3 to 4 blank pages in your passport to deal with you in any way. They will never be happy about using your last page, under any circumstance. Not sure exactly why that is, but it is rather world wide. I have used the last 3-4 pages in every passport that I have owned. Probably 5-6 passports Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
volsfan Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 Given your page situation, you should apply for the Cambodia visa online. Print the form and then all you get is the stamp instead of the full page taken by the sticker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ukrules Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 Don't report your passport lost/stolen. You might end up waiting longer then for a renewal. Stick it in the washing machine and destroy it that way, take the leftovers with you and apply for a new one. Idiocy at it's best. If you want a new passport just apply for a renewal. You don't need to dispose of, lose or damage the old one and you don't need 'an excuse' to get a new one - just renew it. Simple. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bergenser1 Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 Don't report your passport lost/stolen. You might end up waiting longer then for a renewal. Stick it in the washing machine and destroy it that way, take the leftovers with you and apply for a new one. Idiocy at it's best. If you want a new passport just apply for a renewal. You don't need to dispose of, lose or damage the old one and you don't need 'an excuse' to get a new one - just renew it. Simple. Depends on the country. I had a UK friend that was denied renewal since passport was only half full and still valid for a few years more. He ran it through the washing machine, went back with the damaged passport and got it renewed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xray Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 (edited) More helpful? https://www.gov.uk/overseas-passports "Get the forms, prices and application details you need if you’re a British national and you want to renew or apply for a British passport from overseas. If you can’t wait for a new passport, you can get details on how to apply for a 12-month extension to your British passport..." looks like they will need to count your half pages for the extension... Having already paid for airfare to Malaysia, that is where I would be going and staying until my passport was sorted out. I find Georgetown as comfortable a place to stay as anywhere in Thailand (more so than anywhere in Vietnam or Cambodia). Nice beaches to be found on much of Penang island and you get 90 days free stay permit on arrival. Edited July 17, 2014 by xray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digitalchromakey Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 Can you simply have more pages added to your passport rather than getting an entirely new passport? That only takes a couple of days, I think. Unfortunately, this is not possible for UK Passports. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digitalchromakey Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 Don't report your passport lost/stolen. You might end up waiting longer then for a renewal. Stick it in the washing machine and destroy it that way, take the leftovers with you and apply for a new one. Idiocy at it's best. If you want a new passport just apply for a renewal. You don't need to dispose of, lose or damage the old one and you don't need 'an excuse' to get a new one - just renew it. Simple. Depends on the country. I had a UK friend that was denied renewal since passport was only half full and still valid for a few years more. He ran it through the washing machine, went back with the damaged passport and got it renewed. So you take a useable passport with 2+ pages left, destroy it, to then have to wait 11 weeks (current UK overseas passport application to collection delay) plus for a replacement - awesome suggestion, why didn't I think of that?. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digitalchromakey Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 More helpful? https://www.gov.uk/overseas-passports "Get the forms, prices and application details you need if you’re a British national and you want to renew or apply for a British passport from overseas. If you can’t wait for a new passport, you can get details on how to apply for a 12-month extension to your British passport..." looks like they will need to count your half pages for the extension... Having already paid for airfare to Malaysia, that is where I would be going and staying until my passport was sorted out. I find Georgetown as comfortable a place to stay as anywhere in Thailand (more so than anywhere in Vietnam or Cambodia). Nice beaches to be found on much of Penang island and you get 90 days free stay permit on arrival. 12 month UK temporary extension doesn't help in this case, as it is merely a half page stamp in a passport that the OP states is almost full. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.png.3b3332cc2256ad0edbc2fe9404feeef0.png)
.thumb.png.76be522b3b43e7458166b9dac9e422ed.png)
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now