dsfbrit

Thanks for all the replies.

falang07 - I have seen those adverts all over the place as well. As most of the people (?) who apply for this service don't have sufficient funds to obtain the retirement extension the 'normal' route, I think it would be safe to assume they are paying the agency 12k-25k for a service that is not 100 percent legal. I remember there used to be adverts everywhere that said 'Yes - you can stay long term in Thailand - just get a Student Visa' - they even had one of these adverts outside the Jomtien Immigration Office. No wonder that has been clamped down on.

Namplik - There is no mail facility unfortunately.

roobaa01 - Can it be a farang ? To be honest, I have had enough now of jumping through hoops for this marriage extension. I have had daft rule changes for the last 13 years. As more people now seem to be using sham marriages to get around the recent visa/visa run crackdowns I suspect next year they will want me to do some other daft activity - maybe make my wife and me argue in the office about money - now that really WOULD prove we are married;)

UbonJoe - Now you have explained to me that I can go there on the 5th August without a witness and get rejected (maybe) and still have time to get the letter from the British Embassy proving my pension/ and send money over from the UK to extend based on retirement - then I will do that.

Thanks for all your help - as usual the posters on TV have solved my problem - I often wonder how I would survive the immigration rules over here without TV!!!

If I have to do the witness 'thing' then I won't bother with the extension based on marriage. I will change to the extension based on retirement. Ubonjoe above says I don't need to season the money if it is combined with a pension, so I will have time to do that and get away from this increasingly problematical extension based on marriage.

MJCM, thanks for that thread. I actually commented on that thread back in February, so did you it appears. I think it was that thread that made me think I must check out what is going on with this nearer the time of my renewal in August.

Tony M, thanks for the information.

We have a house via the company route, so I am not on the blue book.

My extension lapses on the 30th and I am going down there on the 5th, so as Ubonjoe pointed out I have enough time to change to a retirement extension if needed as the 800K would be a combination of pension and cash.

Who was the witness you took along, was it a farang friend or did they want a particular 'type' of witness?

UbonJoe and Mjcm, thanks for the quick replies.

Ubonjoe, I did not realise that if I did the pension letter combination, then I could send over the additional funds anytime before the current extension expires - so I can go there on the 5th and if I have problems then I have 25 days to get the 200K baht transferred from the UK and get the letter from the British Embassy. That is good to know. Thanks.

MJCM, are you sure that is the case now? As you know, things change quite often in the immigration rules and regulations arena I find! You could be right, but I have been reading various posts on this forum and the Pattaya forum saying there is a specific 'type' of person that is required as a witness. I cannot reference these threads as I have just trawled around in an ad-hoc manner trying to understand what is going on.

My extension based on marriage to my Thai wife expires on 30th August. As usual I will attend Jomtien Immigration on 5th August with all the relevant paperwork and use the 400k Baht method for the extension. I always check to see what 'new hoops' have been introduced by our chums at immigration since the last time I was there.

This year it seems some bright upcoming official has decided that people like me, married to a Thai and having no children, will need a witness.

We have been married 13 years and live at the same address in Pattaya, but it seems we will still need a witness - is that correct?

Not any old witness, but a Poo Ban no less.

I won't be doing that. I have fitted in with all the other daft changes over the years, but this is just too much of an intrusion into my personal life - if it were a friend I could take along it would be 'doable' - but not a stranger!

If that is the case, as I am 61, I can get a retirement extension.

Now this is where I could really do with some help.

I will arrive at immigration on 5th August. If I don't need a witness all well and good I will do the extension based on Thai wife as usual.

If I do need a witness, then I will revert to a retirement extension.

I have 400K baht in the bank.

I have a pension from the UK that I could get the paperwork for from the British Embassy to prove it provides income of about 200k Baht.

I would then need to send over another 200k Baht from the UK.

Does that sound like a workable method?

Now there is a problem as the money would have to be seasoned.

Can any expert here please advise me if there is a way I can extend my current extension when I go down there on the 5th August to gain enough time to season this additional money and do the retirement extension?

Your help is greatly appreciated.

Jpinx, i claudius, transam thanks for the really quick replies and the links.

I have just done some more reading about the Habitual Residents Test(HRT) and what you say is correct. There is no definitive answer to this, it is based on each individual. However, one of the articles on the Citizen's Advice web site has some references to case law and specific people's experiences. One article was based around someone who had lived out of the UK for just 4 months and was no longer able to pass the HRT to receive Job Seekers Allowance a benefit in the same eligibility 'group' as the Pension Credit.

