PostmanPat Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 With all the problems confusion and fuss going on right now with Thai Immigration CM, and although its not quite a like for like comparison, the UK Passport Agency has been under tremendous pressure recently through staff cuts and increasing numbers needing passports. The system they have in place there works like a dream, Thai Immigration could do worse than send a working party over to observe!! The way it works is you make an appointment in advance, and they issue about twenty slots for every thirty minutes. You line up five minutes before your allotted time, and if you turn up too early a staff member at the gate sends you away until your time. The twenty file in through security, you wait for your name or ticket to be called, and you go to one of about a dozen partitioned desks where the staff member checks your papers and authorises the new passport. You then go to the payment desk where there are never more than a dozen in the queue, you pay, and then you leave the building, and return a few hours later at an allotted time to pick up your new passport from a kiosk on the outside of the building. No stress, no hassle, and very pleasant staff who chat and joke with you as you do the business. Worth noting that it took significantly longer to get my permission to stay transferred from old passport to new passport than it did to get the new passport itself !! Oh well, we live in hope ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DipStick Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 Can you kindly enlighten me on where this took place . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dabhand Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 Presumably this is the UK passport fast track service - which UK passport office did you attend? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve187 Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 I used the UK fast track service last year, made an appointment on the Monday, for 8.30 Tuesday morning at Peterborough, the same procedure as the OP, collected 4 hours later from a counter at the front of the building ( no need to go through security again) they added 9 months to the 10 year expiry date, although the old passport expiry date wasn't for another year, i think it was £130. excellent service, photo machine in building as well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PostmanPat Posted August 25, 2015 Author Share Posted August 25, 2015 Can you kindly enlighten me on where this took place . Peterborough. Wonderful fast track service. The office is located right in the City Centre and even has a great little Coffee Shop 50 metres away. All in all, what could have been a stressful day was a nice day out in a rather pleasant City I didnt know before! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmac Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 You could always try moving to Pattaya! The local Jomtien immigration office seems like it is 100 times more efficient than the reports being seen of the service from their esteemed colleagues in Chiang Mai. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maybole Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 If you are resident in UK you can apply on line and have it delivered to your address by Royal Mail Recorded . My last renewal took one week Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonwilly Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 Good to hear a positive comment on UK Passport matters. May I ask about your Thai Visa ? Presumably in a now cancelled UK Passport and no Thai Visa in the new one. john Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PostmanPat Posted August 26, 2015 Author Share Posted August 26, 2015 Good to hear a positive comment on UK Passport matters. May I ask about your Thai Visa ? Presumably in a now cancelled UK Passport and no Thai Visa in the new one. john When you return to Thailand you send a photocopy of old and new passport main page to British Embassy and they send back a free letter asking Thai Imm. to transfer visa from old to new passport. If you do it yourself its free. I chose to have Rhys at Thai Assist do it for me so paid his admin fee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmsally Posted August 26, 2015 Share Posted August 26, 2015 Can you kindly enlighten me on where this took place . Peterborough. Wonderful fast track service. The office is located right in the City Centre and even has a great little Coffee Shop 50 metres away. All in all, what could have been a stressful day was a nice day out in a rather pleasant City I didnt know before! I think everyone from the passport office hangs out there! Run by Turkish I think, maybe Lebanese, not sure. Collection of stained glass lamps for sale in the back. Great coffee shop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PostmanPat Posted August 26, 2015 Author Share Posted August 26, 2015 I think everyone from the passport office hangs out there! Run by Turkish I think, maybe Lebanese, not sure. Collection of stained glass lamps for sale in the back. Great coffee shop. Agreed! When I was in there waiting for my time, every single table was occupied by people double checking their passport paperwork and chatting, where are you from, etc etc etc. !!! Its Turkish, by the way ! Must be a little goldmine !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
