myWish

Just received a letter from the embassy today re a repatriation flights from Bangkok to Sydney.  Just thought I brought some good news for some people who want to return home for Christmas. 

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OFFICIAL

You are receiving this email because you have registered your details with the Australian Embassy in Bangkok.

You may have seen on our Facebook page Australia in Thailand that we announced that there will be a Thai Airways flight from Bangkok to Sydney every Sunday until March 2021

We are seeking expressions of interest for the next TWO flights -

·         Sunday, 20 December 2020; and

·         Sunday, 3 January 2021. 

There will not be a flight on 27 December.

If you would like to express your interest in these flights, please complete the online form using the following link: https://forms.gle/U6zHB4ZrYbjS4yWv8    by 6pm on Sunday, 13 December 2020. 

We are only taking registrations using this form and cannot accept expressions of interest by phone, email or Facebook message.

The ticket price will be THB24,000 (approx. AUD1,100) per passenger for an economy ticket or THB 60,000 (approx. AUD $2,700) for a business ticket. Please read the attached Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) document. 

Thai Airways will contact passengers with further information about payment and ticketing after registrations have closed and the lists are finalised.  If you do not receive an email, you have not been successful in getting a seat on these flights. Please do not contact the Embassy.

Please note: As per the Ambassador’s Facebook message on 19 November. If you register for a flight and are offered a seat but do not take up the offer, you will not be considered for any future flights.

If you can travel at short notice on the flight/s you are registering for (3-4 days notice only) please select that option on the form link.

Passengers must undertake a 14-day mandatory quarantine on arrival in Australia.  This applies to everyone, even if you have no symptoms. The NSW Government implemented a quarantine fee from Saturday 18 July.  Please review the following link, and discuss your individual circumstances with the NSW Government directly as the Embassy cannot provide any further information https://www.revenue.nsw.gov.au/news-media-releases/covid-19-tax-relief-measures/quarantine-fees

We do not anticipate any repatriation flights with any other airline or to any other states in Australia.

Take care and stay safe

Australian Embassy, Bangkok

Australian Consulate-General Phuket

If he agrees for a paternity test and if the outcome is positive, he would probably accept the responsibility. If he refuses a test, no one can force him to do so (given that this happened outside Australia) which means he intentionally is not interested in taking a child into his life.

Australian embassy will not get involved in an individual case. 

To apply for a citizenship, a father must legally accept and support a child with an application. A foreign mother cannot apply on a child's behalf even though she has a positive paternal test.

Child support payment depends on how much a father earns. Even a father who makes 50K per year (that's a little less than an average wage) will not pay more than $20-50 per month and that money is for a child not a mother.

If she really is certain that he is a father, the only way I can see is to threatening him that if he deserts his child she would talk to his employer (presumably he has one). Having bad reputation at work is not a nice thing. There are a few Thai volunteer organisations in Australia that she could ask for help. 

During daytime.

Warning for traveling there, the road to the temple was damaged, full of big holes, that was in october'19. I had to book my car for service after got back home. Definitely not recommend for traveling at night.

13 minutes ago, ThaiBunny said:

Caveat emptor I'd have thought

The sell price is not cheap. All equipment and stock are included as well as goodwill. With the good location and reputation for 15+ years any proprietor deserves to have a cake.

My Thai friends have a Thai restaurant in Turramurra, the northern side of Sydney. They have been operating this take away/dine in for more than 15 years. Pretty good income I would say. Good reviews by customers. But anyway, they want to travel around the world and finally settle down in Thailand so been trying to sell the shop for years now. 

PM me if interested.

Thank you every advice and every kind words. 

My elderly friend finally receives his money totaling a million baht. He's very excited, can't even tell us how much exactly in his bank. ????

He wishes to thanks everyone and really grateful.

This would be my last post. 

On 7/7/2019 at 9:05 PM, Sheryl said:

Glad to hear it. Will he get the back payments as well?

 

The letter didn't say about lump sum payments. He suggests to wait and see if there will be other letters coming along. 

Thanks for asking.

It's been 2 months since I last updated this issue.

I'm pleased to report that my old friend has received a letter from the OPM yesterday advising him that he would receive his pension on 1st August. 

It took a very long time to get back the money again. But it finally arrives. 

Thank you for all the advice and offers you guys have given me. 

I'll report back again when that day comes.

we're lucky to have him as a family friend too.

As for the questions why the payment had stopped and where all the missing funds are, I'm still working on it. ????

Thank you very much for every advice. It could take me much longer to understand the process and take actions without input from this thread.

Now, the direct deposit account had been setup, faxed details to OPM in the States. Just have to wait how soon the payments will come through. Hopefully not long.

Thank you again for helping your fellow American. Honestly this event had changed my perspective about American people (not include Trump ????)

Thank you for your offer. I'll keep that in mind. Appreciate it.

