Another British Passport Change.

[gotlost]

LETTER TO BRITISH COMMUNITY
CHANGES TO BRITISH PASSPORT SERVICES IN THAILAND
Her Majestys Passport Office is making important changes to the way it delivers British passports overseas. The goal is to ensure that all British nationals living overseas receive a consistent, trusted, secure and efficient service whilst keeping the costs as low as possible. In order to do that, on 10 December 2013, responsibility for handling passport applications in Thailand passed from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to Her Majestys Passport Office.

Following on from this, from 26 March 2014, British nationals in Thailand will submit passport applications, in person by appointment only, to the UK Visa Application Centre. All the information needed to complete the passport application process, including address and contact details for the UK Visa Application Centre, will be available on GOV.UK at https://www.gov.uk/overseas-passports

I know that this change will seem inconvenient, but the new measures being put in place support the wider public protection, helping to ensure that the risks of fraud and identity theft are minimised for those living and working overseas.

If you need to travel urgently but your passport is not available, you should still contact the nearest Consular Assistance team at the British Embassy Bangkok <deleted> In certain circumstances Consular staff may be able to issue an Emergency Travel Document but this is not a substitute for a full UK passport. So the best course of action is to apply as early as possible, and to make sure that you follow the new guidelines.

Please note that our Consular staff will not be able to take calls about individual passport applications and they cannot countersign passport applications. If you cannot find the information needed on GOV.UK you should contact the Passport Adviceline on +<deleted> (operates from 8am-8pm UK time) or e-mail: <deleted>


https://www.gov.uk/overseas-passports/y/thailand/renewing_new/adult

 

[nomad97]

Let me be the first to say, what a load of bollocks! As the note says, "I know that this change will seem inconvenient" too bloody true. Not only is it very expensive but it now requires travel to and from Bangkok from the provinces. Once to go and lodge the application in person and a second time to go and collect it. Because of the distances involved, this will invariably mean overnight food and accommodation in Bangkok too. This all makes for a very expensive new passport. Why should I pay a flipping £30 courier charge when I have to go and collect the frigging thing myself? And why do we have to photocopy all the blank pages too? Even Thai Immigration do not require that senseless copying for copying sake. Cut down another tree.

FCO please note - I am not impressed by the new procedure, not impressed at all. I hope it is changed and made more user friendly before I have to renew my existing passport in 9 years time.

P.S. And what about the older person, or one with disabilities, that make travel any distance either uncomfortable or down right impossible? Will their application be rejected if they apply by post? I really believe that the new procedure has been dreamt up by a frigging idiot who is absolutely clueless. Either that or he or she has gone out of their way to make it as inconvenient as possible. Just my thoughts on this matter.

Cry3.

 

[isanbirder]

By the time I need my next passport, I shall be 84. While I hope I shall still be as sprightly as I am now, it would be presumptuous to count on it.

But I needn't worry; they will have changed the system again by then.... and we shall all have to go back to London for it!

 

[CO-CO]

I intend to renew mine next week and I can't even make an appointment - the emails get bounced back !!

Not a great start.

Vfs are also moving offices next week - it looks like a night out in Nana.

Nomad, I agree with everything you say but I guess you could tie it in with a buying mission. It is the poor buggers in northern Thailand I feel sorry.

To have to go twice is a farce. ID and address has been proved at the first appointment FFS courier the passport to the home address.

 

[nomad97]

I agree with you CO-CO. You have already proved your ID and paid a courier fee of £30. For F's sake, courier the replacement passport to your home address.

 

[Coffee]

Nomad sounds quite pleased with Her Royal Majesties Gov't

Let me be the first to say, what a load of bollocks! As the note says, "I know that this change will seem inconvenient" too bloody true. Not only is it very expensive but it now requires travel to and from Bangkok from the provinces. Once to go and lodge the application in person and a second time to go and collect it. Because of the distances involved, this will invariably mean overnight food and accommodation in Bangkok too. This all makes for a very expensive new passport. Why should I pay a flipping £30 courier charge when I have to go and collect the frigging thing myself? And why do we have to photocopy all the blank pages too? Even Thai Immigration do not require that senseless copying for copying sake. Cut down another tree.

FCO please note - I am not impressed by the new procedure, not impressed at all. I hope it is changed and made more user friendly before I have to renew my existing passport in 9 years time.

P.S. And what about the older person, or one with disabilities, that make travel any distance either uncomfortable or down right impossible? Will their application be rejected if they apply by post? I really believe that the new procedure has been dreamt up by a frigging idiot who is absolutely clueless. Either that or he or she has gone out of their way to make it as inconvenient as possible. Just my thoughts on this matter.

Cry3.

Isn't it incredible that this would be the same fookin British Government that you went into the service of and laid your life on the line for. Greetings9
Governments can get pretty pathetic while utilizing their constituents money to glorify senselessness. Think1
Can you imagine the amount of GBP spent on meetings/ analysis / et al BS to come up with these new regulations and procedures ?
Lost1 Thailand even appears to start making sense. ThumbUp6

 

[nomad97]

In comparison, the buggeration factor of the British Government's new passport renewal service exceeds that of my 90-day pilgrimage to Kap Cheown by a considerable margin! I have to take my hat off to them, the FCO has really gone out of their way to provide as little support for the UK expatriate as is humanly possible. And to think they are funded by the good old British tax paying public, even me. The only good thing I can say about the new procedure is that it only comes around once every ten years. As IB has already said, it will all change again in a couple of years, and again, and again, and again before I need to renew my British Passport in 9 years time.

