Pib

Yea....same for me regarding getting verified via ID.me a couple years ago which I had to do to maintain my IRS online acct. After providing the necessary IDs a video call was required to finalize the verification....as you know it a free video link....kinda like doing a video call over LINE, Facebook, etc. Now as far as I know login.gov will not do a video call when there is still some question about provided IDs. ID.me is better to get verified on IMO simply because they will take the extra step to do a video call to confirm identity when there is still some question/concern about ID(s) provided.

If you are talking about a weblink to log into your SSA Online Acct you shouldn't need a VPN....I don't use a VPN when logging in from Thailand. I use to use a U.S. VPN IP connection but found out the SSA Online Acct works "faster/smoother" when not using a VPN connection even thru my VPN connection is fast. But to log into the SSA Online acct you will first need to have an acct which means you would first have to pass the identity verification thru ID.me or Login.gov. OR, if you already had an online acct created several years ago you can still log onto the SSA acct directly without going thru the ID.me or Login.gov verification process...when SSA switched to ID.me and Login.gov for identity verification there was a big uproar about it and the SSA ended up grandfathering folks who had SSA online accts already to not have to go thru the identity verification process again. They could still go thru the identity verification process again if they desired in order to also access SSA Online acct via the ID.me or Login.gov portals.

OP, I think you are saying you are trying to complete Identity Verification thru ID.me or Login.gov which you must do before you can create a SSA Online account? Which one are you dealing with. You are not dealing directly with SSA. Highly doubtful SSA Manila can help you...and you'll be very lucky to get them on the phone.

Yeap...I expect zero maintenance is occurring....they probably just wanted to shut it completely down during the Makha Bucha Holiday period even though 23 Feb/Friday is the day before the holiday period begins....expect some govt agencies got a head start on the holiday which runs thru 26 Feb/Monday. With the reporting system shutdown immigration officers will not have a big backlog of reports to start reviewing the morning of 27 Feb/Tuesday. See it's a workload reducer at the customer's expense.

The Atto ADAS system works fine, but I have turned off the Lane Keeping function in the Infotainment system as I didn't like getting the occasional notification that I was too close/went over a lane separation line...or shoulder lane line. The road lanes in Thailand, especially in cities/towns like Bangkok, are narrow and often poorly painted well which can easily cause a Lane Keeping warning where there is really no danger. If you watch any Atto Youtubes say made about a year ago before a software update allowed you to turn off all or some Lane Keeping function you would see some people griping about Lane Keeping notifications....but those gripes seem to have disappeared in recent Youtube reviews after the software update which tweaked that Lane Keeping function and also allowed people to turn it off if desired. I have been very pleased with my Atto over my 4 months of ownership/driving. No problems to speak of...only a few "minor and brief" issues talked below: - when I first got the Atto when hitting certain bumps at certain speeds I got a small "squeak" in the rear seat area if no one was setting in the seat....I took to car back to the dealership one afternoon to point-out the problem....their mechanics immediately started working on it...no appointment needed....they removed the seat...reinserted the seat...tightened all the seat bolts....took a total of about an hour...no charge...free....and the squeak was gone. - the morning after the car underwent its 1st scheduled warranty checkup which was the 3 month/5,000Km checkout in late Dec 2023 (which was really only a bunch of visual checks with the car on the ground and on a lift with some OBD2 data checks) when the wife and I began a trip the next morning about 40Km into the trip I noticed a low volume squeal in the front brakes when pressing them....not very loud...just a low squeal like you would hear when brake pads are worn out after many tens of thousand of kilometers. I decided to abort the trip....did a U-turn to go back to Bangkok but right after that U-turn the squeal was gone. So, we did another U-turn and completed our planned approx 200Km trip. That was two months and over 3,000Km ago. A visual inspection didn't show any problems. Maybe some road dirt got lodged between the pads and rotor and somehow that U-turn cleared the dirt...squeal gone...hasn't returned. - and final minor issue was right after the OTA update from Ver 1.61 to Ver 7 several months ago the interior door lights (i.e., the pretty multicolor lights you can turn on of desired) had a glitch where the light on the right rear back seat door was on while the other 3 doors lights was off as they were suppose to be....and that door light shouldn't had been on as the interior doors lights were turned off in the infotainment settings and when turned off it turns "all" doors light off...not any door of your choosing. To clear this glitch I turned the doors light setting on and then immediately off...that rear door light then went off. Problem hasn't come back. I figure it was just a OTA software update glitch that cleared itself by me turning the interior door lights setting on and then off again...probably cleared some configuration file. Yeap...knock on wood (my head) but above three minor issues are the only driving issues I have experienced after 4 months/over 8,400 Km of driving my Atto.

