Because I need a new passport again, I checked the price of a new passport on the internet today and I was shocked at the increase in cost here. A new passport will now cost me 8,564 Thai baht (₤128), whereas before it cost 4,800 Thai baht (₤72). The reason given for the increase, is because they now issue a Biometric Passport which means that it contains a digital chip with data about your distinguishing features on it, to try and improve on passport security.

This increase in price would not worry me too much if I were just a normal seasonal traveller and my ten year passport, actually lasted me for ten years. But, because of the local visa regulations where I am, I have to regularly travel and update the visa in my passport and because each visa takes up a whole page of the passport and the regular physical stamping in and out of countries also takes up space, my ten year passport, lasts me approximately 18 months now.

So I hope that the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office and various international immigration organisations concerned, can come up with some new idea to cut down on the amount of passport pages used for visas and physical stamps. Why not develop a digital chip for the passport that can be used to contain visas and stamp you in and out of countries electronically?

They probably wouldn't develop that though, because then they would lose a lot of income from the renewing of passports from people like me.

Cheers for now, Legless.