renewing UK passport query

[poppysdad]

I'm sure this question must've been asked before but i cannot find any info.

Just about to renew my own and my British wife's passport, have downloaded all the forms and relevant info and my problem stems on providing proof of our address here in Thailand. My wife has absolutely nothing, she has no bank account, no accounts with any stores or business's that might have sent an invoice or a bill etc with her name and address on it. We rent and have a lease for our house and this has her name on it along with the address, would this be acceptable at the passport office. Alternatively we occasionally get post from the UK always sent by registered post and i have a few envelopes with her name and our address on them along with the UK's Royal Mail registered stamp on it and again would this be acceptable, other than these options what other ones do we have, this must be a relatively common problem for expats.

Thanks for any useful replies and advice.

[KhunBENQ]

If I get you right you and your wife are in Thailand?

And your wife is a UK national "only", no dual UK/Thai citizen?

If so, she must have some permission to stay from Thai immigration office (extension of stay as dependent e.g.).

This includes the 90 day report with her address.

Would not that be enough?

 

I move this to the Thai visas... forum where questions about UK passport renewal in BKK have been discussed repeatedly.

[BritTim]

If the registered mail from the UK is from an official UK government office, or from her bank, that will be quite sufficient. In general, when renewing an existing passport through the Trendy Building in Bangkok, they are not very picky about the proof of address. In the worst case, get a residence certificate through the immigration office or UK Embassy.

[Jip99]

The lease will be acceptable (should be translated if in Thai) as will almost any UK post.

 

If concerned write a covering letter explaining what is available and why. Good point above re address and immigration - not so much re 90 days but any extension would have required evidence of address.

 

Liverpool are rarely difficult and HMPO are not seeking to put barriers up - but they do need to be reasonably satisfied about the address. I know of 2 situations where the UK expat literally had nothing with his address on; by agreement with HMPO they accepted a copy of his Thai wife's ID card signed by her stating that he lived with her at said address.

[parryhandy]

I'm renewing my daughters Uk passport tomorrow and as we have only been at our current address 3 months we have nothing apart from registered post envelopes (which i've had translated) that delivered my daughter and wife's Thai passports.There was no accompanying letter so I just hope that will do.I could have easily proved she lived where she doesn't live.

The rules are a joke because the UK have absolutely no jurisdictional ability to check anything you send them and if I were criminally minded (i'm not) I'm sure it wouldn't be a problem at all to fake something.

 

[poppysdad]

Thanks for the replies everyone, it does seem that when i read the help pages which is in small print and my aging eyesight not helping in the evenings but its an and/or and would appear a recent visa would be acceptable instead of proof of address and as we always do our annual extension renewal in May we both have these stamps in our passport so intend to go down that route although i will also take these envelopes with our name and address's on them to the Trendy building when we go. 

 

[rakman]

a CTRL "+" (hold down the CTRL key, then hit + without the quotes) in most browsers will make the print larger on the screen, i.e. zoom the page.  You can do it several times.  To un-zoom, use CTRL - and a quick way to normal is CTRL 0

[cmjc]

Whilst on the topic of renewing adult UK passports in Bkk, may I ask a question please?

I have downloaded all the forms and guidance.

I have never had or used a credit card anywhere, so may I pay the passport application fee in Thai baht cash?

If not, can I use some UK cash to pay the fee here?

I emailed the HMPO UK, but their response is automated, "We will reply in 15 days..."

Lovely Civil Servants!

[Eff1n2ret]

My wife has much the same problem as the OP's. Her UK passport is in our married name, but she has absolutely no documentation in that name as on her Thai I/d and passport, and all domestic bills etc., she has her Thai family name. The UK passport is due for renewal at the end of this year, and the only thing I can think of is to write to the DWP on some pretext to generate a reply. The snag with that is that you can't rely on them writing back within a given period, if at all. As far as I recall, the "proof of address" requirement is for a document dated within 6 months of the application. Perhaps I should get on and do it now - if we got a quick reply, as far as I recall you can get up to 9 months of the expiring passport added on to the new one.

[Eff1n2ret]

9 minutes ago, cmjc said:

Whilst on the topic of renewing adult UK passports in Bkk, may I ask a question please?

I have downloaded all the forms and guidance.

I have never had or used a credit card anywhere, so may I pay the passport application fee in Thai baht cash?

If not, can I use some UK cash to pay the fee here?

I emailed the HMPO UK, but their response is automated, "We will reply in 15 days..."

Lovely Civil Servants!
 

I'm sure they'll tell you that you can't use cash, whether Thai Baht or Sterling. If you have Sterling, do you still have a UK Bank account with a debit card? You could use that.

Otherwise you have to find a pal who will submit their cc details in exchange for cash, or find an agent accredited to the VFS service who handle the application. There are a couple in Pattaya, I don't know about anywhere else.

[ubonjoe]

20 minutes ago, cmjc said:

have never had or used a credit card anywhere, so may I pay the passport application fee in Thai baht cash?

If not, can I use some UK cash to pay the fee here?

You can use a debit card from a bank. Some Thai bank debit cards will work.

They will not accept cash.

You could use a friends or family members card if you don't have one.

[cmjc]

Thank you, I'll contact Liverpool and ask.

[ubonjoe]

50 minutes ago, Eff1n2ret said:

My wife has much the same problem as the OP's. Her UK passport is in our married name, but she has absolutely no documentation in that name as on her Thai I/d and passport, and all domestic bills etc., she has her Thai family name.

Use documents with her Thai family name and your marriage certificate to prove her address. Her ID card could be used and would not need to be translated.

They will add up to 9 months of your old passport validity to your new passport.

[Eff1n2ret]

2 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

Use documents with her Thai family name and your marriage certificate to prove here address. Her ID card could be used and would not need to be translated.

They will add up to 9 months of your old passport validity to your new passport.

I'm wonder whether I would get away with that. I met and married her in the UK, at that time she was using the surname from her previous marriage to a UK citizen, and it is that surname which appears on our marriage certificate. Her Thai family name also appears as her father's (deceased) name, but I'm not sure whether those fine civil service minds would find that acceptable.

But thank you very much indeed. As I write, the perfect solution has just occurred to me. She can write to the British Embassy posing the above conundrum. They'll probably say that she should ask the Passport Office, but that doesn't matter, she'll have a letter addressed to Mrs "Eff1n2ret" at our Thai address, job done.

[ubonjoe]

One solution would be for her to do  a name change at an Amphoe so her ID card would show your family name. Or you could register your foreign marriage at an Amphoe  and do the name change then. They would issue a Kor Ror 22 marriage registry also.

[wgdanson]

1 hour ago, rakman said:

a CTRL "+" (hold down the CTRL key, then hit + without the quotes) in most browsers will make the print larger on the screen, i.e. zoom the page.  You can do it several times.  To un-zoom, use CTRL - and a quick way to normal is CTRL 0

Or should have gone to specsavers !