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A VISIT TO THE THAI EMBASSY LONDON


AJSP

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I'm heading to the Thai Embassy in South Kensington with my wife and Son next week to renew their Passports so will hopefully provide some detail on this thread as to the process, success, ease of use etc which maybe help others. 

I'm not a fan of driving in London so will head up in my car and park in Richmond, then get Train/Uber into South Ken first thing in the morning and after the business part of the day, head back to Richmond for a mooch around before heading home.

 

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This rather grand (and stupidly expensive I would imagine) piece of prime London real estate was misleading for our previous visits  as you are ushered by way of some signage into the basement area and into the scrum of Thai / foreigners dealing with passport matters.

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27 minutes ago, AJSP said:

I'm heading to the Thai Embassy in South Kensington with my wife and Son next week to renew their Passports so will hopefully provide some detail on this thread as to the process, success, ease of use etc which maybe help others. 

I'm not a fan of driving in London so will head up in my car and park in Richmond, then get Train/Uber into South Ken first thing in the morning and after the business part of the day, head back to Richmond for a mooch around before heading home.

 

We have had 3 Thai passports renewed at the Thai Embassy in Singapore. It's no problem at all, just fill the form in, go to the embassy with the correct documents, photo done, collect the passport a couple of weeks later (collecting rather than mailing to you you was the only inconvenience)

Of course renewal in Thailand is even better, just turn up and get the passport on the same day.

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50 minutes ago, Zambo said:

We have had 3 Thai passports renewed at the Thai Embassy in Singapore. It's no problem at all, just fill the form in, go to the embassy with the correct documents, photo done, collect the passport a couple of weeks later (collecting rather than mailing to you you was the only inconvenience)

Of course renewal in Thailand is even better, just turn up and get the passport on the same day.

That sounds very similar to our experience in London but the last one was 5 years ago so lets see if anything's changed  

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In the little we've had to use it, they've been fine. Like booked for Passport renewal and then realising late and telling them ID Card was also out of date. Not a bother, they did that there and then first to complete the Passport renewal.

I know it's a pretty simple thing to do, but wouldn't have been surprised had the UK Passport service been anal about something similar and computer says no.

Anyway, I usually just take Caitlin over to the park, let Sa get on with it.

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6 hours ago, AJSP said:

This rather grand (and stupidly expensive I would imagine) piece of prime London real estate was misleading for our previous visits  as you are ushered by way of some signage into the basement area and into the scrum of Thai / foreigners dealing with passport matters.

 image.png

they have a swimming pool in the basement and not many people know that 

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I was going to use the Embassy for my daughters passport back last year (around May 2022). We had been trying for months for an appointment but every time we tried, the system said no appointments available. 

We eventually were in communication with the embassy who told us we could apply for an emergency passport without going to the embassy, just needed to apply within 6 weeks.

At just under 6 weeks we applied but the return email told us they had changed the rules and we would all (daughter, wife and me) have to attend the embassy at a particular given date. Well my daughter was at school, my wife was working and the extra cost was an issue. 

We weighed it up and thought the hassles of all of us going, the petrol costs, probably a night in London, just the admin at the embassy (our previous experience had been terrible when Porn needed to have her finger prints taken), it just wasn't worth it.

Kataleya had a British Passport (valid) so we just went to Thailand; at immigration just offered the British and Thai passport and we were all on our way. Next day we flew to Khon Kaen and the day after, we went to the Khon Kaen passport office where we waited only 2 hours for all formalities to be completed. They even asked Porn if she wanted a new passport and as it only had 18 months to go, we said yes. Paid and 2 days later the new passports were delivered to our house in KK.

I understand if you are Thai and need to get a new passport for an expired one then the embassy is the only option. For me though (especially living 3.5 hours drive from London) we will always try to get the Thai passports renewed in Thailand, such an easy procedure and much cheaper.

 

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Yes that option is probably the easiest when renewing a Thai passport (my wife has returned to Thailand on an expired passport and renewed in BKK, but it meant that it screwed up the family’s plans to travel around Thailand during their visit, rather than travel to BKK to apply for her passport) but my wife bless her, decided that going to Poole and meeting other Thai women would be fun. There were about 150 Thai women there, many with their British husbands, also Thai food, so it made for a day out for all of us, despite me, under instructions from SWMBO, having to put 2 x £20 notes in the money tree. 😡

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18 minutes ago, KhunDon said:

Yes that option is probably the easiest when renewing a Thai passport (my wife has returned to Thailand on an expired passport and renewed in BKK, but it meant that it screwed up the family’s plans to travel around Thailand during their visit, rather than travel to BKK to apply for her passport) but my wife bless her, decided that going to Poole and meeting other Thai women would be fun. There were about 150 Thai women there, many with their British husbands, also Thai food, so it made for a day out for all of us, despite me, under instructions from SWMBO, having to put 2 x £20 notes in the money tree. 😡

It was funny at Thai Immigration when we handed my daughter's expired Thai passport thinking they would just let her in but, no, they asked for her British passport and stamped that with 30 days. We were staying 42 days.