Update: Above is a partial quote of my earlier post talking my Atto range. Today the wife and I did a 218Km trip with the vehicle set to ECO mode...I wanted to do a range test in ECO mode vs Normal mode....in Normal mode I was getting around a 422Km range as talked above. The trip was mostly (around 80%) on major 4-6 lanes wide highways and the remaining 20% on rural two lane roads where you have to watch-out for kids on motorcycles, dogs, cows, chickens, snakes, just anything and everything, etc. While on the major highways I kept the speed in the 85-90KmH ballpark whenever possible and only got close to 100KmH for maybe 5 minutes during the whole trip...and on the rural roads the speed was in the 60KmH ballpark. A/C set to 22C. I did the whole trip in "ECO" mode as I wanted to see how much better range I got in comparison to "Normal" mode where I get around 422Km real world range. During this trip I used 47% of my charge...had 53% charge remaining and Atto remaining range guess-o-meter estimated I had remaining range of 255Km (that was a Dynamic range setting estimation) which means my Atto should have a total real world range in "ECO" mode of 473Km which is pretty close to the Atto NEDC range rating of 480Km and even better than its WLTP rating of 420Km. Now when I did a calculation where I extrapolated/used a ratio formula to estimate if I used 47% charge to go 218Km then using 100% charge I should be able to go X-kilometers that formula gave me a total range of 464Km....9Km less than where the Atto guess-o-meter indicated 473Km total range. Of course this 464Km assumes the vehicle charge percentage indicator is fairly linear over its 0-100% range. Example each 10% gets pretty close to the same range....the top 50% gets pretty much the same range as the bottom 50%, etc. And based on my 4 months of driving the Atto the parentage indicator is pretty linear. So, barring a range test where I used ECO mode all the way to zero percent charge (or pretty durn close to it), my real world range today in ECO mode seemed to be in the 473Km to 464Km ballpark which is definitely better than the 422Km I have been getting in Normal mode. Normal mode gives a person noticeably more power when accelerating quickly. If using the lower number of 464Km in ECO mode then that's around 10% better (higher) range than if driving in Normal mode.

According to below reddit thread it seems one backlight for the Seal is the Norm....and the second light only comes on when turning on the Fog lights. In the times I was at my BYD dealership before/after buying my Atto I would see brand new Seals being backed into the garage to be prepped for handover to the owner soon and only one backup light worked. One time I pointed that out to a dealership rep as the Seal was backup and the rep just looked at me like I was stupid....expect he knew nothing was wrong...it was just I didn't know the Seal really only has one backup light. Turn your Fog light switch on and see if that other light comes on. Now for the Atto it has two backup lights and also a separate fog light.

In my transition from ICEV to EV I have one overriding memory and that was my test drive of a BYD Atto (which I later bought). It was not the memory of the entire test drive but those moments during the test drive that I pressed way down on the fuel pedal and felt the power/acceleration of the EV....internally I was thinking "Wow!!" I was surprised at the amount of power...much more than the 2009 Toyota Fortuner 3.0L diesel I have been driving for the past 15 years. I just had no real idea of the power/torque/acceleration that an EV had until I did that test drive...personally experienced it...personally felt it.....and all of this get-up-and-go with a 75% fuel cost savings over my Fortuner.

