Pib

It all comes down to what processes SSA feels can be adequately accomplished (including their legal requirements) via digital or wet signature while taking in account the SSA customer base which has a large population of senior citizens (old people) and disabled people. Click on below SSA weblink to see the SSA Alternate Signature regulation which has been around for a long time....like since 2004....but the 7162 process has not been approved for an alternate process yet although under emergency conditions the "attestation" process has been authorized at times like when benefits got cut-off due to SSA not receiving back some wet-signature signed SSA form. https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0200201015

Well, it's SSA employees which tell their computers what to do in accordance with the yearly policy for 7162s....and It does cost to mail things....and the US govt agencies must pay postage costs just like everyone else although they probably get a small metered mail discount. And the SSA uses print vendors for much of its bulk printing & mailing processes such as the 7162 mailing process...that is, it's a contracted-out process and contracts cost money to award/maintain/use. But let's get back to just the mailing costs. Currently to send a small envelope internationally (i.e., like US to Thailand) the USPS charges $1.70. Let's say the SSA (and it's print vendor) might get a metered mail price of $1.50 per international 7172 envelope it mails out. $1.50 times 760,000 comes to $1.14M in postage costs only...and this is not including the print/mailing vendor basic contract costs. DOGE implemented polices where pretty much all current contracts had to be reviewed and many contracts were cancelled under their ongoing review. At one time all new and annual contracts of $50K or more required DOGE review/approval....a process that delays things. I have no doubt SSA mailing/printings costs and contracts are caught in this DOGE process. Now none of us will probably every find out the specific reason(s) for this year's delayed 7162 mailing, but my gut feeling is the reasons are: new SSA leadership rocking the boat, SSA employee turmoil/firings, SSA review of its processes, and review & new approval requirements (i.e., DOGE's involvement) for govt contracts such as mailing contracts. No, it's not as simple as it being just an automated SSA computer process.

Just go to Google search and type in something like "SSA in disarray" or "SSA firings", etc. The results list should explain why the 7162 mailing is delayed this year.

Yes, I expect the "admitted to" date will match the date of your expiring passport, but once getting the renewed passport and transfering the stamps then you'll get the full 5 years. But the basic LTR Visa will use a 10 year date...it's just the "admitted to" date stamp can't exceed 5 years if the passport still has at least 5 years left on it. Can't speak to getting the LTR visa insured outside of Bangkok. I'm not sure you can do that...I thought when getting the LTR stamped "within Thailand" it could only be done at BOI immigration in Bangkok. I live in Bangkok and got my LTR visa at BOI Immigration.

Congrats!!! Regarding docs for the second 5 year period "no one" really knows at this time since BOI has not published anything and no LTR recipient has reached the point of needing to apply for the 2nd 5 year period which will not come about until mid 2027 since the earliest anyone could have received an LTR visa was Sep 2022 when the LTR program began. But my "guess" is the docs requirement will be basically a repeat of the initial application but without any fee if approved since the initial fee paid covers the entire period of the 10 year LTR visa (i.e., 1st and 2nd 5 year periods). Congrats again....I know it's a good feeling to have the LTR visa.