 

[Prakhonchai Nick]

In comparison, the buggeration factor of the British Government's new passport renewal service exceeds that of my 90-day pilgrimage to Kap Cheown by a considerable margin! I have to take my hat off to them, the FCO has really gone out of their way to provide as little support for the UK expatriate as is humanly possible. And to think they are funded by the good old British tax paying public, even me. The only good thing I can say about the new procedure is that it only comes around once every ten years. As IB has already said, it will all change again in a couple of years, and again, and again, and again before I need to renew my British Passport in 9 years time.

It may be every 10 years for you Nomad, but for Co-Co and I it is every 2 years or less, due to the whole page Cambodian visa stamps + 4 entry/exit stamps every time we run a tour to Siem Reap. And for the 4/6 weeks it takes to obtain a new passport, we can't go anywhere!

 

[isanbirder]

It may be every 10 years for you Nomad, but for Co-Co and I it is every 2 years or less, due to the whole page Cambodian visa stamps + 4 entry/exit stamps every time we run a tour to Siem Reap. And for the 4/6 weeks it takes to obtain a new passport, we can't go anywhere!

I sympathise, Nick, but you can hardly blame the British government because you choose to run tours to Cambodia.

 

[gotlost]

It may be every 10 years for you Nomad, but for Co-Co and I it is every 2 years or less, due to the whole page Cambodian visa stamps + 4 entry/exit stamps every time we run a tour to Siem Reap. And for the 4/6 weeks it takes to obtain a new passport, we can't go anywhere!

JULIE LONDON - CRY ME A RIVER Cry3.
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXg6UB9Qk0o[/video]

 

[Surin]

It may be every 10 years for you Nomad, but for Co-Co and I it is every 2 years or less, due to the whole page Cambodian visa stamps + 4 entry/exit stamps every time we run a tour to Siem Reap. And for the 4/6 weeks it takes to obtain a new passport, we can't go anywhere!

Do a Business Visa in Cambodia and you'll stop the collection of fullpage pin-ups. Do a business visa single entry at the Bangkok Cambodia Consul and then extend it for a year in Siem Reap at a travel agent..takes 4 days to get back.

 

[CO-CO]

UK Passport renewal

13.00hrs and just back to Pattaya from my 12.00 hrs appointment at VFS.

How did you manage that I hear you ask (or perhaps I don't !!).

I decided to try a bit of Thai logic on this one so I set off from Pattaya (where I have been visiting friends/dentist etc) early this morning and parked up at Swampy ground floor open air car park around 09.00 hrs. Took the Airport Link to Makkasan, (easy walk to Petchaburi station) MRT to Sukhumvit and BTS to Nana.

For some reason I walked down soi 13 so I wasted 10 mins walking down there and up 11 to the Trendy building. It is almost opposite the Ambassador hotel and you go straight in on the ground floor to the lift (I didn't, I saw the escalators and took those to the first floor - yes non-American floor numbering). Up to floor 28 (lift is painfully slow) and you come out opposite a reception area. It is not that well signposted and obviously most people are there for visas. I said to a security guard (who looked about 12) "passport?" and he pointed me to the left. I wasn't convinced so I spoke again about passports, fortunately, a girl on the reception desk heard me and called me over.

It was just before 10.00 hrs and explained that I was very early for my 12.00hrs appointment. I was happy to wait in case there were any 'no shows'. I was ushered, via the obligatory security screening (phone turned off), to desk number 8 where I was asked to hand over my papers by a friendly and helpful lady in her Songkran blouse. I had to sign all the photocopied pages of my passport (and show the passport) plus sign the evidence of address papers. The fee for a jumbo passport was less than I had calculated so I had to amend the credit card form to GBP100.70 and sign the amendment. The girl prepared a receipt for the application, 2 photos, passport photocopies and credit card form.

I left the desk at 10.20 hrs and that would have been quicker if it hadn't taken over 5 minutes to get me a copy of the receipt (on which you also enter your phone number and email address) because the copier was broken.




Enough has been said about the appointment system and I would like to see the VFS visa online appointment system adopted.

Having achieved the Herculian task that I set out on some 2 weeks ago I have to say that I am relieved.

However, with whatever stresses, and uncertainties there were, now firmly behind me I find myself asking "What the heck was that all about?".

To my mind it was a pointless exercise.

You are not finger printed, optically recorded or anything. VFS was simply a postbox to receive papers that could easily have been posted to Liverpool. No doubt I will be called back in a about a month to achieve exactly the same.

I am no opponent of change but, I see no practical benefit of the current changes AT ALL. Those preaching the necessity of security - pah! there is no enhanced security (other than reducing the potential for 'lost in post') that I could see.

My next game will be to guesstimate when the passport may come back. I will plan a few days break again (and another dental appointment) around that guesstimate because I can't wait to hear from my lady that the new passport is in her hands because there will be no chance of getting a dental appointment within a week. Think I will plum for 3/4 days from 12th May......

 

[Prakhonchai Nick]

2 weeks in Pattaya - visiting friends!

No doubt made a few new friends, and need to revisit them in May.

Perhaps I need to visit the dentist too.

 

[CO-CO]

2 weeks in Pattaya - visiting friends!

No doubt made a few new friends, and need to revisit them in May.

Perhaps I need to visit the dentist too.

Your dentist is in Surin Nick - that is closer for your train spotting..

 

[stevo]

Reminds me of that joke:

A woman comes home from the gynecologist and tells her husband that there is some bad news.

" I'm sorry darling but he said I can't have sex for 2 months".

The husband replies " What did your dentist say?"

Back on topic, the fuss over British passports is annoying. Mind you I still have 9 years on mine, although it will probably be full before then. Maybe the rules will change again!!!!!!!