billd766

Hello,

I've been reading this thread with much interest. Especially Billd's posts and attachment.

I wonder If anybody could advis me on my situation.

I worked from 14 until 55 with 7+5 years in the RM I also served the full 30 years in the police force.

I was married to my first Thai wife for 54 years , although she was never in paid employment though when I turned 65 she was elligable for a pension based on my N.I. contributions. At this time we were both living in the UK.

When we retired to Thailand they stopped any increases to our pensions.

On my wifes passing her pension of course stopped and I believe my own pension was reduced.

I have since married again to a Thai National this time we have only resided in Thailand, though the marriage has been registered with the British Embassy.

My wife is ot yet 45 years old.

Is / Will / When will she be elligable for a British Pension.

Thanks for any info!

Regards

Boot Neck

Thanks Bootneck

I just wrote off to the pensions department this week about my pension rate and when I get a reply I will post it on the thread.

I didn't know that my wife would get a widows pension at 45 though which is good news as she is 43 now.

I do want to stick around for quite a bit longer though as our son is only 4.

I have been coming to Thailand on and off since 1993 and in that time I have worked here full time for about 5 1/2 years and made it my home since 2001.

Now I go offshore to work and I am coming home next week after 6 months in NZ for 3 weeks then back again for another 6 months. I will be doing that until mid 2010 when I finally retire.

Yes in my early days I got ripped off now and again by Thais but I have been ripped off in other countries as well so I didn't feel it was personal, just stupidity on my part.

In 1993 I met a good woman and eventually divorced my UK wife and married my Thai lady in 2000. Now we have a lovely 4 year old son and live waaaay out in the sticks on the edge of a national park where everybody is friendly and genuinely smiles. I talk to people in my fractured Thai and their fractured English and at home I don't get ripped off and I pay what locals pay for food and drinks etc.

My wife told me last week that people are asking when I am coming home again.

That makes me happy because to me, Thailand IS home.

:D

The visa I got in January this year was living with my Thai child and no income proof was necessary. I actually got it at Suan Phlu though I live 65 km southwest of Khampaeng Phet.

I am working offshore in New Zealand for another 18 months and from what I read it seems as though I will have to go to Tak to renew it.

Unless I missed it somwhere it look as though this option is no longer available.

Can anyone please confirm that I can still do this or will I need to apply as a married man again and show the 40K baht?

I am able to do this as I have pensions which help a lot as well but as most people would I like the cheapest way of doing things.

To get a letter confirming my pensions I would have to travel to the British embassy in BKK, stay over night and then come back home, then go to Tak which all adds to the costs and frustrations (mainly with the Embassy).

Cheers

It does look as though you will have to show 40,000 monthly income. OR 400,000 in the bank.

Being honest they never liked issuing that extension anyway so they are not going to be too sympathetic.

Rats

Still I am coming home next week and I think I will have to zoom up to Tak with my wife and son to talk to the immigration guys there.

I also have a salary coming in from NZ so if I HAVE to got to the UK Embassy I might as well pop into the NZ Embassy on the same day.

I am really looking forward to coming home as I have not seen my wife and son for 6 months. :D :D

The visa I got in January this year was living with my Thai child and no income proof was necessary. I actually got it at Suan Phlu though I live 65 km southwest of Khampaeng Phet.

I am working offshore in New Zealand for another 18 months and from what I read it seems as though I will have to go to Tak to renew it.

Unless I missed it somwhere it look as though this option is no longer available.

Can anyone please confirm that I can still do this or will I need to apply as a married man again and show the 40K baht?

I am able to do this as I have pensions which help a lot as well but as most people would I like the cheapest way of doing things.

To get a letter confirming my pensions I would have to travel to the British embassy in BKK, stay over night and then come back home, then go to Tak which all adds to the costs and frustrations (mainly with the Embassy).

Cheers

Best wishes to his Majesty the King on behalf of my wife, son and me.

We hope he has many more years of life and good health.

I got married once, I would strongly advise against it....

I was married once.

I didn't like it after a while so I divorced.

