FredLee

Maybe they are going through a gradual process of getting eligible ITIN holders to renew. Of course this is an assumption on my part. My wife has had an ITIN since 2002 with me claiming her as an exemption every year, and a couple of years ago we got a letter stating it was set to expire that upcoming January. The letter explained that her number fell into a range of numbers that were required to renew. We sent the documents as requested and it was renewed very quickly, and we experienced no changes to her being on my tax return as a dependent. We have always filed "married filing jointly".

Sharing my experience with the upgrade to Catalina yesterday. I normally wait for about two months at least before upgrading to a new release, but for some reason I didn't this time.  

Around 1 pm I downloaded the update, that took about 12 minutes, and I started the install at 1:15 pm. It took a very long time, and several times I thought it had stalled or stopped. I was patient, and the install finally completed at 4:40 pm. The first screen that came up was "Screen Time". It gave the option to set it up later, so I selected that. That is when the install hung up. It just sat there, with the "back" and "continue" buttons greyed out. I searched the web and the advice I got from one of the Apple forums said to give it some time and perhaps it would resolve the problem on its own. They recommended "a few hours" time. I waited a little over two hours to no avail. At that time I decided to restart, and reset the SMC on my IMac. I powered down, unplugged the power cord for more than 15 seconds, plugged it back in, waited for over 5 seconds and then restarted. Thankfully it booted up just fine, and has been working as advertised for now, although I haven't tried any of the new features yet.

The first time I used an outside pharmacy instead of the hospital pharmacy I requested a prescription because I thought it was required by Tricare. Since then (7 years ago) I have never submitted a prescription, just a hand written receipt from the pharmacy stamped PAID. I have never needed a controlled substance, so I don't know in that case what would be required.

I have also never had a problem with a handwritten receipt. I always make sure they stamp the receipt PAID as an added precaution.

12 hours ago, Ej2562 said:

Danthai,  You mentioned that you show the IMO a copy of letter from Tricare.  That is good news to me because I did not realize that Tricare coverage applies abroad.  I have Tricare for Life, coupled with Federal employee benefit (FEHB), as well as comprehensive health care plan, through Cigna Health Spring. I had no idea that Tricare would be appropriate for health insurance coverage.  Thanks for mentioning it in your post.

Here is a link that explains the overseas eligibility.    https://tricare.mil/tfl

Did my retirement extension today using the monthly foreign transaction method. Arrived at 10 am and received my queue number, and after four minutes was called to the desk. Twelve minutes later all completed, and then waited forty-five minutes for the signature and return of my passport. All in all a much more pleasant experience than any of my prior extensions.

Does CM immigration still allow extension renewals up to 45 days early?

Thanks for all the replies. The staff member at BBK requested a bank statement to cover the dates from 1 July 2018 to 25 July 2019, and she said it will take 5 working days to process it. She will then provide me a bank letter showing the monthly foreign deposits during that time frame. I plan on taking the letter, statement, bank book and copies with me. I'm not sure how early I can apply for an extension. I usually go a couple of weeks before my extension expires but with the new rules I want to go at least a month early to give me time to take care of any problems that might arise.

Are there any time constraints on the bank letter showing monthly deposits for a yearly retirement/marriage extension? I went to my bank yesterday and requested the one year bank statement showing monthly deposits. The bank staff submitted the request, and said it should be ready for me within 5 working days, and at that time they will do the bank letter. That will be approximately 31 July, and I plan visiting Immigration around 7 August. I know for the fixed deposit method immigration requires a same day or sometimes previous day, letter, but haven't seen anything on the monthly deposit method letter.

16 hours ago, FredLee said:

Jimmyyy I also use NFCU, and plan on starting my SWIFT wire transfers next month. (currently using ACH with BBK)  Do you know what fees, if any, that Wells Fargo deducts as the correspondent/intermediary bank? 

Never mind. NFCU finally got back to me. They say there is no additional fee applied to the transaction by Wells Fargo.