northernjohn Posted August 26, 2015 Share Posted August 26, 2015 Just out of curiosity how many agents were there and how many a day were they doing? My new American Passport came to me in three days cost less than yours and I didn't have to leave the country. Just give them the money and the form and they mailed it to me in Three days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gutterboy Posted August 26, 2015 Share Posted August 26, 2015 Just had a similar experience at the London passport office - a very well-oiled machine that pumps out passports with minimal fuss in just a few hours. A far cry from the 2-month shambles of renewing my passport last year at the Trendy Office in Bangkok! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kinmaew Posted August 26, 2015 Share Posted August 26, 2015 Should and will all be based on Bio ID in the future which will save billions that would be better spent on health and education rather than stamps, bureaucracy, funding MP's huge "Packages with lifetime perks", papers and renewals every 10 years what a pain even if the poms are efficient good on em doesn't surprise me because the poms will bloody well complain if there is a problem and thats a good thing unlike LOS where smiles, inefficiency, waste, and brushing problems under the carpet are the norm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoshowJones Posted August 26, 2015 Share Posted August 26, 2015 Good to hear a positive comment on UK Passport matters. May I ask about your Thai Visa ? Presumably in a now cancelled UK Passport and no Thai Visa in the new one. john Good to hear a positive comment on UK Passport matters. Good to hear a positive comment on anything to do with the UK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Ubon Posted August 26, 2015 Share Posted August 26, 2015 I had a similarly excellent experience at the Liverpool Passport Office a few weeks ago. Again, very jovial, helpful staff and a service that was a delight to use. £128 - it seemed a relatively small price to pay for peace of mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBanks Posted August 26, 2015 Share Posted August 26, 2015 I also had a really good experience with the office in Durham last Monday. Appointment 10.30, in and out in 5 minutes, went for a wander around Durham and some lunch, new passport was ready to be collected at 14.00, cost approx £135.00. Brilliant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LivinLOS Posted August 26, 2015 Share Posted August 26, 2015 Well I just did mine last week.. The process was as described, seamless and perfectly structured to be fast. However I paid for a postal return and was told I would have it 'within one week' and today is day 8.. Clock ticking on my return flight soon and starting to wish I paid the extra and hung around for the one day option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trainman34014 Posted August 26, 2015 Share Posted August 26, 2015 I renewed mine at Newport office in June. Made the appointment online,( can't be more than 14 days ahead), turned up ten minutes early and there were only four customers there. Very pleasant experience and worth every penny of the 125 quid. I had a bit of time left on my old one which was full and i'm now covered until 2026. This has to be the right option for anyone visiting Blighty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suradit69 Posted August 26, 2015 Share Posted August 26, 2015 (edited) Thai Immigration could do worse than send a working party over to observe!! The last few times I've done my 90 day report at Jomtien I didn't even have time to sit down before I was processed. Likewise, when I've done my retirement extension renewals, I've been in and out in a matter of minutes. I doubt there's any need to for Thai immigrations to see what's happening in the UK. Given all the complaints frequently posted on Thai Visa regarding various UK bureaucracies, including issues with passport renewals and the British embassy generally, your experience is hardly universal. Probably those applying for UK passports understand what they are doing far better than the clueless farang who often clog up Thai immigrations, frequently exhibiting behavior that hardly inspires efficiency for immigration officers. Edited August 26, 2015 by Suradit69 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alduff Posted August 26, 2015 Share Posted August 26, 2015 Actually getting a Thai passport is very simple and efficient too. Go to Ministry of foreign affairs, take national ID and passport photo. Fill out a form, queue for 30min and pay 1000฿ for your passport and 40฿ postage fee. 2-3 days later get it delivered to your home or pick it up at the counter. Wish it were that easy with any other thai ministry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoneyboy Posted August 26, 2015 Share Posted August 26, 2015 Yes the UKPA can process a passport in four hours with a pre booked appointment. Hardly anything to get excited about considering the rip off price and this being 2015. The other con is having to pay extra for a larger passport the 48 page one. Add the cost of travelling to said office and spending 4 mundane hours in Peterborough my nearest office it's not something I'm in awe of. The only saving grace is the fact it lasts ten years,if you haven't filled it up already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukKrueng Posted August 26, 2015 Share Posted August 26, 2015 With all the problems confusion and fuss going on right now with Thai Immigration CM, and although its not quite a like for like comparison, the UK Passport Agency has been under tremendous pressure recently through staff cuts and increasing numbers needing passports. The system they have in place there works like a dream, Thai Immigration could do worse than send a working party over to observe!! The way it works is you make an appointment in advance, and they issue about twenty slots for every thirty minutes. You line up five minutes before your allotted time, and if you turn up too early a staff member at the gate sends you away until your time. The twenty file in through security, you