When we departed the immigration girl couldn't understand why the border control officer had stamped the British passport as she said they should have just let her in with the expired passport and insisted she got it renewed during our stay.  They will not give a penalty to a Thai child but the fact the British passport had been stamped for 30 days gave the immigration girl a small headache as we were there at 42 days and also with a brand new Thai passport. Porn did explain everything in Thai, confirming what I told the officer in English and we did get away after about 5 minutes.

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15 minutes ago, Horizondave said:

It was funny at Thai Immigration when we handed my daughter's expired Thai passport thinking they would just let her in but, no, they asked for her British passport and stamped that with 30 days. We were staying 42 days.

When we departed the immigration girl couldn't understand why the border control officer had stamped the British passport as she said they should have just let her in with the expired passport and insisted she got it renewed during our stay.  They will not give a penalty to a Thai child but the fact the British passport had been stamped for 30 days gave the immigration girl a small headache as we were there at 42 days and also with a brand new Thai passport. Porn did explain everything in Thai, confirming what I told the officer in English and we did get away after about 5 minutes.

Odd they asked for her British passport. Wonder what they would have done if you told them she didn't have it with her just to avoid the hassle you encountered on exiting Thailand.

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7 hours ago, forcebwithu said:

Odd they asked for her British passport. Wonder what they would have done if you told them she didn't have it with her just to avoid the hassle you encountered on exiting Thailand.

Well, the immigration office who checked our passports when we were leaving was also a bit upset that my daughter's British passport was asked for and stamped. Caused a little issue although a child will not be fined (42 days in country).

She reiterated that my daughter should have been allowed (as a child) in to Thailand on her expired Thai passport with no need to see her British passport, let alone stamp it.

Believe she was going to let the arrival immigration officer know of her mistake.

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20 hours ago, AJSP said:

The process was easy - as before and as others have shared. Pre booked appointment for 11am. All forms filled at home and passports etc in hand plus the obligatory cash money for the fees. 
 

I wanted to arrive early and did so at 10.00 and as usual for thai civic offices, did the temperature face scan and we took an electronic queue ticket. It was a fairly busy , well orgs used but brightly lit basement office and the wait was short. Friendly and helpful staff bit as my wife is well versed and well prepared it went smoothly and we departed shortly before 11.00. 
 

A short walk around the corner for a coffee and a cake ( no cap), we were on our way back to Richmond by 12.30
 

to justify me not driving all the way into the Embassy I can confirm that the. 2 x Ubers cost me £45. The park on my drive in Richmond £l2.70 for the day so with no extra fuel it cost me £57.70. If you compare that with the £15 congestion charge plus parking and fuel I reckon it cost me about £20 more to do it ‘my way’. I was happy with that 

Fuel £40 @ 43mpg in my diesel XC90 so not too shabby 

£57.70 on Uber / parking 

Total £97.70 plus a nice mooch around Richmond Riverside / high street for 2 hours 

A decent day out from 0700 to 1530 achieved what we wanted snd a simple process with, touch wood, no glitches.

*I’m not good at taking photos*

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Your photo's of the Thames at Richmond brought back fond memories for me.

My mates and I learned our fishing on the Highgate ponds but several times we managed to get to Richmond on the buses and fish off those wide steps you show in a couple of your photo's. That was a big adventure for us and the fishing was really good particularly during the slack water when the tide was turning.

As I got older it was live music visiting the Crawdaddy at Richmond or Eel Pie Island just down the River at Twickenham.

Happy days.

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1 hour ago, Jambo said:

Your photo's of the Thames at Richmond brought back fond memories for me.

My mates and I learned our fishing on the Highgate ponds but several times we managed to get to Richmond on the buses and fish off those wide steps you show in a couple of your photo's. That was a big adventure for us and the fishing was really good particularly during the slack water when the tide was turning.

As I got older it was live music visiting the Crawdaddy at Richmond or Eel Pie Island just down the River at Twickenham.

Happy days.

Nice to have brought back some good memories. I like Richmond and will drop up again in the summer to get on the water for a jaunt into london 

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7 minutes ago, AJSP said:

Nice to have brought back some good memories. I like Richmond and will drop up again in the summer to get on the water for a jaunt into london 

Not sure if Chris (Sherlock) is still working at the riverside pub in your pic? 

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