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Renewing UK Passport


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My UK passport is due for renewal later this year and I would be grateful for some advice.

 

I intend to do the renewal through VFS at Trendy Building in Bangkok.  Looking at the information on their website they indicate that I need to provide a colour copy of each page of my existing passport and proof of my address here in Thailand (in English).

 

My questions:

 

1.  Regarding copies of each passport page.  Is it acceptable to print 4 pages onto one sheet of A4 paper?

 

2.  Regarding proof of address.  Everything that is sent to me from here in Thailand (bills, bank statements etc) has my name and address in Thai (normally copied from yellow book).  They want this proof in English.  What are the alternatives?

 

I am aware that I could get an agent to do everything, but happy doing it myself.

 

Sorry if this has been discussed before but nothing came up on the search facility.

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1. I assume you mean 4 side by side pages which would be 2 copies per page. I think that would accepted since they could be full size copies.

2. You can have your address translated to English. They will also accept a translated copy of your yellow house book.

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I am also preparing to renew my UK passport although I'm not cutting it as fine as you..

1. I wouldn't do that personally but it could be ok not sure.I am also unsure whether to first remove everything stapled in my passport by immigration..

2. I believe Thai banks will for a small fee provide a statement with your name and address printed at the top.

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1 - I wouldn't risk it though the worst would be you'd need to recopy and pay for the copies.

 

2 - If you have a recent Thai 5 year driving licence your address is on the back in both English and Thai.

 

I have an application in right now and used the driving licence and a letter from my wife saying we live 'here' and a copy of her ID. Signed.

 

I also had Amazon invoices which are English.

 

They accepted these ok.

 

NB VFS are now only open Monday Wednesday and Friday from 8.30 till 4.00 see email I received yesterday .....

 

"The appointment is not required for submit additional documents as it state on the letter but our operation time has changed.  We are open only Monday, Wednesday and Friday (except public holiday) from 08.30-16.00 hours. "

 

NB they are now on floor 28 not floor 8

 

 

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43 minutes ago, 007 RED said:

1.  Regarding copies of each passport page.  Is it acceptable to print 4 pages onto one sheet of A4 paper?

 

2.  Regarding proof of address.  Everything that is sent to me from here in Thailand (bills, bank statements etc) has my name and address in Thai (normally copied from yellow book).  They want this proof in English.  What are the alternatives?

@007 RED   not sure about the 4 pages I did 2
best stick to 2 err on side of caution
I just used a hotel reciept for proof of address all good

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1 hour ago, Saltire said:

1 - I wouldn't risk it though the worst would be you'd need to recopy and pay for the copies.

 

2 - If you have a recent Thai 5 year driving licence your address is on the back in both English and Thai.

 

I have an application in right now and used the driving licence and a letter from my wife saying we live 'here' and a copy of her ID. Signed.

 

I also had Amazon invoices which are English.

 

They accepted these ok.

 

NB VFS are now only open Monday Wednesday and Friday from 8.30 till 4.00 see email I received yesterday .....

 

"The appointment is not required for submit additional documents as it state on the letter but our operation time has changed.  We are open only Monday, Wednesday and Friday (except public holiday) from 08.30-16.00 hours. "

 

NB they are now on floor 28 not floor 8

 

 

address on back of driving licence IS NOT IN ENGLISH only in THAI !!

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1 hour ago, chang50 said:

I am also preparing to renew my UK passport although I'm not cutting it as fine as you..

1. I wouldn't do that personally but it could be ok not sure.I am also unsure whether to first remove everything stapled in my passport by immigration..

2. I believe Thai banks will for a small fee provide a statement with your name and address printed at the top.

why not use a utilty bill/receipt....no need to pay a bank....they have enough money as it is !!!!!

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1 minute ago, essox essox said:

why not use a utilty bill/receipt....no need to pay a bank....they have enough money as it is !!!!!

I intend to use my AIS bill which is in English it was just another possibilty for the OP.

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27 minutes ago, essox essox said:

address on back of driving licence IS NOT IN ENGLISH only in THAI !!

I can assure you my new 5-year one from February this year has both languages for the address on the back.

 

 

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Many thanks for the replies so far.  They are much appreciated.

 

For clarity, regarding my question of printing 4 pages of my passport onto one side of A4 paper, I have provided an example below of what I was considering.  It will provide the information that they require but just means less paper involved.  If I was really cheeky I could print double sided (8 pages on one sheet of A4), but that may be pushing my luck.

Doc1-iv.thumb.jpg.4c6fe134d9123bf493104742e3f150e0.jpg

Regarding the requirement for providing proof of address:  As mentioned in my original post, all my bills have my address in Thai and the Passport Agency require it in English.  Good suggestion regarding my Thai driving licence (shown on reverse in Thai and English).  Only problem with that is only part of the address is given.

 

UJ.... you suggested getting the yellow book translated.  Will the translation need to be certified (MFA)/

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2 minutes ago, 007 RED said:

Many thanks for the replies so far.  They are much appreciated.

 

For clarity, regarding my question of printing 4 pages of my passport onto one side of A4 paper, I have provided an example below of what I was considering.  It will provide the information that they require but just means less paper involved.  If I was really cheeky I could print double sided (8 pages on one sheet of A4), but that may be pushing my luck.

