Thai Passport Renewal in Korat (or UK)

[TCA]

I've only seen old posts on this subject, but wondering if anyone has any recent experience of current waiting times for a passport renewal in Korat? i.e. how long before it arrives in the post.

My wife is in Thailand at the moment and of course has left it very late in the day given she returns to the UK in just over a fortnight. I believe it's possible in the UK but not by post, so would require a trip to the Thai London embassy which I could do without. Her passport doesn't expire for another year and I think she could still travel to Thailand on an expired passport, but of course nowhere else.

Any info appreciated, thanks.

[pontious]

No more than 5 days

[Jip99]

Last year my missus got hers exactly 7 days after applying.

[TCA]

Thanks to both of you for the replies. That's actually a pretty quick turnaround for a passport renewal. It does seem an efficient office from what I've read on other threads. I might be wrong but I think the passports are still sent from Bangkok, so it's impressive. I saw somewhere 4-6 days mentioned (that might be working days) and that ties in with the replies above, so we should be ok if my wife can get to Korat early next week. Her flight back to the UK is Monday 28th, so she'd need her passport before around 25th to allow travel time to Bangkok. Much better to get it done now than have to do it in the UK. Cheers.

[keeniau96]

They have regional office for the passports. USA has the one office in Wash DC but they manage a 10 day turnaround to here. Some other major westerns are far behind the Thais in this.

[samran]

Thai passports now have same day service here in Thailand. 3000 baht if you turn up in the morning and they'll process it for you pretty quickly.

2000 baht for a 2 day turn around

1000 baht for the standard 3 day turn around.

For these latter ones, pay an extra 60 baht, and it will be couriered to you. We've had passports turn up on our door step on the 4th day after application.

It is a fast and efficient service, all she needs to do is bring along her ID card and her old Thai passport which they'll cancel on the spot.

[TCA]

Thanks samran. I wasn't aware of any of that. If the standard turnaround is 3 days, we should be fine. My wife is going to the Korat passport office tomorrow, so that would mean she has almost 2 working weeks for it to be returned in time for her flight. Might be an idea to pay for the courier service though, if that's likely to save some time. Although I'd be wary of there being nobody at home to receive it and it possibly heading back to where it came from. Whereas the normal postman will always leave with a neighbour.

[steve187]

my wife went on monday, got back on friday, some offices yu can queue on line/book an apointment

[laolover88]

Renewing a Thai passport is quick and efficient. Go to the Office with Old Passport, ID Card, Tabian Baan ...normal stuff...Pay the fee. She'll have the passport in a day or two. Did my daughter's in CM last month. Pretty much 24 Hour turnaround. Welcome to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth 2's Passport Service! Not.

[TCA]

Thanks to the above posters for the additional replies. My wife went to the passport office today, so as long as we get it back next week at some point, which doesn't seem unreasonable given everyone's comments, we'll be sorted. Cheers.