But I did marry again.

A thai lady this time.

:D

My problem may be the opposite.

I am due to fly home to Thailand but not until 18th Dec from Auckland via Sydney.

With a bit of luck it will be OK by then but I may fly to KL and then from there I will have to go to Chiang Mai then drive back down to Khampaeng Phet.

Does anybody have a good idea how to get frm KL?

Fly, bus or train?

I hope that they get sorted out soon as I am coming home on Friday 19th Dec from Auckland.

However I will be hooning up the bypass.

I will be coming to look for the bookshop around xmas/new year.

I actually work in New Zealand where I assume that Xmas will be celebrated at the beach.

On the other hand I will be coming home to Thailand to be with my wife, our son and her Dad, Mum, brothers, nephews and nieces and friends up country having a great time for 3 weeks before I come back here for another 6 months.

We don't celebrate Xmas either but we do have one hel_l of a good New Years party.

Thanks for that information.

I am working in New Zealand and I have just bought the power fusion so it looks as though I will have to bring a few packs every time I come home.

I am 60 now and have lived in Thailand for the past 6 years. I'm currently getting a local government pension (superannuation), which is uprated every year according to the rate of inflation. This is perfectly correct as I paid into it for many years. I also pay tax on the pension.

When I'm 65, I'll be entitled to the UK state pension. Don't know how much it'll be as I was "contracted-out" during most of my working life. However I paid my "National Insurance" every month, and it was usually larger than my superannuation payments. I know that "National Insurance" isn't really insurance (in that you pay now for future benefits) as the money that people pay into NI funds other people's needs, so that the people who are receiving their OAP are being paid for by people who are currently paying NI. However, the fact that I paid my NI regularly should entitle me to the same benefits that other people get. Why should my choice of residence preclude me from getting the benefits that other people (who have paid in exctly the same way that I have) get?

I'm sorry if this post is long and rambling, but I'm very angry about the UK's stance on this issue .

BTW, marshbags, we may know each other - I lived in Cleethorpes for many years and worked for NE Lincs council (and before that Humberside).

eyebee

eyebee, i couldn't agree with you more,i am 60yrs old same as you,i worked down the coal mines,left school at 15,went down the mine at 16,worked on the coalface (on my hands & knees)from 18,now retired to Thailand Feb this year.I recieve an industrial pension which i pay income tax on, so i don't agree what marshbags says,IMHO any person that has worked all their life in the U.K. then they have paid their income tax & national health stamp, so we should be entitled by right, to recieve our old age pension, & yearly increases whichever country you live in.

I am with you guys though I never worked underground.

Nobody ever told me that if I left the country my pension would be frozen though it was something that I learned along the way. On the other hand the upside is that I live in a wonderful country with a beautiful wife and our 4 year old son. My wife has no desire to obtain a UK passport or live in the UK and I am more than happy to live in Thailand for the rest of my life.

No Chris, we had already been through all that.. the house book, the 'yellow' book, wifes i.d etc. i had the passport, photocopies, retirement visa photocopies, one thing i've learned is to take everything possible including the kitchen sink. They simply refused to accept the passport as proof of i.d.

Remember my wife was there dealing with it all. She was incredulous too.

She is convinced that they don't want to know [in the small towns and villages] because of the difficulty in putting thai spellings, i.e. phonetics, into computers for foreigners names, she has been told before that the thais find this very difficult, because one thai will spell a foreign name differently to another thai. There is probably some validity to this , you can tell with street/town spellings.

My wife and I live outside a small village 65 km from Khampaeng Phet and we opened a joint account at the only bank which was Kasikorn.

The account is in my wifes name in Thai and my full name (in capitals I must admit) in English.

We went in together and I was on a Thai wife support visa and not working. There was one lady in the branch who spoke good English and one or two more who spoke some as well.

It was done by my wife in less than 30 minutes with no hassle.

I personally find that Kasikorn is a good bank where I can do on line banking and if there is a problem I can contact the hotline and speak to someone in English. It is more friendly and helpful than my offshore UK bank which shall remain nameless.