Wife’s renewed US passport book and card arrived....good-to-go for another decade. Total time from mailing the application to receiving the renewed docs was 26 days. Below is a timeline of events with some notes. 16 Jun/Monday: Mailed DS-82 passport application via EMS (cost less than Bt50) from our local western Bangkok post office to the US Embassy- Bangkok 17 Jun/Tuesday: Embassy received midday per Thai Postal tracking. 18 Jun/Wednesday: Email from embassy saying passport application well-received 26 Jun/Thursday: Email from US State Dept Passport Status website saying application received on 24 Jun…shows same status on website. Please note you need to check the website for the status "and be sure to sign-up for further updates to be also be notified by email" if you want to automatically notified via email of status changes. But keep in mind once the passport center mails your renewed passport back to the embassy you will not see any more updates on that site. 1 Jul/Tuesday: Email from US Passport Application Status website saying renewed passport book and card mailed 30 Jun…shows same status on passport status website. As mentioned once your renewed passport book/card is mailed back to the embassy that is the last update you will see on the State Dept passport status website. You now need to be watching closely the ThaiPostal tracking number (not to be confused with the ThaiPostal order number) provided when you bought the Bt100 return envelope on the ThaiPostalMart website. 11 Jul/Friday: ThaiPostal Courier Pass Back envelope (i.e., the Bt100 envelope you buy to return-mail new passport) containing renewed passport mailed from US Embassy - Bangkok. The tracking number apparently appears in the ThaiPostal tracking system Friday evening/night at around 8:20pm but I didn't notice/check until next day/Saturday morning.....the ThaiPostal tracking did "not" provide an automatic notification like I had it set to do (or maybe it did and I just never noticed it)....a person just needs to manually check for status using the browser or mobile app tracking. I expect the embassy actually mailed it earlier in the day but the ThaiPostal tracking system didn't scan the envelope tracking number until late that day at the local Thai Postal office that services the embassy area of Bangkok. 12 Jul/Saturday: Postman delivers envelope in the morning around 9:30am containing the new passport book "and passport card." Was expecting the renewed card to arrive weeks after the renewed passport via separate envelope...that's the way it use to work, but both were in the envelope. Note regarding the Bt100 return envelope: postman rings the our gate bell….hands the wife the envelope as she just happened to be outside at the time…no signature required. Inside the envelope is the new and old passport books and cards. Was surprised to see the passport card arriving same time as passport book. The envelope is in the large Bt100 Courier Pass Back envelope with a white 100cm by 100cm Thailand Postal Mart address label which contained the postal "tracking number" at the top of the label in bar code and alpha/numeric formats…..said From: US Embassy – Bangkok with the embassy’s full address. The To address was just like entered “when buying the Bt100 envelope online”…. the original envelope order number in bar code and alpha/numeric format at bottom and the dates the envelope was ordered & printed back in mid-June. Also in the upper left hand corner of the envelope was the Embassy’s address in red print like some other red print/lines on the front & back of the envelope….sure appears the envelope was “totally printed by the Thai Postal Mart” and the embassy made no entries….basically just using the From and To address info that the ThaiPostal system contains. As mentioned, everything was “printed” on the envelope….nothing hand written. So, when you place your Bt100 envelope order online be sure to enter your address fully as it sure appears the embassy does “not” make an entries on the Bt100 envelope you ordered….if the envelope has the wrong address it will be because of the address “you” entered incorrectly while ordering the Bt100 envelope. In closing, total time for renewal of passport book and card was 26 days from mailing-out the renewal application to receiving back the book/card. Tracking-wise the ThaiPostal tracking did track the application to the embassy and the Bt100 envelope mailing from the embassy back to our home. The US Embassy did provide an email saying the application was received but no email that the renewed docs were return mailed. The US State Dept Passport Application status did provide online and email status updates. And the ThaiPostal tracking did reflect the return tracking of the Bt100 mailer. All the tracking worked well….the only improvement would be the US Embassy providing an email they have retuned mailed the renewed docs; HOWEVER, in their email where they notify you that your application has been received they do point out to use the ThaiPostal tracking to track the "embassy-to-you return mailing." Yeap, status tracking round-trip does work, to include the embassy-to-you return mailing, but a person needs to be proactive in tracking the status by checking the US Passport Application Status and ThaiPoatal tracking systems.

And please note the feyree stores on Lazada and Shopee have prices that can vary greatly from day to day....from week to week...etc. A charger one day may sell for 9500 baht and the next day/week may go for 6000 baht. And I'm preaching to the choir to those who use Lazada a lot "and collect the discount coupons/vouchers, Coins, etc.," which can result in some big discounts sometimes. Additionally, the Lazada mobile app is much, much better to use compared to the Lazada web browser site due to the additional discounts/coupons/etc., available on the mobile app.

