Changes To British Passport Services In Thailand

[Tigerfish99]

The new (and supposingly cheaper) system they were bragging about is broken.

An article published in the Gardian newspaper yesterday shows the extent of the crisis in that even domestic applications are taking over seven weeks to process.

" UK Passport Office fraud staff diverted to deal with applications backlog

Leaked email shows a quarter of staff employed to detect fraudulent applications asked to process delayed documents"

This is a dramatic situation for British citizens residing in Thailand. The UK Visa Application Centre in Bangkok is not answering applications (application for appointment was sent over a week ago) adding to the delay.

I called the complaints office in UK (30mn on the phone) and the only answer they had was: You have to wait for Bangkok HMPO to email back to you or send another email (in vain) They were not even able to register my complaint by phone, the computer was "not working".

THE IS NO WAY TO CONTACT BANGKOK HMPO, only email, I got an acknowledgement receipt but that is all.

My stepson who is British is now an illegal here as his passport was damaged by a flood and was rejected by Immigration during his long term Visa renewal.. This is a serious crisis!

We have absolutely no idea when he can get a new passport.

The British consulate in Bangkok can do nothing and do not even want to speak about the problem!

HELP!!

[ubonjoe]

How old is your stepson?

If he is under the age of 15 he is not liable for overstay fines.

[Tigerfish99]

How old is your stepson?

If he is under the age of 15 he is not liable for overstay fines.

Thanks for the answer. He is over 21.

This is an unbelievable situation! As a British Citizen I also find this totally unacceptable.

[watso63]

The root of the problem is the Conservative obsessions with privatisation and outsourcing - something that really came to the fore with Thatcher (may she rot in peace).

The big outsourcing companies, G4S, Crapita, Serco, Atos are all utterly hopeless. I can't think of a single service that the government has outsourced to them where they have performed at a level above "utterly pathetic". And the Conservatives are unwilling to concede that the outsourcing policy is a failure and change tack. Dogma blinds them to the reality of the multiple messes they have made.

The management of these companies doesn't care about quality of service; it just wants to maximise profits, which means employing the cheapest (ergo least qualified) staff and providing the cheapest, shoddiest of services and to hell with the customer.

Outsourcing to VFS very much falls into the same boat.

I agree with your comments about profits coming before quality of service, but the problem is not with the concept of privatisation. In this case and others where there is in effect a monopoly, time after time it usually goes to the highest bidder, at the cheapest cost. They pay crappy wages, their employees have low morale and customer service suffers as a result.

Anyway I thought an improving economy and demand for foreign holidays was the real reason for the mess at HMPO 555.

Sent from my GT-N5100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Tigerfish99]

The root of the problem is the Conservative obsessions with privatisation and outsourcing - something that really came to the fore with Thatcher (may she rot in peace).

The big outsourcing companies, G4S, Crapita, Serco, Atos are all utterly hopeless. I can't think of a single service that the government has outsourced to them where they have performed at a level above "utterly pathetic". And the Conservatives are unwilling to concede that the outsourcing policy is a failure and change tack. Dogma blinds them to the reality of the multiple messes they have made.

The management of these companies doesn't care about quality of service; it just wants to maximise profits, which means employing the cheapest (ergo least qualified) staff and providing the cheapest, shoddiest of services and to hell with the customer.

Outsourcing to VFS very much falls into the same boat.

I did manage to extract a phone number for VFS in BKK from the nice lady at the British Consulate whom I was screaming to. Never managed to speak to anyone who could speak the English language, and after my first call they stopped answering the phone.

I called + 44 300 222 00 00 to complain, also a useless service run by nice and patient who just read out what you can find anyway at.gov.uk

I was told to email my complaint to [email protected] (what a geeky mouthful!) and am still awaiting any acknowledgment or reply.

Oh, and the French currently take 12 days for a passport renewal in Bangkok! But then It's Government run!

