Pib

I called the first number below....they said yes they are open....reopened today/8 Aug.

Just their way of documenting the different accounting transaction...and yea, it can be concerning when first signing up with them and wonder if you are getting charged twice...but you are not as you said. They first check to see if you are on a monthly Automatic Renewal where your credit card is used automatically recharge your wallet by X-amount charged....or if using balance in your wallet and you add money when you want to. If using the Wallet Balance method (like both of us use) they first "sweep/load" the funds from your wallet balance and then do another accounting step shortly after of actually spending those funds to pay your monthly renewal. Yea, at first it can make it look like you are being charged twice but you are only being charged once as identified on the "Funds Spent" code line. Yea, probably too much info for the customer....but that they accounting method they are using. I have two UltraMobile SIMs....I use them occasionally and only use them in Wifi Calling mode....works fine.....always connect....always get the SMSs. Your problem in sometimes not getting SMSs is probably related to a Wifi Calling setup issue with your particular phone model or intermittent Wifi connection with your phone versus any problem being with the Ultramobile SIM.

It will not p+++ them off. When the new system first started my first submittal was rejected.....I resubmitted online and it was also rejected. I then did a mail-in and it was approved....took about a month to get the new 90 day receipt back from CW. When it was time to report again, I tried online again and it was approved....3 months later I tried again and got approved again....I'm on a roll now. After that approval I got my passport renewed, stamps transferred to new passport, but when doing my next online report it was rejected.....that's when I went and did an in-person report so hopefully I can get back to receiving online approvals. So, right now I'm batting 2 out of 5 for online approval attempts. I sure hope with my new passport good for another 10 years and doing the in-person report will lead to many years of online approvals---one can hope. A list of my online 90 day "online" attempts.... 2 of 5 success rate.

If you have a smartphone install the USPS and Thai Postal mail tracking apps. Both work good. The USPS app will give more tracking details once the mail enters the U.S. than the Thai Postal app which skimps on details once entering the U.S.

Jamaica in the Queens area of NYC is where the USPS International Service Center/Data Processing Center/Customs is located. Above indicates your Registered Airmail got stuck in the mud from 23 to 28 July (5 days)...probably in Customs....before being cleared/released back to the USPS for continuation of its trek to Wilkes Barr. And here's the kicker, the envelope may have arrived JFK "before" 7/23/22 and just went MIA/into stealth mode giving the appearance it's still on its way from Bangkok to the U.S. when in fact it was just in limbo/no man's land/marching-in-place/on-hold status at JFK until the Service Center/Customs scanned it to show it was at JFK. Supposedly there at five USPS International Service Centers for the continental U.S. and the NYC center handles the most incoming foreign mail among those five.

Good to have this feedback/crossfeed on mailing times to the U.S.....by register airmail and regular airmail. With Registered Airmail now so expensive like Bt325 for a standard sized envelope in comparison to Bt49 for Regular Airmail it might make some more comfortable in using Regular Airmail. Personally, I've never had a problem (knock on wood--my head) in regular airmail reaching the final U.S. address in two to three weeks. Hope more folks post their Registered Airmail USPS tracking results. Comparing my 2022 results for the Regular Airmail test mail (my earlier post), the current status of your Registered Airmail, and my 2019 experience/tracking of test Registered Mail, it seems both Regular and Registered Airmail get from Bangkok to a USPS International Service Center (where mail first enters the U.S.) at the same speed. Then at that International Service Center is where mail can possibly get stuck in the mud for a while. However, based on a couple of Registered Airmail tracking results for 2022 it appears Registered Airmail is not getting stuck in "U.S. Customs in NYC" for 10 to 20 days (yes, 10 to 20 days) which I experienced in four Register Airmail test mails in early 2019. At times I thought the Registered Airmail had went MIA before one day it would pop-up on tracking showing it at an USPS International Service Center. These test mails were standard sized envelopes with one piece of paper inside mailed at the same time at the same Bangkok post office counter. And if I remember right one or two other folks make posts in this thread and a related 7162 where they experienced the same "long" Registered Airmail mailing time in years past. Hopefully, the USPS and Customs (which share facilities at International Service Centers) have resolved whatever problem in years past that caused Registered Airmail envelopes arriving at the Jamaica (NYC) International Service Center/Customs to seemly just get stuck in the mud for 10 to 20 days but Regular Airmail did not get stuck. I had a theory "in 2019" that since many package/parcels are sent via Registered Mail due to their value, which almost always get a Customs review for X-days/weeks, that Registered envelopes may have been mixed in the same large shipping air container used for Registered mail (parcels or envelopes) and couldn't continue its trek until the "entire container" of Registered Parcels (which also contained Register envelopes) was cleared for release by Customs back to the USPS. And since it took a while to open/check/x-ray parcels/packages that created a healthy delay in releasing container. But Regular Airmail envelopes were not mixed with Registered Airmail envelopes and the Regular mail envelopes zipped thru Customs which allowed that mail to immediately continue its trek to the final address. Just my theory back in 2019 when my Regular and Registered Airmail test mailings showed Regular mail arriving in about two weeks but Registered mail taking a LOT longer apparently due to getting stuck in the mud at the USPS International Service Center.

