Mike Teavee

Same for me, even had to drive 70 miles to go into the office at 3am on 1/1/2000 so I could spend the day monitoring our systems for any "Millenium Bugs"... Not all bad though they paid me a cash bonus of £1,000 for the inconvenience. I retired 2 years ago (53) & am finding it hard to spend my savings even though that is exactly what I planned to do until I'm 60 when my pensions kick in. Find myself constantly worrying that I'm spending my money too fast even though my spreadsheet shows I'm burning through it at 1/2 the rate that I planned due to much better exchange rates & not being able to spend anything on international travel.

13 Commandments (9 episodes in & I don't know why it's 13 Commandments & not 10 Commandments but that's what it's called on Netflix).

Best way, that way anything you get from those bar-stewards is a bonus ????

I didn't say anything about Pensions being geographically based, I only said that paying tax doesn't count towards them as it's National Insurance contributions that count. Neither Tax nor NI count towards NHS eligibility (though both go to pay for it) rightly or wrongly it's based on where you are "Ordinarily Resident"... Do I think it's fair that I paid maximum NI contributions (& when they lifted the ceiling I paid more) for 20+ years but am not entitled to anything more that somebody who spent 20 years on the dole & paid nothing - NO. Do I think it's fair that I was in the highest Tax bracket for 20+ years & then taxed again as I had Private Health Insurance as a "Benefit in Kind" (Which I never used) but as an Expat I'm not eligible for NHS - NO. But living in a civilised society is all about those that earn more, contribute more & I believe that should be the case (Of course those that really earn more contribute less but that's another topic). BTW Some guys on here have mentioned that the Aussie Govt is looking at reducing/removing pensions from guys who are not "Ordinarily Resident" there so be careful what you wish for.

Many Thanks for the phone numbers, I plan on giving them a call next time I'm in the UK as I also have a partial year (doesn't count as anything) which I'm sure is from a 50p shortfall I had when I made the lump top-up which they said they'd write off.

You know I’ve paid 36 years & still told that I need to get another 4 in to get maximum pension but i thought that was because they’d messed up the 7 years AVC lump sum I did in 2018 but maybe it’s because I’ve been “contracted out” for most of my career (am sure it used to be that you couldn’t get full State Pension if you were.contracted out). Are you doing AVCs at Class 2 or Class 3 rates?

Edit: Sorry I thought we were discussing Pensions but I see now the context of your post was about the NHS but I'll leave this post here as it might be of interest to guys who have not yet reached State Pension age.... For NHS it doesn't matter whether you've paid any Tax or NI, it's a Residence Based Health Care scheme so to qualify you have to be ordinarily resident in the UK I.e. technically, you're not covered if you go back for a visit. The Tax you pay is irrelevant to your UK State Pension, it's the National Insurance (NI) Contributions you've made that count. You need to do a minimum of 10 years to get anything & 35 years gets you the maximum so no point in paying any more than that. If you're British & living overseas then you can continue to contribute to your pension via AVCs, this is (or at least used to be & still is for me) at the Class 2 (Self Employed) rate which is £3.40 per week (Vs Class 3 rate of £15.40) which I calculated pays for itself approx 8 months after retirement Vs 3.5 years with the Class 3 rates. https://www.gov.uk/voluntary-national-insurance-contributions/rates

PM Sent...

I have the patience of a gnat, I'll walk away (if I don't have to be there) whenever I see a queue or will pay to avoid them (e.g. I used to pay 20k pa for a Thailand Longstay Management membership so I could use fast track at the airport, before that I used to fly Business Class even though I was only coming from Singapore) But I still say that using a good agent makes the process as easy (if not easier) than getting a Thai Elite, especially if you live outside of Bangkok, Phuket & Chiang Mai.

On many threads I've mentioned that I use an agent for convenience, in Bankok my annual extension costs me 7,000 THB on top of the 1,900 THB immigration fee (add in 100 THB for the letter from the Bank & it comes in at 9,000 THB), by all accounts I get a more "Elite" service doing it this way than the guys who use Thailand Elite as I do none of the paper work & pre-covid would be driven to CW. 90 Day reports have usually been done online but if it wasn't working, my agent would do it for 375 THB, anybody who's had to traipse out to MTT will tell you that's a bargain. Have recently moved to Pattaya & this week learned that my next extension will cost 8,100 THB (includes the 1,900 immigration fee & 100 for the bank letter) & I did a 90 day report on Monday which costs me 200 THB, I don't think an Elite Visa holder would have had it any easier than I had. I am constantly trying to convince myself that the Elite Visa makes sense for me, if I was still doing 2 international trips pm it might have been for the lounge/fast track access but if I was planning on hardly ever leaving Thailand then there's no way I could justify it to myself.

Sorry I wasn't very clear, I'm 55, live in Thailand & have Health Insurance here but I was looking for something for my 77yr old father & to see whether using it as a replacement for Health Insurance if you were living here 6 months of the year was a viable option. It clearly is in your early 60s but once you get to 70 it gets very expensive & after 74 isn't really going to be an option.

Thanks, I checked on gocompare.com (comparethemarket.com is down at the moment) & you cannot get a quote for somebody over 74 with no pre-conditions. At 74 (no preconditions) the mimimum quote was around £2,200, quite a chunk of change to add to the cost of your holiday.

