mistephenso

Thanks again to everyone for the advice...

Just to update you. I ended up speaking to the London Embassy this morning, as I had no joy getting through to Manila, despite getting up very early (I'm in the UK now) for the past 2 days and trying multiple times on the phone - I guess they are pretty snowed under at the moment, as the lines appear to be permanently busy?!

Anyway, I explained the situation and they have said they will get someone from the Manila office to call my MIL's cousin over the next few days to try and sort out the claim then and there. Hopefully they have Thai speakers in Manila, as I'm not sure they'll get too far in English , but I am glad they have offered to even try...

I'll see if I can get her all setup online as well, as it will probably make things slightly less painful for her in the future!

Cheers,

M

Thanks for the responses everyone...!

I am no longer in Thailand, but I will try getting hold of the SS department in Manila on Monday morning (going to be an early start for me ) again to see what they say. If not, then I'll try giving the US embassy in London a call to see if they might be able to help as well!?

If we can get everything setup online, then I can apply to be her 'Representative' (form SSA-1696) and do all of the legwork for her. I think the problem from day one, has been the lack of understanding on her part and lack of direction from the company that originally filled in her claim forms.

If they no longer pay benefits by check, I think I can safely rule out the money going 'elsewhere'. I'll get her to open a bank account with Bangkok Bank as well, just to try and make things a bit easier.

Thanks again,
M

Hi All,

I'm wondering whether anyone who has knowledge about the US Social Security system can help me answer some questions - I'm from the UK, so I have very limited knowledge about any of this and my attempts to contact the Social Security department of the US embassy in Manila have, so far, proved in vain (multiple emails unanswered for weeks and phone lines always busy)...

Basically, I am trying to help my mother-in-law's cousin, who was married to a US guy who passed away several years ago. She was told that when she turned 60, she would be able to carry on claiming his SS benefits after submitting the relevant information from Thailand. The problem is, that she doesn't read or write any English, so she was reliant on a company in Bangkok to handle the original claim back in September 2013 and subsequent letters to her were ignored because she didn't understand the content.

I only became involved while we were back in Thailand last month (no idea why she didn't ask us before, but anyway...), when she arrived at my MIL's house and asked my wife and myself to help.

From the pile of letters she gave us to look through, it looks like she received confirmation that she would actually be paid these benefits as one of the letters said the following:

"We have approved your application for widow’s benefits. Your entitlement date is November 2013. Any future payments will be based on your current monthly benefit rate $xxxx."

She has not received anything in the way of payment since that letter and has since received another letter this year, stating:

“We cannot pay your regular monthly benefit at this time. Based on the information we have, we cannot pay benefits beginning January 2015. We cannot pay you benefits because you have not returned the form, “Report to United States Social Security Administration”. We need the information requested on this form to decide if you can receive benefits again.”

So... My questions, if someone can help, are as follows:

1) How exactly are SS benefits paid to claimants? Do they send you a check in the post, or do you need to supply bank account details for them to wire the money across electronically (or is there some other method used?)..?
2) This lady is adamant that she hasn't received any other letters than the ones in the pile she gave to me to look through - I don't see anything asking for more information, so can we appeal the current decision based on this fact? From what I have read through online, she has everything they need, but probably hasn't renewed her claim as she was supposed to (is this something that needs to be done yearly?).
3) Do I need to request that I am appointed a 'Representative' for her claims, so that I can answer questions and translate to her as needed on her behalf before the Social Security department will answer any of my emails (I'm thinking this might be the reason I am being ignored)?

4) On a darker note, is it possible that the benefits for 2014 have been claimed by someone else...? Like I say, I have no idea how the money is transferred to the actual claimant, so this could happen I guess?

Any advice is gratefully received! And if anyone has tips on the best time to try and get hold of someone to actually speak to in Manila, that would also help - although the time difference from the UK doesn't really help... Or can I try and contact a Social Security department in another country?

Many thanks in advance,
M

Thais are more worried about black dogs (Hello "Maar Dam") and lizards ("I hear" you)

Where there's the answer to a puzzle I've been trying to solve for a while. Students always chuckle when I tell them to say "I'm here" as I call the roll. Now I know why.

