OJAS

The following thread illustrates perfectly why new accounts with Krungsri should now IMHO be avoided like the plague. I agree with @MJCM that Kasikorn is probably a safer bet.

Turning to the bottom end of the age range, isn't it just as unacceptable that Krungsri are seemingly more than happy to give the green light to kids from as young as 12 using their app for whatever nefarious banking purposes they might have in mind, in defiance of the express wishes of their parents or guardians? Clearly so much for there being any curbs on the banking activities of minors (or at least those aged 12+) in LOS, I think!

When it comes to the UK, though, you can't beat contactless for ease and simplicity in making payments up to £100 IMHO. Presumably the likeliest reason why this hasn't, unfortunately, caught on in Thailand has something to do with the annual 250 THB fee levied by Thai banks for their cards, whereas UK banks don't impose any such fee for their cards.

In this case he would need to apply for a fresh non-O visa before re-entering the country. This is because the option of a 90-day non-O conversion of a visa-exempt entry at his local immigration office won't be available in his case since he has been on overstay: https://www.immigration.go.th/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/9.FOR-RETIREMENT-PURPOSES-50-YEARS-OLD-NON-O.pdf And that, of course, would necessitate him obtaining a new passport first!

More a case of Thai banks getting their poxy banking apps sorted, I think.

Are you monitoring this conversation as well, Kasikorn?

"They" presumably being the Spanish Embassy in Bangkok. In which case it should IMHO be the clueless idiots working for that Embassy who were responsible for writing the wrong mailing address, to whom you should be directing your ire, not Thailand Post!

What is this?

Unfounded barstool gossip, I think.

So were the officers able to navigate their way from their office to chez vous OK without any prior assistance on your part in the form of a hand-drawn map or GPS co-ordinates?

Interesting. Suspect that one could be in for a home visit from one's immigration office in connection with a retirement extension if they require directions to one's home (in the form of a hand-drawn map or GPS co-ordinates) where they haven't done so before. So far my local office (Rayong) hasn't required such directions, and I'm keeping my fingers firmly crossed that this will still be the case when I apply for my next retirement extension there in a few weeks' time. Did Nakhon Ratchasima require directions to your home (in the form of a hand-drawn map or GPS co-ordinates) when you applied for your initial retirement extension there?

Do these 2 offices specifically require hand-drawn maps to where you live to be provided as part of the retirement extension application process, as Chaengwattana do?

Maybe so at Roi Et. But not necessarily at other offices.

At Jomtien or Chaengwattana?

But I didn't get mine from DWP for 53 days! On the other hand, I received a letter from HMRC last week in 27 days. Go figure the reasons for the huge discrepancy between these 2 UK government departments.

Could have something to do with the fact that UK banks don't levy annual fees equal to around 250 THB for their credit and debit cards, whereas Thai banks do. As a result, making card payments contactlessly, which I certainly found an extremely convenient and user-friendly process on my last trip to the UK this time last year, has, sadly, not caught on in Thailand. Here, the only alternative to making cash payments is by aiming and then firing e-pot shots at a QR code with your smartphone, which, in my experience, can prove to be a hit and miss affair thanks to erratic banking apps which Thai banks seem determined to ram down our throats come hell or high water.

And, even if we did, constant buffering could well get in the way of uninterrupted viewing of games, I imagine.

Unfortunately, what the OP's experience clearly demonstrates is that, even where agents are used to mitigate the worst bureaucratic excesses of the UK passport renewal process from Thailand, there is still no guarantee of immunity against blatant displays of crass stupidity and idiocy on HMPO's part.

But did you not have to provide HMPO's pals in DWP with your original birth certificate when you claimed the State Pension way back when - and which is presumably lurking somewhere where you live? This surely included the town and village where you were born. That said, it is clearly outrageous that you are being subject to all the hassle that you are, thanks to a blatantly shining example of complete and utter cluelessness on the part of those dimwits in HMPO and predecessor passport-issuing organisations.

Not an exclusively Thai banking expression. I have a monthly standing order with my UK bank to transfer funds to my Wise account prior to initiating Wise transfers to my Thai account.

However, if, despite all the advice to the contrary on here, he were still minded to favour the non-OA option, all that he would need to do (based on my experience in 2008) would be to obtain a doctor's signature on the Embassy form from his local surgery. In my case the doctor was more than happy to sign the form after a "thorough medical examination" which consisted of her eyes moving from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet. Cost to me was £10, though, and it is probably a lot more than that these days.

Wow, you certainly have an attitude big time, don't you😠?

I suspect that @ronnie50 is talking about his originating UK - rather than beneficiary Thai - bank. For instance I'm required to call my UK bank from Thailand to initiate a SWIFT transfer these days since they have, for some ridiculous reason, withdrawn their facility for doing this online. Resultant phone call costs plus the general inconvenience and hassle involved in having to arrange SWIFT transfers in this way make the Wise option a no-brainer in my case.

@node - and make sure that its registration and your Krungsri details match each other exactly (see thread below)! Strikes me that this could prove to be the major stumbling block to foreign numbers being used for Thai bank account OTP's in any event.

Although not all offices showed any leniency in the event. Certainly mine (Rayong) did not, and it was only by pure luck and chance that I had already been making the required number of monthly 65k transfers for my next retirement extension application. It is to be hoped for the OP's and his compatriots' sake that, if and when, the Swedish Embassy do decide to stop their income confirmation service, they will provide a clear year's advance notice of this change, in the same way as their Norwegian counterparts did recently (but, alas, the Canadian Embassy did not, resulting in Canadians who had previously been reliant on Embassy income confirmation letters being presumably driven into the arms of agents).