Yea, when I did my in-person report to CW earlier this week it only took approx 30 minutes "within" the immigration office; however, I had around a one hour drive time each way in the heavy Bangkok traffic. I was surprised it only took approx 30 minutes within the CW office because past in-person visits the in-office time was around 90 minutes...LOTS of people lined up to report. I guess the new online reporting system is working a lot better and for many more people than the older systems which is very significantly decreasing in-person reporting I could never submit a report on the older systems as they wouldn't let me get past page 1 of data entry before telling me something is amiss....please report to your immigration office. So, I predominately did mail-in reports with an occasional in-person report. Fortunately the new system does not slam the door on a person for data entry....a person can easily submit a report and it appears many more people get approval. Heck, I had two approvals under my belt on the new system until I renewed my passport last month (and had immigration transfer stamps from the old to new passport last month also) which then caused a report rejection on my most recent online report attempt about a week ago which in turn drove my in-person report. Hopefully, my next online report will get back on the "approved band wagon" since I did the in-person report....the immigration officer said it should/will....time will tell.

Some test mailing results I just posted over in another 7162 related thread.

I just completed a test mailing of "Regular Airmail" to an address in Los Angeles CA and another address in Houston TX...on the day of arrival the envelopes are scanned and I get an email notification of arrival. I wanted to do a test in 2022 as my last tests were in 2019 as I talked in above post. Each Regular Airmail costs Bt49....Registered Airmail would have been Bt325 per envelope. Well, the envelope from Bangkok to LA took 10 days to arrive....and the envelope from Bangkok to Houston took 18 days. Based on tracking I did in 2019 the envelope going to the LA address would have entered the U.S. at the USPS International Service Center/Customs in LA....once released it just had a short trip of probably a day to the final address also in the LA metro area. As mentioned earlier, total time was 10 days. Also based on tracking I did in 2019 the letter going to Houston would have entered the U.S. at the USPS International Service Center/Customs in NYC....once released it would then start its trek from NYC to Houston which according to the USPS takes 1 to 5 business days for First Class mail but I figure 5 to 7 business days is more accurate. As mentioned earlier, total time was 18 days So, if I use an estimate of 5 days from NYC to Houston that means the envelope arrived NYC from Bangkok in 13 days (18-5)...and if it had been a 7162 going to next door Wilkes Barre PA that would have probably taken another 2 days. So from this test I'm estimate a "Regular" Airmail (not Registered) takes around 15 days to go from Bangkok to Wilkes Barre....or let's just say two weeks which is probably easier to remember. This two week time is pretty close to your 9 day time for the "Registered Airmail." These 2022 test mailing results are pretty close to my 2019 results of basically it takes around two weeks for Regular Airmail from Bangkok to reach a U.S. east or west coast address like Wilkes Barre...and 2.5 weeks to reach a middle U.S. address. So, since the wife and I mailed our 7162 via Regular Airmail on 8 July and using a 15 day mail time to Wilkes Barre that means our 7162s should have arrived the Wilkes Barre o/a 23 July. Hopefully they did arrive and we will not be on the SSA second/follow-up mail list....time will tell.

Goes to show how different immigration office implement/manage online 90 day reporting....and how some offices process online reports in a few hours (or less) and others take days.

USD-THB transfer using Bank Debit (ACH transfer) for funding. The majority of the increase is an increase of the core percentage fee.....increasing from 0.70% to 0.83%.

I just hope for my next online report is approved since I did the in-person report today to comply with the immigration requirement regarding a new passport. The immigration officer stated it will work next time....famous last words. I hope it does work out but I will not be able to find out until late Oct which is when I can submit my next online report. It will be my luck whatever the officer was doing today to update system to reflect my new passport she may have made a typo somewhere that will be enough to cause a rejection. Ah, that's negative thinking...hopefully it will start working again for me on the next report in late Oct...time will tell.