But I still don't get why the word lizard is funny.

The Thai word for 'monitor lizard' (hiia) isn't funny - it is a real insult, depending on how it is said... Getting them to say "I'm 'hiia' (sic)" is probably why they are laughing!? Saying "ai hiia" to someone is guaranteed to cause problems...!

Going back to the OP, I don't think the word 'monkey' (ling) is offensive on its own, but it probably depends on the context it is used in?

Khwai (buffalo), sat (animal) and hiia (lizard) are words best avoided if you don't want to cause offense unintentionally...

If the Thai Prime minister does not keep his word, as given to the British Prime minister, then I guess the UK will consider its option.

As I said at 10:30 Saturday morning:

I believe you'll find that Cameron didn't actually hear what he thought he heard and Prayut didn't say what Cameron thought he said. I think you'll find that Prayut said the British were welcome to send policemen or whoever they want, because there already was an agreement last week the Brits and Burmese could observe and there was no restriction on WHO that would be - but if they put one finger on the actual investigation, it will be smacked down.

It's not a question of the right thing or the wrong thing, it is THE thing that always happens. Mr Cameron is silly and his advisers need firing or a very long re-training time for misleading him so badly. There is not a possibility that a British policeman will lay a finger on evidence.

Anyhow, one of the points the Official Thai Visa Committee On International Crime Solving missed is: The police investigation is over. It's sealed. It's delivered to the prosecutor. PEOPLE can investigate all they want and they might possibly be allowed to bring evidence to court to testify. But the police investigation in this case is finished. Even if the Brits could somehow get close, they're a day late and many pounds short.

.

Exactly - people are making too much out of (what I believe is) false reporting in the English language news....

The RTP and Thai Government are not going to change their tune unfortunately!? If they do, someone can give me a hat to eat!

Can anyone point me to a Thai news link that categorically states the UK police are 'really' going to be allowed to look at anything regarding this case?
I see plenty of English language reports about this, but nothing from Thailand??

General Prayuth says that the UK PM was "happy" with the answers he gave to 20 questions about David and Hannah's murder/investigation in this (sorry, I can't find the original, only this from CSI LA on Facebook) Channel 3 report.
He also states that he thinks reports of 'protests' against him are fake and have been made up by someone on the internet?! He doesn't mention anything about the UK Police going to Thailand at any time, which I think is pretty telling...??!

Then we have the Chief of Police, saying here that the UK have "NO" authority in Thailand and cannot take over any part of the investigation. Basically, I think he is saying that they will have to put up, or shut up??!

While I hope it isn't true, I think there has been a bit of a 'translation cock-up' somewhere along the line and the UK Police will probably never get to look into anything at the end of the day... Especially not if the RTP have anything to do with it?!

How sad.

It is a Buddhist painting, talking about prayer and how you go about praying...

Basically, it says:

Today is Buddha's day
Doing good (to others) is better than just praying
If all you do is pray, you won't get blessed
Do good (for others) and don't just pray (something like that, but it is difficult to translate directly)
Pray all year but do help others all the time as well.

That is the jist of it, anyway... The stuff in brackets is my take on it. It isn't that easy to translate directly (for me, anyway ). You might have been better off posting this in the Thai Language forum?

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The BBC's Jonathan Head is on the island and is reporting the police are rounding up Burmese migrant workers for interview.

He claims a senior police officer told him the are concentrating on the Burmese as he ( the police officer ) ' COULDN'T BELIEVE A THAI WOULD DO SUCH A THING !

How does he explain the violence, open fire cases etc when it's Thai against Thai for the most minor of reasons ? Well I suppose loss of face isn't exactly minor here.

Could you provide a link to this please?

google is sometimes your friend.

BBC News Thailand is a good start.

Try here if you can't be bothered looking...

If you are talking about the standard 'white' 3BB router, then you may be limited to the number of Wifi connections...!? I think it all depends on the type of router you are using....