Here is the link if you are interested:-

http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/11011326.York_man_refused_benefits_due_to_new_immigration_rules/

What concerned me as I mentioned above, is that if he were to apply for Pension Credit and get that refused as he comes to Thailand every 6 months, the next thing they will do is refuse him his Pension increase as well as he 'lives' in a Thailand - a country not eligible for the annual increase!

Thanks again to you all for your feedback.

I have read through most of this thread, but I am still unable to answer a question a friend asked me.

Can you help me with this please?

He is English, 67 years old and gets the basic UK State Pension of 115 pounds a week. That is his only income.

He asked me if he would be eligible for UK Pension Credit.

He would be, but as I am sure you all probably know, for this you need to be a UK resident.

He is currently staying in Thailand as he comes over here for 6 months per year to get away from the UK winter. He goes back to the UK next week.

So my question is this, what are the rules that says he is a UK resident for Pension Credit purposes?

Are they the same as the 'new' rules that were introduced in 2013 for the HMRC Statutory Residence Test (SRT)?

So as he has a house in the UK and a family and daughter in the UK, is that enough for him to claim Pension Credit legally even though he is out of the country for 6 months a year.

A second question that I thought about when I was writing this, what are the rules for the increase in State Pension each year for my friend. As we all know, he is only entitled to the increase if he is a UK resident or lives in one of the countries on that infamous list we talk about so often. Living in Thailand for 6 months means he is still legally entitled to this increase or not?

When he goes back to the UK, I have suggested he goes to see Citizens Advice or Age UK before he contacts the Pension Credit service 'for real', so he will be getting good advice about what his situation is. Could anyone suggest any other place he could get some good advice about all this?

Thanks very much for your help.

Edit: I have just found some information on The Habitual Residence Test (HRT), is this the test I should be reading about for both Pension Credit and State Pension rules?

Well AsianTravel yes you are right, but you are being a bit pedantic and if you were not fully satisfied with my previous response, you will be even less pleased to learn that the last email from them came from:-

[email protected].

Again, I was replied to within about an hour of my question.

So in my experience, it appeasrs they have at least 3 different email addresses that we can contact them on and all seem to reply within about 2 hours, pretty good if you ask me.

[email protected]; [email protected] ; [email protected]

However, that is just my personal experience over the last 10 days, as I cannot possibly comment on the experiences of others.

As for the web site, I found the new web site easy to use for the booking I made for my friend, but then it was a simple booking we were making to a route that was already operating. The only disappointment was that an electronic ticket was not sent to the email adrress I provided.

I think maybe people expect too much from a small budget operator. Their website is not great, but it is functional. I have had much worse experiences from some larger operators where I have spent quite some time entering my details and then the whole lot just hangs and I have too do it again, or there are some daft charges at the end. KanAir WebSite did not fall over nor add in a load of extra charges. So pretty good in my opinion.

AsianTravel, I concur, that's the same email address I quoted in my post.

However, on the first page on their website, they say to use [email protected]. This I did and they replied from address [email protected].

I have since used both email addresses to send messages to them and I have received a reply within 2 hours - so pretty good in my opinion.

I flew from U-Tapao last November with Bangkok Air to Koh Samui. I parked my car there then and there was a booth at the front of the car park just near the terminal where you could get a car parking ticket. It was not manned at the time. When I got back 5 days later it was manned and I just showed him my flight ticket and paid 350 Baht for 5 days, so 70 Baht a day.

Last Thursday I booked a flight on my PC for a friend who does not have an internet connection. The flight was to Ubon Ratchanthani for next week. I used their new website. The process was simple and we paid by credit card. There was no confirmation to his email address, so I suggested he went to the office shown on the map posted by AsianTravel above. He lives nearby so it was the easiest thing to do.

He went there last Friday to find the KanAir office was not yet open. It will be opened soon he was told - no date though. There was however a vehicle there that was being used to take people to and from U-Tapao airport. He will use the bus when he flies next week. The bus service is free - for now anyway.

We could not book his seat online, that has to be done at the airport.

I contacted Kan Air a couple of times by email to ask them some questions about their service and they replied each time within a couple of hours. The email address I used was - [email protected].

jerojero, thanks for the quick reply. I thought that was the case, but could not actually remember it happening to me, it is usually in sequence in my passport.

Thanks again.

I have a friend who just asked me what I thought was a bit of a daft question, but now I would just like to make sure what I told him is correct!

He has a UK passport that only has one page left at the end for his next visa, but has 5 pages blank at the front of his passport. He was going to renew his passport early, but I told him they would just use the earlier empty pages. Now he has gone, I am not so sure I am right - could someone please confirm this for me?

