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UniqueWord
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OneMoreFarang & brewsterbudgen:
Thanks for your well-meaning replies and suggestions.
I've tried contact-embassy.service.gov.uk My browser is unable to get a response. GOV.UK (contact-embassy.service.gov.uk) throws up a 24/7 phone number in UK to call, which won't be of much help, besides being rather expensive while waiting on hold for a representative!
The link https://www.gov.uk/guidance/what-to-do-after-a-british-person-dies-in-thailand gives me the publication I've seen already, which is badly written and vague with circular references, and seems to be pushing the biz of local funeral directors. My wife will be directing the funeral and needs clear and precise information on what is required to obtain the Consular Letter. This seems to be something the B.E. is reluctant to publish.
I've tried to keep my question to them civil, but dealing with these pompous and arrogant people sometimes becomes too much!
Cheers, UW.
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To The British Embassy Consular Team:
I would like a useful response to the following email I sent on 25 June!
Fri 25-Jun-21 16:54
To: [email protected]
Clearly the address of this forwarded email was out of date. However, I did not get a bounce or a re-direct, or an automated reply giving me the new correct address. Really, I would've thought that HM Gov could manage its e-comms better than this.Maybe a word more of explanation. I found that the advice given in the Gov publication dealing with this to be vague to the point of being almost useless. I am looking for clear and precise detailed information which I can pass on to my Thai wife as she will be taking charge of my funeral. Under no circumstances will she release the original of the Death Certificate since she will need this to claim her Survivor Benefit from my Pension Plan in USA.
Also, I presume this letter should be sent to the new Sathorn postal address.
Sincerely, My Name
From: My Name
Sent: Tuesday, June 15, 2021 16:57
To: [email protected] <[email protected]>
Subject: Consular Letter to release body for funeral
Dear Sir or Madam,After reading the advice contained in the British Embassy publication dealing with death of a British Citizen in Thailand, I have a question.
What is the list of required documents to accompany the letter requesting a Consular Letter to release the body for funeral, and which of these need to be originals as opposed to copies?
I am in the process of preparing a document instructing my wife on what to do after my death, and need this information. It would be helpful if you could also give a suggested text for the letter.
I have a suggested list as follows:
Copy of Death Certificate (in Thai)
Original British Passport of deceased
Copy of Marriage Certificate (double sided) proving next of kin
Copy of my wife's Thai ID Card (both sides)
Copy of my wife's Passport photo and biometrics page
Your comments on this list would be appreciated.Best Regards, My Name
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To Upnotover.
Many thanks for responding,. As usual the BE doesn't provide much detail in getting the Consular Letter to release the body. There is no list of required documents to be sent accompanying the Request Letter. It's pretty much a guessing game as to what's required and whether copies are acceptable, or they want originals. I'll instruct my wife to provide copies and leave it to the BE to tell her they want originals if they're that picky.
There's no way they'll get the original of the Death Certificate which she needs to secure her Survivor Benefit from my Pension Plan in the USA!
Cheers, UW.
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Not sure if I'm in the right place, but here goes. Not a regular Forum contributor.
How do I register with the Embassy, or know if I'm already registered?
and
What does my wife need to do to get the Embassy letter that will release my body from the hospital after my death, so the body can be given a funeral?
PS at the moment I'm still alive, just trying to prepare....
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Try installing an app on my Nokia stone-age phone!
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Hi. Went today to Buriram Immigration to do Extension of Stay (Marriage, Non-O) using income method. Report as follows:
1) Office was almost empty at 11:40, only us and a bloke from Laos who seemed to be having problems.
2) We were dealt with efficiently by a very pleasant lady IO, with only two minor hiccups.
3) First problem was the downloaded TM.7 Form was out of date, and I had to re-write the form. I've had this problem before with the TVF download form. Also accompanying the TM.7 are two new forms dealing with acknowledgements of Ts &Cs of temp stay, and penalties for overstay. The current versions of all 3 forms are attached in PDF format to this post. The TM.7 doesn't appear to be substantially different, but she didn't like the download.