Have you tried logging into the Admin GUI to see what it says about connections there (normally the default IP address is 192.168.1.1 - see here for one of the manuals)? You will probably need a direct (cabled) connection to open the GUI.

Good luck!

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Your HSBC rate is wrong, simple as that.

Also, THB is a restricted currency, the central bank does not allow more than 50k baht per person to be exported.

wasted thread, wasted bandwidth and wasted time advising OP.

Not really - if you lot bothered to read my response earlier today, you would have seen that I took on your 'advice'...

I've already sent GBP from SCB this morning.

And if it really is such a waste of time and bandwidth, why bother replying??

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Why you would come to this forum, to get "1000 different opinions", re: Thai banking (International Funds Transfer) regulations, is any reasonable person's wild guess???? You can safely assume that those regulations apply to ALL Thai banks. alt=whistling.gif>

I thought the whole point of a forum was to ask for people's opinions (i.e. those who had already transferred money from Thailand to the UK before) on things!? Anyway, for your information, you are completely incorrect - SCB has different rules to Bangkok Bank (I have been to both to check this morning), so it wouldn't surprise me if other banks here also had different rules too...

Just transfered 950000 baht from SCB to english bank yesterday. No questions, just bank details. My bank is on Koh Samui. Have done it twice in 3 months.

Interesting - I assume you are sending this from a business account then (or they are converting the money for you before it is sent)? SCB said that their rules stated we could categorically NOT send baht out of Thailand unless it went from a business account. We would then have had to go through all of the fraud/money laundering checks and everything else, making it longer and more expensive according to them..!?

No, you cannot send baht out of Thailand, it has to be sent in a major foreign currency.

Actually you can, but it has to be sent from a business account at SCB. No idea why, but this is Thailand!?

Anyway - thanks to everyone for the replies! To save any further headaches I sent the money in GBP from SCB this morning. Got a slightly better exchange rate today as well, but not by much.
I can only assume the person I spoke to at HSBC gave me the wrong exchange rate as well, judging by the info above!?

Ho hum - only one more month and then I'm out of here...

Cheers,

M

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Do you have a link to the exchange rates your UK bank uses? As posted before, normally the t/t rate the SCB uses is far more favorable in case of common currencies, like USD, Euro and GBP.

Agreed - are you sure that is the rate they would give you - here are the current SCB rates http://www.scb.co.th/scb_api/index.jsp

Don't get confused between the buy and sell rate ;-)

I don't have an internet link unfortunately - I phoned HSBC (bank I want to transfer to) and they told me the incoming transfer rate would be 53.6 baht/pound...?
The same transfer (after fees) works out at 54.5bht/GBP from SCB. In theory, I should be getting more £ for my Bht if I transfer baht to HSBC, right?

I can understand the banks need to make money, but they outright 'forbade' us to send Baht from SCB to the UK...? When someone tells me I can NOT do something that I would be able to do in any other bank that I know of (my choice, obviously), then alarm bells start ringing.

Why do you both believe that the exchange rate is so much better here for changing Baht into GBP before sending it to the UK? I understand I would have to pay money in the UK for the transfer, but I figured the 'buying' rates would be slightly more in my favour overall. Especially as it only costs £4 to send money out of HSBC these days, meaning my fees shouldn't be that high (i think)...?

Cheers,

M

I'm not sure where you got the idea that you will lose on the exchange rate. Usually you get better rates onshore in Thailand than offshore. The spreads in the UK at a bank for retail customers buying and selling are usually wider, so you're better off changing here.

Cheers

Fletch

Errrm - thanks Fletch, but unless I am making a mistake in my maths, I am pretty sure I am losing out...!??

For example, I want to send over ~700000bht now and then the same again in a few weeks time (don't ask, long story... ). If I send baht to my UK bank, I get an exchange rate of 53.6 baht per pound (today anyway) - this is equal too:

700000bht/53.6 = £13059.7

If I send GBP from Thailand, I need to send the equivalent of 708650 baht to get *exactly* £13000 (including fees, etc) - this means I am 8650 baht out of pocket here, or £59.7 out of pocket in the UK.