Thanks for your help

I have been waiting for the website to be available again as I was planning to fly on Friday to Udon Thani and come back Sunday. When it became available this morning I was offered 'Kan Promo' and 'Kan Saver' options that were fully booked, so was offered this deal.

This deal is OK, not a bad price, but not the 1900 baht return I had expected:-

From: Pattaya (U-Tapao) to Udon Thani

• Fri 01 May 1,990.00 THB

EFF1n2ret, AYG - I also used to submit my tax return online from LOS. This is the set of events that happened to me:-

- SInce I was 18 in 1972, I was 'chosen' to be required to fill out a Self Assessment each year.

- I moved to Thailand in 2003, but still had a UK address and had all my cash savings in Onshore UK accounts and was still a UK resident for tax purposes

- At that time I was 50 and decided to take one of my UK company pensions

- The company pension plus the interest on my savings was over my personal tax allowance, so I had to pay tax on the income

- When the online system came into being around 2005 (?), I immediately started using it in LOS.

- In 2007 I sold my house in the UK and moved the cash in the banks on the mainland to the Isle Of Man and became a UK non-resident

- My company pension was below my personal tax allowance and my cash savings were now offshore, so I no longer had to pay tax in the UK

- After being requested by HMRC for 2 years to fill in a Self Assessment form and filling it in online with NIL everywhere, HMRC agreed with me that this was a waste of time and told me I did not need to do a Self Assessment any more.

- Two years later, I went online to the HMRC Self Assessment system to get some information about a previous year. Finding a Self Assessment form there, I filled it in.

- As soon as I filled in the Self Assessment form, they thought I was a UK resident again.

What a stupid thing I did. The request was generated by mistake by one of their systems and had I not logged on, then I would not have known about it. Anyway, it took about 10 hours of letter writing and phone calls and lots of photocopying of my passport pages and various documents to 2 different HMRC departments to be deemed a non-resident again.

In fact the person/people at HMRC were very helpful and said by using the online system it had confused their internal systems as the online system was for UK residents only. As this was several years ago now, maybe they changed their internal systems - I have no desire to find out!

I have not had a letter from HMRC for several years now and very pleased I am about it as well !

I am non-resident living in Thailand and made the mistake of using the online system for a return some years ago to claim a tax refund and they thought I was living back in the UK as the online system is for UK residents only. I had to write quite a few letters to prove my non UK residence again and not have to pay tax on my assets offshore.

https://www.gov.uk/tax-uk-income-live-abroad

Sending a Self Assessment tax return

You can’t use HMRC’s online services to tell them about your income if you’re non-resident. Instead, you need to:

• send your tax return by post
• use software
• get help from a professional, eg an accountant

Fill in the ‘residence’ section (form SA109 if you’re sending it by post) to tellHMRC you’re non-resident. Fill in any sections relating to your type of income.

Here are some pictures of the car park. The car park is right next to the terminal and as you can see there are only about 40 spaces with a roof over them and some shade. When I was there last November, there were only about 20 cars there anyway, so I parked for 5 days in the shade with no problems at all.

There is parking for about 100 or so vehicles just next to the terminal. There were about 20 cars there when I flew last November. Some of the parking is under roofing that provides shade from the sun. I was charged 350 Baht for parking there for 5 days. I have a picture of the car park somewhere, I will find it tomorrow and post it here. The car park is very secure as it is inside the military barracks.

Well the flights are up and running now, does anyone know how it is going?

I have flown from U-Tapao on about a dozen occasions with Bangkok Air over the last few years and really enjoy the local airport experience. The Bangkok Air service is very good to Phuket and Koh Samui, but quite expensive at around 7000 Baht a ticket, but is does mean they provide a very good and punctual service.

I very keen to support this expansion of the use of U-Tapao and will most likely use Kan Air next month to fly to Udon Thani, so what is this budget service like?

For example, having only 1 plane to service all their Northern routes - was the flight on schedule ?

As the OP says, the website seems flaky, so what was it like booking with them ?

In the Politically Correct UK, good luck to any NHS official who tries to profile the patients who arrive at the hospital. If they start to ask people who look 'foreign' for their passport, I can almost see the headlines in the Guardian now saying this is racist. This will suit me as well in this instance, as my passport would show I have been out of the UK for the last 10 years. Mind you, if I had to use the NHS for some serious surgery, then I would admit I have been out of the country for a considerable time, but I would say that I have returned to live in the UK permanently, so would be able to use the NHS as soon as I returned to the UK anyway.

