Eff1n2ret

What is a "covid extension"? Is that the temporary stay granted to visitors who were unable to return to their own country because of the shutting down of borders and air routes or the dire state of the pandemic at home? There can't be many countries in the world where it's impossible to get flights and vaccines, which were not available when the scheme started. A few years ago the Thai Government clamped down on visitors achieving extended residence in the country by border runs. Perhaps their only motivation for continuing 'covid extensions' is compensating for the loss of tourist revenue. But there can't be much logic in relaxing the restrictions for tourists to come for a few weeks and return to their own country while continuing to issue extensions for people of the same nationality who say they can't go back. Or have I got it all wrong?

At least the French Government provides an online system for reporting, even if it doesn't seem to work for the OP. Viewed along with the provision of vaccines, they seem to care more about their expat citizens than the UK Government does for us Brits.

I went to enquire at Rayong on 5th October, a week before my licence expired, and was given an appointment for next Thursday 28th. As far as I am aware nothing bad happens unless your licence is 12 months overdue, so if you don't get to renew on the day it's not a problem.

Sorry, I can't answer your questions as I only completed the process as far as I needed to, as I had already made an appointment in person at the Rayong DLT. Your certificate is the same as mine, and I printed a copy off my desktop. Perhaps you could resolve your doubts by going and making an appointment at the Banglamung office?

According to their website you can both receive and send documents, but as I'm not French and don't have a social security number or password I can't go further - but this website (autotranslated into English) says you can do it. Hello, I still haven't received my 2021 life certificate! I had the same problem in 2020, who should I do? - With Answer(s) (agirc-arrco.fr)

1. Go to website www.info-retraite.fr 2. Click on " J'accede a mon compte retraite" I enrol for my retirement account (top right on the welcome page) 3. Click on "Creer mon compte retraite" - create my account" (lower on the right) 4. Complete the form Supply your personal information - name, forename, social security number, then click on "Etape suivante" on the bottom of the form on the right Create your password, then click on "Creer mon compte retraite" at the bottom of the form on the right. Your account has been created! You can from now on submit your documents online. The separate panel tells you where to find your social security number. "It is situated on the top right of the document you have received. It consists of 13 digits."

That's not a problem for me

Is that $22 for 3 months + $10 for phone calls? Seems quite expensive. I use Skype to phone the UK, but just preload the app with £10, and the calls are very cheap, not much more than 50p for, say, 20 minutes. - and are people able to phone you on the UK number?

I don't know, but perhaps in the official mind it's based on the touchingly naive assumption that if you're in the UK you're there legally and therefore extensive checks aren't necessary, whereas the great wide world contains legions of frauds and forgers who could construct bogus claims based on a minimum of information. I used to read stories of the huge quantity of National Insurance Numbers which have been issued and are now unaccounted for.

I wonder if it's possible to find out the route by which mail arrives in Thailand from the UK, and how many sorting locations there are between the arrival point and Banchang. If stuff just keeps coming in and is dumped on top of what is already there, our missing mail must be at the bottom of a huge pile.

Yet another visit to Banchang Post Office yesterday, nothing awaiting delivery. So I've had to cancel a credit card I've never seen and get HSBC to send another one to a bank branch for collection by my son, and he can DHL it to me. Now I don't trust the Post Office at all. If there really is no accumulated unsorted mail at Banchang there must be a sorting centre somewhere (Lakhsi?) with mounds of the stuff. So if it gets too much do they just throw it away? Or is anything which looks like it might contain useful items such as bank cards being sifted out for potential misuse? Five or more years ago I used to think the postal service was quite efficient, but not any more.

The section you quote is for EEA nationals to exercise their right of free movement to any other EEA country except their own and to take a Family Member with them. So if you are Dutch and travelling to your own country, that section does not apply. Your wife would need to apply for a Schengen visa as a visitor to the Netherlands.

I thought it is the MFA that issues the COE, not individual embassies. Try this:- https://coethailand.mfa.go.th/

Notice 143: a guide for international post users - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Mine is two weeks tomorrow (12 weeks from 1st dose). Did you re-confirm with them (or they with you), or are you just turning up on trust?

OP, you probably will need the e-learning certificate, to which markwhite has provided a link. When you go on there, make sure you have nothing to do for an hour, then hit the 'Foreigner' button. This will lead to a page where you answer 3 easy multi-choice questions (in English) then it takes you to the film, which is in two parts, the first in Thai with English subtitles, the second done by two English speakers which gives much the same advice. At the end it will tell you that you have successfully completed the training (assuming you answered the questions correctly) and produces a certificate which you can print off or save on your phone. It then offers to take you to another page to make an appointment. I can't tell you how easy or difficult that is as I had already made an appointment at the DLT office for the week after next. That is in Rayong, but I guess the procedure will be much the same at Banglamung, and I'm sure you will need the e-learning certificate, which means that when you submit your application you won't have to spend an hour in a crowded room with a lot of other people.