Another way to get a longer charging cable it just to order a customized one where you order the typical 5 meter charging cable with charging gun (connector) and at the same time a few meters more. At the Feyree Official Store on Lazada you can order a 5 meter charging cable with gun AND also buy X-amount more meters of charging cable. Then you send a chat note to the store saying I just placed order for a 5M cable with gun and also a 3 meter extension because you want an 8M cable with gun. Feyree will then customize you cable to where you get an 8 meter long with charging gun cable....no splicing....just one continuous 8 meter long cable instead of the typical 5 meter cable. I got that info from the Lazada Feyree Store rep. The Freyee store is pretty fast in responding to chats Mon-Fri...but if leaving a chat message on Sat-Sun you probably will not get a response till Monday. And they understand and reply in English. And of course you could always just buy some 4 conductor 6mm2 VCT cable (assuming you are using a 7KW single phase charger) for around 150 baht per meter and splice that VCT cable into our current charger cable. Would be the cheapest way to extend your wall charger 5M charging cable although you need to ensure you do it safely and not be bothered by the "patched" look where you did the splice. And that VCT part of the stranded cable would be less flexible than the original EV charging cable because EV charging cable stranded wire uses many more strands per conductor (classified as "fine" stranded" compared to VCT type wiring which has around half as many strands. The more strands per wire conductor makes the cable more flexible. Snapshot of charging cable "extension" by the meter.

The connector gender (i.e., male or female) of a EV charging cable/extension is determined by the "metal pins," repeat, the pins and not the larger plastic housing (the part you grip) containing the pins. The end of a charging cable that plugs into the EV is a female connector and the connector on the EV is a male connector. Take a look a the metal pins on your 7/11/22KW charging cable and you see the metal pins are female....and the metal pins on your EV are male. EV chargers come either with an AC "tethered" cable (i.e.., already attached) like the typical wall chargers we see here in Thailand where you just plug the charging cable female connector into your EV. Or, the EV charger may not have an AC cable (.e., an untethered charger) and you must bring your own cable. (see snapshot below). I guess this untethered approach is popular in some countries as it helps to prevent cable theft, allows the EV driver to use their own short or long charging cable, etc....and actually even here in Thailand some EA Everywhere DC chargers don't have a tethered AC charging cable if you only want to AC slow charge and instead you must plug-in your own AC charging cable if for some reason you only wanted to AC slow charge vs using the CCS2 cable that the charger has tethered for fast DC charging. Snapshot of a Type 2 untethered "charging" cable....one end plugs into the EV and the other end plugs into the charger socket. Now, there is a difference between an EV "charging" cable and an EV "charging extension" cable. If you had a charging cable like pictured above laying around and said to yourself that I will just that cable to "extend" my current wall charger tethered cable, well, it would not work. If would not work because the cable male connector housing is too long to allow it to "fully" plug into the tethered female connector. While the Line/Neutral/PE and CP pins would "partially" connect the PP pins would not connect at all because the plastic housing of the male connector is too long. It not too long if plugging it in a untethered AC charger which has the a different receptacle and it's too long by design to plug into a tethered cable for safety purposes. You can buy charging cable "extensions". Please note below where the Lazada ad says charging "extension" cable and also points out in the image it has a 34mm long male connector housing which would allow it to "fully" mate into the tethered charging cable female connector that would plug into your EV....that is, properly mate with your wall charger female connector. Now, The male connector housing for a "charging" cable that plugs into an untethered charger receptacle is approx 50mm long....that means the plastic housing part is too long to allow the metal pins to fully mate. And below is a "charging" cable.....not to be confused with a "charging extension" cable. If you just visually compared the "male" connector between below and above images you should notice the different lengths of the housing that plugs in.

OK...now I see what you mean. The reason Tesla is ranked 6th on that earlier partial snapshot is because the DLT spreadsheet sorts by "total registered for the year." The spreadsheet they post on their website does not include the sorting controls...it 'smore like a printed copy....and to even use this copy after downloading it you have to adjust column formatting just to see a lot of the numbers. See below which are some snapshots of the DLT spreadsheet for BEVs but this time I included the yearly total column (i.e., the last column) along with the Jan thru Jun columns and the brand column (ie., BYD, ORA, etc). Tesla has had good sales/registrations for May and Jun probably because of big price reductions they started implementing several months ago. However, Jan thru Apr were not that good for Tesla. Heck, Densa (owned by BYD) is breathing on Tesla total sales numbers for the year.

