OJAS

In the case of switches from marriage to retirement, though, Immigration do consider it necessary for the Thai spouse to be physically present for the initial annual extension of stay application based on retirement so as to satisfy themselves that she is content with the switch.

And at peak times it could be even worse than that, of course. After encountering massive slow-moving queues at check-in (no earlier than 3 hours before the scheduled flight departure time is the norm) and Security, it could then prove a fine call as to whether there is enough time to obtain a re-entry permit before joining another massive slow-moving queue for Immigration and then legging it to some distant departure gate before boarding the flight closes.

The big mystery as far as I am concerned is why the OP chose not to obtain a re-entry permit at the same time as his recent extension of stay based on retirement!

In which case you'll probably be doomed to failure sooner or later if using the online system. You simply can't pick and choose the address you decide to use. Just stick to using a single address for both TM30 and TM47 purposes and be done with it!

Unlikely that they'll pick this up there, I think. More likely that he'll need to face the music at his local office in due course after his return to Thailand. EDIT: Just picked up that he's planning to return to Thailand visa-exempt with no intention to stay here long-term in future. So, unless he subsequently needs to do any business at a local immigration office at any time in the future, he may well be OK!

Unfortunately for you, it was clearly too much of a herculean effort for the Chiang Mai Immigration Office to have pointed out to you on that particular occasion that your next 90-day report was also due on the same date!

Presumably International Registered rather than International EMS in your case, then? I've used both services for sending trackable mail to the UK, with no discernible differences in delivery times.

You're the second person on here to confirm 16 weeks from 8 January, as has @BlueScouse up thread. So we can, I think, take it that this applies to us all. The curious thing as far as I am concerned, though, is that 8 January fell on a Sunday! Was the IPC really a hive of activity that day (at considerable overtime expense to us taxpayers, of course) so as to get a whole load of new life certs off to Thailand? And will they likewise be a hive of activity in the small hours of 1 May (which, I believe, is a Bank Holiday in the UK), with itchy fingers gleefully poised over buttons at 00:00:01 hours sharp to cut off State Pension payments to everyone who has missed the 30 April deadline??????

I have come to the conclusion that DWP have deliberately engineered their acceptable witness categories with the sole and avowed aim of ensuring that, if their rule book is followed to the letter and the witnessing charade is only performed in the physical presence of your witnesser, only Thai nationals with usually a minimal grasp of the English language at best can perform this particular responsibility. But are DWP prepared to provide us with dual English/Thai language versions of the Life Cert to assist us in this task? Of course not, since their overriding desire is to make the witnessing task for us just as difficult as is humanly possible (when, for instance, their flat refusal to accept witnessed Life Certs submitted by email is also thrown into the mix).

Possible good news in the Life Cert context in the short term at least - longer-term sounds rather more uncertain, though: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-64548795

As is, of course, HMPO's similar insistence for passport photos in the case of us Brits!

Fine if you can find a professional photographer locally who is capable of taking mugshots complying with your home country's over-fussy requirements for passport photos. As already said, easier said than done in the case of us Brits!

Blue background seems be the standard norm for ID mugshots here in LOS. If the OP is a Brit, then heaven help him in coping with the whole load of fun and games which will probably await him in obtaining new paper mugshots in due course at passport renewal time! Not so easy to find a Thai professional photographer who is capable of taking mugshots against specific background hues of plain cream or light grey in my neck of the woods at least!!

More generally, though, I do consider it a mystery as to why VFS don't offer an optional mugshot-taking service as part of the renewal process. That could certainly mitigate some of the pain of the first compulsory trip at least to their office, I think. I can only surmise that they have been expressly forbidden by their HMPO masters from providing such a service on the grounds that nothing, absolutely nothing, must be allowed to get in the way of the possible development of a possible joint UK/Thai government strategy aimed at making our lives in LOS just as miserable and difficult as is humanly possible! Thankfully I was able to get mugshots for my last 2 passport renewals here in LOS during trips to the UK.

Well certainly none of the photo shops in my neck of the woods (Rayong province) which I've used over the years for Immigration mugshots appear to be the proud possessors of drapes coloured plain cream or light grey against which mugshots for new British passports can be taken. Presumably you fall over such drapes when entering photo shops in Isaan, but it's a bit much to expect me to make a trip there every 10 years specially for new passport mugshots, I think!