Back in the 1970s I used to have a Triumph Herald convertible which was Ok when the roof was up but not so good when it was down as the doors would not open so well as the chassis was a bit weak.

I also had a Bond Equipe GT4S which used the Herald rolling chassis and bits and a fibreglass body. That was a great car but I would have preferred the 2 litre straight 6 motor.

In the 1980s I bought my wife a couple of Daf 44s and they were very good as well and the worst bit was the cost of new transmission belts. It used to keep up with my 3 ltr Ford Granada unless I had my boot had down. The Dafs used to start even in the coldest weather we had in the UK at that time.

As far as I understand it does not apply to the state pension nor any military pension.

Guesthouse – As a longtime and I believe respected member I take it yours was a humorous remark without malicious intent and in that sprit I did find it amusing.

My comment on Entitlement is double edged - Humorous, but also an observation on an aspect of people's personality.

By 'Entitlement' and 'Entitled' I'm referring to the attitude that one is owed something. Well undoubtedly if you have paid National Insurance and Taxes, you are, but it goes a bit beyond that when being 'entitled' extends to not making any alternative provisions, or spending personal wealth with the intent of throwing oneself on the welfare system or feeling ill done by because you can't continue claiming all the benefits you might have claimed had you remained at home.

I heard a find example of this 'entitlement' thinking a week ago on the news.

In the light of the financial crash a member of the public rang in to comment 'The Government are telling us to save for our old age but with this financial crash........ '

I'm left thinking - 'Why does anyone need the government to tell them to save to be able to keep themselves in their old age?'

Its the 'Entitlement Trap' - you hand over money, responsibility, choice and freedom to the government and then moan like crazy when they don't give you what you think you are entitled to.

Guesthouse

Its the 'Entitlement Trap' - you don't just hand over money, responsibility, choice and freedom to the government and then moan like crazy when they don't give you what you think you are entitled to.

Certainly all the time I worked in the UK for the military and UK based companies you actually have no choice in the matter. Any government in charge takes income tax and National Insurance directly from your salary via your employer who will be penalised should they or you refuse to pay. Both you and your employer contribute to the system ata rate decided by the government in power at the time.

Then having taken your money they "generously" return it to you in the form of a benefit or pension.

However as they pay your pension they also set the rates that income tax is payable back to the government.

The sad part of this is that the population of the UK is ageing and less people are in employment so contributions to the pension funds are getting less and the current government has told the population to invest in their own pension plans for the future but in what? Stocks and shares, houses, land?

["In the light of the financial crash a member of the public rang in to comment 'The Government are telling us to save for our old age but with this financial crash........ '

I'm left thinking - 'Why does anyone need the government to tell them to save to be able to keep themselves in their old age?' "]

The really sad part is that my son in the UK who is 30 will have to work from the age of 18 until he is 70 to qualify for a pension that will be probably be worth less than the one I will get.

He is living with his long time girlfriend and as they are both working they will have to make a choice of owning a home or having a family, but sadly not both.

Unfortunately a QROPS is not applicable to state benefits or military pensions so I am unable to remove my pension from the UK.

Here's one to keep it going until Mr.Hippo gets back.

Sorry but I missed this one.

It is a 1955 Sunbeam Talbot 90 series 3 that usually had a column change 4 speed gearbox with a Laycok overdrive on second, third and 4th gears.

I had one in 1967 and blew the gearbox out. I scrapped the car as I couldn't afford the £30 for another gearbox I scrapped the car. I loved it when it was running. I remember one time that a brake pipe rusted through and I found that out when I tried to stop in a hurry. Lucky there was a friendly hedge close by.

:D

I am 64, my second wife is Thai and our son is 4.

I have paid taxes and national insurance since I started work in 1959 after I left school at 15.

I spent 25 years in the RAF and earned my military pension, I worked for the Home Office for a while and then 2 private companies for another 15 years where I earned another company pension.

Both of these actually increase every year by around £150 together per year.

Next year I am going to get my state pension with an allowance for my wife which will be frozen from the day I get it as I live in Thailand.