Yes, happened to me, I ordered a surgical boot (very silly, I know, but it was before the time when I knew about Lazada). It all became too difficult in the end and I had to tell DHL to get Customs to "dispose" of it. Don't try to import any medical items.

No it won't for the licence application, but it seemed to be important at Immigration when I went to them for the letter to submit to the DLT, which is why I mentioned it.

I got one of those yellow books from Amazon, I hope that MedPark are similarly cooperative when I go for my second jab. I'm not sure that you'll have to show anything except your passport to Border Force or an e-gate when you get to Heathrow. If you've satisfied the airline check-in with one of those proofs, I suspect the only jobsworths you encounter in the UK will be outside night clubs, museums etc., or anywhere required by government or their own enthusiasm for restrictions.

To continue the saga of re-discovery I went along to Maptaphut this morning for the Immigration residence letter with the completed form, my passport and copies of what I thought were the relevant pages, but no copies were required. What they did want was a photo, which I hadn't thought to take, so the girlie said "six photos for 100 baht". I agreed, she stood me in front of a blue panel on the wall and snapped me with her mobile phone. After a 10 minute wait I was called back in and another girlie handed me an envelope and demanded 600 baht - 100 for the photos, 500 for the letter, no receipt. I'm quite happy with that, they're providing a service far quicker and cheaper than the wretched Embassy, and I don't know of any law which requires them to provide the service. So there it is folks - if you want a driving licence letter from Rayong Immigration take a photo and 500Baht. By the way, when I handed over my passport one of the first things they looked for was the TM30 slip, so make sure you have one of those.

First Direct sent me a new card in June because they're changing from Visa to Mastercard. That never arrived. Then in late July I noticed a couple of fraudulent transactions on my HSBC credit card so reported it and they said they were sending me a new card. FD said they would cancel the first card and send me another. I asked them to send it DHL and I would pay for it, "no can do". I've been up to the Post Office a couple of times in the hope of finding the HSBC card but it's not there. I think the only safe way is to get them sent to my son's UK address and ask him to send them via DHL or as others have suggested, Track and Trace. I wondered about that, but does that mean that you have to notify all and sundry of your PO Box No, or do the local Post Office extract anything addressed to your house and stick it in the box?

When I renewed 5 years ago I took a med cert and it was handed back to me. However, the list on the window is obviously recent and it's no great problem or expense to get one.

The online "test" is only 3 simple multiple choice questions to which the correct answer is pretty obvious. Two of them were the correct distance at which to signal before turning at a junction, and how to drive through a flooded road, I can't remember the other one. They seem to be incidental to the film, which is in two parts, a dippy bimbo driving around Bangkok receiving advice from her guru plus a few crashes (Thai with English subtitles) then two Brits giving much the same advice in English. The certificate you get is valid for 6 months. I don't know whether the reaction braking and colour tests still form part of the process when you go for your appointment, I suspect they probably do, but I was hoping to hear from somebody who has done it recently.

Same for me - PGBR + my passport number

My 5-year licence expires next week. The main DLT website opens with an unpromising announcement that licensing and other services at DLT offices are suspended from March 2020, so I went along to the Rayong office to see what the score is. The main difference since before Covid is that you have to make an appointment, so I made one for late this month. On the window of the appointment booth is a notice in English specifying the 5 items that foreigners need to submit, namely - passport + copy - residence letter from Embassy or immigration - medical certificate - expiring licence + copy - "Results of 1 hour training session" Re that last item I heard some confusing waffle about attending a session on certain afternoons, but it seems clear that the film and lecture that one had to endure during previous applications now has to be done in advance of applying. I didn't feel like hanging around till the afternoon, but I noticed on their posters a website address - dlt-elearning.com - so when I got home I tried it. Simply hitting a 'foreigner' button and registering with my passport number and dob was enough to start on the session, which comprises an hour-long film and 3 easy questions, then up comes a gaily-coloured "pass" certificate, which can be printed off or taken as a screenshot. So after I've been to squint at an eyesight chart and got the letter from Immigration I'm good to go. If anyone's completed the process and got a new licence recently I would be interested to hear what happens on the day. I suspect it's a little more civilised than it used to be, I certainly hope so.