I was taken off my GPs register years before I became an expat as they hadn't seen me in > 15 years & am told by family that still live in the area that I would really struggle to get back on the list if I were to go home. Am curious, did you say that (or were you even asked if) you were re-patriating to the UK peremantely or just back to the UK for a holiday or did they simply not care that they hadn't seen you for years?

Currently binging my way through "The Twelve" on Netflix, un surprisingly it's a series about a Jury but surprisingly it's equally (maybe even more) about the Jurers themselves rather than the case they're on.

Always been a huge Sherlock Holmes fan & used to love watching the Basil Rathbone films as a kid (Jeremy Brett is also very, very good), was suprised to see that a lot of the movies are on YouTube nowadays.

My father (in his 70's & has a couple of pre-existing conditions like diabetes & high blood pressure) seems to be unable to get anymore than 30 days travel insurance so I was interested to check out travelsupermarket.com to see if there was anything on there for a longer trip for him. I don't know if it's just because of the Covid times we're in, but I checked as a 60 year old with no pre-existing medical conditions traveling to Thailand for 6 months (1st March 2022 - 31 August 2023) & there were zero policies available. Long term Travel Insurance is not really a valid option as you get to retirement age.

Quick update, I was going for lunch at Robin Hood Tavern on Monday & popped into Maneerat on Soi 13/2 on the way, they charge 200 THB to do a 90 Day Report so I gave them my passport, TM30, TM6 & showed them the receipt from my last 90 day on my Phone and left them to do it for me. Popped back yesterday to pick up my passport / 90 Day report receipt & they'd even put my passport in a nice plastic protective cover for me ???? Great Service & (I think) good prices... - 90 Day Report - 200THB - Annual Extension - 12,500 THB (without Funds) 8,000 THB (If you have the funds) - Re-Entry Permit - 1,800 (Single) 4,500 (Multiple). I know it's cheaper to do this yourself & they even explained what it would cost to do each of them in person, but if you're like me & want to minimise the amount of time you spend at Immigration it's good value for money.

Watched No Time To Die at Central Festival yesterday (2,000 THB 2x 1st Class) & thought it was just “Flat”, no real story line or Characters & didn’t have the same edge of the seat excitement as a normal Bond movie (the only 1/2 decent chick in it knocked him back so hardly Bond’esk) A mate who watched it said it felt like a prelude to introducing a new 007 movie without Bond & he might be right but if it is then I won’t be paying to watch (Unless it’s Jane Bondage ???? ) I’d put it in the bottom 1/2 of all Bond Movies & possibly Daniel Craig’s worse (his acting was very, very flat), IMHO worse than Quantum of Solace.

Watched the 1st episode & thought it’s gotten off to a good start so will watch at least the next 2.

I normally use the Website but was getting a pretty useless error message "For further information regarding The 90-day Notification Report Service, please contact the Immigration Branch Office in your residence area" so tried the App where I at least was able to work out why I couldn't do it as it shows me on Overstap (i.e. my permission to stay has not been updated to reflect my latest extension). Edit: The (IPhone) App feels pretty slick to me, whereas the Website has some wellknown idiosyncrases (e.g. having to use the drop drown list for dates instead of being able to type directly into the field).

Are you talking about the $100K COVID only insurance policy (which can be got for 6-8k) or the 400K/40K general instance policy (Which can be got reasonably cheaply with lots of deductibles)?

I used to think that way but reading all the "Go Fund Me Threads" about guys taken ill suddenly who couldn't get back home & reading about Kev In Thailand (Don't see why there's a problem mentioning his name) who left it too late to get insurance & had to go home, I changed my mind. There are loads of things aside from the Big C that might require hospital treatment (obvious ones being heart attack, stroke etc...) & it's all well and good saying that you'll keep a pot of money aside to cover this but how much is enough (1Million, 5Million, 10Million?) and what do you do when this is depleated by the 1st incident & you can no longer get insurance to cover a repeat of it happening (Pre-existing conditions). Even if nothing happens to you & you live a charmed life, what will you do if they force Non-Imm O's to have Health Insurance like they did with Non-Imm OAs? - I know some guys go down the agent route to get around this but would you base your retirement on that still being an option in 10/15 years time when you might be too old to get Health Insurance (or certainly have to pay through the nose for it) & too old to resettle anywhere else? I decided to get Health Insurance this year at 54 (actually started the day before my 55th birthday) & it costs approx 28,000 THB for the Pacific Cross "Visa Friendly" policy which meets the Non-Imm OA Visa Requirements minus the 40K outpatients (which I can add back in any time) but with 3.5Million cover not the paultry 400K, I did this as I wanted to get into it early(ish) so my premiums as I get older won't be as high as if I suddenly decide to get it at 64.

How much did the overhaul cost (My Submariner is well overdue a service)

Trying to do my 90 Day Report online & am getting the message "For further information regarding The 90-day Notification Report Service, please contact the Immigration Branch Office in your residence area" so I switched to using the iPhone App & got a message that I'm on a 12 day overstay (i.e. permission to stay ran out on 26th September 2021) when I registered & again when trying to submit the report. I extended my permission to Stay in August & my new "Stamp" runs until 26th September 2022 so is there a process for informing immigration that they haven't updated their records or do I just need to accept that I can't do 90 day reports online anymore. Thanks MTV

Has anybody managed to use the 90 day reporting website recently? I've tried on a couple of laptops/browsers but keep getting the message " For further information regarding The 90-day Notification Report Service, please contact the Immigration Branch Office in your residence area." after I enter my details Thanks MTV