BREAKING NEWS British Embassy Bangkok to Stop Certification of Income Letters

[evadgib]

59 minutes ago, JusticeGB said:

Just picked up my letter from my agent for this year's retirement renewal he has told me that the Embassy has been flooded with complaints from UK residents. Apparently they went to a Seminar organised by Immigration who advised them to carefully scrutinise the documents sent to them in support of income certification. They were not asked to verify the documents. Wait a while for a probable clarification from the Embassy/face saving move before the deadline.

Hmmm; How much was your letter?

Edited October 19, 2018 by evadgib

[JusticeGB]

27 minutes ago, evadgib said:

Hmmm; How much was your letter?

I paid the Embassy price plus a fee for them to take it to and from the Embassy. Nothing crooked just saved me going to the Embassy or relying on the local post system!

[Pattaya46]

2 hours ago, soalbundy said:

I'm surprised that there is nothing in the Bangkok Post about this

There were 2 comments about "Useless UK embassy"

in the PostBag section of B.P., Oct 12 & 13

[billd766]

1 hour ago, JusticeGB said:

I paid the Embassy price plus a fee for them to take it to and from the Embassy. Nothing crooked just saved me going to the Embassy or relying on the local post system!

 

I used to post mine using EMS. I could track it there but the embassy never sent an EMS tracking number back.

[skatewash]

On 10/18/2018 at 1:01 PM, Moonlover said:

Surely, The British Embassy's letters are 'foreign documents'. They are produced in English, on British sovereign territory (yes, that's what an embassy is) and sign off by a British national.

 

 

Embassy property in a foreign country is not sovereign territory.  This concept is widely misunderstood.  It's been stated several times in this long thread as if it were true.  It's not.

This link provides some amusing stories and explains the distinction between diplomatic immunity and sovereign territory:

https://pathtoforeignservice.com/is-an-embassy-on-foreign-soil-the-sovereign-territory-of-the-host-country-or-the-embassys-country/

I know the stories cited occur at American Embassies, not British ones, but the international law is the same in both cases.

[Jingthing]

In any case official documents issued by embassies are associated with the nationality of the embassies, not the host countries. Pretty darned obviously.

Sent from my Lenovo A7020a48 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[bigginhill]

On 10/18/2018 at 4:08 PM, richiejom said:

Only Brits are meant to sign it because it asks for your Postcode I think ???? there is a thread pinned with the link...my copy and paste has decided to stop working...darn Windows 10

there is a box to confirm you are British............ then you can put in postcode of any country on the list. 

you have to then go to the emails ss.... you have given and confirm the email by clicking. very easy...????

[Mike Teavee]

Make that 141 ???? 

 

[soalbundy]

I will be at the German embassy monday morning, late monday evening I will tell you what they have to say about this.

[davehowden]

13 hours ago, JusticeGB said:

I paid the Embassy price plus a fee for them to take it to and from the Embassy. Nothing crooked just saved me going to the Embassy or relying on the local post system!

Or even email it in ?

[Tanoshi]

3 hours ago, davehowden said:

Or even email it in ?

Online is even easier.

[davehowden]

15 minutes ago, Tanoshi said:

Online is even easier.

From the BE website:

"Or Email your application and documents to [email protected]

and your letter will be posted to the address stated on your application form. The maximum email size including attachments is 5MB (you may need to send more than one email)."

 

Did you ever manage to send an email "offline' ?

 

 

Edited October 20, 2018 by davehowden
Spelling correction.

[edwinchester]

1 hour ago, davehowden said:

From the BE website:

"Or Email your application and documents to [email protected]

and your letter will be posted to the address stated on your application form. The maximum email size including attachments is 5MB (you may need to send more than one email)."

 

Did you ever manage to send an email "offline' ?

 

 

Maybe he prints it off and EMS's it.

[soalbundy]

1 minute ago, jimn said:

How about someone with a Twitter account forward the link to Jeremy Corbyn. He may even take up the issue as a way of getting back at the government for eroding services of British Citizens abroad.

He would get the same response as we get, just verbally, we need Ali G  'in da house'

[jimn]

45 minutes ago, soalbundy said:

He would get the same response as we get, just verbally, we need Ali G  'in da house'

Well I have just managed to reset my old Twitter account and have sent him a message (limited to 280 characters) and pinned the petition. You never know it might be seen as a way to have a dig at the government giving the cause a publicity boost.

[ubonjoe]

Off topic inflammatory posts and a reply to one of them have been removed.

[steve73]

1 hour ago, jimn said:

How about someone with a Twitter account forward the link to Jeremy Corbyn. He may even take up the issue as a way of getting back at the government for eroding services of British Citizens abroad.

It wouldn't surprise me if this move by the BE is to encourage many of the expats to return back to the UK in preparation for the 2nd Brexit referendum, since they seem to think most of us support Brexit..?

[soalbundy]

9 minutes ago, richiejom said:

Or get Nigel Farage on the case lol

His children would have no problems, they have German passports and neither would he as he is on the EU gravy train that he so deplores, perhaps he will marry his French mistress and get a French passport.

