orchidfan

On 10/17/2024 at 9:04 PM, johng said:

Doom I think is my all time favourite retro game... I played it when it was the newest cutting edge state of the art masterpiece ( it still is a masterpiece)

with a soundblaster card and set of speakers or headphones  made for some jump out of your set hair-raising moments..I loved it so much I bought the I and II box set

on 3.5 inch "floppy discs"

It was great, but gave one of my kids (then) nightmares....so he was banned from playing it....but it didn't affect the girls who loved it!

2 minutes ago, Will B Good said:

 

Yes....although Trump has said he is going to change that.

 

The problem is.....do you leave the kids behind and , if so, who with?

I had the impression that changing the Constitution is not easy......even for an "Emperor" like Trump.

Sufficient numbers in the Senate and House? Could  be tricky

I guess the poor old struggling tax payer would have to foot the bill of child custody /welfare.

They'd love that!!

 By the way I'm not a Yank!

2 hours ago, mikeymike100 said:

Homan is correct........."“You knew you were in the country illegally and chose to have a child. So you put your family in that position,”

I could be wrong but I understand that a child born IN the United states or on US soil, has the automatic birth right to USA, citizenship .

I think it's in an amendment to the Constitution.

Correct ?

1 minute ago, digger70 said:

new Wise account details, bank says fraud.

 

Yes ,wise give me their new account details a while ago Maybe a year ago I am not sure . I had no problems with that or my bank,

I have done a couple Transfers From AUS to Thailand using Wise .

NAB to Wise in AUS  to my Bangkok Bank 

Yes, Westpac bank seem to have eventually caught up and transfers to/from Wise are going normally...in minutes like before.

I guess the bank is only doing the right thing if they suspect something fishy.

32 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

Was not aware of that.

That would be really helpful. 

Yes it could be if it works   currently says "pending".....but will wait and see.

PT imm usually come up with something new each year, like filling out a TM28 for same address, providing my((Oz) parents names and mother's maiden name, my employment before getting married,  wife's divorce confirmation (iver 25 years ago) and change of name etc...

But this new one "might" be handy.

Correction

"Under consideration " date.

@DrJack54 FYI

For the first time this year Pathum Thani IO had me scan a QR code for LINE which allows me to connect, enter the 4 digit hand written number above the Under Consideration stamp and it immediately tells me if the application is still pending or approved and hence, when to come in and get the "final" extension stamp.

Previously had to phone in, quote this number and wait while they rummaged through their paperwork to let me know if it's arrived, and approved, and when to come in.

They advised me to start checking it around Jan 10th, being the current under consideration date.

Let's see if it works.

(It's called somethingi like "Visa Status Check" in Line Chats)

1 hour ago, Will B Good said:

 

Funds went in Dec 2.

 

So I planned to apply for the one year extension Feb 4.

 

If I apply for a 60 day extension instead...on say Feb 10....this would at least get me past the overstay problem....correct?

 

Or I gamble on missing my flight and hope the new extension comes through bang on time April 4......which in Chaiyaphum....it always has SO FAR!! But potentially quite an expensive gamble.

 

 

I fly Emirates all the time to/from Hong Kong and always buy a Flex ticket which, in the case of the Hong Kong flight,  is 1600 baht fee to change the date .

I've used this a number of times.

Takes the worry out of "missing three flight".

7 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

Was just chatting with dude called Mr Google.....he stated...

 

"Consular officials can witness Australian statutory declarations overseas. We deliver this service through our embassies and consulates overseas. Note that Australian statutory declarations are for use only in Australia."

Ah, thanks. So she was correct.

Funny how they signed and stamped many of these before "discovering" this small but important criteria !!

On 12/15/2024 at 3:28 PM, DrJack54 said:

Initially Thai immigration wanted the embassies to do "income verification" UK, USA, AU instantly said No Way Hose. 

Thai then dropped the verification.

Response: Nup.

FWIW: I had a chat with an Oz lady working at the embassy.

I asked about this and (according to her) Oz embassy was basically providing a statuary deceleration.

Think USA use word affidavit.

Anyway she stated those can only to used for purposes inside Australia.