All of these pensions are subject to UK income tax as they were "earned" in the UK where by virtue of living in Thailand with my Thai family I am entitled to nothing in or from the UK despite the tax I have paid over the years and the money that was earned and spent in the UK.

I would willingly give up all of these allowances (assuming that I would get them in the first place) if I were given the choice provided that I could take all my pensions off shore and pay taxes in Thailand, but the government in the UK denies me that choice.

The extra cost to the UK taxpayer and I AM one to pay for index linking ALL UK pensioners in the world is a very small portion of the government budget compared with the benefit frauds committed in the UK.

I have just googled benefit fraud in the UK and this was the result from the search.

http://www.google.co.nz/search?hl=en&q...art=10&sa=N

Results 1 - 10 of about 3,230,000 for benefit fraud in the UK. (0.28 seconds)

Here is the start of just 1 of the man threads

A married father-of-two was jailed for 13 months today after fraudulently claiming almost £80,000 in benefits for 36 children.

If you make an assumption that many people only get 1/4 of that figure and then multiply that figure with ONLY 250,000 people you come up with a figure of £5 BILLION and these are the people who get caught.

The last figure I saw to put all UK pensioners who at the moment are not on index linked pensions to the same as the index linked ones is less than 1% of the benefit frauds.

None of my Thai family have any desire to live in the UK nor does my wife want a UK passport. My son already has one through me BUT any children he may have are NOT entitled to one.

A bit tricky that one for me as I have a joint account with my wife as well as one of my own and my wife has one for herself too.

Mine has about 200 baht, my wife has more and together ours has more again.

As far as I can remember the picture is transmitted on one frquency and the sound on another.

You would need to know if they are the same in Thailand as the UK and I suspect they are not.

My advice would be to buy a new TV.

Hey, billd, that reminds me of the remote province where I worked. In my second year of being nearly the only farang ajarn in amphur muang, I parked on the red striped lines and went into the photo shop. Policeman walks in to tell me I am parked illegally. He sees it is the farang ajarn, gives me his best wai and smile, and leaves. Love 'em.

One of the nice things about living in the sticks.

Traffic jams are at most a couple of minutes and only then on market days.

I miss being at home but I had the opportunity of a job in New Zealand for a while so I grabbed it while I had the chance.

Back home in December for 3 weeks then back here again.

Today is a bad day for me as it is my wifes birthday but I did have a drink with her while on the phone.

:D

I live in a small village and the local BiB are in the town. The last time I rode my scooter without a helmet the cop waited until I came out of the 7/11 and asked me nicely to put my helmet on. I did and he said thank you. No fines or backhanders and i usually buy him a coffee when I see him around town.

ALL of the BiB where I live are nice guys.

I found this link on TV a little while ago though its works better during Monday to Friday when the baks are open.

http://bankexchangerates.daytodaydata.net/default.aspx

I am working in New Zealand at the moment and I have just bought a Nokia 6121 which is also unlocked.

I use here as a work phone and I am also going to use it hopefully when Thailand gets to 3G.

It cost me $340 NZ or about 6,800 Thai baht depending on the exchange rate on the day.

Here is the link http://www.nokia.co.nz/A4761232

Fortunately at my age (64) I don't HAVE to eat Brussels Sprouts any more.

I went off them while in the military and when I was married the first time in the UK my ex mother in law used to boil the dam_n things to death.

They were not so bad on boxing day with bubble & sqeak, cold pork and HP sauce.

I don't eat garden peas either but processed peas cold in the tin from the fridge is super. My son thought it was revolting, though this from a young man who eats cold baked beans.

I am working in New Zealand with access to western food but I am coming back for 3 weeks in December and January to really good Thai food at home with my family.

I am not sure but I am looking at a Nokia 6121 which is similar being 2G/3G but is 850/900, 1800, 1900 and 2100 bands with HSPDA here in New Zealand for around $NZ 400 or about 8,500 baht.

3G will come to Thailand but when and what quality only Madame Zazas crystal ball will tell.