4) The Khor Rhor 2 form we had previously obtained on 2 April was out of date and we had to get a new one. I was not aware that the Khor Rhor 2 form has a shelf life of only one week! The IO completed the entire process without the new one and allowed us to bring it in after we got it later in the day, which was quite nice and unexpected.
We were all done & dusted by 14:00 in what was a fairly smooth experience.
Hope someone can benefit from this information.
Cheers, UW.-
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Thanks for all your suggestions and speculations. I can now report on my investigation and eventual correction of the problem. First a clarification of what I had termed 'brief interruptions'. Most noticeable on TV images which either pause or cut out for less than 1 second, probably in the 300-700ms range. Audio is interrupted at the same time but it's less noticeable when there is no video present.
My LG TV has only one HDMI input and one USB input. Because I have a DVD player, I have a HDMI switch which can select one of 3 inputs depending on which one has an active signal. If more than one is active the highest ranked is selected. There is a manual push-button to go to the next active one.
Per Crossy's advice the original 20A breaker was put back. I checked for the fault condition when the TV was playing from the USB input (Kingston Data stick), the Set Top Box (TrueVisions) and the DVD player (Sony Blu-Ray). The results were:
USB 0 interruptions in 10 events (fan turning OFF)
STB 3 interruptions in 10 events (fan turning OFF)
DVD 3 interruptions in 10 events (fan turning OFF)Interestingly, the problem did not occur with the fan turning ON at any speed setting.
I had already decided to buy a UPS for the TV, which was a suggestion I received, but these results made me think about the HDMI cable from the switch to the TV. When I replaced that the problem disappeared completely. The new HDMI cable is 3 metres long and I only require 1 metre, but that was all I could get. It cost 350 Baht.
I now have the whole thing supplied from the UPS which works great and we get no more annoying interruptions.
I have no explanation for this except to think of RFI getting into the HDMI cable, but it's a real mystery why it's not deterministic (3 out of 10), and why it doesn't happen when the the fan turns on. The old cable was the flat ribbon type whereas the new one is in a proper cable and probably shielded. Also the fan was not that close to the cable, at least 2-3 metres away.
Anyway I hope my experience might be useful for somebody out there.
Cheers, UW.-
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My apologies if this has been addressed before. I seem to recall a thread about it.. But I have searched thru 13 pages of the Elec Forum, and done searches on almost all the key words in my subject today to no avail.
I have a LG LED TV which has a xformer brick to low power DC. It's connected to the main supply thru a surge suppressor, possibly of questionable utility. We recently had the ground floor wiring re-housed, not replaced, due to failure of the false ceiling drywall because of insect damage. At the same time I had the chance to check the colour coding, which follows no standard. There are black, blue and green solid 4mm2 conductors. The original wiring was done by a PEA employee in his off time. The grounding appears to be intact, with phase-neutral at 240V, phase-ground at 240V, and neutral-ground at 0V. This is the extent of the checks I've been able to make.
We discovered that the MCB for the room that has the TV was only 20A, and were advised to replace it with 32A.
This has not fixed the problem. I've read elsewhere that this problem may be due to a bad HDMI cable or a bad surge suppressor. I'd appreciate any insight which you good folks might have.
Cheers, UW.
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15 hours ago, ubonjoe said:
The updated Kor Ror marriage registry is to prove you are still married. If you had gotten divorced there would not be one for the Amphoe to print out.
Thanks for clarification. Makes sense now.
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Hi Folks,
Applied for extension using income for previous year (2018) direct deposit to Bangkok Bank from Financial Institution in US. The income is from an Annuity derived from previous employment in US which I elected to receive when I became eligible at age 55. The arrangement has been in place for several years now.
1) Local branch of Bangkok Bank advised that the statement for the year 2018 would take 7 biz days to obtain which was unexpected, but not a problem.
2) After getting the statement and a letter to confirm I was the account holder, I copied the statement then hilited the Foreign Transfers. Then made an Excel spreadsheet with the amounts for each month and a calculation of the exchange rate for each transfer. This was based on the information in the 1042-S Tax Statement received from my FI.
