UK Passport Renewal

[lagavulin1]

I wanted to ask a couple of quick questions that I are not answered in the forum or on UK Gov website, as far as I can see.

I am a 64 year old Brit on third retirement extension. I will be renewing my passport unchanged.

1) Would a copy of the Yellow tabian ban plus translation be accepted as a residence proof ?

2) What about a residency letter from Immigration. I use Udon Thani. Has anybody got one there recently ?

3) Regarding Photo signing I interpret the website that I dont need to get them signed as its a renewal. Anybody confirm that ?

Lastly can anybody share experience of reliability of TV express agency. The procedure is clear but I am currently under hospital treatment and might have to consider lashing out the BHT 5000 rather than flying down to BKK.

Mods. Hope I have selected a suitable forum ?

Sawasdee Ben Mai Folks !!

[Jip99]

1. Yes if translated AND less than one year old (stupid, I know). All documents submitted must be translated and anything evidencing your address must be less than one year old.

2. If your local immigration office issue these (mine don't) then it is fine. I have used an embassy income in the past.

3. As long as you are still recognisable from your previous then new photos are not required - otherwise yes.

[salavan]

just a matter of interest why do you need proof of residents in Thailand to get a UK passport renewed

[Eff1n2ret]

just a matter of interest why do you need proof of residents in Thailand to get a UK passport renewed

Probably a fraud prevention measure. Such evidence increases the likelihood that the passport will end up in the hands of the person entitled to it. It's a fairly standard practice now with organisations such as pension companies and banks. Just yesterday I got a letter from First Direct, with whom I have banked for many years, requesting a notarised copy of my passport and a utility bill. I have no utility bills in my name but sent them a copy of my car insurance renewal receipt, which I hope will suffice. In their 'Frequently asked questions' blurb they say "utility bills are considered one of the safest ways to confirm address details as online statements can be manipulated."

I'm happy that organisations, whether banks or the Passport Agency, are doing what they can to minimise fraud, but I wonder whether they realise the costs they impose by such requests. I got soaked by the local lawyer for 2000Baht for the above transaction. The alternative would have been a much more expensive trip to the Embassy, the only other option offered in this case. I'm also sceptical of anyone's faith in the probity of lawyers, whether in Thailand or the UK. On a previous request from a financial organisation I was able to get my neighbour to verify my documents, stamped with the seal of the international school where he works.

[lagavulin1]

Proof of Address

[lagavulin1]

Proof of address. Just as EFF1 says above but the list is one level higher ie letter from company, health insurance, letter from central or regional government, letter from tax office and more. Must be less than 12 months. I have all of those Not ! Was going to use tabian bahn but too old so thought a residence cert might work. As it happens I got my health insurance including two letter dated and addressed.

[Ricardo]

Might it be worth writing to HMRC, with some enquiry or other, in order to receive back a recently-dateed letter in response from them, which one might then use as an acceptable proof-of-address ?

[Eff1n2ret]

Might it be worth writing to HMRC, with some enquiry or other, in order to receive back a recently-dateed letter in response from them, which one might then use as an acceptable proof-of-address ?

Yes, if you do it far enough ahead, as recent news reports have been highly critical of HMRC because of their slow response both to phone and mail enquiries. The DSS might be better. I intend to use them when my wife's UK passport expires next year. She is dual national, her UK passport is in our married surname but she uses her original Thai family name on everything in Thailand, so she hasn't a single document which includes her married name and our address here. A simple letter to the DSS enquiring about her state pension entitlement should do the trick.

[OJAS]

Might it be worth writing to HMRC, with some enquiry or other, in order to receive back a recently-dateed letter in response from them, which one might then use as an acceptable proof-of-address ?

Yes, if you do it far enough ahead, as recent news reports have been highly critical of HMRC because of their slow response both to phone and mail enquiries. The DSS might be better. I intend to use them when my wife's UK passport expires next year. She is dual national, her UK passport is in our married surname but she uses her original Thai family name on everything in Thailand, so she hasn't a single document which includes her married name and our address here. A simple letter to the DSS enquiring about her state pension entitlement should do the trick.

