Eff1n2ret

If you enter Thailand with a new passport as a visitor for 30 days, won't you also have to leave the country on that passport? Sorry, perhaps I'm a bit thick, but I don't really understand what you're trying to do.

A week has passed, and the OP's questions remain without answer or even acknowledgement by the Consulate. Perhaps they're waiting for "the line to take" from King Charles Street.

I recently saw YouTube interviews with the Ambassador and the Consul by a guy who might have been auditioning for Hello Magazine. The faces may change but the service remains the same.

The map on my Isuzu DMax was already slightly out of date when I bought it 14 years ago. It's a Kenwood system. A few years later I took the SD card out, stuck it in my pc and tried to get an update on the Kenwood website, but it didn't want to know. I still run it when I'm on a trip, but these days if I really need directions it's Google maps on my phone. Mounting a simple holder on the dashboard doesn't really "clog up" my windscreen.

My DMax is coming up 14 years old, in recent years have been doing well under 10k kilometers. and only done 125k. I take it for a service every 12 - 15 months. It's still very smooth and comfortable to drive. The only unscheduled repairs I can remember in a long time were a broken gearshift linkage and a strange sort of nervous breakdown, when something went wrong with the engine management system and it lost power.

11 hours ago, treetops said:

If you look at your approval receipt you will see the job title of the approver.  On my latest one this translates as "Deputy Inspector/Immigration, Chonburi Province".

 

This indicates to me it's being done locally.

 

Yes, I looked at my last approval receipt and it says something about Rayong on there, so I guess you're right. It's still very strange that I got 2 approvals that time, one on the desk and one online.

15 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

I last week opened an account with Barclays, online and without any hitch.

 

I was in Bangkok at the time.

 

All they needed was my Passport and proof of a UK address. 

That's very interesting, congratulations. Are you able to say what proof of address you supplied? Only one proof?

5 hours ago, TravelerEastWest said:

but why would you deal with an immigration office if you are using a centralized online system?

The real question is how centralised is it? I'm sure that the reminders come from some central system, but where your report is approved is anybody's guess. A lot of posters seem to believe it's done at their local office, I'm not so sure. One time about 6 months ago when my online report had not been approved by the 90th day I went along and did it in person, and asked the IO what the problem was with online. She said, "They're very busy at the  moment". I didn't have the presence of mind to ask where "they" are. Later that same afternoon I got an approval for the online report, which I hadn't cancelled. This gave me 2 different reporting dates for next time. I used the online date successfully next time round. It's due again next week, I've had the reminder already. I'll probably do it in the next couple of days.

2 hours ago, Pumpuynarak said:

Are you sure about that ? i'm sure i read that the UK government have recently extended the 15 years.

Yes, the 15-year limit has been abolished. I think the amending legislation comes into effect by the end of the year. My local council hadn't yet changed their information when I renewed my registration recently, but it should do soon.

2 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

Govt should step in and stop them closing expat accounts willy nilly but i guess as we can't vote they don't care

Voting is one of the few things we second-class citizens can do - if you're registered and can arrange a proxy, which is the only practical way to vote from Thailand. But as we're spread across 600+ constituencies and so few in practice probably do vote, you're right, they don't care.

22 minutes ago, stratocaster said:

And then there is this.

Today Money Mail raises serious concerns around how easily banks have allowed fraudsters to set up accounts. We have obtained the details of 82 bank accounts opened by a criminal gang using fake IDs and counterfeit utility bills.
The list, which was compiled by police as part of an investigation into online fraud,
shows that the crooks managed to trick nine major High Street banks into letting them run accounts to carry out scams.

Almost half of the accounts were opened at HSBC, Nationwide allowed 13 accounts to be opened using fake IDs, while NatWest opened 12.

Barclays and Santander each had five accounts on the list,
Metro Bank was responsible for three and Halifax two. Lloyds and TSB each opened one.

The banks should be trying to tighten up their security and stop these fraudulent accounts, but they are attacking the wrong target in treating bona fide British citizens who have held an account with them for some time as potential criminals or problem customers simply because they live abroad. I would be more worried than I am if the address that my bank held for me was not where I am actually living, as they must be prime targets for getting shut down if the bank decides to check up. My bank has had my current address in Thailand for the last nearly 14 years. I can't say I'm not a little worried that they will shut me down, but I don't feel like asking them in case that provokes them into doing so.

24 minutes ago, bkk6060 said:

Britain seems to not like expats much.

Yup, we're second class citizens - frozen pensions, jump through hoops to replace a passport, don't end up in a hospital if you're visiting the uk or the NHS will bleed you dry, although you're still paying as much income tax as if you were living there. And yet, if you read the comment columns of many newspapers, they regard anyone who goes to live abroad as traitors, deserving of nothing.

