According to the British embassy’s consular team, the total number of assistance cases last year rose to a total of 2,007 of which over one third were death-related and over 10 percent were arrests and detentions. Other categories included hospitalizations, welfare and missing persons. The numbers rise every year.
Separately, the team provided over two thousand notarial services and about six hundred emergency passports. The report added that there were 1,057,995 British visitors to Thailand in 2024 with 10 percent of them categorized ambiguously as “residents”. Presumably these entry figures are borrowed from Thai immigration printouts which tend to exaggerate as each arrival is regarded as a new individual. That’s misleading because many tourists and expats go on border hops or visa runs, or have re-entry permits to protect their visas.
Obviously the most publicized cases are the most vulnerable: pensioners such as Des and Mary Byrne, who have dominated the news in the last few days, and dozens of accident victims on Thai roads who run out of money and are unable to pay medical bills. Most of these cases result in complaints, usually from relatives in the UK, that the Bangkok embassy and its bosses in London are not doing enough to help their distressed citizens.
It’s worth noting that all embassies in Bangkok play a remarkably similar tune. They say they can contact third parties such as relatives, visit hospitals and prisons and give out a list of attorneys and funeral directors who speak English. What they can’t do is pay personal debts, loan money or intervene in judicial cases – precisely the things most in demand in serious tragedies.
The British foreign office maintains one of the most detailed websites for citizens visiting or locating in Thailand. There are even warnings about the risks of investing in or buying property, not to mention urgent pleas to make sure you are properly insured for potential hospitalization. There is no published research on how many travellers actually study and implement the recommendations in advance. Probably not many as it’s human nature to assume that bad luck only happens to other people.
Embassies have evolved over the decades. Technology has changed from fixed phones and mailed letters to cell phones and emails, then on to video conferencing (prison visiting can be done by Zoom) and the surge of developments known as artificial intelligence. Most embassies now insist on prebooked appointments, if actually needed, whilst the expansion of e-visas often means there is no need for face-to-face interviews. Within 10 years it’s quite possible that traditional passports will have been eclipsed by digital ones.
Consular assistance work within embassies, including the British, has also changed. There is less dependence on frontal meetings as the information about what to expect is there on the internet. There is also the assumption in government circles that technological change will reduce the salary bill for traditional diplomats. The reality is that the end users of consular services and their relatives need to adjust their expectations by better research in advance of travel. When tragedy strikes, it’s often too late.
