British passport extortionate fees!

[TFG]

24,990 Yen for a bloody passport!!:twisted:
How long has this been going on?
It was around 6,000 Yen 6 years ago.


http://www.uknow.or.jp/be_e/consular/atoz/c/05.htm

[Greji]

24,990 Yen for a bloody passport!!:twisted:
How long has this been going on?
It was around 6,000 Yen 6 years ago.


http://www.uknow.or.jp/be_e/consular/atoz/c/05.htm

"New" Labour is in now!:p

[TFG]

Yeah, but this must be the most expensive passport in the world.

Chinese passport 6,000 Yen
US passport $100

How the hell does the British embassy justify 24.990 Yen?

[FG Lurker]

How the hell does the British embassy justify 24.990 Yen?

Gotta support the Crown somehow!

[james]

24,990 Yen for a bloody passport!!:twisted:

is that for five years or ten?

[Mulboyne]

is that for five years or ten?

Ten years.

The yen price has actually come down because sterling has fallen 20-25% since January. Nevertheless, you pay 80% more for a standard passport from an embassy compared with in an application in the UK.

British passport fees went up sharply last summer. Now in Britain, a child's passport costs 45 pounds and an adult passport 66 pounds. If you need a fast turnaround, then you can pay 108 pounds for a "premium service". However, any embassy overseas charges 76 pounds for a children's passport and 119 pounds for a 32-page adult passport (144 pounds if you want a 45 page passport but the Tokyo embassy rarely has any in stock). They deem an embassy application to be a "premium service" and then some.

[TFG]

Part of this problem is the British embassies rate of exchange.
I was there Yesterday and they charged me a pound yen rate of 210 Yen to the pound and this rate is still the same on the embassy site today, when in fact the pound has not been at a 210 Yen high since Aug 12, 2008.

What a total con this is to charge these exchange rates when the embassy is not a financial institution.
This is also probably illegal.


------------------------------------------------
Consular Services / Consular Fees

Sep 23, 2008: Current Exchange Rate of JPY 210
Consular fees effective from: 4 Sep 2008

-------------------------------------------------

[CrankyBastard]

They probably gave you the "customer rate" which averages 12yen to the pound higher than the "bank rate" or 12yen lower when exchanging GBP to Yen.

[TFG]

They probably gave you the "customer rate" which averages 12yen to the pound higher than the "bank rate" or 12yen lower when exchanging GBP to Yen.

Ahh, didn't think of that.
So, they are actually making us pay for the currency exchange as well!:ninja2:

[Mike Oxlong]

Well, a friend who recently renewed his at the lavish Canuckistan embassy paid about 17,000 yen for a 10-year passport renewal. Not as bad as for the Brits, but nowhere near as cheap as the Yanks pay.

[james]

Well, a friend who recently renewed his at the lavish Canuckistan embassy paid about 17,000 yen for a 10-year passport renewal. Not as bad as for the Brits, but nowhere near as cheap as the Yanks pay.

10 years? this must be something new. i renewed my canuckistani passport (5 years) a couple years ago and don't remember 10 years being an option then. at the time i paid a total of about $100 CDN - literally. i sent a genkin bukuro via the post office with some left-over canadian cash i had in it. canadian dollars were pricy at the time and i'd had some left over i bought cheap and it was a better deal than using their exchange rates.

[Mike Oxlong]

I thought he said 10 years. I'll check...

[Greji]

I thought he said 10 years. I'll check...

That would seem right. Most countries are issuing ten year passports for adults now. US and Japan have been doing it for sometime..

[Mike Oxlong]

James is right...5 years. Seems Canuckistan doesn't wanna be like most other cuntries...even when they do something better.

[FG Lurker]

(Removed, topic already discussed!)

[TFG]

Look at this. What a rip off. Note that they are claiming the Yen Pound rate is 200 as of October 3/2008
Utter rubbish. This is nothing more nor less than EXTORTION!

I wish I could set my own fictitious exchange rates like this and trade FX.
Perhaps they have a secret fund they put all the money they ripp people off and go on holidays with it.