I just got off the phone with SSA Intl Ops 8 July/8:30pm Thailand time...was on hold for about 20 minutes until I got a human. I asked if 7162's have been mailed yet. The rep started off by saying they are mailed-out in May/June. I responded by pointing out this is July and crossfeed indicates no one has received a 7162 yet and maybe the mailing has been delayed. The rep then said they are "being mailed out" or I could download a blank 7162 and mail it in. When I pressed a little more (politely) to if being "mailed out" really meant the mailing was delayed this year I got a Yes. The rep's "tap dance" responses implied to me the SSA didn't want to flat come out and say the 7162 mailing has been delayed for this year (or at least the rep I got didn't want to say such until pressed a little). I expect depending on the rep that answers a person's call might give a little different answer since it involves an annual SSA task not being performed on time for this year...that is, actual mailing of the 7162 in May/Jun......like last year's mailing which occurred 6 June. Oh well, hopefully the 7162 will show up by the end of July. If not I will fill out a blank one and mail it come early August---and then the bar-coded one mailed out by SSA will probably arrive my mailbox next day. 😜😀

Not sure what you mean by "...actual #..." According to DLT stats (a direct cut and paste) above shows actual Tesla registration numbers by month for Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May and Jun.

By out of sync you mean BIG registration increases for May and June I expect it's due to the aggressive price reductions Tesla Thailand has implemented over the past few months. And it's not only price reductions in Thailand but in many other countries as Elon has PO'ed a lot of potential customers with his past bromance with Donald and his former driving of DOGE (Dept of Govt Efficiency). But price reductions can cause people to act like the three monkeys of hear, see, speak no evil when buying a product.

Based on news media reports over the past few months talking DOGE activities/impacts, such as causing delays in contract awards which support govt operations/activities, quite a few govt employees/govt contractors losing their jobs, a backlog of workload, etc., I expect the DOGE turmoil has caused this 7162 mailing delay. SSA operations have definitely been impacted....hopefully the SSA and other govt agencies will be able to get back on the rails over the coming year.

Yea...still kicking according to DLT stats. And BEV's total registrations are definitely on the rise. Last registration month of May was a very good month for BEVs and the latest registration month of June is even better with 12,893 new BEV registrations. And BYD is kicking butt...the pack leader! And when looking at total RY1 category (private vehicle of no more than 7 people...gas/diesel/EV/etc) ) registrations of 45,691 for June, which includes the 12,893 BEVs, that equates to a a little over 28% of new RY! registrations being BEVs. Snapshot of Total and Top 10 BEVs registrations Jan thru Jun 2025....the first yellow highlighted number is total BEVs registration for June 2025...then the Top 10 BEVs numbers are listed below that. Neta number for June also highlighted which EOW used in his chart above.

https://autolifethailand.tv/byd-seal-5-dm-i-plug-in-hybrid-8aug-2025-thailand/

When did you officially file a SSA 44 form...that is the date SSA received it. Say add 10 days to the date you mailed it. What date do you esimate? The reason I ask is the reason the Palm Beach may have said no reduction till next year if your SSA 44 is approved is because you may have missed the window for filing a SSA 44 for the current year (which I think from quick review of the SSA POMS would have been end of March 2025) which means the SSA 44 (if approved) would not result in an IRMAA reduction until this coming 1 Jan 2026. Now if filing the SSA 44 before the end of March 2025 that could have resulted in the IRMMA reduction effective 1 Jan 2025. Yea, I think from quick review of the SSA POMS and the IRMAA notice you would have got in the mail in late 2024 that it "may" be you may have missed the SSA 44 filing "window/cut off" for it to effect/reduce/eliminate your 2025 IRMAA rate. But I'm not sure....it's just the all the lawyer talk in the SSA POMS has me thinking that right now. Good luck...hope you get the IRMAA reduced "before" it would automatically go down due to lower income reflected on future filed federal tax return. Cheers.