And I found the immigration guidance that says such about an in-person report needed after getting a new passport......I edited my earlier post to show that guidance.

The rejection (disapproval) is because you got a new/renewed passport. Typically when you get a new/renewed passport you will need to do an in-person 90 day report (mail-in might work also)....it's just a requirement the CW office (and maybe other offices) have....just how they update their 90 day report system with the latest info. At one time I remember actually reading it an Thai govt immigration website but can't find it anymore....I think it was somewhere that explained the new online system when it initially came online. I just experienced the same problem. About a month ago I got my renewed/new U.S. passport...and immediately went to CW immigration to have my stamps transferred from the old to new passport.....all went OK...that was all done and dusted about a month ago. Last Sunday I submitted my 90 day report online after getting the email notice from immigration it was time to submit again. When submitting the report on Sunday I figured I was "probably" going to get a rejection after having two online approvals based on my previous passport. And sure enough on Tuesday I got the email rejection from CW immigration....neither checking online or the email stated "why" it was rejected. So, today/Thurdday I went to CW to do an in-person report...in and out in 30 minutes. When I handed the officer my 90 day report at the 90 day counter I also pointed out my online report had just been disapproved without reason given after having two approvals. The officer just politely waved me off as she processed my new report. When she handed me my new 90 day receipt she then explained the online disapproval/rejection was because I had a new/renewed passport. She also said I should have no problem getting online approval for my next report since the in-person report had updated the system to reflect the new passport. Now one would think when a person goes to immigration to transfer stamps from the old to new passport that process would also update the online 90 day reporting system with the new passport number, but apparently it does not....it takes (or may take) an in-person report...and maybe a mail-in report will also work. UPDATE: Found where it says if you get a new passport a in-person report is required. Got to below immigration website and click the TM47 icon and its talked in the popup instructions....below is a partial snapshot. https://www.immigration.go.th/#serviceonline

I happened to be at CW immigration today and when I walked downstairs where the bank is a person can easily smell that "burnt" smell around the bank. It was still closed/roped off and a half dozen or so people inside working to cleanup. One lady was trying to dry out some paperwork so maybe automatic sprinklers went off. Through the glass windows I snapped a picture of the equipment room where apparently the fire was........it's more of a network equipment and main panel circuit breaker room.

Of course he could legally lose his home regardless of his desire to pay in stages different from the loan contract. Your neighbor signed a loan contract with the bank to pay off the loan in monthly installments of X-amount of baht per month (a.k.a., stages). The neighbor is pretty much at the mercy of the bank. The neighbor could always ask to restructure the loan (which I expect he has already done) but it's solely up to the bank to approve such a loan restructure. Otherwise, the bank will resort to court action/repossession of the home time.....pretty much standard procedure worldwide for a "Non Performing Loan (NPL)" which means the debtor has not been meeting the scheduled loan payments.

Even if they had dual servers with Raid storage setup, if the room and its associated electrical wiring was damaged "and/or the cause of the fire" I expect they will be completely reworking/rewiring the server area before they fire-up/plug-in their server(s) again.

She really don't look Thai...maybe had some plastic surgery? And the news article says she was pretty much dirt poor and ate donated food....but still had money to fund a college education/bachelor degree? Her life story may not be as destitute as it's being told in the press.

From looking thru this and the other 7162 related threads for those that identified the date the "7162 was generated" and "when received" it seems everyone said their form was generated 27 June and the earliest anyone received it in Thailand was o/a 8 July which is when the wife and I received ours here in Bangkok along with some other folks. Assuming the forms were mailed same or next day of generation 27/28 June (which could be a big assumption) for people in Bangkok to get the form o/a 8 July but forks upcountry like in Udon o/a 30 July that means it took and extra three weeks to get from Bangkok to Udon "if", repeat, "if" all forms generated o/a 27 June did get mailed out at the same time and all entered Thailand about the same time like a day or two before 8 July. Ah, since there are no date stamps on the incoming envelope (or at least not on the ones the wife and I received) to indicate when the form was actually mailed in the U.S./received in Thailand we can only make assumptions whether all the forms were actually mailed o/a 27 June and if mail takes an approximately another 3 weeks to reach upcountry Thailand.

