Eff1n2ret

I have a different problem from you with my HSBC UK credit card which I have used in Thailand and UK with no problem since I moved to Thailand 12 years ago - namely, the Thai Post Office have lost/stolen a replacement. Only this last week has my son been able to retrieve a second replacement from his local HSBC branch, which he will courier to me inside a book. In the meantime I have bought the grandkids' Christmas presents on Amazon UK with my Kasikorn debit card. That works perfectly fine. As always, it's better to buy in the currency of the card - e.g. I bought 2 £25 vouchers, one in Baht and one in GBP. The GBP one showed up in my Kasikorn account at 15.53 Baht more than the other. You might consider getting an American Express basic card, unless you actually need credit. Bereft of my HSBC card, I was looking around for alternatives and the Amex card (basic one is no fee) looked ok for my purposes, but they don't offer that one in Thailand and Experian kicked me out as a non-person when I applied in UK.

Nationals of EU countries no longer have automatic right of entry to the UK, so on arrival there she would be asked by an Immigration Officer how long she intends to stay and the reason for her visit. Any half-competent IO would notice the stamps in her passport and once it is clear that she has overstayed by two years in Thailand she will almost certainly be refused entry to the UK. She would be liable to removal back to Thailand, or to any other country that would accept her, in practice that would be Sweden. In either case she should be prepared to pay for her ticket. (The inbound carrier would be legally obliged to accept the removal directions, but would give her a lot of grief unless she paid up). I'm old enough to remember serving on the desk at Heathrow before Sweden joined the EU, and clearing the many SAS flights, most of the passengers were businessmen smelling heavily of alcohol.

Yes, had phone ready. It did take a while to open the app, so perhaps I should fire it up more in advance next time. But it didn't process the payment as quickly as I expected. Perhaps it's the download/upload speed on my phone, I don't pay a lot for it. Anyway, I like the facility and will use it more often. Thank you for raising the topic.

Since the start of this topic I thought it was about time I got up to date so I downloaded K+ and tried it in a local restaurant - worked fine. Then, staying a couple of nights in a Marriott I discovered that, amongst several shortcomings they're not set up for such payments. But today at Macro it was promptpay that came up on their screen, so maybe it's the choice of the merchant, not the customer. It was grindingly slow, I felt I had to apologise to the lady behind me in the queue.

Last year, how so? You must be the first person in the world to be vaccinated.

The current extension stamp in your passport is sufficient to establish that you are legally in Thailand. They don't need to know your address, they're not going to post anything direct to you. Read the requirements stated on the application form.

"If I should die, think only Go Fund Me..."

Could you pin this? It could be valuable over a long period. I see that the appointments offered are for different types of application, such as "Tourism purpose", "Education Purpose" etc. When I need it, I wonder whether I should ask for "Retirement Purpose" or "Long Term Extension" - I guess the latter. The (i) button yields no further information.

Yes, I noticed that as well. In practice they seem to accept any Thai witness, as long as they have a rubber stamp of some sort. Time to get your John Bull printing kit out... Last time I got mine done at a local pharmacy.

Have you tried putting the Track and Trace number into the Royal Mail system?

Now I think about it, I do recall a glitch in the Thai Track & Trace system when I sent something there, and it originally showed as "unable to deliver". I can't remember the exact details, but I managed to chase it up somehow and it was delivered. I do remember it was shown as being signed for at 3am! I might have tried through the UK Postal Track and Trace and found it there. Sorry if that sends you on a wild goose chase, but that's all I can remember.

If you put a letter 'I' instead of digit '1' in the postcode that might be sufficient to upset the reader - just guessing.

It's not that bad. They've confirmed that your pension has not been stopped and they haven't sent you a Life cert. Unless they change their system that's probably the best they can do. I agree with you that it's about time they put in a system that didn't rely on the vagaries of international mail and the totally moribund Thai Post Office (at least, in our area it now only delivers every three months, if that). I think we just have to keep pestering them.

You are not obliged to close your UK bank account if you move abroad. What you can't do is open a UK bank account once you are no longer living there. I still bank with First Direct, my pensions are paid into my account there and I move funds to my Thai account when that needs topping up. If you have a UK bank account and can keep it active, I strongly recommend you to do so. I don't know about other banks, but FD never raised any objection or problems when I notified my Thai address 12 years ago. Since then, about 4 years ago they stopped me from participating in an annual scheme for saving up to £300 per month at a better rate of interest - apparently some rule change prevented me from renewing that, as it meant opening a new account every time. I opened an account with Skipton International in Guernsey, but that has to be linked to my FD account. P.S. I still have a Halifax shares ISA

If you're not there to update your passbook every month or six weeks, it may miss some entries, so as you say, the alternative is to get a statement.

The recent strike and demonstration by HGV drivers urging the Government to support a diesel price below 30 baht/litre (which was the constant price 10-15 years ago!) suggests you are right.

OP, as best I remember, we used this company:- How Long Does It Take To Change My Name | UK Deed Poll Service

My wife confronted exactly the same problem as the OP when she renewed her UK passport 3 or 4 years ago. The UK passport office is rather arrogant in stating that dual nationals should change the name in their other passport, because it is perfectly possible and legal to change your UK name, which is what she did. We did it online from Thailand*, and it was fairly cheap and quick, far more so than getting her Thai i/d changed on everything she has in Thailand. It is a legal requirement to declare all the passports you hold when applying for a UK passport and the names must be the same. I assume they perceive it as a measure against i/d fraud. *Getting the change of name deed quickly in Thailand might be more difficult now, because of the lamentable state of the Thai Post Office, in our locality at least. Doing it in the UK should be a doddle.

Then there was that song which began - "Passengers will please refrain/from urinating while the train.. and I can't remember how it goes on until "If you feel you really ought-to/ please consult a railway porter...

In the toilet compartments of British Railways there was a notice - "Gentlemen lift the seat" Gentlemen Lift Seat.mov - YouTube

Rayong DLT drive-through car licensing was open when I went to renew my driving licence a month ago.

Not exactly. He sat at the shoreline to demonstrate to his courtiers that his powers did not extend to commanding the tide not to come in.

On the certificate you should find an id number starting 600000...... Use that. It's the equivalent of a Thai id number that they use for non-Thai persons who have been vaccinated.

Did the hospital include your phone number on the vaccination certificate? After my first vaccination at MedPark hospital the appointment cert. they gave me didn't have my phone number, and I couldn't register on the app. I messaged them and they added it to the database, after which I registered successfully, and it now shows both jabs and the certificate.

We had ceiling fans fitted in the living room and the master bedroom when our house was built 15 years ago. We don't use them very much, our floor-standing fans give much more cooling and can be directed where they are needed. I wouldn't bother if I were you.