[Tanoshi]

22 hours ago, davehowden said:

From the BE website:

"Or Email your application and documents to [email protected]

and your letter will be posted to the address stated on your application form. The maximum email size including attachments is 5MB (you may need to send more than one email)."

 

Did you ever manage to send an email "offline' ?

 

 

Sorry Dave, I read it as mail first time around, and not email.

 

I should have gone to Specsavers   ????  

[davehowden]

28 minutes ago, Tanoshi said:

Sorry Dave, I read it as mail first time around, and not email.

 

I should have gone to Specsavers   ????  

No problems.

 

Specsavers, now that would be an expensive visit from Issan!

[yang123]

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/foreign-commonwealth-office/about/complaints-procedure

 

This has a section for complaints about Consular Services ...

[Esso49]

9 minutes ago, yang123 said:

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/foreign-commonwealth-office/about/complaints-procedure

 

This has a section for complaints about Consular Services ...

Done, many thanks. 

[doctormann]

This is Income Letter related but is specific to Jomptien Immigration.

 

Does anyone know how far in advance of the 'permission to stay' renewal date it is possible to make the application for the extension?  I know that 30 days is permissible but I have heard that 45 days is allowed in some circumstances.

 

I'm trying to get in before the cut-off date.  If the BE will issue a letter dated after 22/12 then I can just squeeze in but with no contingency time.  45 days would give me some 'just in case' breathing space.

 

I'll ask anyway when I do my next 90-day report.  Just trying to do a bit of forward planning.

[Kadilo]

12 minutes ago, doctormann said:

This is Income Letter related but is specific to Jomptien Immigration.

 

Does anyone know how far in advance of the 'permission to stay' renewal date it is possible to make the application for the extension?  I know that 30 days is permissible but I have heard that 45 days is allowed in some circumstances.

 

I'm trying to get in before the cut-off date.  If the BE will issue a letter dated after 22/12 then I can just squeeze in but with no contingency time.  45 days would give me some 'just in case' breathing space.

 

I'll ask anyway when I do my next 90-day report.  Just trying to do a bit of forward planning.

I thought they were stopping issuing the letter on the 12 December?

[doctormann]

2 minutes ago, Kadilo said:

I thought they were stopping issuing the letter on the 12 December?

12 December is the latest application date.  They will issue letters until the end of the year - but not over Xmas, I guess!

[Kadilo]

Just now, doctormann said:

12 December is the latest application date.  They will issue letters until the end of the year - but not over Xmas, I guess!

Ok cool, I get that now cheers. 

[gdhm]

On 10/17/2018 at 2:52 PM, steve73 said:

1.) I've not seen any complaints about their service - not to say there haven't been any though.  They do tell you to use the UK (or other) account you use to register with them to make the payments from.. perhaps trying to use another account would cause problems... Or there may have been suspicion of fraudulent activity. 

2. ) You are correct - or that's my understanding as well - it arrives in your Thai bank as a local transfer.  I've been using them for around a year now (1 or 2k each time), sometimes it's described on my on-line statement as coming from a "Dummy Account", others as "International Transfer".  I'm not sure why it changes, but you can print a TW "transaction report" each time that clearly details the source of funds and destination, which would tie-in with your Thai bank statement.

Thanks steve73.  Sorry for my late response (trying to follow so many posts on several threads ????)

[gdhm]

On 10/17/2018 at 2:50 PM, Tanoshi said:

1. You can transfer amounts up to 1K without proof of ID.

To send more than 1K you need to register and supply copies of your passport and proof of address to TW.

Those held transfers, are due to trying to send more than 1K without proof of ID.

The transfer is held until you supply the required ID.

 

2. Although it's paid locally into your Thai bank account, it shows as an FTT deposit in your passbook.

Foreign Telegraphic Transfer, proof the funds came from abroad.

 

Thanks Tanoshi. As with steve73, I apologize for my late reply

[Tanoshi]

2 hours ago, doctormann said:

This is Income Letter related but is specific to Jomptien Immigration.

 

Does anyone know how far in advance of the 'permission to stay' renewal date it is possible to make the application for the extension?  I know that 30 days is permissible but I have heard that 45 days is allowed in some circumstances.

 

I'm trying to get in before the cut-off date.  If the BE will issue a letter dated after 22/12 then I can just squeeze in but with no contingency time.  45 days would give me some 'just in case' breathing space.

 

I'll ask anyway when I do my next 90-day report.  Just trying to do a bit of forward planning.

What date is your extension due?

 

My IO allow you to apply 45 days before. Not sure about JT.

I doubt they'll post date anything. It will be dated the day they complete the letter.

 

[doctormann]

32 minutes ago, Tanoshi said:

What date is your extension due?

 

My IO allow you to apply 45 days before. Not sure about JT.

I doubt they'll post date anything. It will be dated the day they complete the letter.

 

The earliest that i can do my extension is 22/06/19 - 30 days early, as I usually do - so I need the Embassy letter to be dated later than 22/12/18.  If I apply on the last date - 12/12/18 - what date is going to be on the letter?  Who knows!  If I can extend 45 days in advance it would be OK anyway.

I've emailed both the BE Consular Services and Jomptien Immigration about this.  I'll probably get a response from the BE but probably not from Immigration.  We'll see.