My BYD Atto 3 has a NEDC range rating of 480Km and a WLTP rating of 420Km. If I use the reported consumption number in the Atto's infotainment system of 12.6KWH per 100Km after 8,215Km that equates to a range of 460Km based on my travels so far with the 1st 3,000Km being done in ECO mode (taking it easy) and since then in Normal mode just doing my normal style of driving which is not aggressive...hard to be aggressive in Bangkok traffic. If I had stayed in ECO mode all the time and always took it very easy it would probably make the 480Km NEDC rating. The first 3,000Km was in ECO mode with Standard Regen...since then up to the current 8,215KM it's been in Normal mode continuing to use Standard Regen. I rarely use Sport mode....I probably haven't used Sport mode totaling more than a few minutes since having the Atto. And I don't use the High Regen setting because it slows me down too fast when stopping in city driving and makes my head lurk forward a little when slowing down...just don't feel comfortable to me and can actually makes it harder to keep a safe distance between the car in front of you "and the one right behind you" in bumper-to-bumper Bangkok traffic. Slowing down too fast in bumper-to-bumper traffic is not recommended unless you want to spend some time with the driver that rear-ends you as both of you wait for the insurance reps to arrive the accident. Too many drivers in Thailand make little to no effort to maintain a safe distance from the vehicle in front of them....that's why we see so many rear end chain collisions in the great Bangkok area and many locations in Thailand. Plus that guy in Oz who does a lot of Atto Youtubes did regen braking tests with his Atto set to Standard and High....using OBD2 data he determined both settings generate the same amount of regen power over time. That is, although the High setting may generate say 30Kwh/second for say 2 seconds while braking totaling 60KwH total over those 2 seconds since the Standard setting is less aggressive taking longer to stop say over 4 seconds it would generate 15Kwh/second totaling 60Kwh....same amount of total regen power over time going back into the battery whether in Standard or HIgh Regen. Summary: either Standard or High regen setting will generate the same amount of total energy over time in the Atto....like total regen power between your recharges....can't speak to other models. My travels are pretty much here in western Bangkok, bordering Nonthaburi and Nakorn Pathom provinces....pretty much a combination of city (very heavy traffic in the Bangkok area) and provincial driving. That is, daily grocery/shopping runs, a weekly round trip visit of 110Km to the MIL in Nakorn Pathom, some driving into central, highrise Bangkok, and an occasional reaching out about 200Km one way from my western Bangkok home. Driving speed pretty much stays under/at 90KmH except for the one trip to Pattaya where I was doing 120KmH for much of the way on the Bangkok-Chonburi/#7 tollway. The A/C is always on at 22C. However, I don't believe the EV consumption level reported is truly accurate (i.e., that 12.6Kwh over my 8,215km driving so far and my own tracking/calculation of real world range is 422Km if staying below 90KmH. Make a trip where you are speeding along at 120KmH and the range is going to be right at 400Km. When you start speeding along above 90KwH a significant amount more energy is being eaten. But yea, my Atto gets the 420Km WLTP range in general purpose city and highway driving. But that 480Km NEDC range rating could probably be reached with "very easy" ECO mode driving and keeping the speed significantly below 90KmH all the time....that is, limited to pretty much city driving, going very easy on the fuel pedal, slow acceleration from the stop lights, etc....just very easy driving.

Yeap....BYD is on the attack.....price cutting mania to steal market share from Toyota/Honda...and maybe to push some other smaller EV makers out of business. BYD is the 800 pound EV guerilla right now and is beating its chest and on the attack. That 420KM is "CLTC" rating (China Light Duty Vehicle Test Cycle) which is specific for EVs sold in China and is much more generous (easy) than the NEDC range rating.....and NEDC is more generous/easy than WLTP....and WLTP is more generous/easy than the U.S. EPA range rating. NEDC and/or WLTP range ratings is what you'll see on EVs sold in Thailand.

If's it's an "extended" range (60KWH battery vs 50KWH battery for standard range) that guy would have paid around Bt1.2M in mid 2023....now he might have financed Bt1M and paid the remaining Bt200K in cash in order to get the financing. If it was a "standard" range model it would have cost around Bt1.1M in mid 2023. And regardless of which model he bought as soon as he drove it off the car lot it's value dropped 10 to 20% as that's what happens with any new vehicle you buy (EV or ICEV)....it's no longer a new car but a used/pre-owned car. Current pricing for a Atto Extended range is still $1.2M but also comes with a Bt100K cash back if taking delivery by end of February and the color choice may be limited to like white or gray....so the current pricing would be Bt1.1M after all the dust settled. That brand new car price for Bt889K the dealer quoted is probably below deal for the "updated/mid year" 2024 Atto coming out around May 2024 but already been advertised....this is basically their "standard" range model with basically the same 50KWH battery but with a new model name of 410 Dynamic (i.e., very slight differences/options from the previous year but reduced pricing). Pricing for the updated/mid year 2024 Extended range (60KWH) and whatever new model name(s) they give it hasn't been publicly released yet that I know of.

My googling just keeps showing news articles that factory construction began March 2023 with completion in 2024 (no mention of a month)...and have an annual production of 150K units. Will this make BYD EV cheaper in Thailand? Personally, I doubt it will make much of any difference in pricing as I expect BYD vehicles can be made cheaper in China in their HUGE factories but the "in-Thailand" factory will allow BYD vehicles to have a 2% excise tax vs 8% and some tax breakes for several more years at least under the Thai govt subsidy 3.5 program. ICEV manufacturers like Toyota have factories in Thailand but it doesn't seem that has caused any ICEV price reductions over the years....creates jobs for sure but not so sure it lowers the price of the vehicles as many, many factors go into determining the selling price. Preaching to the choir I know.