Or, alternatively, if you are into long-term forward planning, why not write a letter to HMPO seeking an explanation of their requirement for some proof of address to be provided with a passport application? You could, of course, then use their reply as the necessary proof!

just a matter of interest why do you need proof of residents in Thailand to get a UK passport renewed

Probably a fraud prevention measure. Such evidence increases the likelihood that the passport will end up in the hands of the person entitled to it. It's a fairly standard practice now with organisations such as pension companies and banks. Just yesterday I got a letter from First Direct, with whom I have banked for many years, requesting a notarised copy of my passport and a utility bill. I have no utility bills in my name but sent them a copy of my car insurance renewal receipt, which I hope will suffice. In their 'Frequently asked questions' blurb they say "utility bills are considered one of the safest ways to confirm address details as online statements can be manipulated."

I'm happy that organisations, whether banks or the Passport Agency, are doing what they can to minimise fraud, but I wonder whether they realise the costs they impose by such requests. I got soaked by the local lawyer for 2000Baht for the above transaction. The alternative would have been a much more expensive trip to the Embassy, the only other option offered in this case. I'm also sceptical of anyone's faith in the probity of lawyers, whether in Thailand or the UK. On a previous request from a financial organisation I was able to get my neighbour to verify my documents, stamped with the seal of the international school where he works.

In the case of passport applications, I could well understand the need to provide some proof of address as a fraud prevention measure if new passports were sent directly to applicants from the UK. However, given that a second physical trip is needed to With-It Tower for passport collection purposes - with new passports only being released to applicants upon production of their existing passports - it does strike me as totally unnecessary in practice.

Ironically, I did not have to provide any proof of address when I last renewed my passport via Hong Kong 3 years ago, despite the fact that my new passport was subsequently sent to me from the UK by courier direct!

However, in the case of banks back home, on the other hand, I would definitely much prefer them asking us for some proof of address in the form of utility bills to them unilaterally closing our accounts, as currently appears to be happening to some of our Swiss cousins on the basis of the following thread on the Banking forum: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/881152-swiss-banks-start-terminating-bank-accounts-for-swiss-living-abroad/ !

[evadgib]

Might it be worth writing to HMRC, with some enquiry or other, in order to receive back a recently-dateed letter in response from them, which one might then use as an acceptable proof-of-address ?

Yes, if you do it far enough ahead, as recent news reports have been highly critical of HMRC because of their slow response both to phone and mail enquiries. The DSS might be better. I intend to use them when my wife's UK passport expires next year. She is dual national, her UK passport is in our married surname but she uses her original Thai family name on everything in Thailand, so she hasn't a single document which includes her married name and our address here. A simple letter to the DSS enquiring about her state pension entitlement should do the trick.

That's a hard way of doing something easy. Why not use:

- You most recent 'Pension letter' from the Embassy, or

- P60, or

- Online bank statement, or

- Mobile phone or internet bill?

The list of what you could use is endless.

[Ricardo]

That's a hard way of doing something easy. Why not use:

- You most recent 'Pension letter' from the Embassy, or

- P60, or

- Online bank statement, or

- Mobile phone or internet bill?

The list of what you could use is endless.

I can actually only show one of those four, in my own name, and that's from a bank-account offshore the UK, given that the proof-of-address needs to be recent, since local-bills are all in my wife's name.

I suspect that plenty of longer-term UK expats are similarly far-removed from their former home-country.

What counts is getting something which will 'tick the boxes' for officialdom, what could be better, than something from one of their own ?

Meanwhile I wish they'd revert to the former system, of being able to DHL the application direct to the people who would process it, and get the new passport returned by pre-paid courier again. With hindsight, that previous DHL-to-Hong-Kong system wasn't so bad, compared to what we now have !