[peterraven]

Ian From HKG
Indeed the Regional Passport Processing Centre is still in Hong Kong and I used it very recently to renew my passport.

And I found the fees to be very reasonable – £19.86 for DHL return of documents from Hong Kong and also delivery of the new passport from UK.

[IanFromHKG]

peterraven – sorry, I should have been more clear. The processing centre is still here, but they do not issue passports here any more (which they used to do – and only took about 5 days) – and it was the closure of the local issuance facility that I was referring to. I am guessing you took the standard service, but my wife told me the fees they were charging for expedited service were horrendous

[peterraven]

Ian_from_HKG
OK. It is a bit off topic, but I did use standard service from Hong Kong to renew my passport and received my passport within one week (from UK by courier) I was very surprised at the processing speed!

[PeterCoultas]

As a now retired “leisure” traveller I had problems even renewing my normal passport as it was so battered and the feeble laminations had come unstuck. Shortly afterwards I attempted to take my wife to Syria (previously enjoyed pre the first Assad) but was thwarted as the Syrians considered that an Egyptian entry stamp meant I was a friend of Israel! My wife was of course given a visa as she had changed her passport for a new one after our joint visit to Egypt. Travel to “interesting” places other than on business is becoming more and more difficult due to the paranoid suspicions of the visa issuing authorities and, sadly, the paranoia of our own Border Agency manages to even make a farce of free movement through the Common Market.

[JamesMoloney5]

Slightly off topic, but I have had second Irish passports, or Business passports as they call them for the past fourteen years, renewing them every five years as that was the maximum period of validity, or every two to three years when I ran out of pages.

I have just this month managed to get a new second passport but I had to go for an interview to get it and the maximum validity is now reduced to just three years.

Apparently, this is all the fault of the Israeli Mossad agency, who used nine false/fake Irish passports last year in their take down of a certain chap in Dubai.

It is now much more difficult to obtain a second Irish passport, and quite a high proportion of applications are apparently being rejected.

[MartynSinclair]

James – if this is correct, perhaps the Mossad chose the Irish passports because they were so easy to copy!

[JamesMoloney5]

I would have accepted that as a valid argument if Irish passport technology was considered inferior at any time in the last twenty years, but it isn’t, and hasn’t been.

We have been using all the latest biometric, chip enabled passport technology as long as anyone else….Ireland and the UK both introduced the electronic passport in 2006……

[JamesMoloney5]

The “fatter” version is 65 pages and is valid for ten years if it is your only passport. If, as in my case, you choose a 65-page passport as your second “Business” passport, then it is only valid for three years.

This isn’t a problem for me as I get through a 65 page passport every two years – its just very expensive!

When I was interviewed for my second passport a month or so ago, I had to log onto my ROP FFP account in the Passport Office, to prove the amount of mileage i was doing, despite both the passport I was replacing (previous Business passport) and my current principal passport showing hundreds of entry/exit stamps…..that wasn’t good enough.

To be honest I was quite happy to go through this process as it increased my confidence in the Passport Authority and their thoroughness!

[MartynSinclair]

I wonder what would happen if you weren’t a member of Thai’s ROP?

The fact you were asked for proof from your FFB prgramme to justify why you had no free pages in your current passport cant be taken too seriously.

[JamesMoloney5]

Martyn, I wasn’t asked for proof from my FFP, but I was asked to prove a pattern of travel. I was not prepared for this so it was at my suggestion that they accessed the ROP account.

I was surprised that they agreed to do it, to be honest. I was sure i would be hit with “cannot access third party websites on a Government computer” excuse

[MartynSinclair]

Hi James – presume that is a similar protocol to the UKBA requiring a letter from my employer to issue my second passport.

[JamesMoloney5]

This was in addition to the company letter, which I also had to provide.

I don’t at all mind having to do all this stuff……as long as I get what I want in the end!!

[JonathonMcintosh]

Hi. I have my own ltd offshore company and am looking to apply to get a second passport as I will have to make do with a photo copy of my one this isn’t the best for travel offshore and would like to apply for a second can someone try and guide me to the best way to do it

[Papillion53]

JonathonMcIntosh – are you in the UK with a British passport?

[LuganoPirate]

Jonathan, I think reading through this thread will give you all the info you need.

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