I didn't get any vaccine certificate issued at Bang Sue...didn't ask for me...as I just waited until the jab appears in Mor Prom same or next day. All four of my jabs have quickly appeared in Mor Prom. I guess a person can ask/wait for a vaccine certificate at Bang Sue but I didn't....and I never have at the other two Thailand locations I have got COVID jabs. Now StayinThailand2Much posted above he waited around at BangSue to get a certificate of the jab....maybe he can provide more info on getting a certificate at Bang Sue. What I've been doing is after getting a jab and that jab appears in Mor Prom I then book appt in Mor Prom app to get my Yellow Vaccine Passport nd International QR Certificate updated at the Bamrasnaradura Infectious Disease Institute (BIDI) in Nanthaburi which is pretty easy and fast for me to get to from my western Bangkok home. BIDI has a fancy name but really it's just another govt hospital but also has a department that specializes in the really nasty infectious diseases. The BIDI issues/updates vaccine passports on the 5th floor.....and when you get the vaccine passport updated it automatically updates your online International Certificate/QR code. I've got an appt for early August for BIDI to update my vaccine passport/Int'l Certificate for the 4th jab (2nd booster) I got at Bang Sue almost two weeks ago. It only costs Bt50 and normally I'm in and out of BIDI within 15 minutes. I also went BIDI about a month ago to get a new vaccine passport which reflected my new passport. To initiate/view/printout your Int'l Certificate and/or book an appt at a location to get/update a Yellow Vaccine paper passport just logon onto Mor Prom and on the main screen press the icon in the lower left hand corner titled "International Certificate" which will pull up another page showing your Int'l Certificate/QR (if you have requested one/got one) and you can also book an appt to get/update an Int'l Certificate/QR code. And if you don't want the Yellow Vaccine passport there is a selection just to get an Int'l Certificate/QR which I don't think requires you to go anywhere as it's free until the end of 2022 and can all be done online.

She could look closer to home to make a big discovery like the alternate universe of Thailand where many laws of the known universe do not apply.

yea...but the Thai appeals process moves pretty fast...10-15 years max. By then all the alleged crooks should be dead.

Take a look at my below June 2020 post (and chart contained within that post) where I posted the results of tracking/comparing the IDD exchange rate to the TT Buying/ACH exchange rate over a 12 month period/12 monthly SSA pension payments. And although I was saying in above post the crossover was around $1150...based on review of my older posts I should have been saying around $1,125. And once again for all listening in, the U.S. govt/its contractor bank determines the IDD exchange rate several business days before actual payment (i..e, they convert your dollars pension payment to baht several days before actual payment)....and that IDD is not posted anywhere....you must determine it based on your actual net monthly payment in dollars compared to baht received adjusted for fees. Whereas, when you get payment via the ACH method that exchange rate is determined by Bangkok Bank on the day of posting to your Bangkok Bank acct. ***************************************** See below post for explanation....lot of words.