[Greji]

Look at this. What a rip off. Note that they are claiming the Yen Pound rate is 200 as of October 3/2008

They set the yen rate at the rate they initially make their major purchases for the entire embassy. They must have really stocked up when they made that buy. 100 yen is about .58 quid at the moment....

[Mulboyne]

Look at this. What a rip off. Note that they are claiming the Yen Pound rate is 200 as of October 3/2008
Utter rubbish. This is nothing more nor less than EXTORTION!

It's an embassy, not a bank. They aren't going to reflect the spot rate on a daily basis because that isn't how they run their accounts. When sterling went the other way, the yen price was often advantageous because they were slow to track that move too. I wouldn't be surprised, however, if they acted a bit like oil companies with the petrol price: faster to pass on cost increases rather than cost declines. Since I never had a reason to pay any fees on a regular basis, I can't say I noticed to what degree they might do that.

[omae mona]

It's an embassy, not a bank. They aren't going to reflect the spot rate on a daily basis because that isn't how they run their accounts.

Mulboyne, that may have been true in the past. But I was under the impression that Bradford & Bingley and Northern Rock were now fully owned subsidiaries of the British Embassy, with several others to follow. In fact, overnight the U.S. embassy also announced its intention to go on a spree of banking acquisitions. Maybe these embassies will start to take advantage of their newly acquired FX trading operations to offer market rates to their customers.

[TFG]

It's an embassy, not a bank. They aren't going to reflect the spot rate on a daily basis because that isn't how they run their accounts. When sterling went the other way, the yen price was often advantageous because they were slow to track that move too. I wouldn't be surprised, however, if they acted a bit like oil companies with the petrol price: faster to pass on cost increases rather than cost declines. Since I never had a reason to pay any fees on a regular basis, I can't say I noticed to what degree they might do that.

I don't expect them to give spot trades but, the point you are missing is that the GBP has not been at 200 Yen since August 15/2008.
That is the fucking point.

And I agree entirely with the idea that the embassy is making money on the side.
I wonder if they turn it over to the government or just change the Yen into pounds, wire the money and keep the rest for their parties and stuff like that. Disgusting rip off.

[Mulboyne]

That exchange rate is of particular importance to me too so I know where it trades. However, I deal with a number of businesses who use a range of methods for calculating their prices and accounts. A trailing three, six or twelve month average is common. Some even pick a year-end rate and stick to it. Since I've used the embassy during periods of sterling strength, I know that the their rate can, at times, work in your favour which means that they aren't just engaged in gouging They could be using a trailing average which is adjusted at a regular interval unless there is a sharp fluctuation, in which case, it is reset sooner. I don't know how they calculate their rate or how often they change it but I'm curious now so, if you do have any dealings with them at the moment, you might see if they will tell you.

As omae mona says above, though, now that Britain needs to find half a trillion pounds for a bank bailout, I think I want to see the embassy selling fish and chips and souvenir London buses to bring in the cash. Perhaps they could also open a butler's cafe staffed by some trade attachés who can't have much else to do at the moment.

[Greji]

[quote="Mulboyne"] Perhaps they could also open a butler's cafe staffed by some trade attaché]

Ahh, come on Mulby! Use your influence! You can do better than Butlers! Maids and Sushi are the only viable answers!

[TFG]

Well, today Oct 10/2008, they changed their rate effective as of Oct 14 2008.

Gets fucking worse...Right now the GBP rate 167.31

Call it whatever you wish.
However the only appropriate word for it is Governmental FRAUDULENCE.

[omae mona]

Incidentally, one of the nice things at the U.S. embassy is that you may pay in dollars or yen. So you can avoid their exchange rate if it's not favorable. In particular, if you pay with a U.S. credit card, they will charge you in dollars.

[TFG]

Incidentally, one of the nice things at the U.S. embassy is that you may pay in dollars or yen. So you can avoid their exchange rate if it's not favorable. In particular, if you pay with a U.S. credit card, they will charge you in dollars.

That is reasonable, rather than charging fraudulently exaggerated rates.