Robert Cook The British Embassy Bangkok, located at 14 Wireless Road, should be on the emergency contacts list of every British National travelling to Thailand or living in the country on a long term visa. This is essential so that they can be contacted in case of a medical emergency, death or any other situation that requires immediate assistance or diplomatic intervention. For British Citizens in Chiang Mai, there is an Honorary Consulate that provides limited services. Similarly, for British Citizens staying in Pattaya, although the UK Embassy in Bangkok is easily accessible, there is also a British Consulate in Pattaya, located on Soi 5 Jomtien, which provides notarial services and responds to enquiries. This consulate in Pattaya currently works only once a week on Thursdays, from 9.30am-12.30pm. The services are expected to extend to five days a week once additional personnel is hired.
The British Embassy Bangkok provides several services to citizens of Great Britain to meet the requirements that they might have in Thailand. Every person’s requirements will differ from another’s, and the embassy tries to provide whatever assistance it can to help the British citizens get out of a sticky situation or make their process for meeting legal requirements easier. This could be anything from issuing a replacement passport in case of loss or theft, or providing assistance to a victim of a crime. The British Embassy in Bangkok can help citizens facing arrest, those who are victims of sexual crimes, or with child abduction and missing persons cases. This is why it is important to keep the embassy’s phone numbers handy.
In addition to emergency assistance offered to citizens of Britain in the form of recommending lawyers, doctors or interpreters to help sort out issues, the British Embassy also provides notarisation services for legal documents or affirmations that are required by the Thai authorities when a person needs to apply for a Thai driver’s license, retirement visa or marriage license. Besides this, the UK Embassy Bangkok can help with providing regular consular services such as registration of births and deaths, marriage registration and notarial services for legalisation of documents issued in the UK or providing affirmations letters relating to income or marital status, for submission to the Thai authorities.
For British Citizens who are looking at retiring in Thailand to enjoy the warm weather, the British Embassy Bangkok helps them understand the financial implications of their decision to move such as their tax liability in the UK and eligibility for social security and other benefits such as national insurance. They will also need to provide legal documents as proof of their income every time their retirement visa comes up for renewal. The British Embassy Thailand provides affirmations regarding their income to make this process easier.
So for British nationals who are in Pattaya as short stay tourists or long term residents, the British Embassy Bangkok is probably the most useful contact to have. The embassy in Bangkok can be reached over the telephone at 02 305 8333. The working hours are from 8.00am-12.00pm and 12.45pm-4.30pm from Monday to Thursday, and 8.00am-13.00pm on Fridays.
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