I directly login using the credentials before the SSA switch to requiring ID.me or Login.gov for new accts created on/after 18 Sep 2021. However, if I desire I can also login to my SSA online acct via ID.me since I had to get identity verification via ID.Me to login into my IRS acct as the IRS said sometime this summer people will need to create new login accts via ID.me...and they will be adding Login.gov sometime soon. Anyway, if you pass IRS Identity Verification with ID.me to login to your IRS acct, by passing that Identity Verification it will also allow you to login other U.S. govt sites where ID.me is used. Now some U.S. govt sites like some VA website have less stringent identity verification requirements so qualifying to log into a certain VA benefits site probably will not verify you to also login into your IRS or SSA online acct. I need to point out that it is "not" ID.me or Login.gov that sets "all" the Identity Verification requirements to login into a certain website like the PBGC....it's the agency/company like PBGC that tells ID.me/Login.gov the "core" Identity Verification requirements.. Like maybe the person must have a U.S. landline or mobile number which can be queried...and that query comes back saying the number is assigned to Mr Wpcoe of 123 Groundhog Street, Lick Skillet, Kentucky. But for such info to come back from a phone number query that means the person must has a fully registered landline or a "postpaid" mobile number. Preaching to the choir when I say a lot of people don't use postpaid mobile numbers but use "prepaid" mobile U.S. mobile numbers which may not reflect any info on you such as name or address. And landlines will probably only be registered in one person's name who lives in the household. The query can also determine if a number is "real" landline or mobile number versus a "VOIP" landline or mobile number like Magic Jack, Google Voice, etc. Other core requirements that the agency/company may require is scan/upload of certain identity docs like a U.S. drivers license/state ID, U.S. passport, a utility electric/gas bill showing your address, a bank statement showing your address, or other type docs used to help confirm your identity and where you live. Agencies/companies like the IRS and probably SSA require stringent verification while other agencies/companies may require much less...may only require a certain membership number/card which a company/school may issue out. Now although the "core" Identity Verification requirements will be set by the agency/company/school/etc., ID.me and Login.gov have different "capabilities" in being able to verify people. Login.gov which is a GSA U.S. govt agency relies on using a U.S. mobile or landline number along with a U.S. drivers license for strict verification simply because it makes it a lot easier for them to verify you. Login.gov has been saying for years they plan to also allow U.S. passports in the near future vs just U.S state IDs but that has yet to occur....typical U.S. govt agency taking forever to develop a capability which probably requires additional funding from Congress. However, ID.Me, a civilian company, has different policies and more procedures to verify a person's identity....they will even do a video chat to verify you. That is, after you have attempted their automated methods like face scan trying to match your face to your passport/drivers license photo if those methods fail (which do for many people....did for me since my passport photo was 9 years old at the time) then a video chat can be done to hopefully clear-up the identity verification obstacle---that's what I had to do...and it worked out well for me....your results may verify. But since the PBGC only uses Login.gov for their identity verification and login service and assuming the PBGC has strict core identity verification requirements combined with Login.gov wanting to use a U.S. postpaid mobile number or real landline (versus prepaid mobile and/or VOIP) in the verification process that can make it really hard to get verified with Login.gov. Now over the last few months the U.S. govt Thrift Saving Program (TSP) switched to using only Login.gov and since I had a TSP acct I figured I was going to be screwed in ever being able to log onto my TSP acct again since I probably couldn't pass Login.gov verification requirements since I no longer had a valid U.S. drivers license, have prepaid phone numbers, etc. HOWEVER, the TSP set core identity requirements which didn't absolutely require me to have a U.S. landline line or U.S. mobile postpaid number....the TSP desired that but if a person didn't have such Login.gov offered me a Q&A test based on credit reporting agency data....just like how sites like SSA, IRS, etc., use to verify a person. I was asked a series of questions which supposedly only I would know the answer to and if I answered them right I got verified...I passed that Q&A and login.gov verified me for login to my TSP acct. This is an example of where the agency/company you are trying to get verified for set the "core" identity verification" requirements and not the Identity Verification service such as Login.gov/ID.me. Heck, you or me could setup some website and decided we wanted to use Login.gov/ID.Me to verify the new members for login.....well, Login.gov/ID.me would first ask us what the core identify verification requirements must be...once we identify those requirements that's what Login.gov/ID.me would use to verify us. If we said we wanted identity verification based only on have a U.S driver license and a real U.S. phone number then that's what Login.gov/ID.me would use......if we set less strict core requirement not requiring upload of any ID docs but requiring a Q&A test then that what Login.gov/ID.me would use. Yeap, I now another person here in Thailand who ran into the same PBGC and Login.gov problem. And until the PBGC possibly offers more ways to verify your identity with them and/or Login.gov starts offering more ways to verify identity you probably will not be able to log onto your PBGC online acct again. Yeap, once moving outside the U.S. it can make a person feel like a second class citizen back in their home country....and lord knows Thailand can make a farang feel like a second class human/walking ATM sometimes.

Was that first attempt years ago before SSA started using ID.Me or Login.gov for identify verification, OR was it recently using ID.Me or Login.gov? And if ID.Me or Login.gov which one did you try? ID.Me seems to be more flexible in verifying identity since they can use a video chat to assist in overcoming some identity verification obstacles....like maybe the one you ran into. But Login.gov does not offer video chats to assist with identity verification and also require a valid (not expired) U.S. state ID/driver's license which people who live overseas may no longer have...login.gov will not accept a U.S. passport like ID.me will. Now in the good ol' days the SSA didn't use ID.me or Login.gov along with uploading identity docs like a drivers license, passport, etc., to verify identity/create a SSA online acct. Instead, the SSA used a Q&A process using credit reporting agencies (i.e., TransUnion, Equifax, Experian) data with no upload of identity docs. But identity verification is tougher now days compared to years back....and each person's identity verification can easily be different based on their life story/address history/work history/available IDs/etc...etc...etc.