That is about £95(ish) in total (if you look at it from both ways), which I don't want to lose just because someone in a bank here says I cannot send baht to the UK online!? Especially as I have to do this a couple of times...

Or am I mixing my sums up?? Feel free to correct me if I am...!?

Cheers,

M

Hi All,

We are in the process of sending money back to the UK prior to our move back there at the end of this month. My wife has just been into SCB (our local branch where the money is) and has been told that she is NOT allowed to send Baht back to my UK account.

According to everyone at the bank, she must convert from Baht to GBP here and then send that back instead. Doing this means that we lose out on the exchange rate - admittedly, it isn't that much, but even so it still makes a difference on a fairly large transfer!?

Anyone else come across this issue?
Can I get a banker's draft made out in Baht instead, then pay it into my bank in person, or do I need to follow the bank's 'advice'?

The alternatives are taking out the cash and changing it back in the UK, trying another bank to see if they allow it (I have heard that Bangkok Bank are pretty good with this sort of thing?), or biting the bullet and just sending over sterling....?

Any ideas are welcome.

Many thanks,

M

We applied for my wife's settlement visa in February and I was only able to 'download' bank statements from my online account (I pulled off a year's worth, just to be on the safe side) - my bank will not give paper statements anymore...

Nothing further was said about our application and my wife received her visa a couple of weeks ago. No problem at all!

Given that most banks do the same now, I can't really see how they can refuse a printed version of an online statement!? I know there is scope for fraudulent statements doing it this way, but surely it is just as easy to forge a 'genuine' bank statement too...?

Good luck anyway!

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The footage, which was apparently taken without the flight attendant′s knowledge, is currently being circulated on a number of websites.

I can't find the dam_n footage anywhere! Naturally, I just want to verify that the story is correct because I am deeply shocked at the revelations.

It has been removed according to the messages I am seeing - you can see Channel 7's coverage here for a bit of a taster...

Mind you, if that was my wife/girlfriend, I would want the footage removed too by the looks of things?!

Sorry irlguy1, I can't help with your car-seat request, but you can get hold of cheap(ish) ones online for about 5000bht (which would get you a fairly decent one back home). If you can't read/write Thai, you will want to get your other half to look around (assuming she is Thai).

If you can't do that, PM me and I can send you some links...

As to the violence in Trat and Ratchaprasong, she said she strongly condemned the use of violence that has caused many deaths, particularly children have lost their lives.

Not all red shirts condemn violence...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbOC5J8Npak

"I have good news to tell my red-shirt brothers and sisters from all provinces. The People’s Democratic Reform Committee members of Suthep (Thaugsuban) at the protest stage in Khao Saming (Trat province) were deservedly given a reception by the locals. Five PDRC people were killed and over 30 injured"

Dab Daeng

Absolutely disgusting....

And then the 'damage control' people come out to apologize as they know he has royally f*%ked up by saying that!

Yingluck needs to do Thailand and its people a favour and go before any further loss of life. She is not doing anyone (apart from Thaksin) any favours by staying on and prolonging this cycle of violence and arguments.

My mother in law usually leaves from Phayao if getting the bus back to Kamphaeng Phet (given that we live in Phayao and not Chiang Rai), but I believe they come from Chiang Rai to begin with so the same should apply...

She will normally have to buy a ticket all the way to Bangkok, as they cannot guarantee that they will fill the seat from KPP to Bangkok after she has got off. It isn't usually much more money (maybe an extra 100/150 baht), so not too much of an issue.

As mentioned in the above post, there are 2 bus routes from north to south and the Phitsanulok route is (I believe) the busier of the two!? That said, you can certainly get a bus direct to Kamphaeng Phet and you shouldn't have too much of a problem in doing so.

What else did you want to know? Prices, times, etc...? If so, you would be better off going to the bus station and asking there - I can only give you times and prices from Phayao to KPP I'm afraid...

They have already started charging the new fees if my maths is correct...!?

We sent off my wife's settlement visa application online on Monday and were charged 1447 USD - using the current USD/GBP exchange rate (1GBP = 1.63149 USD, according to xe.com), means that we paid £886.9p.

