A PATTAYA-based British entrepreneur with significant business interests in Asia was warned he faced a wait of up to six months for his new passport after UK authorities rejected his photograph with the comment “the top of your head appears to be too high.”
The processing officer in the UK also asked for additional documents to verify the applicant’s identity, including his Thai visas and immigration stamps.
The request, from the Passport Office in Liverpool, England, came seven weeks after the man’s original application in Bangkok. It followed several earlier unsuccessful attempts to track the progress of his new passport, which he needed to conduct important business projects in Bangladesh and the Maldives.
The processing officer in the UK also asked for additional documents to verify the applicant’s identity, including his Thai visas and immigration stamps.
The request, from the Passport Office in Liverpool, England, came seven weeks after the man’s original application in Bangkok. It followed several earlier unsuccessful attempts to track the progress of his new passport, which he needed to conduct important business projects in Bangladesh and the Maldives.
He was puzzled by the request because he believed he had submitted all the correct documents to the UK Visa Application Centre in Bangkok nearly two months earlier.
“I don’t understand why the Centre didn’t say that something was missing when I submitted the documents,” he told the BigChilli. “Back then I was informed that my application would take four weeks at most, and at that point I really thought everything was in order. Besides, there was evidence of both my visa and my immigration status in the colour photocopies of my old passport sent to the UK.”
In response to his first inquiry about his passport, the Bangkok Passport Office emailed the following: “The application (sic) what apply in Bangkok, Thailand will process and be considered by HMPO in the UK at least 4 weeks up to 6 months approximately.”
Several weeks later and still unable to travel, the man was understandably worried that his overseas businesses would suffer from the delay. In a second inquiry to the Bangkok office, he cited the Centre’s earlier mention of the possibility of a six-month wait for the new passport.
This elicited the following response: “We sorry for the e-mail below. The application (sic) what apply in Bangkok, Thailand will process and be considered by HMPO in the UK at least 6-9 weeks approximately. If your passport arrive at our office we will contact you to collect it.”
On the same day, the businessman received the email from the UK rejecting his application because of the incorrect photographs. Without delay, he sent off the additional information – along with new photographs – and his new passport arrived two weeks later. In total, it took nine weeks to renew his passport. “At least it wasn’t six months,” he noted wryly.
“I don’t understand why the Centre didn’t say that something was missing when I submitted the documents,” he told the BigChilli. “Back then I was informed that my application would take four weeks at most, and at that point I really thought everything was in order. Besides, there was evidence of both my visa and my immigration status in the colour photocopies of my old passport sent to the UK.”
In response to his first inquiry about his passport, the Bangkok Passport Office emailed the following: “The application (sic) what apply in Bangkok, Thailand will process and be considered by HMPO in the UK at least 4 weeks up to 6 months approximately.”
Several weeks later and still unable to travel, the man was understandably worried that his overseas businesses would suffer from the delay. In a second inquiry to the Bangkok office, he cited the Centre’s earlier mention of the possibility of a six-month wait for the new passport.
This elicited the following response: “We sorry for the e-mail below. The application (sic) what apply in Bangkok, Thailand will process and be considered by HMPO in the UK at least 6-9 weeks approximately. If your passport arrive at our office we will contact you to collect it.”
On the same day, the businessman received the email from the UK rejecting his application because of the incorrect photographs. Without delay, he sent off the additional information – along with new photographs – and his new passport arrived two weeks later. In total, it took nine weeks to renew his passport. “At least it wasn’t six months,” he noted wryly.