3) The IO paid little attention to the hilited copy of the statement, but simply included the original statement in the application documents, including my XL spreadsheet. The IO asked where in the 1042-S was the amount of the Annuity, and included that in the application.
4) I had downloaded the fillable TM.7 file from the TVF website, and completed that and printed it with the picture and signature. This was rejected by the IO and I had to do another one. The reason given was that it was out of date.
5) We had originals and copies of our marriage documents, but one of these was also rejected. In the translation the name of this form is Khor.Ror.2. The reason given was that it was not a current copy. The IO gave my wife directions to the nearest Office where she could obtain a current copy and I waited while the IO pleasantly asked me a few questions on our relationship. It's not clear if the questions were official or just small talk.
In conclusion there were a few hiccups which I've noted but no real problems. The issue with the marriage form is rather weird as the date on the form we presented is same date we got married, but the one which was accepted is 23 April 2019. But this is Thailand. The IO said that this is a new directive from the chief of Immigration. Whether this is the overall chief or the Buriram chief we did not ask. The IO was very pleasant and spoke very good English. The total time we were there was about 90 minutes.
I hope this information is helpful for some folks on here.
Cheers, UW. -
Thanks for the confirmation, Elvia.
Cheers, UW.
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Regret bothering y'all about this, but I just downloaded the TM.7 Form for Extension of Stay and noticed that it hasn't changed since last year. With all the changes that have been taking place in Immigration, I just want to get some confirmation that what I've downloaded is the real thing.
Thanks for your attention, UW.
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20 hours ago, moonseeker said:
https://www.lazada.co.th/products/roku-express-5x-more-powerful-hd-streaming-i278864016-s449071216.html?spm=a2o4m.searchlistbrand.list.15.44f240dehw3nPm&search=1
MS, please bear with my lack of understanding. I looked at this link and I'd like to know how it works. I have a WiFi device in the house which can support up to 10 client devices, and currently have 2 Win7 desktops and 1 Android Smartphone which my wife uses. If this device can connect to the wifi, and with my TV using a HDMI cable, and I get a Netflix subscription, am I good to get Netflix on my TV? But how do I tell this device the wifi SSID and Key because as far as I can see there is no UI? I can't imagine how that could be done using the supplied remote control. And similarly how do I use this device to get other free channels such as Aljazeera, BBC, NHK, CNN, kid's CN, etc, in the same way I can get them on my Win7 desktop.
I don't have a Smartphone, and have no interest in getting one. I believe they are a threat to society.
My interest is not only in getting Netflix, but being able to free myself from the grip of TrueVisions, a truly awful service in terms of value for money.
Cheers, UW.
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6 hours ago, johng said:
I vote for "Yanmar" ? ?
Namibia is way ahead in all all areas. No, not talking about tractors. But she is quite tractable.
Just my opinion. Cheers, UW.
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4 hours ago, TGIR said:Me too. Thirty years and counting.
Me three! Twenty years together, ten of those legally married (at Bangrak). What disappointed me was the complete lack of ceremony. But I suppose they get accustomed to it.
Anyway, best thing I ever did. Hope you and your wife have a damn good Xmas Day! Cheers! UW.
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1 hour ago, evadgib said:
Sorry mate, I don't see the connection if you'll pardon the pun.
The link is to the difficulties in the future of some folks being unable to get a OTP on their phones to authenticate an on-line purchase. This being due to legislation to be introduced next year (2019). Maybe I just picked up the wrong link on BBC.
Anyway I'm confused, but that's not abnormal....
Cheers, UW.
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To Mr. Crab (Post #26) Just 'gotta' wait & see. 555
Cheers, UW.
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20 hours ago, ratcatcher said:
Has anyone been refused the income method in the last few days
As I have previously reported, Buriram Imm stated to me and my wife on 22 Nov that without a Letter from the BE, the income which is deposited in my Thai Bank account will not be accepted for the purpose of renewing my Extension of Stay next May.
Perhaps I should have clarified that Buriram Imm are well aware that this income comes from the US and is around 60K THB/month depending on exchange rate. This clearly satisfies the requirement of 40K THB/month for the Marriage Extension.
