British Embassy; Rare Accolade!

[BritTim]

A confirmation of income and getting the stamped letter at the embassy just takes a couple of minutes. But I must've misunderstood the OP?

We are talking about the British Embassy. The confirmation of income can only be done by post (true for a while). There are still a very few services for which you can attend the Embassy in person. These all require making an appointment in advance. Just turning up and hoping to be allowed in is futile. All commonly used services have been shunted off to third party suppliers, and service by post is provided for most of the remainder. The Embassy still owns quite a bit of that original valuable land plot on Wireless Road. I would not be in the least bit surprised if they are awaiting the right time to sell, and move out to some cheap location in Bangkapi or somewhere. In truth, there is no longer any real reason why it needs to occupy a central location. They can still maintain an ambassadorial residence somewhere in the area if his wife wants to be close to the department stores.

I know there are more Brits than Norwegians in Thailand but... still...

Why not get a bigger location and more employees at the embassy? I don't think us Norwegians would be too satisfied with not being worthy enough for a fulfilled service. I could understand if we were talking about a poverty stricken country but I would assume GB is wealthy enough, and after all, Brits do pay taxes.

But how do brits feel about it? You get the help you need when you need it or do brits literally die around post offices in Thailand?

I cannot speak for all Brits. I think the British Embassy has always been of limited value and, today, is mostly absolutely useless. In 37 years as an expat in various countries, the only useful service the consular service provided to me was passport renewal. Now, they have withdrawn that. I would be happy applying direct by post to the UK, but that is not permitted. You must use their designated third party for applications, and satisfy some illogical conditions. For those who are robbed and left without money, passport and air tickets, the Embassy is willing to contact your relatives and friends back home to see if they are willing to send you money. If you can raise the cash, they will deign to sell you (at significant cost) an emergency travel document for return to the UK. That is the limit of their assistance. Am I happy at the worthless nature of the UK overseas representation? No, but they are impervious to criticism.

[OJAS]

A confirmation of income and getting the stamped letter at the embassy just takes a couple of minutes. But I must've misunderstood the OP?

We are talking about the British Embassy. The confirmation of income can only be done by post (true for a while). There are still a very few services for which you can attend the Embassy in person. These all require making an appointment in advance. Just turning up and hoping to be allowed in is futile. All commonly used services have been shunted off to third party suppliers, and service by post is provided for most of the remainder. The Embassy still owns quite a bit of that original valuable land plot on Wireless Road. I would not be in the least bit surprised if they are awaiting the right time to sell, and move out to some cheap location in Bangkapi or somewhere. In truth, there is no longer any real reason why it needs to occupy a central location. They can still maintain an ambassadorial residence somewhere in the area if his wife wants to be close to the department stores.

I know there are more Brits than Norwegians in Thailand but... still...

Why not get a bigger location and more employees at the embassy? I don't think us Norwegians would be too satisfied with not being worthy enough for a fulfilled service. I could understand if we were talking about a poverty stricken country but I would assume GB is wealthy enough, and after all, Brits do pay taxes.

But how do brits feel about it? You get the help you need when you need it or do brits literally die around post offices in Thailand?

I cannot speak for all Brits. I think the British Embassy has always been of limited value and, today, is mostly absolutely useless. In 37 years as an expat in various countries, the only useful service the consular service provided to me was passport renewal. Now, they have withdrawn that. I would be happy applying direct by post to the UK, but that is not permitted. You must use their designated third party for applications, and satisfy some illogical conditions. For those who are robbed and left without money, passport and air tickets, the Embassy is willing to contact your relatives and friends back home to see if they are willing to send you money. If you can raise the cash, they will deign to sell you (at significant cost) an emergency travel document for return to the UK. That is the limit of their assistance. Am I happy at the worthless nature of the UK overseas representation? No, but they are impervious to criticism.

And we should not forget that it is not the Embassy that is responsible for the present passport renewal shambles but those incompetent cretins at HMPO!

[BritTim]

I cannot speak for all Brits. I think the British Embassy has always been of limited value and, today, is mostly absolutely useless. In 37 years as an expat in various countries, the only useful service the consular service provided to me was passport renewal. Now, they have withdrawn that. I would be happy applying direct by post to the UK, but that is not permitted. You must use their designated third party for applications, and satisfy some illogical conditions. For those who are robbed and left without money, passport and air tickets, the Embassy is willing to contact your relatives and friends back home to see if they are willing to send you money. If you can raise the cash, they will deign to sell you (at significant cost) an emergency travel document for return to the UK. That is the limit of their assistance. Am I happy at the worthless nature of the UK overseas representation? No, but they are impervious to criticism.