4 hours ago, jimmyyy said:

Navy Fed CU i just phone them and they transfer the money to Kasikorn, i don't need a US Cell phone number or anything like that.  When i used to use ACH with bangkok bank i simply did it online.  Now i just use kasikorn its very easy and takes usually 2 hours to complete.  Navy Fed and Kasikorn both use Wells fargo as the intermediary bank so SWIFTS are done very quickly.  I have never waited over 3 hours for one to arrive.  25 USD fee for one transfer a month of 3000 USD.

Jimmyyy I also use NFCU, and plan on starting my SWIFT wire transfers next month. (currently using ACH with BBK)  Do you know what fees, if any, that Wells Fargo deducts as the correspondent/intermediary bank? 

You might try the Imperial Mae Ping hotel or the Duangtawan hotel. Both have websites you can visit to check them out. 

Seems like a pretty good value if you want to use ROKU. I don't have a tv with it built in, but do have a ROKU box. I use it to view NETFLIX and YouTube, and also to stream video and music from my computer using their PlEX app.

Regardless of the validity of some of the recommendations, one or a combination of one or more fixed the problem. 

Thanks for the reply. It is working now, and I am not sure what fixed it. I found a webpage that listed five or six different steps to try to resolve it. I can't recall the website now, but I just started at their first suggestion and worked my way through it. They included re-installing bluetooth, resetting the pram, rebooting in safe mode, and others I don't recall. I am not sure which one fixed it, since the only time I would lose connectivity is when it had been in sleep mode for an extended period. After I did all the recommended steps it has not disconnected again.

I have not done it recently, but my BKK branch in Chiang Mai twice did a letter verifying my fixed account held in my BKK branch in Bangkok.

Well, it worked for two days but has stopped connecting again. Now back to jumping through hoops trying to get bluetooth to work properly. 

I live about 35 km north of Chiang Mai city, and it has become very hazy here the last few days. Much more than this time last year.

I think you are correct, here is a link that might help.   https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/foreign-earned-income-exclusion

10 hours ago, Yellowtail said:

I assumed you tried "forgetting" the keyboard and reinstalling as well as new batteries...

My keyboard is a newer model, and doesn't have the battery tube for replaceable batteries. I would have to disassemble the key board (requiring an iopener device) and order a replacement battery from Apple. The battery is rechargeable and holds the charge with no problem, so I don't really suspect that is the problem. Thanks for the tip on "forgetting". I found a website that recommended turning the keyboard off and then on; connect the the usb end of the lightning to usb recharging cable to the computer and then connect the lightning end to the keyboard. After a short wait, disconnect the recharging cable and the keyboard should connect. That worked for me, so hopefully it will stay connected after the next extended sleep mode. Thanks! 

2 minutes ago, wgdanson said:

That's a Mac for you! Can you not roll back whatever update you did?

I have got 2 PCs running W10, have let all the updates go automatically and no problems whatsoever. Strange.

Yeah, I already researched how to roll it back but again it is a bigger headache than it is worth. Plus the fact updates are going to keep coming so it will end up being either updated or obsolete. I have the old key board from my previous Mac that connects by usb, so I will probably use that instead. Don't use the bluetooth for anything other than my keyboard so no great loss.

3 hours ago, wgdanson said:

Get a Windows PC with USB wired peripherals.    LOL????

Your right WG. I already have a laptop pc running Windows 10 and Linux. I gave up Windows a long time ago because of the constant head aches from botched upgrades and slowness. But now OSX has the same problems at only twice the price. Still haven't figured out this blue tooth crap. Now the restart doesn't restore the keyboard, had to plug in the keyboard to connect even though it was already 69% charged.

Finally updated to Mojave on my IMac a few weeks ago, figuring I had given it enough time for all the bugs to be worked out. Since the upgrade my bluetooth magic keyboard sometimes disconnects when the computer has been in sleep mode for an extended time, and will not reconnect. The first few times I would just turn bluetooth off and then back on to reconnect. That no longer works, now it only reconnects if I restart the computer. Appreciate any advice on how to fix this problem.