Never heard of price protection on new vehicles in Thailand....or any other product sold in Thailand. The EV cut-throat pricing going on in Thailand right now is a good thing for potential buyers but it can sure leave a sour taste in the mouth/cause some buyer remorse for those who recently bought especially for those who thought they were getting an "end of year price" which wouldn't go lower or thinking the government's revised EV subsidy program which is not as good as their previous subsidy program would cause EV price to climb a little. Looks like 2024 EV pricing is going to be a wild ride in Thailand and not due to low interest in EVs as EVs are selling like hotcakes in Thailand, but due to Chinese EV manufacturers making an attack on the Toyota/Honda market share...going to lure those Toyota and Honda "ICEV" buyers over to the EV side.

More and more new vehicle model comparisons have come down to "how the interior and exterior look....how pleasing the appearance is....awesome new LED lightning...a perceived beauty contest" vs also "looking under the hood" so to speak to compare the technical specs like motor power, fuel efficiency, range, etc.

All this price cutting is a good thing for consumers but at the same time it can cause "fear of buying right now....let's wait till later...like maybe the end of the year" to do our next car buy.

Have you contacted the receiving bank to see if they have possibly received the funds but the "receiving bank" is still processing it causing the transaction to not even show-up yet as a Pending transaction. Banks can have a clearing process they go thru even before they will show the transaction as Pending, let alone Posted. The problem could be on the receiving bank end....not saying it is....just saying it vey well could be.

Gosh, if the new Atto versions do indeed cost approx Bt200K less at significantly under one million baht I would think it would really cut into BYD Dolphin sales....and it will probably greatly suppress current Atto sales as most people will wait for the mid year version at the lower price. Then again maybe BYD will soon come out with some Dolphin reducing pricing to keep it's price several hundred thousand below an Atto 3. And I wonder if BYD is still going to sell an Extended Range Atto 3 version which has a 60KWH/480KM NEDC range or is BYD just going to sell the new Standard Range mid year version of 50KWH battery/410KM NEDC range that will come in Dynamic and Premium versions as shown above. BYD is definitely shifting into some cut-throat pricing....probably aimed right at the Toyota and Honda mid and compact car crowd. BYD will probably have another outstanding sales year in Thailand.

Post a picture of yourself....I bet you have horns, red flesh, and a pointed tale.

Nothing new about the weather...it's the time of the year in Southeast Asia when it starts getting hot & humid again after several months of cool weather....the ever continuing weather cycle although climate change is causing a slow temp increase year-over-year. As always many people will act like the hot weather is a surprise to them and also wonder why their electric bill went way up because they can't comprehend that their A/C has to work harder (I.e., use more electricity) to cool their home. Even if they don't use A/C many will act like this is a much hotter year than last year. Yea, soon we'll be seeing the annual AseanNow posts saying the electric company must have raised their rates big time because the person's electric bill took a big jump starting around their March bill, etc. But in fact the rates are still the same and it's simply the person's A/C eating a lot more electricity as the weather gets hotter....and an A/C that hasn't been cleaned recently will just make the bill higher.

Not defending DeeMoney but new "Bank of Thailand" money transfer directives over the last few years has made it tougher to transfer larger sums in many cases. Just for example how Wise started limiting transfers "into" Thailand to less than Bt50K per transfer beginning 7 Jan 2022 unless the transfers were going to Bangkok Bank, K-bank, or SCB....if going to any other Thai bank the amount had to be less than Bt50K. And another example around mid 2023 Thai banks requiring face scans to transfer more than Bt50K to another Thai bank when using electronic banking (i.e., mbanking, ibanking)...this caused by another Bank of Thailand policy change. These new Bank of Thailand directives were supposedly put into place to reduce money laundering/tax avoidance and electronic banking hacking. I'm sure DeeMoney is only complying with Bank of Thailand money transfer requirements which have gotten tougher over the last few years. It might be getting to the point where just using a Thai bank to do an international transfer is the easier (but maybe not cheaper) way to do transfer now especially if it for a sum of Bt50K or more....seems that Bt50K number is now a trigger level which can cause closer examination of the transfer. Don't just blow off use of a Thai bank to do an international transfer as you may find it easier and cheaper than what you think....cost effectiveness will depend on the amount you are transferring....and using a Thai bank to do the transfer may not be nearly as restrictive as some social media crossfeed has made it appear over the years. I've used both Bangkok Bank and Krungsri Bank to do some small dollar amount test transfer to some of my US banks a couple years back....did in right online using ibanking....the the transfers went no problem....arrived in less than two business days...one was less than 24 hours.