And we should not forget that it is not the Embassy that is responsible for the present passport renewal shambles but those incompetent cretins at HMPO!

Quite so. In fairness, though, in spite of the illogical requirements for us here, HMPO has been doing a much better job since the major shake up about a year ago. Luckily, that shambles was affecting voters back in the UK, and had the politicians worried.

[OJAS]

I cannot speak for all Brits. I think the British Embassy has always been of limited value and, today, is mostly absolutely useless. In 37 years as an expat in various countries, the only useful service the consular service provided to me was passport renewal. Now, they have withdrawn that. I would be happy applying direct by post to the UK, but that is not permitted. You must use their designated third party for applications, and satisfy some illogical conditions. For those who are robbed and left without money, passport and air tickets, the Embassy is willing to contact your relatives and friends back home to see if they are willing to send you money. If you can raise the cash, they will deign to sell you (at significant cost) an emergency travel document for return to the UK. That is the limit of their assistance. Am I happy at the worthless nature of the UK overseas representation? No, but they are impervious to criticism.

And we should not forget that it is not the Embassy that is responsible for the present passport renewal shambles but those incompetent cretins at HMPO!

Quite so. In fairness, though, in spite of the illogical requirements for us here, HMPO has been doing a much better job since the major shake up about a year ago. Luckily, that shambles was affecting voters back in the UK, and had the politicians worried.

Yes it was unfortunate that the soft stuff hit the fan as regards lengthening turnaround times at the HMPO end just after they had announced their new requirement for personal trips to With-It Tower in the case of applicants living in Thailand. This soon resulted in the 100-page+ thread which was initiated on here following their announcement being drowned out by complaints about the length of time it was taking for replacement passports to be received - which, as you intimate, was not exclusive to applicants living in Thailand. Now that turnaround times have improved to an acceptable level, I seriously wonder whether some on here need reminding of the halcyon era when a replacement passport could be obtained without the need for a single trip to With-It Tower!

Edited April 7, 2016 by OJAS

[smotherb]

Getting a passport quick ?

It used to be a walk in service at ANY UK passport office - 2 - 4 hours !!!

What happened when you could no longer get a new passport here and had to send to Hong Kong ? Illegal to stay here without passport.

What happened when if in UK the queue was so long that passports where being printed in Germany ( I think it was ) then returned to UK ?

Much of the documentation was also printed / handled outside the UK - but within Europe.

I did get a quick response from The British Consul in Bangkok regarding registration of NOK, even a polite and charming phone call.

he

For the income statement, the US Embassy makes you come to Bangkok; or to one of their consular outreach visits to cities in which I do not live, You have to make an appointment and they only accept appointments until 10:45 in the morning, and I am not a morning person. Then, they charge $50 for the notary fee.

If you need a passport, you also need to go to Bangkok/outreach, make an appointment, and it's a two of three week turnaround from the States. They say they cannot keep passports in the overseas embassies for security reasons. Duh, okay, the embassies have no security and the passports are not numbered, right? At any rate, they told me they would notify me when they passport arrives. "So, I have to come back to Bangkok," I asked? No, they can send it to my home via a Thai courier service. Where is the security in that, you may ask? So did I.

Yet, we complain about Thai government hassles.

Having to get up early one day a year should not be that hard. At least now you can plan the date to get the affidavit within 6 months before the date you apply now. Perhaps plan a trip to one of the places that an outreach is being done. Doing mine next month in Pattaya while I am there visiting family with the rest of my family.

It is more like 10 days to 2 weeks to get a passport.

There is a lot more to it than security for not issuing passports at embassies and consulates. Just look at the new passports with embedded photos and now chips. It got to complicated and costly to produce passports at embassies and consulates. They have also stopped doing them at the regional passport offices in the states where you could get one on the same day before.

Yes, I appreciate what you say; however, I prefer to do what I want when I want; and as long as it doesn’t break any laws or hurt anyone, I tend to do just that.

Consequently, going to Bangkok or an outreach is not out of the question, if it would coincide with when I wanted to go.

I don’t understand why I should have to get up early even one day a year, why can’t they have afternoon appointments?

