Time scale on renewing British passports

[SophieC]

Hi I'm currently travelling around South East Asia and only have five pages left in my passport so need to get a new one sooner rather than later.

I am planning to book an appointment in advance before I arrive in BKK so I can maximise on my two month time scale (tourist visa).

I'm a bit worried that two months might not be enough time what with all the delays I keep reading about in the UK.

Has anyone recently renewed their British passport in Bangkok and if so how long did it take?

Also what would I do if they didn't get it back to me in time?

Thanks for any advice anyone can offer me

[theoldgit]

There is a massively long thread about the new procedures, and the problems surrounding them, with respect to replacing a British Passport here in Thailand http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/713867-changes-to-british-passport-services-in-thailand/

I think those applying here are normally resident here and as such have to prove their address in Thailand, though I assume tourists who haven't been able to renew their passports, or have forgotten to, before they started their trip could avail themselves of this service.

As to what would happen, well you don't actually send your passport, just a copy, and it rather depends where you are travelling to as to whether five pages would be enough.

[OJAS]

It might, in fact, be easier (although not necessarily quicker) to renew your passport from one of the other SE Asian countries you're staying in rather than Thailand.

You should be able to assess your renewal options in this part of the world by following the links on https://www.gov.uk/overseas-passports

[wolf5370]

There have also been big problems in the UK with delays printing the passports - as they are all printed there now, this will also be a knock on. It took 3 months to get my daughters new passport back earlier this year!

[A. BOOZER]

My recent passport renewal took TEN WEEKS.

Absolutely Disgusting!

[ammagic]

11 weeks & still no passport plus in overstay as of next week. Helpline in the UK is useless. It's beyond appalling!

[Richard W]

The passport backlog in the UK seems to have been cleared, which may offer some hope. My family's UK passport renewals took about 4 weeks (submission and receipt both in August).

[phraeophailin]

I have just received back my passport and it took eight weeks. I have just applied for my daughters passport and there was a two week waiting period before I could get a appointment, so I hoping that will be a bit faster.

[ammagic]

The passport renewal process is a farce. Finally called the British embassy in BK & said it was an emergency. Which for me it is - only runaround from helpline / & now in overstay. To the credit of the embassy they did check. Turns out my passport had been in the visa office at Trendy for 2 weeks already!!! They maintained they emailed me on Sept 1st - totally untrue - one can after all check received. emails. And now of course have to trek to BK to pick it up (I am in Chiangmai). Whole thing has taken almost 11weeks! More expense plus overstay charges. Total fiasco! Am preparing a big complaint - for all the good that will do me!!

[ammagic]

For anyone about to renew their UK passport, please try to get a barcoded reference no. I didn't know this was necessary - but each time I called the helpline in the UK ((ultimately useless), I was asked for my reference no, not sure if Trendy gives them but clearly they should. As I said, the whole process is a farce!

[brewsterbudgen]

Not that it will really help anyone, a hugely critical report has just been released in the UK. Heads might roll and there seems to be some recognition that removing overseas applications from the FCO was a mistake.

Keith Vaz, the committee chairman, said emergency measures ordered by Home Office ministers proved to be too little, too late. He said there had been a complete failure of management at the agency, whose leaders would be "unlikely to survive to the final round of The Apprentice".

"HM Passport Office should lose its agency status and be brought back under direct ministerial control following this appalling series of failures," Vaz said. "They have delivered a shamefully poor service to the estimated 5.6 million British citizens living abroad.

"The decision to transfer responsibility for processing overseas passport applications from the Foreign Office to the Passport Office was a mistake. The focus has been on departmental budgets rather than on providing a service paid for by citizens."

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/sep/16/passports-backlog-payouts-mps

Edited September 16, 2014 by brewsterbudgen