wait for your name or ticket to be called, and you go to one of about a dozen partitioned desks where the staff member checks your papers and authorises the new passport. You then go to the payment desk where there are never more than a dozen in the queue, you pay, and then you leave the building, and return a few hours later at an allotted time to pick up your new passport from a kiosk on the outside of the building. No stress, no hassle, and very pleasant staff who chat and joke with you as you do the business. Worth noting that it took significantly longer to get my permission to stay transferred from old passport to new passport than it did to get the new passport itself !! Oh well, we live in hope ! you are comparing 2 unrelated things. The Thai passport service is pretty much the same as you described, only no appointment and it takes 3 days to get the new passport or you can have it sent by EMS. The immigration services you need here are not done by the same people / same place. I'm pretty sure that if you checked out how UK immigration works on visa extensions for non EU people you'd find it not so different than what you go through here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edg Posted August 26, 2015 Share Posted August 26, 2015 (edited) But the American passport application is still less restrictive because you never need to get a guarantor or countersignatory to sign your application or photos, and the signer has to be a Doctor/Lawyer etc, very elitist. Edited August 26, 2015 by edg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LivinLOS Posted August 26, 2015 Share Posted August 26, 2015 Thai Immigration could do worse than send a working party over to observe!! The last few times I've done my 90 day report at Jomtien I didn't even have time to sit down before I was processed. Likewise, when I've done my retirement extension renewals, I've been in and out in a matter of minutes. I doubt there's any need to for Thai immigrations to see what's happening in the UK. Given all the complaints frequently posted on Thai Visa regarding various UK bureaucracies, including issues with passport renewals and the British embassy generally, your experience is hardly universal. Probably those applying for UK passports understand what they are doing far better than the clueless farang who often clog up Thai immigrations, frequently exhibiting behavior that hardly inspires efficiency for immigration officers. Far from it.. Forms are checked at entry, made sure all appears correct, any points of confusions cleared up.. very well oiled.. Your comparison to jomtien, in a chiang mai forum, seems a bit of a reach.. done anything here lately and you would understand why the suggestion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
northernjohn Posted August 26, 2015 Share Posted August 26, 2015 Actually getting a Thai passport is very simple and efficient too. Go to Ministry of foreign affairs, take national ID and passport photo. Fill out a form, queue for 30min and pay 1000฿ for your passport and 40฿ postage fee. 2-3 days later get it delivered to your home or pick it up at the counter. Wish it were that easy with any other thai ministry. Defiantly easier here in Thailand for a Thai to get there passport. Great Briton should send some one over here to see how easy they can make it. For sure a lot cheaper. My American one was done in a lot faster time and it came back with more pages than my old one had even after I had added some pages to it. Time in the Consulate 15 minutes It only took three days to get it. I get the feeling that the British go home to get theirs renewed because it is to complicated to do here in Thailand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PostmanPat Posted August 27, 2015 Author Share Posted August 27, 2015 I get the feeling that the British go home to get theirs renewed because it is to complicated to do here in Thailand. For the record, I got my new passport in the UK because I was in the UK visiting family when it became due. OK? This thread was designed to assist British citizens, it doesnt need people from a certain bigger country to take it over with "our systems better than your system" kind of stuff. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacko45k Posted August 27, 2015 Share Posted August 27, 2015 You could always try moving to Pattaya! The local Jomtien immigration office seems like it is 100 times more efficient than the reports being seen of the service from their esteemed colleagues in Chiang Mai. Agreed, 90 day report took 5 minutes and on a Monday too. It all sounds rather hopeless in Chiangmai. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mesquite Posted August 27, 2015 Share Posted August 27, 2015 You could always try moving to Pattaya! The local Jomtien immigration office seems like it is 100 times more efficient than the reports being seen of the service from their esteemed colleagues in Chiang Mai. Agreed, 90 day report took 5 minutes and on a Monday too. It all sounds rather hopeless in Chiangmai. It is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
northernjohn Posted August 27, 2015 Share Posted August 27, 2015 I get the feeling that the British go home to get theirs renewed because it is to complicated to do here in Thailand. For the record, I got my new passport in the UK because I was in the UK visiting family when it became due. OK? This thread was designed to assist British citizens, it doesnt need people from a certain bigger country to take it over with "our systems better than your system" kind of stuff. Thank you. If you really want to help the British citizens here tell them what they have to do when they are in Chiang Mai to get one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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