So the story went. 

The thing that always bugged me about this situation was that the Oz Embassy were NOT sanctioning or stating that the contents of the Stat Declaration were true and correct, but simply affirming that you/I had written it!

It was most certainly not an "Income Affirmation" Letter,  (as some people seem to think) but just certifying that you were the Oz citizen who had written and submitted it.

 But thanks for your insight into it from someone on the "inside".

I was also not aware (if in fact correct ) that Stat Decs are only for use in matters within Australia !!!

I appreciate the various comments...thanks.

Yes, I suppose I could change over to a Retirement Visa and extensions using an agent....but, to begin with I don't know any!

And yes DrJack54, there are financial constraints for the other alternatives.

It is the only time that i/we have been messed around like this, but at the end of the day,it is just an annoying (and unnecessary ) inconvenience this time.

Perhaps they ARE trying to get more people to take the Retirement / Agent route as the Marriage route yields them nothing, except the receipteds 1900 baht.

At least they dropped the stupid home visit this year....although I still had to include the hand drawn map of how to find our house (same photocopied map every year).

Well, Imm (Pathum T) are up to their old ( and some new) tricks/hurdles.

15th Annual Extension of Marriage "Visa".

Had all papers/photos required ( or so I thought), and copies etc.

3.5 hrs from arriving to finally get the "under consideration" stamp.

Stupid extra forms to fill in (wifey gave some Imm (volunteer?) a few hundred baht to do them for us)...

Questions like :

"how long have you been married??"

to wife - "how old are you?" "how old is your husband"?

etc, etc.

"where are you living?" Hand drawn map already provided and TM30, 90 days reports etc already in the package.

Had to produce old receipt* from 2023 which states that I had confirmed with them my place of abode ( issued last year after filling in a TM28!)!

- totally inappropriate form seeing as we/I had NOT changed address in 16 years.

* luckily I had saved this innocuous(?) slip of blue paper in with all the other Imm junk, having no idea what it was for..

Nearly all the copies of various documents and bank statements/letter were rejected back to me and wifey had to go off to the nearby copy shop and have the whole bunch photocopied again.

(do they have shares/interest in the photocopy shop?

BUT then the final straw today..................

Got a call from them today, they needed copy of her original divorce paper from Thai man from about 20 years ago!......to be sent by email

This she got prior to our being able to marry in 2005.

Amazingly she had kept it and after rummaging through heaps of old papers, found it!!

She queried the IO calling why we had to produce this now as we had NEVER had to show this in the past 15 odd years???

"New procedure" she said.

How many of you expats married to Thai ladies who were previously divorced many years befo,e and still have the papers from the ampure?

The ONLY good thing to come out of this renewal is that this year, for the first time ever ,they do NOT require a home visit !!

Rant over..

Another Airasia annoying experience :

I tried yesterday to book a flight from Hong Kong to DMK for my wife on AA.

The MOVE app was a nightmare ~ defaulting to Thai language constantly etc.

Agree with others that their chat bot is useless.....no other "contact us" options provided!

Finally got to the Payment page.

Entered my BBL Be1st Debit card details, got an OTP from BBL, submitted it and got the "proceed" message.

BUT AA app just went into "loading " mode forever. Finally cancelled and called BBL Customer Help line.

Nice lady with good English checked what I had done and confirmed no funds had been deducted .

She then dug deeper to find the problem and ,after a few minutes " advised me that the "merchant"....AA do not accept the BBL Debit/ Mastercard!!!......a fact never mentioned on their Pathetic Move website !

BBL Customer helpline were most obliging and helpful.

I then proceeded with a new booking using a BBL Mastercard Credit card....

This worked fine and payment was made and ticket issued!

What a bloody waste of time !

Only used AA as they land at DMK,. .... nearby to our house.

Using BKK means  B600+ taxi fare and 1hr ride home.

Btw....checked bank accounts online later and nothing was taken from my account for the first abortive booking attempt.

Also, add ons, like insurance were NOT automatically added but required customers to tick these IF you wanted them.

Last time with AA.

49 minutes ago, GammaGlobulin said:

 

What school was that?

What kind of Latin Master was that?

