First time British passport & divorce at Trendy Office.

[nabbie]

Moderator: I am not sure where to put this topic but I trust you know where to put. Thanks.

Hi, I would like to draw your attention with regards to the new child passport & divorce at Trendy building. The reason I decide to raise this topic is to find out whether I should request the complaint or not. And to whom?

This week, I went to the Trendy office using my planned appointment with my daughter. I saw the male assistant behind the PC. He seems to be friendly & I notice the lady behind him who is monitoring. This does not bother me really & I have a pleasure to submit my passport renewal. That took about 5 to 10 minutes. It is a very straightforward procedure. Then I submit another application for my daughter’s first passport. (My daughter is present with me). He seems to be happy to check everything until he finds my divorce certificate. The lady’s body language behind him is suddenly changing and I pretend not to take the notice of that. As the result of that, she comes to me some questions as below

Do you have your birth certificate?

Where is your wife’s birth certificate?

Do you realise these birth certificates are very important?

Can you please write the cover letter to state the reason of the divorce?

Also she want to verify my signature.

In my mind, I shout that is none of your business but I decide to choose the assertive way to give her the challenge.

First three questions: I politely pointed child birth registration certificate I obtained from British Embassy a few years ago with my respect. And I show her the copy of the UK guidebook & the UK supporting documents. Afterward she is suddenly gone while the male assistant continues his role.

Fourth question: I agree to accept their request to write the cover letter and my cover letter is to explain HMPO that Trendy office wants me to make the cover letter to state that I have the uncontested divorce & the reason should be found on the certified translated divorce document.

Fifth question, I agree to enter another signature on the separate duplicate paper (section 9).

In my circumstance, the divorce certificate & document are NOT mandatory but the small problem HMPO may raise the question why my ex’s name have returned to her maiden name. That is why I decide to provide the divorce detail as the additional info as the honest way.

Moreover, they put the comment saying I did not provide the parents's birth certificate because of child's British birth registration . I told them this is fine by me as long as I meet all the entire criteria in the passport procedure. It seems that Thai culture do not appreciate the divorce – I strongly believe the divorce can be a very good challenge / opportunity for some individuals.

What I do really need to know is whether they are really following their role description and their written English is something I am not expecting from the professional standard. (I ask them to write down to communicate me because I am born deaf).

Please do kindly tell me if I did done anything wrong above.

I would be grateful to have your feedbacks whether I should raise the formal complaint or not. This warnings may help or useful for other TV members.

Thanks for reading with patience.

[NanLaew]

What would be be the grounds of your complaint? Did they accept your daughters passport application or not?

The incidence of a deaf and divorced person submitting a childs passport application probably made them go and look up the rule book on what is acceptable proof and what documentary evidence is required. It appears that you already provided all the proof that should satisfy HMPO but they wanted to cover their <deleted> in what you have to admit is a non-standard application for the passport agents at Trendy.

As for your assumption that "... It seems that Thai culture do not appreciate the divorce..." is just that, entirely your assumption.

[nabbie]

What would be be the grounds of your complaint? Did they accept your daughters passport application or not?

The incidence of a deaf and divorced person submitting a childs passport application probably made them go and look up the rule book on what is acceptable proof and what documentary evidence is required. It appears that you already provided all the proof that should satisfy HMPO but they wanted to cover their <deleted> in what you have to admit is a non-standard application for the passport agents at Trendy.

As for your assumption that "... It seems that Thai culture do not appreciate the divorce..." is just that, entirely your assumption.

Yes, they accepted my daughter's application. The ground of the complaint is the disappointing performance of the appointment.

I am fully aware that the proof of the geninue certificates must be approved by them and I believe that is their role description. However, are they in the right position to ask me the cover letter stating divorce reason, the missing birth certificates (parents's)? How do I know if I admit to write a non-standard application at Trendy? My best knowledge is strictly based on the "Applying for a passport from outside the UK" guide book with supporting document information. It sounds like interrogating or warning me and their professionism seems to be compromised. I could be wrong though.

I worry they might do that again to another applicants so I already submitted my complaint request. I think HM passport office will appreciate my complaint request just to be safe. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-passport-office/about/complaints-procedure

I shall be interested to know if anyone has the similiar situation.

Yes you are certainly right my assumption could be irrelevant and that is why I would like to find out.

[theoldgit]

As this topic is more about the perceived performance of the HM Passport Office's local agents here in Thailand, and not specifically about visas or migration to another country, I will move the thread to the Home Country Forum.

As to whether you actually want to complain, that's a matter of personal choice, you may want to draw a line and move on or you may want to put yourself through the frustration that a formal complaint will inevitably bring, the passport is being processed though.

[nabbie]

As this topic is more about the perceived performance of the HM Passport Office's local agents here in Thailand, and not specifically about visas or migration to another country, I will move the thread to the Home Country Forum.

As to whether you actually want to complain, that's a matter of personal choice, you may want to draw a line and move on or you may want to put yourself through the frustration that a formal complaint will inevitably bring, the passport is being processed though.

Something comes up recently. I think Trendy office is correct. Please close this topic and accept my apologise for causing this inconvenience.