Doc1-iv.thumb.jpg.4c6fe134d9123bf493104742e3f150e0.jpg

Regarding the requirement for providing proof of address:  As mentioned in my original post, all my bills have my address in Thai and the Passport Agency require it in English.  Good suggestion regarding my Thai driving licence (shown on reverse in Thai and English).  Only problem with that is only part of the address is given.

 

UJ.... you suggested getting the yellow book translated.  Will the translation need to be certified (MFA)/

Like you I debated what to take. In the end i made a pack (driving licence, signed declaration letter from the wife incl ID card, Amazon and IHerb invoices, copy of latest extension of stay passport stamp) and insisted they send them all. VFS are just a checking/sorting agency. They were happy to do so.

 

As for your full passport copy I recall the agent meticulously turning each page in my passport along  with each paper copy to see if it was complete. Giving him your option may make that job more tricky and he may ask for single pages.

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47 minutes ago, 007 RED said:

UJ.... you suggested getting the yellow book translated.  Will the translation need to be certified (MFA)/

No it will not need to be certified by the DCA of the MFA.

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38 minutes ago, Saltire said:

Like you I debated what to take. In the end i made a pack (driving licence, signed declaration letter from the wife incl ID card, Amazon and IHerb invoices, copy of latest extension of stay passport stamp) and insisted they send them all. VFS are just a checking/sorting agency. They were happy to do so.

 

As for your full passport copy I recall the agent meticulously turning each page in my passport along  with each paper copy to see if it was complete. Giving him your option may make that job more tricky and he may ask for single pages.

Thanks for your info.

 

I appreciate that VSF are only a 'handling agent' acting on behalf of the UK Passport Agency.  That said they are supposed to ensure that the documents you provide comply with UKPA's requirements.

 

If they want one page of the passport on one sheet of A4, then that would mean in my case I would have to provide 50 pages.  In reality because when you photo copy the passport you actually copy two pages at once because of the book format, thus in my case only needing 25 pages of A4.  So printing 4 pages (which are still full size) on A4 should be OK (I think) and mean that I save 12 pages of paper.

 

I found an email address for VFS enquiry so have asked them the question showing the example.  Br interesting to see their reply.

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2 hours ago, andy72 said:
3 hours ago, 007 RED said:

1.  Regarding copies of each passport page.  Is it acceptable to print 4 pages onto one sheet of A4 paper?

 

...

@007 RED   not sure about the 4 pages I did 2
best stick to 2 err on side of caution
...

VFS at Trendy accepted 4 passport pages per A4 sheet on my three UK passport renewals because there's no image reduction required and each page is presented full-size.  Don't think about double-siding though!

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3 hours ago, Saltire said:

1 - I wouldn't risk it though the worst would be you'd need to recopy and pay for the copies.

 

2 - If you have a recent Thai 5 year driving licence your address is on the back in both English and Thai.

Thai driving license i have has address on back in Thai.

What Saltire says is most useful though because the driving license has the name and passport number on it and the address in thai on the back can be matched to utility bills that have the address in Thai.

 

1. I recall doing it the same as you for copies of passport pages and had no problem. But that was application in England.

I have always done it that way on VFS visa applications for my thai wife and never had any problems.

NOTE: but not double sided, I always did it one sided.

2. My electricity bill appears to have everything in Thai, but on the bottom section has my name in English. It has usually helped.

 

Edited by jojothai
clarification note
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7 hours ago, Saltire said:

I can assure you my new 5-year one from February this year has both languages for the address on the back.

 

 

fair enough.....when I got my new licence 3 yrs ago IT NO HAVE ADDRESS in ENGLISH.....I can assure you of this

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1 hour ago, cyril sneer said:

are these blue yet? thinking of doing the same

Some are and some are burgundy. You cannot ask for a blue one. With the shambles of HMPO -see Passport renewals on Visa,s to other country,s thread, happiness is to get any UK passport renewed.

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7 hours ago, 007 RED said:

Once again, many thanks to those who have taken the time/trouble to respond to my questions.

 

As mentioned in my post (#13) above, I emailed VFS enquiry and asked if they would accept 4 pages of my passport colour printed onto one side of A4 paper.  I attached an example copy as shown above in post #10 in order to avoid any confusion.  I was surprised to get a very quick response stating "The colour copy like your picture attached is acceptable."

Could you please give a link to vfs enquiry or their email address?

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Since the passport is returned through VFS, HMPO is not strict about the "proof" of address. Pretty much anything in English (whether original or a translation) should be acceptable. It is different in countries where the passport is returned to you by post.

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5 hours ago, 007 RED said:

No problem, the email address is:  [email protected]    As l mentioned, they responded much quicker than l was expecting.  Hope they are able to assist you.

Thanks very much pal.I've also found another link giving [email protected] which is a bit different maybe both will work?

Edited by chang50
More info.
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59 minutes ago, chang50 said:

Thanks very much pal.I've also found another link giving [email protected] which is a bit different maybe both will work?

I think that using either address will end up in the same place, namely VSF Help Desk, as the only difference being the capital letters for HMPO in the middle of the address.  I suspect that the address is not case sensitive.

 

FYI.... the address which I supplied in the earlier post was copied and pasted from the reply email which they sent to me.

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1 minute ago, 007 RED said:

I think that using either address will end up in the same place, namely VSF Help Desk, as the only difference being the capital letters for HMPO in the middle of the address.  I suspect that the address is not case sensitive.

 

FYI.... the address which I supplied in the earlier post was copied and pasted from the reply email which they sent to me.

Cheers for your help..

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