[Tigerfish99]

The root of the problem is the Conservative obsessions with privatisation and outsourcing - something that really came to the fore with Thatcher (may she rot in peace).

The big outsourcing companies, G4S, Crapita, Serco, Atos are all utterly hopeless. I can't think of a single service that the government has outsourced to them where they have performed at a level above "utterly pathetic". And the Conservatives are unwilling to concede that the outsourcing policy is a failure and change tack. Dogma blinds them to the reality of the multiple messes they have made.

The management of these companies doesn't care about quality of service; it just wants to maximise profits, which means employing the cheapest (ergo least qualified) staff and providing the cheapest, shoddiest of services and to hell with the customer.

Outsourcing to VFS very much falls into the same boat.

I agree with your comments about profits coming before quality of service, but the problem is not with the concept of privatisation. In this case and others where there is in effect a monopoly, time after time it usually goes to the highest bidder, at the cheapest cost. They pay crappy wages, their employees have low morale and customer service suffers as a result.

I wouldn't accept that kind of expectable seasonal rush as any excuse for this managerial disaster.

Anyway I thought an improving economy and demand for foreign holidays was the real reason for the mess at HMPO 555.

Sent from my GT-N5100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[watso63]

The root of the problem is the Conservative obsessions with privatisation and outsourcing - something that really came to the fore with Thatcher (may she rot in peace).

The big outsourcing companies, G4S, Crapita, Serco, Atos are all utterly hopeless. I can't think of a single service that the government has outsourced to them where they have performed at a level above "utterly pathetic". And the Conservatives are unwilling to concede that the outsourcing policy is a failure and change tack. Dogma blinds them to the reality of the multiple messes they have made.

The management of these companies doesn't care about quality of service; it just wants to maximise profits, which means employing the cheapest (ergo least qualified) staff and providing the cheapest, shoddiest of services and to hell with the customer.

Outsourcing to VFS very much falls into the same boat.

I agree with your comments about profits coming before quality of service, but the problem is not with the concept of privatisation. In this case and others where there is in effect a monopoly, time after time it usually goes to the highest bidder, at the cheapest cost. They pay crappy wages, their employees have low morale and customer service suffers as a result.

I wouldn't accept that kind of expectable seasonal rush as any excuse for this managerial disaster.

Anyway I thought an improving economy and demand for foreign holidays was the real reason for the mess at HMPO 555.

Sent from my GT-N5100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

I know Tigerfish, but unfortunately they think we believe them 555.

Sent from my GT-N5100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Dah fahrang]

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jun/06/uk-passport-office-fraud-staff-diverted-applications-backlog

Well, for all of us affected by this ongoing cock-up, small comfort from today's Guardian - leaked e-mail, redeployed staff moved from fraud division - shambles.

It seems that EVERY UK citizen wishing to renew their passport is p**sing into the wind.

[Tigerfish99]

Who represent the British expats living in Thailand?

Is there a Consul in Bangkok?

If so, can anyone give me his name and contact as I clearly need to speak to him,as soon as possible!

Edited June 7, 2014 by Tigerfish99

[digitalchromakey]

Who represent the British expats living in Thailand?

Is there a Consul in Bangkok?

If so, can anyone give me his name and contact as I clearly need to speak to him,as soon as possible!

Yes there is a British Consul in BKK, but unfortunately they no longer deal with Passport Applications as responsibility for this was removed from the Foreign Office earlier this year.

They do respond to emails but will basically just forward your complaint to HMPO email: http://[email protected]

British Embassy do however still handle the issue of Emergency Travel Documents (Emergency Passports - 95 GPB https://www.gov.uk/emergency-travel-document ) .

Here are the contact details for the British Embassy:

British Embassy Bangkok

14 Wireless Road

Lumpini

Pathumwan

Bangkok 10330

Thailand

Email[email protected]

Telephone +66 (0) 2 305 8333

Fax +66 (0) 2 255 9278

[AyG]

Who represent the British expats living in Thailand?

Is there a Consul in Bangkok?