They are also aware that the proof is a IRS 1042-S Tax Form which is issued every year in early March for the preceding calendar year, and the supporting BE Letter, which will not be available next year. Plus, they are aware that this income stream has existed for more than the last decade.
Just my tuppence worth.
Cheers, UW.
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FWIW, here's a summary of my visit to Buriram Immigration 22 Nov 2018.
I was there for my 90-day report and at the same time asked the IO about the financial
requirements for renewing my Marriage Extension on 9 May 2019. Currently I have a British
Passport and have used the Income Letter method in the past. The IO was fully aware that
these Letters were no longer being issued by UK/US/AUS and Danish Embassies, with
different effective dates; the BE Notice on the subject was taped to the side of one of the
display consoles and clearly visible to all customers.At first the IO said that a Letter from my Thai Bank with a Statement showing foreign income
deposits for the prior 12 months in excess of 40K THB/month would be acceptable, but after
consultation with a more senior Officer, he changed that to say that only a Statement which
showed 400K THB deposited in the Bank for at least the prior 2 months would be
acceptable. The IO to whom I spoke was a 2-striper, but the more senior Officer was not in
uniform so his rank is unknown. The IO explained that the income which I could prove to be
deposited every month in a Thai Bank was no longer useful for Immigration because we
spent it; they want to see evidence of money in a Bank.Because I have dual citizenship UK & Canadian, I then asked about changing my Passport to
be Canadian. Again after consulting the senior Officer he said it was not possible to transfer
the Extension to a passport with a different nationality. In this case I would have to leave
Thailand and re-enter with the new passport and a new Visa and start the process over
again. When I asked him about changing to Canada, he asked in return if the CE were
better placed to verify my income than the BE, and if the CE would be continuing the service.
I said I had no idea on both issues. He was clearly skeptical on the subject.During this Q & A session, Mrs UW was present and took an active role in ensuring there
were no misunderstandings. At the end of the meeting, the IO suggested a path forward
might be to borrow the 400K from family or friends for only the required 2 months. There was
no hint or suggestion of the use of an Agent, or a simple one-time 'processing fee' over the
normal Extension fee of 1,900 THB.This report is for information; I'm not drawing any conclusion, except to speculate that
Immigration still have no clear idea on how to handle the 'income' part of the requirements.
What I was told at Buriram Imm Office is clearly at odds with the notice from the BE, and if I
understand correctly, Thai Immigration Law.Sadly, at this juncture, although I have had a legal income stream for the last decade and can prove that my Thai Bank account is credited every month with a Foreign Transfer of significantly more than 40K THB/month I can see no clear path forward that does not involve either the use of an Agent, the artifact of short-term loans, or 'under the table' payments that are illegal.
Or the option of trusting the Canadians will not bow to the 'winds of change' and starting over again with a Canadian passport.
We live in Interesting Times.
Cheers, UW.
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Many thanks to all who gave me some useful info. Because I am fundamentally lazy, I took the short option and contacted PulseTV for some tech info. They jumped the gun a little and set me up with a 3-day trial account, even though I don't appear to have the necessary h/w in place yet! 555. Anyway I have the option of chatting with their tech folks on-line. Does anyone have any long-term experience of using Pulse? The question arises because of the way their service is priced - there are significant cost savings associated with signing up for fairly long-term (12 month) service.
I remember one service provider who did this and went bust in a few months, leaving many high and dry.
Cheers, UW.
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Hello to all the blokes who get good TV content without the benefit (sic) of TrueVisions.
I've read some posts in the last few years about using Internet to do this, but have never bothered with it because for a long time, the Internet signal in our area was quite bad.
But now I see that I normally receive a good 4G signal (2-3 bars on the idiot panel), and I recently got word from AIS that there is an unlimited package available for 1,090 Baht/month. Currently I pay 600 Baht/moth for 15 GB, then drop dead.
I'm not unfamiliar with digital tech; I was a dig h/w designer in 1979/81, and a system designer from 1981 to 2004. But I'm out of touch with current tech, having retired and not looked back for the last decade or so.