Nat West seems to have taken the lead in getting rid of their overseas customers, and Barclays is now following them. I don't really understand why, there's no law which compels them to do this. If there are extra costs involved in administering overseas customers I would hope that these are outweighed by keeping a hefty balance, as I do with my bank - but who knows what their policy is, they're so secretive.

3 hours ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Requests for witnesses should be met with “ you are free to talk to my neighbours if you wish “ or words to that effect.

There's no point in making things difficult for them. My pal renewed his marriage extension recently and it is the same every year, the witness is a standard requirement, fulfilled by my missis, who takes two copies of her i/d and tabien baan, and pal and I sit outside with a cup of tea while the two ladies deal with the IOs. It's all over in a couple of minutes. Their closest neighbours seem to be out or the houses are unoccupied, and sending the IOs off to find somebody else to talk to would only wind them up.

Already notified here:-

1 hour ago, carlyai said:

a bit too big for us older people

Sorry, as an "older person" I'm a bit curious. I was looking at one of these bikes in a shop a couple of weeks ago, although full size rather than folding frame. I can't say I was very taken with the fat tyres. In what sense are your bikes "too big"?

2 hours ago, Mike Teavee said:

Not sold mine yet but will be next year given the way the UK is going for people who are only landlords because we rent out the house we used to live in.

Ditto, before the imminent mad regulations do away with assured shorthold tenancies and prevent you and me from being able easily to reclaim possession of our properties when we need to. Also, improved interest rates mean that the proceeds of sale will earn nearly as much as I was getting after agents and their rapacious maintenance contractors have taken their cut, without any of the hassle. It will save my son and daughter the bother of selling the place when I'm gone, and I've no intention of going back to live in that miserable country in my 80s.

7 minutes ago, Peabody said:

I showed him what I thought was the letter

How many letters have you?

32 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

I'm skipping the junk these days, lost the taste for cakes, pastries, chocolate, ice cream, English breakfast, pizza, etc funny how switching away from those foods eventually you lose interest in them.

I skip all that stuff too. It's not so much that I've lost interest in them, but I'm happy with the diet that I've established and feel better for it. But on occasion I'll eat whatever I fancy. It was my birthday last week. and the place we were staying didn't really do cake, but the missis got them to come up with a massive banana split with loads of ice cream and some candles on it. When I get something like that now I really enjoy it.

3 minutes ago, BritTim said:

Assuming the bank book does not contain consolidated entries, what is it about a 12-month statement that shows "evidence of money going in and out" that the book does not show?

I agree, and intend to ask my local immigration office that question before I apply for my next extension. My book shows transactions every month. I think it was the year before last when I applied that a couple of lines were overprinted. The IO went to a senior officer who glanced at the book and ok'd it. My account is Bangkok Bank, so if there is now a requirement for a statement I will find out a week before I apply.

3 hours ago, Olmate said:

Was,nt Russian by any chance? 

No, Brit apparently. I live on the same Moo Ban and used to see him earlier in the year at the swimming pool with a pre-teen lad. I don't know if he was the dad or just step-dad, but feel sorry for the kid. I've not heard anything else beyond what is already stated.

21 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

You don't need to declare anything when making the international and/or domestic transfer

For either his account security or money-laundering reasons his UK bank may well want to know what the transfer is for.

21 minutes ago, Terry2905 said:

Yes. That was why the Manchester City hospital refused to help me, because my records showed that my previous address and gp was in Blackpool.

Even under the old system prior to April 2015 whereby expat pensioners could be treated free in NHS hospitals, that was only for emergency treatment, you couldn't go back there for elective treatment, say, a hip replacement. Manchester Hospital wouldn't have refused to treat you if you were seriously ill, but you would have copped a bill if you had been admitted for treatment. I expect they told you to go to your GP and get a referral to a hospital consultant. This happened a few years ago to a neighbour who had pains in his knees and went back expecting to get them fixed. He came limping back.

15 minutes ago, spambot said:

I am assuming that "becoming a non-person" means that you and your records are not showing up on the online service and this might be that you simply need to first complete the online registration and then you and your records would appear. 

Yes, I'm afraid "non-person" and "second-class citizen" are my habitual shorthand terms for the callous disregard with which the UK public services seem to treat us expats.

If you go on the NHS website, as I have just done again and tried to find my NHS number, you will be asked for name, date of birth and postcode. I put in the postcode of my last address (where in fact I still own the property, which is rented out). Up comes the answer, We can't trace those details. If the NHS number is stored somewhere, as sandyf maintains, I wouldn't take bets on it being easy to retrieve it. If I went to a GP's reception I would expect to be greeted with blank stares and head-shaking.