The obvious initial minimum piece of information that every person wishing to use the NHS for free should provide, is their 'NHS Medical Card NUmber'. I have my medical card in front of me now and it states quite clearly 'This is your NHS Medical Card, please keep it in a safe place. It is proof that you are entitled to NHS treatment'.

If the person requiring non emergency treatment (everyone is entitled to emergency Accident and Emergency treatment free) does not have a medical card number, then they are excluded automatically from free treatment, there is no need to do any more checks - or am I missing something?

Nong, that hip replacement charge published by the BBC is for the older style Total Hip Replacement operation. I am not sure the NHS even carries out the newer Hip Resurfacing operations, it didn't 3 years ago.

uptheos, I agree with you 100 percent. However, there are people who just cannot sit opposite someone and tell them a 'story' that is not true.

When asked if they have been out of the country over the last period, they will answer 'yes' and then give all the details. To answer falsely they see as lying, which of course is what it is.

This inability to lie is a good characteristic in general, I would rather tell the truth as well. However, when I think something is SO unjust like this, I can lie through my teeth very well and not feel the slightest guilt at all !

Mind you, if the lie involved saying I was a Man U supporter - then I would just pay for the NHS operation myself.

I have just read in the UK press and on another thread in TV, that the next 'cunning plan' from the UK government, is to have NHS patients show their passports before they can use some NHS services. I don't think that would make any difference to my plans even with all the Thai visa extensions in there, as I would not try to hide the fact I have been living abroad, I would simply be stating that I have come back to the UK to live permanently.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/817016-hospital-patients-to-be-asked-about-uk-residence-status/

Nong, I have already had my hips 'resurfaced' in India and am back to playing squash and football. With the way Forest have been playing recently, even at 60 I may get a chance of joining their squad!

Nong, I think we are very similar politics wise. I know this is off topic, but I had my first vote when I was 18ish and voted against the EEC as even then I did not trust the politicians of the day to limit it to just a trade agreement. I was swayed by the arguments of 2 politicians, who I did not necessarily agree with politically, but I thought they had characteristics I admired namely integrity and honesty. The two politicians were at different ends of the poliitical spectrum - Anthony Wedgwood Benn and Enoch Powell. Their arguments were very persuasive about the EEC and they were proven to be right.

Eff1n2Ret, I haven't read that link yet, I will do later. I have already decided what I will do if I am diagnosed with something really 'nasty'. I will return to the UK, Nottingham in fact. I am a Forest supporter, so thought I may as well use the opportunity to watch them play whilst I am stuck in the UK. I have contacted an estate agent there and rental accommodation that would suit me fine is 500 pounds a month. As I would not have references, then I would have to pay the full 6 months in advance - fair enough. I would then have all I would need to prove I am back to stay - electric bill, council tax bill etc... I would then stay in the UK as long as necessary.

I guess including flights, but excluding food etc..., 6 months in the UK would cost me under 5000 pounds.

I would only do this if I could not get the treatment here or in India. I see the NHS option only for something that is very serious and not for minor operations such as knee surgery or whatever. Even minor heart surgery (ie stents) I would have over here or India.

I mention India, as I went there recently for a procedure that has enabled me to continue playing sport. It was carried out by one the best surgeons in South East Asia performing this operation and was half the cost of a similar operation here in Thailand - and that includes the cost of flights and hotel to Chennai.

You may find it interesting that a hip replacement (newer operation - resurfacing) surgery in India is 5000 pounds( including flights, hotel visa etc...), in Thailand 12000 pounds (550,000 baht- Bumrungrand) and Europe 14000 pounds. So before I returned to the UK to use the NHS, I would look to the Indian option first where in my experience, the facilities are world class, you get a private room, lovely nurses, good food and my surgeon was first rate - he had worked in the NHS previously.

I do not have medical insurance, I would rather fund my medical care myself - that is why I am 'happy' to pay for minor surgical procedures myself locally and would be inclined to use the NHS for something really serious - life threatening in fact.

Nong, I have paid a lot of National Insurance contributions during the years I lived and worked in the UK and I would not accept the UK government telling me I am 'on my own' now. Whilst the UK government is giving 12 billion pounds a year in foreign aid and allowing illegal immigrants and 'asylum' seekers full access to the NHS despite them never paying a penny into the system, I will do whatever it takes to 'get around' the system that prevents me getting 'free' treatment from the NHS. BY the way. before I get labelled a 'racist' as so often happens when people like me makes comments like this, I don't blame the people from abroad playing the game that allows them to leave their crappy countries and rotten lives behind them and move to the UK - in their position I would do the same. I blame the daft politicians in the UK that have allowed this to happen.