Expect much of that $3M cost will be the 40% import tax plus 8% excise tax on Made in Korea vehicles. https://evat.or.th/images/evinfo/current-status/Updated-BEV-Car-October-2023.pdf

The forms have been in use for "many" years and typically a person only saw/signed them when the IO produced the form and said sign this "during the few minutes you are setting at the IO desk as the IO reviews, stamps, & fondles your extension application." The applicant typically just glances at the form to get a general idea of what the form is for and to make sure what they are signing is not their death warrant....sign, hand back to the IO, and the IO paperclips it to other known or mysterious forms. And from year to year sometimes the forms they wanted you to signed varied a little...sign a form this year but not the next, don't remember seeing this form before, etc....always changing a little due to unknown reasons. Sometimes at the end of the interview the IO might give you a Care Package of blank forms for next year's renewal....or if asking the Info/Help Desk they may give you a Care Package of forms typically needed for most applications...some of the forms may not be needed for your particular applications and some may not. I expect most IOs and Help Desks do "not" automatically hand out blank forms for next year's application simply because they don't want to more money than they have to on blank forms since many applicants would simply lose the forms before they got around to filling them out a year later. Or, the IO/Help Desk knows there a fair chance a new/different form might be required for next year so whay waist time handling out a blank form for next year that my not be used or be updated for next year . When I was doing my annual retirement/marriage extensions of stays at CW for around 15 years running maybe every 3 or 4 years the IO would give me blank forms for next year's application...forms I usually lost before the next application as I would always just pull-up the forms I had saved on my computer and complete them when it came time for the next application.

OP, My take on" does the spouse need to meet the Visa O-X financial and health insurance requirements" is Yes, the spouse does. But the spouse does not have to be at least 50. And if a child under 20 is involved they do "not" have to meet the financial requirement but do need the insurance. And if for some reason the spouse/child can not meet the OX requirements applicable to them then they can apply for another type of visa like a Non-O but must meet the requirements for that visa type and it will only be for 1 year at a time vs 5 years for an OX. I based my take on the Thailand Ministry of Foreign Affairs Visa OX webpage. https://consular.mfa.go.th/th/content/80939-non-–-immigrant-visa-“o-x”-(long-stay-10-years)?page=5d68c88b15e39c160c0081e5&menu=5d68c88b15e39c160c0081e6 And above Ministry of Foreign Affairs webpage still talks a Bt400K medical insurance policy for an OX visa....and so does the Thailand General Insurance Association general guidelines website where people are suppose to go to get their Thai health insurance policy to get an OX, OA, etc., visa. https://longstay.tgia.org/guidelineox The Association webpage will say Bt400K for an OX but Bt3M for an OA. Now some of the individual Thai insurance companies seem to lump the OX/OA visa into the same Bt3M bucket but some of them do not. So, probably best to check with your local consulate to confirm what the OX insurance requirement actually is to avoid buying an insurance policy for Bt3M where Bt400K might be enough. People with OX visas seem to be a scarce as hen's teeth....not a popular visa by any stretch of the imagination. If you have the financial assets/income for an OX visa you may just meet the LTR Visa requirements which might be a better visa in your case....a Dependent (spouse/child) LTR visa would not need the dependent to show any income but would need the following type of health care coverage for a Dependent where self-insuring is OK. https://ltr.boi.go.th/#what Insured under a health insurance covering a minimum of USD 50,000 OR currently receiving social security benefits in Thailand OR deposit and maintain at least USD 25,000 per one dependent in bank account balance under the applicant or the dependent’s name for no less than 12 months. Now your LTR visa requirements are different from a Dependents....like there is a healthy income requirement which varies depending on the type you are going for. See the BOI website at https://ltr.boi.go.th/index.html for details. Trying to live 6 months in Oz and 6 months in Thailand is going to be a challenge/continuing headache "visa wise."

That form is typically used for a marriage extension of stay. I expect the person at the Info desk just handed you the several forms most people will need for their next extension....to include some form(s) that may not apply to every type of extension. Call it a Care Package of forms....some will apply to your particular extension and others may not.

In late Dec 2023 I had the 3 month/5K Km service done on my Atto...that is, the 1st service. I was able to watch the whole process from the customer lounge thru big windows. It took 2 technicians a total of approx 10-15 minutes to do a variety of visual, touchy-feely checks with the vehicle on the ground and up on the lift. And I think 1 of the techs briefly hooked up a tablet to check the OBD2 data Now it was another hour before I got the vehicle back due to their paperwork processing and maybe just delaying the release to give the feeling of a more through check. Going for the free car wash would have added another 30 minutes so I declined it. Yea, the 1st service is mainly a visual check and checking OBD2 data.