 

I mean, if it were Latin, I would have said:

 

I recall our old and wise Latin Master informing us bright.....etc....

 

But, I guess...

 

I am no Master of Much.

 

 

Quote,"All quiet on the Western Front"

And if while we young men are fighting in the belief that we are preparing the way for the new democracy,

16 hours ago, GammaGlobulin said:

Dear Friends,

 

Ever wonder why kids today can’t think straight?

 

I will tell you.

 

Kids today spend most of their useless days staring at miniscule screens, all the FING livelong day.

 

What do you imagine this might get one?

 

ZERO….

That’s what!

 

Just a moment ago, I tried to research some unimportant topic.

But, I tried to do it on a miniscule phone, an A55 5G phone.

Where did that get me?

NOWHERE, that’s where.

 

I am only saying that…when I was a lad….

And when I wanted to do a bit of research…

I would head to the nearest library…

I would search for about 10 or 20 pertinent research books….

Then, I would spread out all these books on a very large library table…

And go to work.

 

Even today, I use a minimum of FOUR FING Computer screens, not one less than about 27 inches, diagonally measured.

 

And then…I just go to town on researching whatever it is that I am trying to uncover.

 

So…I am just saying that I FINALLY have found out why kids today are so FING ….

STUPID.

 

The reason is that they spend most of their time staring at miniscule screens which….ONLY…

 

Provides them with just ONE FING PERSPECTIVE….for FING SAKE!!!!!

 

Really bugs me just how FING asinine this type of “research” is….

 

No FING….WAY….anybody…no matter how intelligent….could POSSIBLY research ANYTHING….on a FING tiny screen…. Simply IMPOSSIBLE….!!!!!!!!

 

Am I RIGHT?

Or, am I RIGHT????

 

Do you agree with me???

 

For FING Sake?

 

Someday…

A Real Rain is Going to Come….

And clean away all this MAGICAL THINKING……

 

 

Best regards,

But…perturbed, just a bit by all this nonsense….

 

Gamma

 

Note4:  EVEN using an Apple laptop is NO WAY to do any meaningful research ... .there is just not enough screen space on one lousy screen to open all the books you need to make comparisons in real time……

 

Doing research this way is a complete FING JOKE….in fact.

 

Go to the library, and spread out a dozen books in front of you….

 

Or, at the very least:  Buy a minimum of FOUR FING 29-inch screens….and a super-computer, such as I have…and then…..

 

GO TO TOWN!!!!!

(And, don't let the pimps from Apple...get in your way.)

 

 

When I attended a private boy's school (100 yes ago ) I recall our old and wise Latin Master informing we bright and restless young men that amongst the first words of Latin ever translated were:

"The youth of today are not what they were in my day"

2000 years ago?!?

1 hour ago, DrJack54 said:

Thanks.

Yes WISE have all my Thai bank details. 

Have done transfers for years with them.

It's just this new change that threw me.

Next month will do a 5k into my wallet followed be opening Wise app and do transfer to my Thai bank from the wallet. 

As I said previously, I messaged Wise regarding the apprehension being experienced here.

They replied by email confirming 100% that the new account details are correct and any advice by our bank (Westpac) is INCORRECT.

Personally I do not have a "wallet" with anyone, I just do a normal bank to bank transfer from  Westpac ("Retired 55+") account to Wise in the Payee list (which I have edited to now reflect their new AUD account.

Wise's response has been very good both by email and offer to call them direct if I still had any questions or queries.

My next transfer will be my pension on 24th, some of which I send to Hong Kong and some to my Thai BBL account.

So we'll see how that goes.

3 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

Not a rant at all. I have found it very nerve racking.

I'm not a shrinking violet but was stressed by this. 

Relaxed now as funds arrived. 

Still bit worried about next transfer.

I'm moving to monthly income method for extensions (retirement) so I want things simple.

Previously I used OFX however comparison re costs moved me to Wise.

 Note for others: OFX were fantastic re assistance via phone. They call from Sydney not call center. Years ago. 

I agree that,  at our age, we don't need things like this sprung on us when a bit of well timed, advance notice, giving each of us easy access to our "new" account details, with a changeover timeline /date would have made it far easier.