21 hours ago, Tony125 said:

 Can PM me if need any other info or need any personal help. My wife will be back in BKK Thursday and she speaks perfect English and I am sure she would go with me to meet up with him and your sister or another TV member to assist him.

3 hours ago, Pib said:

Edit: didn't myWish say earlier the gentleman had Permanent Residency? If so, he don't need an embassy letter...pretty much treated like a Thai citizen for opening a bank account.  Would hate to see him fork out $50 for a letter requested just to feed the bank bureaucracy. 

 

Correct. He has a Thailand residency status. He has well established bank account for, I guess, three decades with this same branch. Everyone knows him, even the guy who demanded to see an Embassy confirmation knew him as soon as he stepped his foot in. And even my friend showed documents related to the US pension payments from US government and US passport, still not satisfied.

What can I say? ????

5 hours ago, Neocon said:

If the local bank branch insists on a “letter” from the US Embassy, ACS-BKK reiterated this morning for the gentleman to use a Blank Affidavit to write a statement: https://th.usembassy.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/90/blank-affidavit-bangkok-january-2019.pdf

 

Unless the bank branch has specific information requirements, the suggested information in Post #50 by Lopburi3 is excellent (I concur that a US address isn't necessary to include).

I have downloaded the form last week and copied what Lopburi3 had suggested every word except the US address. Thanks Lopburi3, really grateful.

19 hours ago, Neocon said:

If the local branch still requires citizenship confirmation, ask them what specific evidence they require. Is the branch requiring a “Certified True Copy of a US Passport” but don’t know its correct name? Or will they accept a sworn affidavit (written by your friend) notarized by a consular officer? The embassy does not provide any type of standard-issue “confirmation of US citizenship” letter. Your friend will need the answer to properly prepare for his ACS appointment.

I actually talked to the BB staff and he insisted to have a document from the embassy confirming his citizenship.

9 hours ago, Sheryl said:

3. He wad getting checks and quite possible that option stopped and he failed to sign up for DD

Makes a difference which it was as different implications for what became of his funds. He needs to not only get the payments resumed but also get the back funds. If #3 was the case then simply enrolling in DD (opening bank acct & sending the necessary paperwork to OPM) might suffice. But if #2 OPM may have suspended his payments for security reasond and it may be necessary for him to call them to re-establish.
 

I think this is the most likely cause of troubles. He said he was getting payments through Bank of America. Don't know how the fund got transferred (if it ever got transferred) to his BB. He used to show us a few years ago his 'paper' US gov payments, I presumed this was a cheque as it wasn't banknote. He pays for most purchases with his American Express credit card. He goes to Bangkok Bank to withdraw cash. That's all we know about his finance. We very hesitate to ask, there are lines not to cross when it comes to friendships.

The best method I can think of is to make suggestions to him to write down before he appears at the embassy next week the finance trails starts from how the payments (OPM and SS) went to which institutions (Bank of America? in Thailand or US?) and how this fund got transferred into BB. So he needs to explain to the embassy (and I hope they will help him rectify the issues) what happened and how to re-establish and get back the payments.

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Was an appropriate OPM document one of the "tonnes of relevant documents"? You haven’t definitively said if bank branch staff accepted one of those documents BUT ALSO wants an additional letter (affidavit) notarized by the US embassy? Also, what precise information does branch staff require to be in an affidavit?

Yes, an OPM doc was one of those 'tonnes of relevant documents'.

Yes, the bank requires an affidavit from the embassy to confirm he is a US citizen.

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I would also ask what address proof that branch is willing to accept.

He is a long time customer of this branch. probably 30 + years. So it's been established long time ago.

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The Bangkok Bank website about their direct deposit service is poorly worded and misleading. Bangkok Bank direct deposit accounts are numbered differently than traditional savings accounts. A traditional savings account cannot be “converted” to a direct deposit account.

I think that's ok because he is going to open D/D account anyway.

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With that said, does the partial OPM document you posted earlier contain your friend’s present correspondence address?

It only say his entitlement and name, no address.

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IF your friend does phone OPM, phone wait times next week may be longer around the 1 May pay date.

Thanks for a heads up. However I don't think he will make phone call.

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If your friend changes his mind about letting others help him my initial offer of free assistance still stands.

Thank you. I'll keep that in mind.

1 minute ago, lopburi3 said:

As we have said OPM does not send any are you alive letter.  That part has to be about Social Security (he may indeed get both).

Yeah! could be.

Thanks for a heads up.

If I haven't answered any of your questions, it only means that I don't have answers, at least not now.

He has D/D paperwork set up and has an appointment with the embassy next week. Then we plan to fax through his banking details, a request of OPM payments to OPM in the States.

Trust I can announce good news next week.

Thank you everyone. This is way beyond my expectation.

1 hour ago, Sheryl said:

There is no annual statement for government pension that I know of (and I receive one). With Social Security there is a letter sent every year to verify that ypu are still alive and at the same address and this has to he acknowledged. Could this be what he meant?

