Visas and An Post!

Rips

I was going to post here last night after I looked on An Post website and saw no helpful information, very sorry I didn't now. I wrongly assumed I could just ask in the Post Office and they would know what to do.

I am applying for several visa's with different Embassies based in the UK, for which I have to include self-addressed registered envelopes to receive my Visas.

I went into the Post Office to get the postal Orders, and these pre-paid envelopes, to be told, they 'don't do these anymore'.

Apparently there are no sort of envelope or pre-paid label of any kind I can buy, to send with a self addressed envelope in order to receive my Visas back from the UK by tracked post.

So I added £10 to each postal order, in order to cover the costs of postage from their end. Obviously however, they will have to send me the tracking numbers, which makes me a little uneasy. I am going to see if I can ring them.

Has anyone encountered this problem before?

galwayjohn89

Could you not buy the postage on royalmail.com and print off the label?

Rips

Vuzuggu wrote: »

Could you not buy the postage on royalmail.com and print off the label?

Thanks for the idea, I'll see if I can.

I have since confirmed with An Post, that yes, there is no way to do this, there used to be, but not anymore, and they suggested I go up North and post from there. Mad.

Rips

It seems that you can, buy and print a label for 'Internationally signed for' from Royal Mail online, but it's only tracked until it leaves the UK.

The other option is Airsure which can be tracked to *certain destinations* (not specified) but it is not available online.

Looks very much like I will be getting those Postal Orders refunded and applying for more expensive and restricted online Visa's instead.

Just as a warning to anyone else, as an Irish Citizen looking to apply for Visas by post from UK Embassies, as suggested on many Irish and UK websites, its a little more involved if you intend on making sure you receive your documents back :rolleyes:

I see a few people mentioning online how difficult it can be to contact them by phone or email, so its not something I'm prepared to risk.

coylemj

Rips wrote: »

I have since confirmed with An Post, that yes, there is no way to do this, there used to be, but not anymore, and they suggested I go up North and post from there. Mad.

What's mad about it? Do post offices in Paris sell Belgian stamps? Have you ever tried to buy Irish stamps in a post office in London?

There used to be vouchers called international reply coupons, I remember sending them to the US many years ago as a substitute for US stamps which I obviously couldn't buy in Ireland but I believe they don't exist any more.

It might have been an urban myth but I heard a while back that you could buy UK stamps in the GPO in O'Connell St.

galwayjohn89

Rips wrote: »

It seems that you can, buy and print a label for 'Internationally signed for' from Royal Mail online, but it's only tracked until it leaves the UK.

The other option is Airsure which can be tracked to *certain destinations*.

You can track international signed for the whole way on royalmail.com then anpost.ie