OJAS

@brewsterbudgen Your son will be able to travel for free on most TfL services with a 5-10 Zip Oyster photocard. And he doesn't even need one of these for free bus travel in London, unless he looks older than 10! https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/free-and-discounted-travel/5-10-zip-oyster-photocard?intcmp=55572 You yourself will only be able to pay for bus fares in London with an Oystercard or contactlessly with a debit or credit card which includes the following symbol:

Says it all about the British passport renewal procedures from Thailand, I think, when it seems possible for expats of most other nationalities to be able to renew their passports from Thailand without the need for any assistance from agents!

What is a 2-step authentication system? And how do we enable it?

OP - did you not have to obtain an affirmation of freedom to marry document signed and stamped by the Australian Embassy prior to your marriage in 2001? If so, it might be worth your while checking whether they still have this document - although I accept that this could well prove a long shot after so long.

In other words, alienate a significant part of their customer base in exactly the same way as SCB and KTB have done. 😟

The big mystery as far as I am concerned is why the IPC use a Wolverhampton mailing address when their offices are located in Newcastle-upon-Tyne! In particular, once the fresh life certificates which we're all dutifully having witnessed at the present time have been received at Wolverhampton, do they then need to be physically transported onwards to Newcastle-upon-Tyne before the IPC can process them?

On the basis of section G it would appear that this refund would take the form of a GBP cheque which HMRC would then despatch to the beneficiary widow by snail mail. Another shining example of HMRC being really at the cutting edge of secure electronic technology, is it (not)?!! More seriously, though, is the note stating that "it’s sometimes not possible to cash British pound payments overseas" - which, I suspect, could be problematical here in Thailand. Would be nice, I think, if HMRC could proactively tell our widows how they would be able to receive their refunds instead.

Whilst this is, indeed, the case provided that the amounts involved do not total more than the UK personal allowance (currently £12,570) as already said, it would appear that her widow's pensions might, however, be deemed assessable income for Thailand taxation purposes, because of Article 19(2) of the UK/Thailand Double Taxation Agreement, which states: (2) (a) Any pension paid by the Contracting State or a political subdivision or a local authority thereof to any individual in respect of services of a governmental nature rendered to that State or subdivision or local authority thereof shall be taxable only in that State. (b) However, such pension shall be taxable only in the other contracting State if the recipient is a national of and a resident of that State. But, given your subsequent statement that the amounts involved won't exceed the current UK personal allowance, she might not, in practice, have to pay any tax in Thailand either because of the various allowances and exemptions currently in force. That all said, things could, of course, change at both UK and Thailand ends between now and when your wife claims her widow's pensions!

Given that many of my fellow Brits get their perpetually frozen UK State Pensions paid into their Thai bank accounts through Citibank, I wonder whether any of them might be in for a pleasant surprise when their next payments are due?! 🤑

This sounds to me like a temporary tax code provided by the Scottish Police pension providers for the widow and HMRC to use. This would be consistent with what MyCSP told me in connection with my Civil Service pension in January. That said, what, if anything, might then happen in the longer term remains a mystery.

Meaning, "there is only one solution, Hitler's final one".

I strongly suspect that only DWP will be able to answer your questions definitively. I suggest that you contact their International Pensions Centre through the enquiry form linked below: https://secure.dwp.gov.uk/contact-the-international-pension-centre/contact-form

A distinct improvement on the rigmarole I had to go through 10 years ago, when I was required to submit my original birth certificate which then went AWOL!

Which in my book is tantamount to an expression of deep regret at Hitler's failure to fully implement The Final Solution.

Likely for copyright reasons: https://www.bbc.com/mediacentre/bbcstudios/2005/bbc-studios-to-make-podcasts-available-to-international-audiences-via-bbc-dot-com-and-the-bbc-app It will, however, still be possible to listen to the World Service and Radio 4 from abroad via the following link instead: https://www.bbc.com/audio and scroll to bottom. It may also be possible to continue listening to remaining BBC stations from abroad (should one be so inclined) with a VPN - but that remains to be seen, I suspect.

Indeed, he would run the risk of getting banged up in the Bangkok Hilton (or local equivalent)!

And, while you're about it, are you also planning to send an email to all relevant authorities and media outlets back in your home country bitterly complaining about a number of negative measures which your home country government may have seen fit to impose on its expats living in Thailand in recent years (of which there are quite a fair few in the case of us Brits, for instance, believe you me!)?

The BKKB mobile app was, in my experience, a PITA in both setting up and using before I unceremoniously dumped it.

Or Brighton or Bournemouth who both have home EPL fixtures on 2, 12 & 26 April?

But that would have been no guarantee that, had he won the 2019 Election, Corbyn would not have changed his mind following his first meeting with DWP's Sir Humphrey Appleton. I cannot think of a single politician of any political persuasion who pledged to unfreeze pensions while in opposition but then not had a "remarkable" change of heart once in government.

I once worked out that I receive 52 4-weekly payments in most UK tax years, but 53 every 28 years. Last time was in 2018/19, but not sure whether I'll still be around for the next one in 2046/47 when I'll be knocking 98!🤑

The sequence of events was as follows: (1) 8 October 2018 - British Embassy announced cessation of income confirmation service wef 1 January 2019: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/british-embassy-bangkok-to-stop-certification-of-income-letters (2) 21 December 2018 - Immigration Bureau published amendment to Police Order 138/2557 announcing revised financial criteria for retirement and marriage extensions in the light of certain embassies' decisions to cease their income confirmation services (downloadable via item 18 under the "Permission to stay, extension of stay, re-entry permit and other immigration matters" heading in the "Laws, regulations, Police Orders, etc. related to visas, immigration matters, and work permits" pinned thread). (3) 26 December 2018 - Leniency memorandum published. The major problematical issue was the nearly 3-month delay between (1) and (2). Despite assurances being received from various quarters that those who no longer had an income confirmation service available to them would instead be able to prove income through minimum monthly transfers to a Thai bank a/c, the Immigration Bureau, for reasons best known only to themselves, chose to adopt an extremely leisurely attitude to formalising these revised arrangements - which was the cause of much stress and uncertainty amongst those directly affected (myself included) at the time.

If you are talking about a 90-day non-O visa conversion in between a 60-day visa exemption entry and a fresh annual extension of stay for retirement, the financial requirement will be 800k in a Thai bank a/c period - see item 7 in the link below. Highly unlikely that there will be any question after 1 April of the 65k monthly income alternative referred to in item 6 being possible since this would be dependent on the Canadian Embassy being prepared to issue the necessary letter of guarantee. https://www.immigration.go.th/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/9.FOR-RETIREMENT-PURPOSES-50-YEARS-OLD-NON-O.pdf

Sadly such a simple and practical solution to meeting Immigration Bureau requirements appears to be completely beyond the capabilities of unimaginative staff at the British, American, Australian and now Canadian embassies to implement, for some mysterious reason.

Yes, the Immigration Bureau did issue a memorandum urging leniency in the first year back in 2018 - English translation attached. However, whether individual offices actually took any notice of it was another matter - certainly mine (Rayong) did not, and it was only by pure luck and chance that I had already been making monthly 65k+ transfers for a full year prior to my next retirement extension application in any event.