 

Yes, the letter to verify that the recipient is still living that they send out annually. Sorry for the confusion.

Up to now we have all been assuming what was involved was a government pension. If it is Social Security that is a whole other matter and he needs to contact not OPM in the US but the SS office in Manila.

Pleade clarify this so we can advise further.

 

I can confirm this is about OPM and not SS. I've seen his US govt entitlement card and details.

Also I don't understand if he had a BB account why did he say the money came from BoA? Does he have a US BoA account that he transferred from?

And why the discussion of opening a BB account if he already has one? Was it an issue of his current BB account not being a direct deposit account?

That's correct. His D/D account is not being established yet. He only has a saving account.
 

3 hours ago, Sheryl said:

STEP 1: clarify what bank account the money was coming into. Bank of America in Thailand or a BoA account in the US? If account in Thailand, how was that money being sent and by whom? And how did he access it (?debit card? Bank withdrawal? Etc).

 

He has a bangkok bank account. As far as we know he's been using his American Express credit card to pay for most purchases.

STEP 2: clarify with the relevant bank whether the funds have continued to arrive.

 

Not possible. The bank will not talking to non-account holders.

An in.person discussion between US citizens might get to the bottom of things much more quickly.

I don't think it's whether or not Americans or Thais, It's his personality that doesn't want to get other people troubles by any means. I even believe that he trusts us more than anyone else. That's why he asked us for help. Sure, Americans will get to the bottom of this mess much quicker because you come from the same background but personal trust will take preference, I believe.

 

5 hours ago, Pib said:

You said he hadn't been back to the US in 30 years....I guess that means he's been in Thailand for the last 30 years...must had a bank account in Thailand for money to flow into; otherwise, how was he getting money....or maybe he was using a debit card to get money from an ATM.   Why open another Thai bank account if money has been flowing into a Thai bank account?  And I'll just mention I hope he's been getting his retirement extension renewed every year which means he either being using the income affidavit  from the US Embassy (which is no longer available since late last year) or had Bt800K in the bank each year when renewing.  Otherwise he's probably in overstay status which is a bad thing.

He has a bangkok bank account. As far as we know he's been using his American Express credit card to pay for most purchases. When he needs cash my sister will usually drive him to the bank but waits outside as to give him privacy.

He has Thai residency status, not overstay.

The more important thing I just learnt from my sister, at one stage he sent late his annual statement, you know what it is called. This may hold the key to all problems I reckon. He will have to fix this when he goes to the US embassy next week.

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Get clarity on this current bank situation....for his own good and your sister needs to be lawyer-like in trying to get the complete story from him.  Once getting this clarity it should help to determine what the next step must be.

 

 

 

   

This is almost impossible as he is very independent and very considerate person. You can tell he wouldn't ask for help unless he really really has to. Also my sister wouldn't ask too much and too detailed questions either.

3 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

In this case it seems he should be talking with BOA on Wireless Road (if that is actually the bank he used) or with the US Branch he was using to confirm payments are not sitting in account.  He might have had a transfer agreement to send to the bank here that expired and not be aware of it?  At any rate Bangkok Bank seems to be out of the picture for the missing payments.

To add to this confusing matter, he happened to move house which I think around the time his payments had stopped. They might not be able to contact him and/or he forgot to let them know.

Thank you again. I'll let him know to contact BoA where he has account set up, hopefully in Bangkok.

8 minutes ago, Pib said:

OK...I understand now. Sounds like his OPM payments may be going (or use to go) to BoA and maybe he had an automatic transfer set up with BoA to send a certain amount each month...but for some reason that flow of funds from his US bank has stopped. If so maybe his payments are still going to his US bank but he can no longer access the funds for some reason.

Hope he works thru all of this soon.


 

Would appreciate your advice re how to resolve this banking madness.

22 minutes ago, Pib said:

I really think it would be best to try to get it absolutely clear with him "what bank account was his OPM payments going to before they stopped?"   Was it another Bangkok Bank account?  Probably not a US bank since he don't seem capable of using computer ibanking and doing monthly transfers from that bank to Thailand bank which would have probably been Bangkok Bank.  

 

 

....maybe he was getting a check...

 

 

He says he's got his pension from the Bank of America.

He used to show us his kind of paper from the US government payments . I didn't pay much attention then.

Sorry, couldn't be clearer. Honestly, I don't have direct contacts with him, everything passes along through my sister. This is because I live overseas, not in Thailand.

I have only myself to blame for not doing enough research on the matter.

The details of the banking with the Bangkok Bank New York branch is fully explained here.

https://www.bangkokbank.com/en/Personal/Other-Services/Transfers/Transferring-Into-Thailand/Transfer-money-from-US-to-Thailand-via-Bangkok-Bank-NewYork-branch