So where do you live? Maybe not a problem for those who live in major population centres like Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, etc, but certainly a significant one for those of us who live in the boonies! In particular, the acceptable background colour requirements differ in the case of digital and paper photos. In the case of digital photos, mug shots may be taken against "a plain light-coloured" background. Whereas in the case of paper photos, mug shots must only be taken against the correct shade of "a plain cream or light grey" background. https://www.gov.uk/photos-for-passports/photo-requirements It's getting paper photos taken against an acceptable background colour that's the major issue here in Thailand, since most professional photographers are only equipped to take mug shots against a turquoise or white background, which is the acceptable norm here for ID photos. Maybe some of them are capable of photoshopping the background colour so to make it appear to be in compliance with HMPO's over-fussy requirements, but that would, course, be in violation of HMPO's "no software altering" rule. And no doubt HMPO have their means for detecting whether or not this rule has been complied with.

This link is now saying that there is to be a 24-hour strike of postal workers between 12:30 on 16 Feb and 12:30 on 17 Feb!

What was the date of the covering DWP letter in your case, please, and is the deadline for the receipt of witnessed Life Certificates at the DWP end 16 weeks from this date (which I suspect will be common to all of us here in LOS who are about to be placed in the firing line)? Also worth noting that, in addition to the hit-and-miss postal service being experienced by some us locally here in LOS, there is considerable disruption at the UK end at the present time as a result of postal workers' strikes (which do, however, seem to be on hold at least for the time being pending the outcome of negotiations between Royal Mail and the CWU) and the Royal Mail cyber attack (which is continuing to have a negative impact on their international services). DWP really could not have picked a worse time to inflict this particular piece of bureaucratic nonsense on us, I think! https://www.royalmail.com/latest-news https://www.royalmail.com/international-incident-bulletin

21 February is the correct reporting date officially in your case. Unless you were issued with a notification slip specifically confirming a revised date of 28 March when you obtained your 1-year extension on 28 December (which strikes me as being highly unlikely to be the case from what you have - or, more to the point, not - said), 21 February is the reporting date you should be going by - all the more so if this is the due date which your current office has explicitly and categorically advised you of.

The fundamental passport renewal shambles which those of us living in LOS are required to endure has been around for much longer than Brexit - since 2014 in fact! https://www.gov.uk/government/news/changes-to-british-passport-services-in-thailand-2

Hmm, looks like 2 physical trips are also needed in your case - but to the Swedish Embassy instead of a rundown office block with an extremely silly name (assuming that Google has translated the following link from Swedish to English correctly): https://www.swedenabroad.se/sv/om-utlandet-för-svenska-medborgare/thailand/hjälp-till-svenskar-utomlands/pass-utomlands/förnyelse-av-pass-för-vuxna/ That said, there are also options of making these trips to consulates in Phuket, Pattaya, Chiang Mai or Hua Hin instead. Only a Chiang Mai alternative is available in the case of us Brits. Also, no wild goose chases needed of Thai professional photographers with usually a minimal grasp of the English language for mug shots complying with over-fussy requirements since all applicants are photographed on site at the time of application. But most significant, of course, is the claimed 2-4 weeks' wait for new passports. So, on balance, Swedish passport renewal procedures do, I will accept, appear to be an improvement over the nonsense which we Brits are required to endure. But I would hardly describe them as being hi-tech as you seem to imply! For that you can't, I think, beat the Irish: https://www.dfa.ie/irish-embassy/thailand/passports/how-to-apply-for-a-passport/

...in the exactly same way as our Irish cousins, for instance, can (and, indeed, have to!) do right now in the real world ???? https://www.dfa.ie/irish-embassy/thailand/passports/how-to-apply-for-a-passport/

Which it would appear you can: https://www.dfa.ie/media/missions/thailand/ourservices/Pension-Income-Letter-New.pdf

Are you planning to live on retirement in Thailand (only possible if you are at least 50 years old) or work here? The advice which can best be given to you on here is IMHO dependent on the answer to that particular question.

When the initial 40k/400k insurance requirement was introduced in October 2019, Pacific Cross did, as I recall, offer a couple of policies which were specifically tailored to this requirement. However their sales team actually encouraged me to opt for one of their mainstream policies instead, which was Immigration-compliant at a significantly lower premium cost (which could, furthermore, be reduced through deductibles which was not, however, possible in the case of the dedicated policies)!