British Embassy in Bangkok To Be Sold Off

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europtimiste
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Re: British Embassy in Bangkok To Be Sold Off

Post by europtimiste »

Thank you Brexit, UK has no more money, they must sell their embassies and soon the island....555
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Re: British Embassy in Bangkok To Be Sold Off

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What a plonker!
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Re: British Embassy in Bangkok To Be Sold Off

Post by 404cameljockey »

HHTel wrote: Thu Feb 01, 2018 6:50 pmWhat a plonker!
Look up 'troll' in any online dictionary, you'll see the first definition is 'europtimist'.
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Re: British Embassy in Bangkok To Be Sold Off

Post by 404cameljockey »

HHTel wrote: Thu Feb 01, 2018 3:29 pm Sorry, 404. You've completely lost/confused me. As far as I know, the only documents couriered to the UK are passport renewals. They are then 'legalised' using a pro-forma letter from the British Embassy included with your new passport.
Other documents are 'notarised' by the British Embassy here upon request.
Not sure where the Thai Embassy comes into this.
So I guess you never tried to get a passport copy certified as a true copy of the original in the BKK British Embassy.
Or tried to get your signature on any document authenticated by the BKK British Embassy.
Or tried to get a UK marriage certificate apostilled by the BKK British Embassy.

The British Embassy here (and elsewhere) are pretty much useless.

Thai Embassy comment: If you need to show (for example) a marriage certificate here for visa purposes, it has to be legalised by both British and Thai authorities. Thai Consular Affairs in BKK won't legalise for the reason I explained. I imagine that this is not the only document requirement that this applies to.
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Re: British Embassy in Bangkok To Be Sold Off

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Consular staff can provide the following services only:

affirmation of marital status

affirmation of residency

certified copy of British passport, British driving licence or UK educational certificate

letter confirming pension/income for retirement visa in Thailand (postal application only)
When I was using marriage as the reason for extension of stay, I only had to produce my marriage certificate. I've never had to get it legalised/authenticated by the embassy.
Signatures on documents such as pensions, life certificates etc have always been notarised by an official notary in Thailand. Never had a problem with that.
Affirmation of residency from immigration has always been accepted in the UK.

Apart from an income letter, I've never had to use notary services in the embassy.

Have I just been lucky?
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Re: British Embassy in Bangkok To Be Sold Off

Post by pharvey »

HHTel wrote: Thu Feb 01, 2018 6:50 pmWhat a plonker!
Harsh on Plonkers IMHO.......
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Re: British Embassy in Bangkok To Be Sold Off

Post by oakdale160 »

All great cities have great central city parks--Hyde Pk, Tulleries, NY Central park. Couldn't a little of the land been detached for a small park--silly question, how can you make money from a park and nobody has ever suggested that BKK is a great city.
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Re: British Embassy in Bangkok To Be Sold Off

Post by 404cameljockey »

HHTel wrote: Thu Feb 01, 2018 11:55 pm
Consular staff can provide the following services only:

affirmation of marital status

affirmation of residency

certified copy of British passport, British driving licence or UK educational certificate

letter confirming pension/income for retirement visa in Thailand (postal application only)
When I was using marriage as the reason for extension of stay, I only had to produce my marriage certificate. I've never had to get it legalised/authenticated by the embassy.
Signatures on documents such as pensions, life certificates etc have always been notarised by an official notary in Thailand. Never had a problem with that.
Affirmation of residency from immigration has always been accepted in the UK.

Apart from an income letter, I've never had to use notary services in the embassy.

Have I just been lucky?
-You need to have a marriage certificate legalised now. Immigration will tell you that. And from another forum on 23rd January:
"Hi, i am applying for the one year visa based on marriage. We got married in England and have a UK certificate. I have now been told that i need to legalise this. The British Embassy in Bangkok say they no longer offer this service. Do I need to send my marriage certifacte back to England? Has anyone been through this process?"

-My comment was about 'British Embassies around the world' The UK Embassy here will certify a copy of a document issued by the UK Government (Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths would appear not to be one, then!). In the UAE they won't. You have to go to a local lawyer. Tough if your requirement insists that your own embassy does it. They won't do:
" witnessing signatures or administering declarations on powers of attorney
witnessing signatures or administering declarations on wills
witnessing signatures or administering declarations on company documents
witnessing signatures or administering declarations on name change deed polls and similar documents
certificates or statements of law in the UK
certified photocopies of British passports, UK educational documents (including those issued in the UK by a recognised institution and listed in the Legalisation Office website), British driving licences, British divorce decrees and foreign documents including passports, educational documents and ID documents
certifying your identity for British banks, building societies and other institutions"

-British embassies will certainly not certify your signature on any document. I didn't say it was needed for government purposes here, but if you have any kind of a financial life you would know that international transactions are not always electronically signed, and signatures on physical documents must be verified, sometimes the other party requires your embassy to verify the signature. But they won't.
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Re: British Embassy in Bangkok To Be Sold Off

Post by HHTel »

Well some of them are contrary to what is said on their website (Bangkok that is). However, if what you say is true then the embassy is not just a bit of a waste of time, it's completely a waste of time.
I must have been lucky as I've never been asked for affirmation of any documents by the British Embassy.(Apart from the income letter for immigration). That includes government documents, pensions, banks and legal documents. Thai marriage licence only had to be translated.
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Re: British Embassy in Bangkok To Be Sold Off

Post by handdrummer »

I wish the American embassy would sell their properties and move to an office building or, at least, replace the arrogant Americans working there.
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Re: British Embassy in Bangkok To Be Sold Off

Post by europtimiste »

HHTel and 404camel, reading the truth is painful, I understand....
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Re: British Embassy in Bangkok To Be Sold Off

Post by J.J.B. »

:offtopic: Let’s please not turn this into another silly Brexit thread.
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Re: British Embassy in Bangkok To Be Sold Off

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:thumb:
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Re: British Embassy in Bangkok To Be Sold Off

Post by Big Boy »

Just to clarify I started my career in the UK Civil Service in 1972 (which is way before we even entered the EU). One of the main attractions when I joined was foreign postings. There were outposts all over the world. The best I got were trips to Gibraltar and Spain.

It seemed that from the day I joined, until the day I left, the UK was selling off real estate both home and abroad. It made economic sense - what did we need with a stores depot in Trincomalee or Singapore? It was costing the UK taxpayer huge money for minimal benefits. Why did we need so many German bases when the cold war was over? etc., etc.

It's been the same at home as well. My final job before coming here was Project Managing the closure of the Bath Estates, which were basically WW2 American hospitals. They were single storied, poorly constructed buildings spread across prime real estate. Maintenance was a nightmare. They built two purpose built office complexes on cheap greenfield land, and made a fortune out of the deal.

It is basic economics, not a knee jerk reaction because of a new government initiative. These things are years in the planning.
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Re: British Embassy in Bangkok To Be Sold Off

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Soon there won't be a UK embassy here and they will run it from a 2 room condo in Sukhumivit with even less service than they have now...if that's possible.
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