Passport help for Thai citizen in the States

[USNret]

I live in Hawaii with my Thai wife who is on a US green card (she'll apply for U.S citizenship next year.)

In the meantime, her Thai passport will expire in 5 months. The local Thai consulate here provides no passport assistance to Thai citizens; I think mostly they do visas for Americans & that's about it.

What she is hearing is the only way to get a new passport is to physically fly to a Thai embassy which is probably in LA. That seems like an expensive way to get a new passport. She has no travel to Thailand planned in the immediate future but we do not want to let her passport expire.

Anyone know of any options to renew her passport that do not involve travel? We've heard of an emergency Thai passport which can be done by mail, but I don't know what is considered an "emergency" nor how long it would be good for. Apparently the reason they want you to come to the embassy is to collect biometrics; sad that this could not be contracted out to local security firms who specialize in that, but whatever...

Thank you!

[BKKdreaming]

Call the Thai Embassy in Washington DC and ask , if you do not like that answer call New York , etc etc ,

Then take names and numbers , tell them you will Fed Ex or Next day to them directly,

I am sure you will find someone who will do it by Fed EX etc , I cannot see every Thai in the world having to fly back to Thailand every time a passport expires

[woody087]

I cant talk for America but here in Australia the Thai Embassy in Canberra travels to each state once or twice per year.You make an appointment and they tell you when they are coming next

[AaronLV]

They usually have a mobile consular that will visit the area which can do passport applications.

http://www.thaiconsulatela.org/service_mobile.aspx

Doesn't list one for Hawaii, but I know there was one a couple of years ago as my friends wife got her passport renewed there.

The reason you cannot do it by mail is because of the bio-metrics on the passport.

I did read that the consulate's can take the bio-metrics and then you can apply by mail, but not sure how accurate that is as it was not on an official website.

This link gives their email addresses in Hawaii.

http://thaiembdc.org/royal-thai-honorary-consulates-general-in-the-u-s/

[USNret]

Thank you. We visited the Honolulu Thai honorary consulate yesterday. They have a sign right in the window that says "No passport services for Thai citizens" (not exactly the most welcoming reception) but nonetheless we went in & asked. Like Aaron suggested, we hoped at least they would take the biometrics and send in the application, but this is not the case in Hawaii.

I hadn't thoughts about the traveling consulate. I'll look into it but don't have much hope. Thanks for the replies.

[AaronLV]

Thank you. We visited the Honolulu Thai honorary consulate yesterday. They have a sign right in the window that says "No passport services for Thai citizens" (not exactly the most welcoming reception) but nonetheless we went in & asked. Like Aaron suggested, we hoped at least they would take the biometrics and send in the application, but this is not the case in Hawaii.

I hadn't thoughts about the traveling consulate. I'll look into it but don't have much hope. Thanks for the replies.

If wouldn't worry about the passport expiring to much, if she is planning on becoming a US Citizen, as she will be able to travel on the US passport, and then when she comes back to Thailand, she should be able to enter on the expired passport and then get a new one while she is here. I think she can even fly back to Thailand on an expired passport,with a secondary ID (ie Green Card), but not 100% on that.