OJAS

And then in a subsequent press conference he makes a comparison to the Holocaust by uttering the following words: "If the by-election had been in February of 1940 or 41, would anyone seriously have condemned me for putting the crimes of the Holocaust at the centre of my election campaign?" https://news.sky.com/story/uk-politics-sunak-starmer-general-election-labour-tories-budget-politics-hub-12593360 Supreme irony, I think, coming from the lips of a man who appears to believe that the only way of securing lasting peace in the Middle East would be through the eradication of not just the Isreali State but also Judaism as a whole from the face of the planet.

Could well be Toffees and Forest if both are hit with further FFP points deductions, meaning a toss-up between Blades and Clarets for the final place.

The following statement in the now-locked Swiss-related thread on the Thai Visas, Residency, and Work Permits forum has caught my eye, since it could be of interest to us Brits who are in receipt of the UK State Pension: "Finally, any income that is taxed in the home country, can use that tax to OFFSET any potential Tax in Thailand. IF the level of tax in the home country is the same or higher than in Thailand, no further tax will be due here, if it lower, Thai tax MAY be due." So, despite the fact that the State Pension is not covered by the UK/Thailand DTA, does this mean that those of us already paying tax on it to HMRC at a rate of 20% (as, indeed, I am doing) would not, in fact, need to declare subsequent Wise, SWIFT, etc transfers of DWP payments into our Thai bank accounts as "assessable income" as part of any tax return we might be required to file with the RD? In this connection I am, of course, aware that State Pension payment transfers are, in any event, extremely unlikely to be taxed by the RD in practice as a result of various allowances/exemptions totalling up to 500k THB (my perpetually frozen State Pension works out at around 300k THB per annum based on current exchange rates).

In which case these dumba$$ foreign women also need to enhance their language skills, I think!

OP - the following link to the Royal Thai Embassy in Washington website sets out how you go about applying for a tourist visa from the States these days: https://washingtondc.thaiembassy.org/en/page/trsingle-entry

So presumably you live within a stone's throw of either of the VFS offices in Bangkok or Chiang Mai?

So did you likewise use this agent to make a couple of extremely time-consuming trips on your behalf to a dilapidated office building located somewhere or other in deepest, darkest Bangkok when you last had to renew your British passport? IMHO the use of agents should be confined to the truly difficult things in life, like negotiating the highly burdensome procedures relating to the renewal of your passport from Thailand if you're a Brit.

IMHO the use of agents should be restricted to the truly difficult things in life, like renewing your passport from Thailand if you're a Brit.

The reason it contains is that the report was premature. Easily deducible without the assistance of Sherlock Holmes, I think.

Here is one I received a few months ago: Your application for "STAYING LONGER THAN 90 DAYS" has been rejected. Latest visa extension was on 20 July 2023. Next 90 day notification will be on 17 Oct 2023.

Rest be assured that I'm working on this!😀

Who knows, by 2031 all you'll need to do is to download a passport app on to your smartphone! 😝

As far as UK passports are concerned, it is His Majesty's Passport Office back in the UK who are solely responsible for the bloody bureaucratic shambles we Brits are faced with at passport renewal time. VFS locally are merely acting as their agents.

So one shining example of totally pointless HMG bureaucracy came in extremely useful for another! 🤣

Looks like a case of mixed - and, hence, totally confusing - messaging on VFS's part, I strongly suspect. No mention (yet at any rate) of any imminent Bangkok destination change for enforced UK passport renewal route marches on the GOV.UK website: https://www.passport.service.gov.uk/overseas/information/thailand/renew/adult

How have you been making your unsuccessful attempts to contact DWP? Personally I have experienced success through using their online enquiry form to contact them on matters relating to the State Pension: https://secure.dwp.gov.uk/ipc/personal-details

In the case of those seeking annual extensions on the basis of monthly income transfers (at least 65k for retirement and 40k for marriage), where there exists a specific IMM requirement for the foreign origin of such transfers to be proved, the general advice on here has been for these transfers to end up in Bangkok Bank accounts because Bangkok Bank, alone among the Thai banking fraternity, use special descriptors for listing these transfers in passbooks (FTT, standing for Foreign Telegraphic Transfer) and statements (International Transfer). So, if the OP is using the monthly income method of proving finances for his annual extension applications, he should be aware that he might encounter some additional bureaucratic hassle which he would probably not have done had he opened an account with Bangkok Bank. But almost certainly not outright rejection, though.

It certainly feels like that sometimes (to me at any rate), I have to say! At the very least, we can, I think, be forgiven for believing that His Majesty's Government as a whole is consciously out to make the lives of us British expat retirees living in LOS just as difficult as they humanly can be - with the eager and willing assistance of its Thai counterpart, of course. Cumbersome bureaucracy which has been inflicted on us over the past 10 years in the areas of passport renewal and legalisation of UK documents is, I believe, testament to such an approach - along with the Embassy's decision to cease its income confirmation service some time ago. And specifically on the topic of frozen pensions,we are then expected to endure insult added to injury through: (1) having the bureaucratic nonsense known as the Life Certificate inflicted on us every couple of years or so in just about the most cumbersomely awkward manner which DWP have been capable of dreaming up; and (2) being taxed on our frozen State Pensions through our tax codes as if we were in receipt of triple-lock increases - in the hope that we don't notice, perhaps??

If you were to travel to Malaysia before your existing passport expired, it might be possible for you to renew it from there using HMPO's online facility - an option which is denied to those renewing from Thailand for some ridiculous reason. Follow the step-by-step guide at https://www.gov.uk/overseas-passports selecting Malaysia, rather than Thailand, as the country you live in. Then upon your return to Thailand with a new passport it might then, in theory, be possible for you to convert your 30-day visa-exempt entry into a fresh non-B visa at your local immigration office - provided, of course, that you can, in practice, provide the mountain of paperwork seemingly required: https://www.immigration.go.th/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/1.FOR-WORKING-IN-A-COMPANY-OR-LIMITED-PARTNERSHIP-NON-B.pdf

That might well be their policy until DWP's Sir Humphrey steps in.

Not sure whether that would put the OP's own Thai citizenship in jeopardy, though. But assuming that it didn't then both he and his wife would be able to poke the middle finger at both British and Thai immigration bureaucracy, of course. True Utopian paradise, I think! 😁

HMPO are even worse in that regard when we Brits need to renew our passports here. A 4-page paper application form has to be completed in our ultra-neatest handwriting. And woe betide us if we stray outside any of the microscopic character boxes! And woe betide us also if we have the audacity to use anything other than a BLACK pen in completing this form!! And then HMPO go and demonstrate their love of paper even further by insisting on paper copies of each and every page in our existing passports being provided, even blank pages! And these copies must be printed in colour, not black-and-white!! Just how pointlessly daft is that??

Short of raising a formal complaint with DWP about this "shining" example of blatantly brazenly bungling incompetence and ineptitude on their part in accordance with the procedure set out on the GOV.UK website*, I'm not sure what else can be done on this matter. * https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-work-pensions/about/complaints-procedure

As I recall the OP is one of those lucky so-and-so's who has actually succeeded in obtaining Thai citizenship - likely meaning that he has an extensive employment track record here in LOS and hence could be eligible for an occupational pension locally from which his wife may be able to benefit after he has popped his clogs.