Visit to Thai Embassy, London 16 Aug 11

[Big Boy]

Mrs BB & I intend moving to live in Thailand in April (maybe May) next year. We are trying to get all of our ducks in a row before we leave. One anomaly that we needed to resolve was to renew my wife's Thai passport, which expired in 2003 .

First stop was the Embassy's web site, where it states:

Make an appointment by calling at 020-7589-2944 ext 5500 on working days from 14.00 to 17.00 hrs.

Mrs BB duly made an appointment for 09:30 today. We left home at 5, and went to the Embassy. When we got there, we joined a queue - didn't think this would be a problem because we had an appointment, and had been told that we were first on. The doors opened, and everybody marched into the box they call the Consular Section. No appointments, take a ticket and take your turn
Why do the Thai Embassy employ a clerk to make appointments? If there is no appointment system, get rid of the surplus staff. That would save the Thai Government a wage, and everybody wanting to renew their passport at least one phone call. It would release the Embassy's phone system for important business.

Number 43 flashes on the panel - yes we're in! Mrs BB hands over her carefully prepared forms, and gets looked at as if she has 2 heads. The website clearly said that she needed to apply for a Temporary Passport (1 year), and had to download and provide 2 copies of Form 2 and Form 4 ie:

If your passport expires.

1. A copy of the passport / ID card or passport.

2. Photos the same size as that used in the passports of all 3.

3. A temporary passport application (Form 4), 2 sets.

4. I questioned (Form 2), 2 sets.

5. A fee of £ 10 (cash).

We are told that the information on the website is wrong. We needed to provide a Form 1 and a Form 2. I put forward a limited argument, but having read about dealings at the Hua Hin Immigration Office, I realised resistance was futile. My wife was handed a Form 1, and told to complete it. This presented 3 problems:

- My wife didn't have her glasses with her, and couldn't read the form without them.
- My wife, coming from the poor North East, knows her place when in the presence of Embassy Officials, and goes into panic mode.
- My wife only had one year's schooling, and although she can read and write Thai, she does not have the confidence to do it in front of an educated Bankokian (she did Forms 2 and 4 unaided).

The Embassy desk clerk offered to help, but we'd have to wait until everybody else had been dealt with.

Fortunately, at this point my wife identified somebody in the crowd who she knew. Her friend did the business for her, and she was allowed to jump the queue

Next came the photographs. The website says:

Photos the same size as that used in the passports of all 3

Hmmmm....... what did that mean? We didn't know, so I paid extra to have photos taken to the new UK passport standard before we went - not good enough. They employ a photographer to take passport photos
Why make all applicants waste money providing their own photos?

Next was the fee - the website states £25. My wife got charged £31, and her friend got charged £36. Her friend only had the £25 stated on the website, and had to ask me for £11 so that she could continue with her application - that wasn't any problem whatsoever (after all, she had saved us a long wait), but what would have happened if we weren't there? How many others get caught out that way? I assume the additional £6 was to post the new document by Special Delivery, although we had taken our own stamp addressed Special Delivery Envelope with us. I have no idea why Mrs BB's friend was charged an additional £5. Incidentally, I was recompensated by her friend's husband as we left.

OK, it was a result, the application was eventually accepted after about an hour at the Embassy. However, I think they need to look at their website/procedures to become more customer focused .

[dtaai-maai]

Hmm - you went to the Embassy, you were there for an hour, then you went home knowing that your wife's passport would be en route soon, but it cost you a bit more than you expected. That's not just a result, man, it's a flippin' miracle!

BB, you are going to get through a whole heap of rants after you move here!!

[poosmate]

BB, you are going to get through a whole heap of rants after you move here!!

I agree. I have been here 8 years and have yet to have managed to bring all the required 'documents of the day' when extending my visa even after following Thai immigration website instructions.
An hours inconvenience to apply for a passport ? Luxury! When I travelled to the immigration on the day required ( stamped in my passport) and found they were closed for a bank holiday
And ordering in Homepro..........taking back a special ordered item that does not function.........being told that something you have bought many times before has never been stocked
The first year here I thought it was a vendetta against me. I now am not even surprised when I ask my wife what she did today and be told that she had spent the day in '3BB' ( insert shop/bank/office of the day) upgrading or another simple mundane task.
I hope that BB shares his rants when he gets to Thailand full time. I like a long and funny read

[Big Boy]

(and poosmate)BB, you are going to get through a whole heap of rants after you move here!!

It was written in a lighthearted manner, really with the intention of warning others who may follow that the website could not be believed.

I must say, however, that when I was called to the window, I was about to lose it - then I remembered things that had been said many times about the Hua Hin Immigration Office. Basically, after a knee jerk, "But your website says this," I smiled and retreated as soon as I could. It must have worked, because one vital thing that I didn't say was that Mrs BB had also forgotten her old passport. That was not an obstacle

I truly sympathise with you guys, and I think yesterday was good practice for me

[lindosfan1]

I have a similar problem we are moving to the uk for a while. I have to get my wifes visa from the british embassy in Athens. As we have residency in greece we are classed as eu national, therefore the visa is free, but nowhere can you get advise you ring the embassy which asks you questions you press different numbers, then it gives you an answer you did not want. As to documents what we have amounts to a small book. It is a nightmare applying just hoping we get it right.