From SSA POMS website. POMS are the regulations/instructions that the SSA follows in administration of the SSA/Medicare program. https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0601101050

I got an answer form the US Embassy-Bangkok few days ago. Basically if renewing your passport book "and" passport card at the same time you must include both your book and card in the renewal package. If renewing your book "only," then you only need to include the book. If "only" renewing your card you only need to include the card. So, if you have a passport book and passport card which expire at different times....like maybe years apart like my book and card.... if your card is say expiring next year (like mine) but your book does not expire for numerous more years (like mine) then when your renew your card you only need to mail in card--no requirement to include the book. That's good as I wouldn't want to be without my passport book for a month or two just because I need to renew my passport card. Vice versa if your card is still good for many more years but your book is expiring soon then you only need to mail in your book if only renewing the book. However, if your passport book and card have expiration years apart because you got them at different times you can renew both "at any time" like renewing both at the same time and when the renewed book and card are issued their dates will now be synced. For that renewal you will need to include both your current book and card.

From some googling on this subject/some of your questions the "Thai Postal Courier Pass Back Service/Envelope" does include EMS tracking. Below is a picture I googled-up...found it on a Facebook page. The Thai and English text I circled says: " German Embassy Passport Delivery Service" in Thai (according to Google Translate) and then in English "Courier Pass Back Service." Don't know why they show a Thai passport laying on the envelope...and notice the EMS sticker/tracking number. And then below the picture is a Google AI description. And please note the Courier Pass Back Service is just not just for the US Embassy related docs but the Courier Pass Back Service can apparently be bought for other purposes/for most any organization/person that needs to provide a return mailing envelope. Snapshot from a Facebook page. Google AI Overview

Regarding the ThaiPostal tracking number for the return mailer (i.e., when the embassy mails the renewed passport back to you), while the "tracking number" is contained within your order for the mailer when your passport arrived back in the mailer how did the tracking number appear on that mailer? Was it on a separate sticker with bar code and number like when using EMS.....was it just a number maybe with a bar code on a preprinted address label.....or was it XYZ? Just wondering how easy or hard it might be for the ThaiPostal "not" to do scans on the mailer based on how the tracking number appears on the mailer. I can sure see that if the tracking number does not get scanned when it begins its trek on its way to you that it will not appear in the ThaiPostal tracking system as it will continue to show as "data not found" in the tracking system. When a person uses EMS like mailing from the post office the clerk sticks an EMS tracking label containing a number & bar code on the envelope and then scans it which loads that tracking number into their system as being received/mailed from that post office. And you can see such within the ThaiPostal online tracking within a few hours and sometimes immediately. That separate EMS label kinda stands out and acts as an attention getter for the postal carrier to do scans along the way. But if this return mailed does not have a separate tracking label maybe that sets the stage for scans not to be done....doesn't catch the attention of the postal carrier to do a scan. Well, I'l get a chance to personally see how the tracking numbers appears (or doesn't appear) on the mailer around the end of next week when the wife's renewed passport should have arrived back from the US passport center to the Bangkok Embassy and the embassy remails it to her in the mailer. I'll continue to do daily checks of the ThaiPostal tracking system to see if tracking data appears.. Time will tell.

Yeap...understand. That's why a person would need to check the tracking number daily at the ThaiPostal web site or using their mobile app. I use their mobile app. It's just one of a half dozen shipment tracking mobile apps like DHL, USPS, etc., I have on my phone. I already have the wife's return mailer tracking number loaded the ThaiPostal app that supposedly will give me an automatic notification once the embassy remails the passport. But I won't solely rely on the automatic notification and just try to remember to check daily. Literally just takes 10 seconds or so to check using the mobile app. Now if the embassy don't use the mailer that was bought for some reason and instead uses another mailer then I expect the current tracking number will be useless for tracking.

But you could have tracked the item by getting the tracking number from your ThaiPostalMart online account when you placed the Bt100 remailer order. There it shows your order number "and the tracking number." I don't know why the tracking number is not shown on the order confirmation/notice....but as mentioned the tracking number is shown in the online order transaction info.

I expect the Embassy expects the person to track the Bt100 mailer tracking number as that would tell when they mailed it. Did you use that return mailer tracking number (not to be confused with the order number)? When looking at other embassy websites in other countries and even the State Dept general instructions they say to use the return/prepaid mailer tracking number. I expect the State Dept/embassy figure by telling folks to use the return mailer tracking number then that's one less task they need to accomplish....save a few minutes/X-amount of manhours of work I guess.