I did wonder why they were charging in USD for a UK visa?! Now I see why....

Thanks all, we are now heading down to Bangkok tomorrow to try and get a passport sorted out for my wife before mid-February... And yes, you are correct about it not being a 'formal' interview/appointment (as I previously thought). It is just a time-slot to put our application in!

So does anyone have any idea about my original questions, or do I need to try and get through to someone at the UKBA? To recap:

1) The UKBA website states that we must show evidence that 'we have met'. What do I need to do to prove this in my situation? Does the fact that we are married, have a daughter, and have spent time in both the UK and Thailand together already (I have had several year's of Non-O visas and my wife has had multiple visas for the UK) provide sufficient evidence for this point? i.e. will a marriage certificate and visa proof be enough?

Or do I need to provide pictures and/or any other evidence to prove to the person who is reviewing my wife's application that we really have met? If so, what would I need without making it 'overkill' for them (we have a LOT of photos, etc...)?

2) We will be staying with my parents for the first couple of months back in the UK, while we look for a house to buy for ourselves. Do I need to provide a floor-plan, or anything like that to prove that the house is big enough for all of us?

FYI, it is a large 4 bedroom house; my wife, daughter and myself will have our own bedrooms (one for my wife and I, and one for my daughter) and a bathroom while staying there. Do I need to prove room sizes/space available...?

3) One of the application questions asks where 'I' am currently living. At this moment in time, I am in Thailand and I will be staying here until my wife goes for her interview next month (then I will return to the UK for work).

Do I state that my current address is our house in Thailand, or should I state that my address is my parent's address in the UK - as I mentioned above, I share my time between the UK and Thailand, and I am officially a permanent resident in the UK. I just don't want them to think that we are lying on our application, when we state the last time we saw each other was very recently!?

Many thanks,

M

Hi M,

1) Write a supporting letter explaining the course of your relationship. Not too detailed, but explaining as you have done here, where you originally met. The amount of time you have spent together, where this was and provide evidence. Provide your passport and point out the visa's/immigration stamps in the passports. Provide your daughters birth certificate with your name as father and point this out in the letter. Provide some photos over the years which are obviously taken at different times and places. If you have any joint bills from you time together, provide them. You'll obviously have to provide your marriage certificate as part of the evidence and this also proves you have met. Any old online flight bookings together that you can print out and include to show you travelled anywhere together, include them. Just provide overwhelming evidence of your relationship together.

Don't go for overkill, but make it evident that you have a genuine long term relationship and have now spent a substantial amount of time together in the UK and Thailand.

2) Provide a letter from your parents giving their permission for you to stay with them and stating that it is a 4 bed room house, with x reception rooms and you and your wife will have your own bedroom and your daughter her own bedroom. If you have a pic of the house, include it. In your supporting letter, re-state that you will be staying in your parents house for approx x months while looking to purchase your own house. Re-state, the house size, bedroom situation again.

3) Write what you have written here, that you divide your time between UK and Thailand and you are currently in Thailand until x date.

Remember that the person reviewing your wife's application has hundreds of these and needs their attention to be drawn to what is included in the application and the items of supporting evidence. You have a strong case and just need to point out the obvious to them, so they can see this. Remember, they only have the evidence you supply in front of them, they can't guess at things, so provide any info and evidence to prove your case and draw their attention to what it is and why you have provided it.

Hope it goes well for you both.

CB

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

Excellent - thanks very much for this...! And thank you to everyone else who took the time to reply as well (I have been without internet for a few days, hence the slow response). It is much appreciated...

Also, just to let people know (if anyone else is in a similar situation), we decided NOT to get my wife's passport renewed before applying for the visa - she will have 8 months validity when we do put in the application the week after next. There were several reasons for this:

a) The problems in Bangkok have effectively shutdown all provincial passport offices and meant that there are only 2 places left open for Thais to renew their passports at the moment - because of this, it is very difficult to get an allotted time to renew your passport in the 2 remaining offices (Pin-Klao and a temporary place at Bang Na). We got there at 7am last Friday, only to be told that all of the 1800 places had been filled for the day by 6am?! They said we would need to get there at 4:30am on Monday to guarantee a place in the queue...

b ) Because of the above, we were not guaranteed to get my wife's new passport before we wanted to put the application into VFS. According to them, the passport numbers MUST match on the online application form and anything you hand in; so we decided to wait and apply later.

c) VFS... The people we spoke to there were very helpful and categorically stated that the expiration date on the passport does not matter for a visa application. You must, however, have at least 2 spare pages in your passport for the visa and exit/entry stamps!