If so, can anyone give me his name and contact as I clearly need to speak to him,as soon as possible!

No consul. It's an embassy in Bangkok, so there's an ambassador. His name is Mark Kent. You can contact him via Twitter at https://twitter.com/KentBKK

He doesn't look anything like I imagined, though. (From his Twitter page.)

[digitalchromakey]

Who represent the British expats living in Thailand?

Is there a Consul in Bangkok?

If so, can anyone give me his name and contact as I clearly need to speak to him,as soon as possible!

No consul. It's an embassy in Bangkok, so there's an ambassador. His name is Mark Kent. You can contact him via Twitter at https://twitter.com/KentBKK

He doesn't look anything like I imagined, though. (From his Twitter page.)

British Embassy Bangkok has Consular Officials and an HM Consul as well.

Michael Hancock | HM Consul | British Embassy Bangkok |14 Wireless Road Bangkok 10330 | tel +66 (0)2305 8333 | fax +66 (0)2255 6051 www.gov.uk/world/Thailand

[Glen Garry]

I got an email from Newport that stated: passport has been issued today (25/05/14) and will be delivered to the office in Bangkok shortly. They will contact you when the passport will be ready for collection/delivery.

That was 13 days ago and not heard anything, I have emailed Trendy and they said they would be in touch should it arrive.

Any one had a similar experience and know how long it should take to come from the UK to Bangkok?

Thanks.

[theoldgit]

The root of the problem is the Conservative obsessions with privatisation and outsourcing - something that really came to the fore with Thatcher (may she rot in peace).

The big outsourcing companies, G4S, Crapita, Serco, Atos are all utterly hopeless. I can't think of a single service that the government has outsourced to them where they have performed at a level above "utterly pathetic". And the Conservatives are unwilling to concede that the outsourcing policy is a failure and change tack. Dogma blinds them to the reality of the multiple messes they have made.

The management of these companies doesn't care about quality of service; it just wants to maximise profits, which means employing the cheapest (ergo least qualified) staff and providing the cheapest, shoddiest of services and to hell with the customer.

Outsourcing to VFS very much falls into the same boat.

I need to say a little about this, having been involved in these processes on both sides of the fence.

Whilst it's of course true to say that outsourcing came to the fore in the Thatcher era, the Labour lot are not immune to criticism, when Jack Straw was Shadow Home Secretary he told me that if he got into power he would stop the contracting out of areas of the Home Office I was involved in, he subsequently came to power and of course the contracting out didn't stop, in fact the whole process accelerated.

Fast forward a number of years and I was responsible for contracting out various Home Office services, when I was assessing bids from potential contractors, including some of those you have named, whilst I wanted an all singing dancing system that would address my needs and those of the customer my hands were tied by Treasury officials who just wanted the cheapest service money could buy.

I also know that these suppliers would be more than happy to provide a superb service, but Home Office officials were focussed on getting the cheapest possible price to deliver the barest service.

It's a few years since I was involved in this process, but I was reporting to Labour Ministers, not Tory or Coalition.

I assume, though I don't know, that the current contract was let simply to keep costs down and save money, I even suspect that local staff at the British Embassy didn't have the final say in letting the contract, they don't want a sloppy system any more than you or I, but, like mine were years ago, their hands were tied.

I wouldn't even criticise the service providers, they have the ability to deliver an excellent service, but they have to cover their costs, the level of service they provide is set in the contract and is monitored by The Authority, or at least it should be, they cannot reduce their service to maximise profits, it simply doesn't work like that.

[soihok]

Great post with a great in sight on the guts of the machine.

Thanks OG.

Government policy dictates what happens, regardless of who is instructed (or as you point out, wins the contract). The protocol and criteria would need to be followed. Its the same in many business contracts world wide.

I remember when we had our milk stopped at Primary school, but that's another story.

Sad sign of the times.

How about the ploughing of millions of pounds into aid and helping immigrants in the UK, then expecting subjects abroad to go to ridiculous measures to get a passport renewal.

