The documents, copies of my identification (Passport) and proof of address would be accepted providing they were verified by one of the following.
- A Director, officer, manager or authorised representative of a bank or an authorised/or regulated credit of financial institution.
- A qualified lawyer or attorney, registered with the relevant national professional body.
- A chartered/qualified accountant.
- Any government department member of staff or officer.
- Any police officer
Providing they are not
- Related to you
- Living at the same address
- in a relationship with you.
Simple enough, or so I thought, when you have so many government departments and buildings all over Thailand.
As the address book was one of the required documents we headed over to the department which issues them. They were more than happy to stamp and sign the copy of the address book but not the Passport. When asked why they refused to certify the passport copy, no reasonable answer could be provided, just we can not do that here. The did not care that the criteria set out by the receiving company said otherwise, as far as they were concerned the passport was not address book, therefor nothing to do with them.
Luckily, or so I thought, the Passport Office was just 50m away, across the road, so with a little hope we paid them a visit only to be told the same pathetic story because it was not a Thai passport. At this point I suggested the Immigration Office in Udon Thani. After managing to successfully explain what was required and why, they agreed to certify the passport copy but charged 500 baht to do so. Was that better than exhausting the other avenues I could have approached, i.e. the bank or a lawyer somewhere? I really am not sure, the mind-set seems to spread everywhere (not my department) impenetrable at times.
Keep this farcical bureaucracy in mind should you need to do anything remotely similar and good luck in finding the right people who are willing to provide a simple stamp and signature for free!