The "6 month" rule is apparently only looked at by the UKBA when entering the UK - we would simply apply for a new passport after applying for the UK visa and then take both passports with us when going to the UK (the old one with the visa and the new one with the required validity to get into the UK).

Thanks again for the responses. I am getting everything ready for applying now!

Fingers crossed and all that...

Cheers,

M

Thanks all, we are now heading down to Bangkok tomorrow to try and get a passport sorted out for my wife before mid-February... And yes, you are correct about it not being a 'formal' interview/appointment (as I previously thought). It is just a time-slot to put our application in!

So does anyone have any idea about my original questions, or do I need to try and get through to someone at the UKBA? To recap:

1) The UKBA website states that we must show evidence that 'we have met'. What do I need to do to prove this in my situation? Does the fact that we are married, have a daughter, and have spent time in both the UK and Thailand together already (I have had several year's of Non-O visas and my wife has had multiple visas for the UK) provide sufficient evidence for this point? i.e. will a marriage certificate and visa proof be enough?
Or do I need to provide pictures and/or any other evidence to prove to the person who is reviewing my wife's application that we really have met? If so, what would I need without making it 'overkill' for them (we have a LOT of photos, etc...)?

2) We will be staying with my parents for the first couple of months back in the UK, while we look for a house to buy for ourselves. Do I need to provide a floor-plan, or anything like that to prove that the house is big enough for all of us?
FYI, it is a large 4 bedroom house; my wife, daughter and myself will have our own bedrooms (one for my wife and I, and one for my daughter) and a bathroom while staying there. Do I need to prove room sizes/space available...?

3) One of the application questions asks where 'I' am currently living. At this moment in time, I am in Thailand and I will be staying here until my wife goes for her interview next month (then I will return to the UK for work).
Do I state that my current address is our house in Thailand, or should I state that my address is my parent's address in the UK - as I mentioned above, I share my time between the UK and Thailand, and I am officially a permanent resident in the UK. I just don't want them to think that we are lying on our application, when we state the last time we saw each other was very recently!?

Many thanks,

M

The rule states within 6 months of the expiry date, but if you visa is granted 3 months later it could be denied.

The passport renewal takes only 1 week. I would suggest you to postpone your interview date until the new passport is ready. Why take the risk when you can be 100% sure.

OK, thank you...

Passport renewal only takes 1 week during 'normal' circumstances - ALL government offices that can renew Thai passports apart from 2 in Bangkok (Bang Na and Bin Gau) are unable to do so now because of the protests.

The absolute fastest they can get a passport to my wife is, apparently, at least 2 'working' weeks. That is not guaranteed either!?

Looks like we need to change our appointment, which is a pain due to the fact my wife has booked time off work and we already have flights to Bangkok, etc, etc...

Any ideas on my other questions??

Many thanks,

M

It is best to renew her passport before applying for the visa.

Thanks kittaya - this is what I thought would be best too... However, are you stating this from experience or is it just a recommendation from yourself?

As I mention above, we are NOT going to be able to get my wife's passport renewed before our allotted visa application interview next month. We thought we would be able to do this, but due to the protests in Bangkok this is now not going to be possible!?

Is there a rule that states how much time must be left on a passport before applying for settlement in the UK? Normally, they say that you are not allowed to enter the country unless you have at least 6 months left on your current passport - is this the same rule for applying for a visa?

If we apply for a new Thai passport for my wife now, we will have to wait to apply for the UK visa (missing our current appointment). Ideally, this is not something we want to do. We want to get back to the UK as soon as possible really...

Many thanks,

M