Passport renewal could be much easier and quicker. There is an embassy courier service which delivers parcels back and forth to DC several times a week. Sending a new passport from DC could take no more than a couple of days. There is also an intranet between embassies and DC, so any secure information can be transferred, verified and input.

And, if each embassy had the necessary hardware and kept a small inventory of passport blanks, it might be done in a day, as the regional offices use to do.

[ubonjoe]

Getting a passport quick ?

It used to be a walk in service at ANY UK passport office - 2 - 4 hours !!!

What happened when you could no longer get a new passport here and had to send to Hong Kong ? Illegal to stay here without passport.

What happened when if in UK the queue was so long that passports where being printed in Germany ( I think it was ) then returned to UK ?

Much of the documentation was also printed / handled outside the UK - but within Europe.

I did get a quick response from The British Consul in Bangkok regarding registration of NOK, even a polite and charming phone call.

he

For the income statement, the US Embassy makes you come to Bangkok; or to one of their consular outreach visits to cities in which I do not live, You have to make an appointment and they only accept appointments until 10:45 in the morning, and I am not a morning person. Then, they charge $50 for the notary fee.

If you need a passport, you also need to go to Bangkok/outreach, make an appointment, and it's a two of three week turnaround from the States. They say they cannot keep passports in the overseas embassies for security reasons. Duh, okay, the embassies have no security and the passports are not numbered, right? At any rate, they told me they would notify me when they passport arrives. "So, I have to come back to Bangkok," I asked? No, they can send it to my home via a Thai courier service. Where is the security in that, you may ask? So did I.

Yet, we complain about Thai government hassles.

Having to get up early one day a year should not be that hard. At least now you can plan the date to get the affidavit within 6 months before the date you apply now. Perhaps plan a trip to one of the places that an outreach is being done. Doing mine next month in Pattaya while I am there visiting family with the rest of my family.

It is more like 10 days to 2 weeks to get a passport.

There is a lot more to it than security for not issuing passports at embassies and consulates. Just look at the new passports with embedded photos and now chips. It got to complicated and costly to produce passports at embassies and consulates. They have also stopped doing them at the regional passport offices in the states where you could get one on the same day before.

Yes, I appreciate what you say; however, I prefer to do what I want when I want; and as long as it doesn’t break any laws or hurt anyone, I tend to do just that.

Consequently, going to Bangkok or an outreach is not out of the question, if it would coincide with when I wanted to go.

I don’t understand why I should have to get up early even one day a year, why can’t they have afternoon appointments?

Passport renewal could be much easier and quicker. There is an embassy courier service which delivers parcels back and forth to DC several times a week. Sending a new passport from DC could take no more than a couple of days. There is also an intranet between embassies and DC, so any secure information can be transferred, verified and input.

And, if each embassy had the necessary hardware and kept a small inventory of passport blanks, it might be done in a day, as the regional offices use to do.

At one time they had afternoon appointments for affidavits but that is no longer available. You can get appointments as late as 10:30 or 11.

The embassy does the passport as fast as possible. The application are submitted over their secure network. Some people have gotten their passport back in as little as 7 days. I got an email it was ready for pickup 10 days after I applied. You only have to go to embassy to apply for it and request it be sent to you by EMS. You will have to leave your old passport with them so they mark it as canceled when you your new one arrives and then they send both to you.

[smotherb]

UbonJoe said, "At one time they had afternoon appointments for affidavits but that is no longer available. You can get appointments as late as 10:30 or 11. The embassy does the passport as fast as possible. The application are submitted over their secure network. Some people have gotten their passport back in as little as 7 days. I got an email it was ready for pickup 10 days after I applied. You only have to go to embassy to apply for it and request it be sent to you by EMS. You will have to leave your old passport with them so they mark it as canceled when you your new one arrives and then they send both to you."

Yes, thank you, I know that. The appointments are as late as 10:45. I am doubtful of the 7 day turn-around, but what can I say? My new passport took almost three weeks. The window attendant said it would take two to three weeks, and she said the reason it had to go to/come from DC was security, but that they could send it on to me by Thai courier. Whereupon I asked, where is the security? However, I said this all in my first post on this subject.

What I haven't said is, I am a bit familiar with what we used to call, FSB--foreign service bureaucracy; or FBS as it was often transformed. So, I doubt, "The embassy does the passport as fast as possible." Although, they may do it as fast as their bureaucracy allows.