I can understand it for new applications, but please, this is just being silly.

[digitalchromakey]

I got an email from Newport that stated: passport has been issued today (25/05/14) and will be delivered to the office in Bangkok shortly. They will contact you when the passport will be ready for collection/delivery.

That was 13 days ago and not heard anything, I have emailed Trendy and they said they would be in touch should it arrive.

Any one had a similar experience and know how long it should take to come from the UK to Bangkok?

Thanks.

Reports to date are 7 days from going to the UK Passport Printers to arrival at Trendy for collection.

Could be worth 'phoning the HMPO UK Helpline on Monday to find out where your Passport is, just in case it has gone astray.

[Noodles]

My son's passport has expired, he is 9, so i have to take him out of school, travel with him from Udon Thani To Bangkok to hand

in the passport with application? And then do it all again once his new passport arrives back in Bangkok?

[digitalchromakey]

My son's passport has expired, he is 9, so i have to take him out of school, travel with him from Udon Thani To Bangkok to hand

in the passport with application? And then do it all again once his new passport arrives back in Bangkok?

According to the text in the related link below:

https://www.gov.uk/overseas-passports/y/thailand/renewing_new/child

Note the key paragraph:

You must apply in person. If you’re unable to, someone else can go on your behalf.

So for a child under 16, someone else can apply on their behalf if they cannot attend, but must bring the old passport.

As regards new passport pick up, Trendy now allow a proxy to do this with a pre-agreed written authorization and the old passport.

Edited June 8, 2014 by digitalchromakey

[digitalchromakey]

Good News:

As of the 4th of June HMPO have moved the goal posts and now allow third parties to make the a UK passport renewal application in BKK.

See the related website page, linked below:

https://www.gov.uk/overseas-passports/y/thailand/renewing_new/adult

Note the key paragraph:

You must apply in person. If you’re unable to, someone else can go on your behalf. You must bring photo ID with you.

This is a significant shift in policy and will save many of us a huge amount of inconvenience, as I suspect within 2 weeks there will be agencies offering just such a service at a cost which will out trump the inconvenience/financial damage of personal travel to BKK for most living outside of the capital.

Small comfort for the pioneers who have had to endure the original nightmare personal appearance condition that has been in place for the last 10 weeks.

It also represents a back down from HMPOs original rigid position, as posted below, which was written in reply to any complaints sent in about this unjust process.

HMPO Newport:

'In light of the challenges presented by local Thai law to achieve this applicants for a UK Passport in Thailand are required to travel in person to the office of a HM Passport Office representative, in the case of Thailand our representative is the UK Visa Application Centre in Bangkok, for them to view the original document(s) and verify photocopies as being true replicas as the originals. This allows the customer to continue to meet the legal requirement of keeping their passport with them at all times whilst their application is being processed.'

Just goes to show that whinging about injustices does achieve results, despite what the nay sayers were posting on this forum.......

[NanLaew]

The root of the problem is the Conservative obsessions with privatisation and outsourcing - something that really came to the fore with Thatcher (may she rot in peace).

The big outsourcing companies, G4S, Crapita, Serco, Atos are all utterly hopeless. I can't think of a single service that the government has outsourced to them where they have performed at a level above "utterly pathetic". And the Conservatives are unwilling to concede that the outsourcing policy is a failure and change tack. Dogma blinds them to the reality of the multiple messes they have made.

The management of these companies doesn't care about quality of service; it just wants to maximise profits, which means employing the cheapest (ergo least qualified) staff and providing the cheapest, shoddiest of services and to hell with the customer.

Outsourcing to VFS very much falls into the same boat.

I did manage to extract a phone number for VFS in BKK from the nice lady at the British Consulate whom I was screaming to. Never managed to speak to anyone who could speak the English language, and after my first call they stopped answering the phone.

I called + 44 300 222 00 00 to complain, also a useless service run by nice and patient who just read out what you can find anyway at.gov.uk

I was told to email my complaint to [email protected] (what a geeky mouthful!) and am still awaiting any acknowledgment or reply.