I'm sure things will settle back to normal in due course.

BTW, I've sent them (Wise Support ) a strongly worded message pointing out the above, and how many expats here in TH, using their services, have been left bewildered by their tardiness, especially in the light of their respected Aus banks ,like Wespac, informing us that this 'most likely ' fraud !!

My main gripe with Wise on this matter, is that there doesn't appear to have been any notification on their app or email previously about this AUD account number  change......other than the one (noreply email) just received after my last transfer a couple of days ago.

And yes, I do read every message and email (other than junk) coming my way.

It took a message on their help page to finally  be advised of the new "Wise Australia Pty Ltd " BSB and my new account number.

And after the Oz bank strongly warned that this bsb is not being used by anyone, and it "may" be a fraud, I had to contact their Support section to have them reaffirm that it is correct and everything is ok.

Someone there is seriously lacking in forward thinking/planning and customer service not to have advised us ALL well in advance of these critical  changes.

Ok, rant over.

On 11/14/2024 at 10:22 AM, DrJack54 said:

Thanks for the post.

So today will do a transfer using WISE. If I understand things correctly. ...I will do the WISE fields noting new BSB that when I go to my Westpac app I need to change payee details for WISE in my list of billers/payees.

 

Can someone advise how do I know account number.

See attached screenshot. 

 

Dr Jack, you probably have it sorted by now but in the Westpac app, once you've logged in, at the upper left of the "how can we help you today?" page is a drop down menu, represented by 4 horiz line, at the top of which is "Payments and Payees" . Under this is "payes and BPAY billers".

Clicking this produces ALL your Payees.

Down at the bottom is Wise and any current (banking) details you have in for them.

At the right is EDIT,

click this and you  can erase and replace the current BSB and new Account number.

Your "past payments" will show exactly where Westpac have been sending your past transfers.

IF you don't have your "NEW" Wise AUD account details (BSB and Acc No,) a message/email to Wise will prompt a reply from them with these.

But it sounds like you have all this already and are just waiting on Westpac to verify the new BSB - as others have implied.

Cheers 

As I exit and enter quite regularly, i use the BPs as "evidence "(if required ) to show my local Imm Office why I haven't done 90 day reports in long while.

(I submit a photocopy of all the cards in chronological order).

I suppose I could use the PP stamps but that would take an IO ages to scroll through and find them all!

At Hong Kong I enter and exit using my HKID card, so no Imm PP entries, but I still have the BP issued by the airline (usually Emirates) to add to my collection.

Let's see what happens !

2 hours ago, Liquorice said:

2 banks now, to my knowledge, they dropped the TMB bank.

If you use BKK and the transfer is made from Wise's BKK account, it will be coded international.
The same cannot be said if you have a Kasikorn account and the transfer is made from Wise's Kasikorn account, as @DrJack54 has pointed out.
In this case, you need to request a credit advice receipt.

Strangely, I have used Wise for years to transfer funds deposited  by my (Oz) Commonwealth Super Fund into my Oz bank (their rules require them to pay out ONLY into an Oz bank account in my name only).

I checked the passbook (BBL) and the deposits are coded as "Transfer from another bank".

I'm on Marriage Extensions using "money...400k..in the bank" method, so do not need these to show as "overseas/international transfers".

I've always selected "monthly living expenses " BUT this option has also disappeared, leaving only "personal expenses".

So, for last Wise transfer, done yesterday, I selected this and it was there within a minute or so.

Also it shows as just "Transfer from Another bank"

I don't know if this has any beneficial implications on the proposed future tax.....not showing as an international remittance, but a local bank to bank transfer ??

5 hours ago, brianthainess said:

Many many very poor people in those countries would disagree with you.

In Brunei there aren't many, if any, "very poor people ".

The Sultan ensures that with generous cash handouts, housing and free public services.

The people love him.

Taxis don't even have meters. You pay what the driver says. They don't cheat. No need to, they're well off. Not like here!

Have you ever been there ?

And.on another off topic matter,...where did she earn those golden wings on her uniform.

It took me a few years and many expensive flying lessons to earn mine !