I'm also familiar with PC tech and have used MS Windows in it's many forms up to Win 7.
However I cannot understand Android, probably because I haven't tried that hard. My wife has an Android phone (Samsung J2) which I don't like, as I don't like smartphones in general. I don't have one and don't see the need. Call me a dinosaur and you'd be correct.
To the point of this post, I would appreciate some words of wisdom on if I can be finally rid of True, by upgrading my AIS service to unlimited internet usage and acquiring an 'Android Box' to provide the interface to the TV.
Some relevant facts on my set-up:
The AIS signal from the tower at 2100MHz is interecepted by a TP-LINK device which broadcasts a WiFi signal locally and can serve up to 10 client devices. Potentially there are 3 of these now, two PCs running Win 7 and my wife's J2.
My TV is a recent model LG 49" screen which has its own remote control and is supposed to be 'Internet ready', whatever that means.
If you have words of wisdom for me, please assume I know nothing about the tech which is currently available, but I do know how to connect two bits of wire together.
I've tried to find an internet TV for dummies section in the Audio/Video Forum but nothing showed up apart from posts containing refs to propriety name h/w and/or s/w which mean squat to me.
My goal is to find an alternative to True which gives me:
- decent news programs e.g. Al Jazeera, NHK English, BBC, CNN
- popular quality movies on demand
- cartoon and disney channel for the kids
- a variety of music, both continuous and selectable.Above all, it should provide these services on what I would call a 'quality per Baht' grade of service which exceeds that which I get currently from True (not difficult).
I do realize there may be subscription charges associated with some or all of these services.
Cheers, UW.
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13 hours ago, pegman said:
OP, something I don't get is if your proof of income this year is not good enough for the Brit embassy why do you think it would be good enough for the Canadian embassy?
Sorry I didn't explicitly answer this question before. The sad fact is that I currently do not have any proof of income for 2018; I have to wait until early April 2019 to receive my Tax Statement for 2018 from the US Investment Company which is responsible for disbursing it, and filing the appropriate tax paperwork.
But in the past this document has been good enough for the Brits, and I see no reason currently why it should not be good for the Canadians, leaving aside for the moment the objections which Banana 7 has stated, and to which I have replied.
Cheers, UW.
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4 hours ago, Banana7 said:
I've had friends who have tried to obtain non-resident status, being out of Canada for years, and CRA denied granting non-resident status.
I don't know what CRA think about me; I've never asked....
However I had a CDN passport vice a Brit one from 1981 (when I left) until 1999 when my last CDN passport expired and I got a Brit pp. I've been using a Brit pp since then (1999). In all the time I had a CDN pp I never heard squat from CRA about my residency status or any fines for missing filing taxes. Plus I never made a secret about where I was. Of course I had to renew my CDN pp a few times so I assume I should've heard something about it at those renewals. It's an interesting thought though; they might say the onus is on the individual to ensure compliance with the law.
It will be what it will be - too late now I think for proactive action.
However, if you know of any way in which I can determine what CRA think about me, I'd be happy to hear it.
To reply to another poster who asked "Why not carry both passports?", I just couldn't see the advantage of it - they have a cost of being maintained, not only in money but time and effort in keeping track and renewing.
Thanks for your input. Cheers, UW.
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Hi Banana,
No, I haven't filed a CDN Tax Return since I left in 1981. But because I haven't been a resident of Canada since then, I haven't needed to. To be taxable, you need to be resident for more than a few months in any tax year, and I haven't been back since 1981, except for some holiday trips to see friends for not more than a few weeks in any year.
I don't see what bearing that might have on whether my US Tax Form which proves my Annuity Income would be accepted as genuine. The British Embassy accepted it, so why not the Canadians? Good point though, I think I will ask them before I commit to a strategy.
Cheers, UW.
Please supply a useful answer to my email on 25 June 2021
in Q&A, Ask the Consular Team
Posted
Yes, many times with varied results. No human picks up, always VM. Either their VM works sporadically or my keypad is iffy. When it asks to leave a message I ask to call me back at my (given) number, when it asks to press zero for attendant I do so without success. The call terminates from their end every time.