13 replies to this topic

[trickmaster51]

Hello all, I have a few questions. My mother has been living in the US for years now and her Thai passport expired about ten years ago. She was born and raised in Thailand and came to the US 22 years ago and eventually became a US citizen. Odds are her Thai ID card probably hasn't seen the light of day in years as well. What does she need to do to renew her passport or get a new one? Can she just walk into a Thai-consulate in the US with her old one and get it renewed?

Edited by trickmaster51, 2012-09-20 16:59:24.

[lopburi3]

Believe she would have to return to Thailand (can use old passport for that) and obtain a current ID card in order for a new passport to be issued but you can easily check by calling any Thai Consulate in the US and asking them (they can at least say they can or can not issue).

[trickmaster51]

dam_n that's really going to set me back but I know she's going back in the near future. I'll call the consulate when I have some time.

[Pib]

Once she has a valid Thai ID card getting a new passport "in Thailand" is fast and cheap. My wife renewed her Thai passport last week by going to the Passport Section of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here in Bangkok. There are several other locations in Bangkok where a Thai passport can also be issued. All she needed was her Thai ID card.

When getting queue ticket she was handed one slip of paper where you entered two points of contacts...that's it...no more paperwork....once her queue ticket was called about 15 minutes later she set down in front of a passport clerk, the clerk used the wife's Thai ID card to pull up all needed information in the Thai ID card database, scanned her left index fingerprint since she was getting a Thai E-passport, took her picture, signed her name, paid 1000 baht and told the wife she could come back in two days and pickup the new passport which the wife did. Time with the clerk was around 5 minutes. Passport is good for 5 years. Although the wife went and picked up the passport she didn't have to as she could have opted to have it mailed via EMS which would have cost 35 baht and took about 7 days to arrive.

Yeap, fast and cheap in getting/renewing a Thai passport in Thailand if you have a valid Thai ID card. Now when the wife and I were still living in the U.S. renewing her Thai passport required a fair amount of paperwork (not hard to fill out) and we had it done through the L.A. Thai Consulate although we lived in another state...fortunately, the L.A. consulate did a road trip to our city in another state and the wife applied for a new/renewed passport that way...took about a month to get the new passport back via mail.

Edited by Pib, 2012-09-20 20:27:18.

[Mario2008]

Getting a new passport in Thailand will require that she is registered on a tabien ban (house registration book).

[Pib]

It's required to get the Thai ID card but not to get a Thai passport in Thailand...but without the Thai ID card you can't get the Thai passport....so yea, being registered on a tabien ban (Blue Book) will be required. My wife only had to show her Thai ID card...nothing else.

[Mario2008]

That is correct.

Passport rules here: http://www.mfa.go.th...s-Applicat.html

They have changed their website and also changed the text. There also used to be a section about applying for a Thai paspsort abroad.

[trickmaster51]

Darn ok, the reason I'm asking is because I want to get my Thai Birth Certificate here in the US. And to do so, I need my mother present with some documentation. I highly doubt they'll accept an expired Passport from years back.

[samran]

They should be able to accept the expired Thai passport. Just as long as she has a valid I'd number in it, which she should, the embassy can use that for data matching purposes.

Nice that you are asking here, but why haven't you just given the embassy a call in DC?

[meatboy]

my wife renewed her passport in the uk without her id card,as long as she has the old one it should be ok,thai embassy in your place will send old one to bkk and that should be suffiecent.when she decided to buy a property in thailand she went and reported[police station] in thailand her id card was lost just needed her address on the tabien ban.

[trickmaster51]

but why haven't you just given the embassy a call in DC?

Just trying to get the most info I can here first. Greatly appreciate all your help though.

[Songhua]

My wife is in exactly the same situation (including timeframes) as the OP's mum ... but in Australia.
Sydney consulate advises that, prior to the introduction of the e-Passport, it would have been possible to obtain a new one simply by presenting the old one (which contains, as do all Thai passports, her id number).
Nowadays however, the requirement is to appear in person for biometrics and present the old passport along with 'valid' id card OR tabien baan. She hasn't yet established whether 'valid' means current but I presume it does.
I understand that we're in different parts of the world but it would seem likely the rules and requirements for e-passport application would be the same everywhere.
On another point, does anyone know whether the old style single sheet tabien baan (was it the forerunner to the blue book?) is still accepted? It is an original from amphoe.

Edited by Songhua, 2012-09-21 09:53:57.

[meatboy]

my wife renewed her passport in the uk without her id card,as long as she has the old one it should be ok,thai embassy in your place will send old one to bkk and that should be suffiecent.when she decided to buy a property in thailand she went and reported[police station] in thailand her id card was lost just needed her address on the tabien ban.

going on the above post,her old passport has not got her old id.no.it was in 2005 she got a new id.no when in thailand and that is on her new one issued 2006,she had another new one in 2011 which is biometric for which she had to appear in person at the uk.embassy london,so no id.no could be an issue.check with the royal thai embassy washington.

[asiaexpat]

When my wife allowed her passport to expire while in the USA several years ago she had to appear in person with her old passport and ID card. She was lucky enough to have the Thai consulate outreach in our location at the time she applied to renew her passport. They did all the biometrics and processed her documents without having to go to a consulate location. The passport was sent to her in about a month. I suggest they OP check with the consulate for the outreach schedule (they do this every year around the USA.) His mother must have a Thai ID with a 13 digit number so the consulate can trace her records.