Oh, and the French currently take 12 days for a passport renewal in Bangkok! But then It's Government run!

Aussie mate of mine recently renewed his passport. Submitted application on Wednesday, night on the piss in Bangkok (met his future ex- wife) and picked up the new passport on Thursday. Nice work by the colonials eh?

Otherwise, please keep screaming into phones and frothing at the mouth on this forum.

[NanLaew]

My son's passport has expired, he is 9, so i have to take him out of school, travel with him from Udon Thani To Bangkok to hand

in the passport with application? And then do it all again once his new passport arrives back in Bangkok?

Yes.

[digitalchromakey]

My son's passport has expired, he is 9, so i have to take him out of school, travel with him from Udon Thani To Bangkok to hand

in the passport with application? And then do it all again once his new passport arrives back in Bangkok?

Yes.

No - see post #1363 link below:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/713867-changes-to-british-passport-services-in-thailand/?p=7942764

Edited June 8, 2014 by digitalchromakey

[Tigerfish99]

Good News:

As of the 4th of June HMPO have moved the goal posts and now allow third parties to make the a UK passport renewal application in BKK.

See the related website page, linked below:

https://www.gov.uk/overseas-passports/y/thailand/renewing_new/adult

Note the key paragraph:

You must apply in person. If you’re unable to, someone else can go on your behalf. You must bring photo ID with you.

This is a significant shift in policy and will save many of us a huge amount of inconvenience, as I suspect within 2 weeks there will be agencies offering just such a service at a cost which will out trump the inconvenience/financial damage of personal travel to BKK for most living outside of the capital.

Small comfort for the pioneers who have had to endure the original nightmare personal appearance condition that has been in place for the last 10 weeks.

It also represents a back down from HMPOs original rigid position, as posted below, which was written in reply to any complaints sent in about this unjust process.

HMPO Newport:

'In light of the challenges presented by local Thai law to achieve this applicants for a UK Passport in Thailand are required to travel in person to the office of a HM Passport Office representative, in the case of Thailand our representative is the UK Visa Application Centre in Bangkok, for them to view the original document(s) and verify photocopies as being true replicas as the originals. This allows the customer to continue to meet the legal requirement of keeping their passport with them at all times whilst their application is being processed.'

Just goes to show that whinging about injustices does achieve results, despite what the nay sayers were posting on this forum.......

About a year ago, I renewed my passport with the old system by mailing the application to Hong Kong and I did this WITHOUT having to send in my old passport. The above commentary is wrong, previous policy specifically allowed overseas applicants for renewal to keep their old passport. At that time, I got my new passport back within three weeks. Now the system is completely broken.

Edited June 8, 2014 by Tigerfish99

[digitalchromakey]

Good News:

As of the 4th of June HMPO have moved the goal posts and now allow third parties to make the a UK passport renewal application in BKK.

See the related website page, linked below:

https://www.gov.uk/overseas-passports/y/thailand/renewing_new/adult

Note the key paragraph:

You must apply in person. If you’re unable to, someone else can go on your behalf. You must bring photo ID with you.

This is a significant shift in policy and will save many of us a huge amount of inconvenience, as I suspect within 2 weeks there will be agencies offering just such a service at a cost which will out trump the inconvenience/financial damage of personal travel to BKK for most living outside of the capital.

Small comfort for the pioneers who have had to endure the original nightmare personal appearance condition that has been in place for the last 10 weeks.

It also represents a back down from HMPOs original rigid position, as posted below, which was written in reply to any complaints sent in about this unjust process.

HMPO Newport:

'In light of the challenges presented by local Thai law to achieve this applicants for a UK Passport in Thailand are required to travel in person to the office of a HM Passport Office representative, in the case of Thailand our representative is the UK Visa Application Centre in Bangkok, for them to view the original document(s) and verify photocopies as being true replicas as the originals. This allows the customer to continue to meet the legal requirement of keeping their passport with them at all times whilst their application is being processed.'

Just goes to show that whinging about injustices does achieve results, despite what the nay sayers were posting on this forum.......

About a year ago, I renewed my passport with the old system by mailing the application to Hong Kong and I did this WITHOUT having to send in my old passport. The above commentary is wrong, previous policy specifically allowed overseas applicants for renewal to keep their old passport. At that time, I got my new passport back within three weeks. Now the system is completely broken.

Above HMPO quote is from 28th April 2014 - they changed their policy and now they have changed it yet again.

System is not completely broken, but it is certainly extremely flawed.

Edited June 8, 2014 by digitalchromakey

[ubonjoe]

A off topic post and replies to it has been removed. Posting off topic in some cases can also be called trolling.

[watso63]

Well, we've managed to rattle the cage enough to get the powers that be to accept some people are unable to travel and will allow a third party to present the application at Trendy on their behalf. Staying silent and accepting a poor service would have achieved nothing, so well done everyone that did their bit.

I hope by the time I need another passport HMPO will have learned from the banks, insurance companies, online retail businesses etc that the internet can be a very useful tool and will commission someone to design an overseas application procedure that is safe, secure and second to none.

Sent from my GT-N5100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Edited June 8, 2014 by watso63

[wotamess]

Hmm..

Visited UK embassy Chiang Mai this week.

I was told to colour photocopy my passport (all pages) and mail to Bangkok along with supporting doc's.

Emailed HMPO & Bangkok HMPO - naturally, HMPO didn't bother to respond. Bangkok HMPO said:

"For information about supporting document please see the attach file.

You have to color photocopies of every page of your current passport and sign every pages."

I've just sent another email to confirm that it is OK to mail documents. See what happens

[soap]

Well, we've managed to rattle the cage enough to get the powers that be to accept some people are unable to travel and will allow a third party to present the application at Trendy on their behalf. Staying silent and accepting a poor service would have achieved nothing, so well done everyone that did their bit.

I hope by the time I need another passport HMPO will have learned from the banks, insurance companies, online retail businesses etc that the internet can be a very useful tool and will commission someone to design an overseas application procedure that is safe, secure and second to none.

Sent from my GT-N5100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

u

I would also like to thank the likes of Whatso, digital,soi hok for keeping up their persistent whingers about a system that had no regard for people less fortunate than themselves,were common sense nearly went out the window to be replaced by illogical reasoning that encouraged knocking your head against a brick wall.

How the powers that be and their followers on this thread could sanction these new changes without taking into account the effect on British citizens who live outside of Bangkok.Well they must of been at the back of the queue when they were giving the brains out

[digitalchromakey]

Hmm..

Visited UK embassy Chiang Mai this week.

I was told to colour photocopy my passport (all pages) and mail to Bangkok along with supporting doc's.

Emailed HMPO & Bangkok HMPO - naturally, HMPO didn't bother to respond. Bangkok HMPO said:

"For information about supporting document please see the attach file.

You have to color photocopies of every page of your current passport and sign every pages."

I've just sent another email to confirm that it is OK to mail documents. See what happens

Since the 26th of March when Trendy started to deal with passport applications, they have not to my knowledge accepted forms/documents that were posted in.

I wonder if perhaps the British Consulate in Chiang Mai gave you bad advice, however the goal posts were moved again only last Friday, so maybe passport applications mail ins are in fact back on the menu.

Best you check with the HMPO UK Helpline (regular UK land line charge so can Skype for 1.4p per minute) if mail in is now allowed.

Please could you let this thread know the outcome - thanks.

[davejonesbkk]

I only have half a page left in my passport, next 90 day report is on July 16th so I guess not enough time?

So let me get the process straight:

You need to go to the office at Trendy in person with the full color copy of your passport, passport and other docs, pay the fee and then wait 6 weeks? I will need to apply for a new ED course here in that time I think, will this affect it?