Life Certificate

[scammed]

1 hour ago, Gandtee said:

Not everyone has a phone. I've resisted being at everyone's beck and call twentyfour hours a day.????

i wouldnt bother with a phone either if it wasnt for that bank ID,

i really only use the phone to sign bank transfer or sign life certificate, but those two things are so vital for my existence

i can not do without

[Saltire]

15 hours ago, Aforek said:

My police station doesn't want to do it ; you live in a touristic place or big city ? 

I live up country, no farangs here, they seem afraid to take responsability to sign, don't know why

This I am pretty sure will be the same for me next year.

 

It always seems when I need stuff like this I appear to be the first farang to ask.

 

I can understand them not wanting to sign for fear of being liable for something involving money, and also I would hesitate to sign a document all in Thai. Finding a willing signatory is hard enough, impossible here to find one who can read and understand the form.

 

Look at this photo! Is this me? Am I alive? Sign here please ????. Thanks.

 

Edited September 20, 2020 by Saltire

[jonesthepost]

38 minutes ago, scammed said:

my state pension department has a web page,

if i google life certificate, it comes right to the login page,

i use my e-verification code (Bank ID) and log in,

and scroll until i find life certificate,

then i write down my details and sign with the bank ID app.

done.

...profit

I never new that which country  state pension department is that  

[Aforek]

29 minutes ago, jonesthepost said:

I never new that which country  state pension department is that  

yes, which country ? not mine ( France ) ; now easier than before, one paper per year, form by Internet but we have it to be signed by "autority " ( police, consulate ...) , not as easy as you say 

with your method, every body ( not only you ) can do it 

Edited September 20, 2020 by Aforek

[khastan]

1 hour ago, cheshiremusicman said:

Some of these Thai banks are so blxxdy minded when they can't even witness a form for their own customers. I'm with the SCB and I got my certificate witnessed at Bluport SCB which isn't even my branch. Suggest you change banks!

Too right they are. I was told under no circumstances will the bank help a customer with any paperwork unless it is anything to do with the bank.

[scammed]

46 minutes ago, Aforek said:

yes, which country ? not mine ( France ) ; now easier than before, one paper per year, form by Internet but we have it to be signed by "autority " ( police, consulate ...) , not as easy as you say 

with your method, every body ( not only you ) can do it 

everyone that has my bank ID and code can sign it, yes. its a verification of identity just like a passport.

i thought all western europe and USA had this system for years,

not just scandinavia.

may i suggest google 'life certificate' in french,

on your phone, i suspect its going to take you right to the login page, but you dont have an bank ID yet so you cant login, and its quite a hassle to get the ID, you download the app from your bank

Edited September 20, 2020 by scammed

[khastan]

3 minutes ago, scammed said:

everyone that has my bank ID and code can sign it, yes. its a verification of identity just like a passport.

i thought all western europe and USA had this system for years,

not just scandinavia

No not those retired and drawing an old aged pension from the UK. I did have my pension stopped once when my life certificate they received had not got an official stamp. I got it reinstated and an apology has they said a stamp was not strictly necessary. Another time they said they had not received it. I kindly pointed out to them that it had been signed for has received at Wolverhampton.

[Lacessit]

Interesting difference in bureaucratic psychology. Centrelink in Australia only wants to know if I am dead.

[khastan]

3 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

Interesting difference in bureaucratic psychology. Centrelink in Australia only wants to know if I am dead.

That's the case also in the UK. The way you prove this though would be appear to be much easier in other countries.

[scammed]

1 hour ago, khastan said:

No not those retired and drawing an old aged pension from the UK. I did have my pension stopped once when my life certificate they received had not got an official stamp. I got it reinstated and an apology has they said a stamp was not strictly necessary. Another time they said they had not received it. I kindly pointed out to them that it had been signed for has received at Wolverhampton.

i cant believe scandinavia is so far ahead in this regard.

i too got a letter that they would quit pension cause i hadnt responded many years ago, i never got their letter, (tnx thai postal service), but this way we circumvent thai post service altogether, it cant happen again

[Aforek]

5 hours ago, scammed said:

everyone that has my bank ID and code can sign it, yes. its a verification of identity just like a passport.

i thought all western europe and USA had this system for years,

not just scandinavia.

may i suggest google 'life certificate' in french,

on your phone, i suspect its going to take you right to the login page, but you dont have an bank ID yet so you cant login, and its quite a hassle to get the ID, you download the app from your bank

Impossible in France, I know how it works; I hope in the future it will be as easy as in your country 

 

yes, Scandinavian countries are ahead of other countries for many things

southern Europe, as France, Italy, Spain are "old fashion " in many ways , ( I don't like it ) 

Edited September 20, 2020 by Aforek

[khastan]

Have just received this email copied and pasted below. 

 

TVP International Queries <[email protected]>	16:14 (0 minutes ago)
to me

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Mr

 

Thank you for your email dated 18^th September 2020.

 

We appreciate you returning your completed Life Certificate form to us.

 

Please contact us 28 days after you posted the form and we will confirm if we have received it.

 

 

Yours Sincerely

 

Caitlin

Pensions Officer

[Allen Lewis]

On 9/17/2020 at 10:17 AM, Gandtee said:

Yesterday I received a reply to my email to DWP saying my bank letter from Bangkok Bank will be accepted signed and stamped.

I'm an American expat and get a modest pension from the UK for the few years I worked there, but most of my non-US Social Security income is from France, where I worked some 22 years.  Until this year I just took the "Certificate de Vie" form to the French Embassy every couple of years and they stamped and signed it without any fuss.  But since Covid 19 they have discontinued this service and most other consular services.  Their website suggests I try the police, immigration service, town hall etc.   None of these wanted anything to do with it.  A total cover-your-ass attitude. Don't know, don't understand, not our job, blah blah blah.   Immigration was particularly snotty, telling me flat out it's not their responsibiity to certify whether I am alive or dead.  Go to your own country's embassy.  I never thought of asking Bangkok Bank, where my wife and I have been customers for 15 years. I finally asked a kind and understanding doctor at Vibhavadi Hospital who I have been seeing for  years and she took care of it.  So that's my solution for what it's worth

[khastan]

4 hours ago, Allen Lewis said:

I'm an American expat and get a modest pension from the UK for the few years I worked there, but most of my non-US Social Security income is from France, where I worked some 22 years.  Until this year I just took the "Certificate de Vie" form to the French Embassy every couple of years and they stamped and signed it without any fuss.  But since Covid 19 they have discontinued this service and most other consular services.  Their website suggests I try the police, immigration service, town hall etc.   None of these wanted anything to do with it.  A total cover-your-ass attitude. Don't know, don't understand, not our job, blah blah blah.   Immigration was particularly snotty, telling me flat out it's not their responsibiity to certify whether I am alive or dead.  Go to your own country's embassy.  I never thought of asking Bangkok Bank, where my wife and I have been customers for 15 years. I finally asked a kind and understanding doctor at Vibhavadi Hospital who I have been seeing for  years and she took care of it.  So that's my solution for what it's worth

Yes I also got mine done at the local private hospital so that seems a solution to anybody having a problem getting the form witnessed. 

[doctormann]

I sent my Life Cert back to IPC on 21 September, using EMS.  The papers took six weeks to reach me from the UK - snail mail service.

 

So, I managed to track the paperwork as far as Suvarnabhumi, from where it has been 'exported'.  It has now dropped off the radar and, according to Parcel Force UK, is in transit but has not yet arrived at Langley (Heathrow).  I suspect that it hasn't even left yet and is waiting for a plane!  Either that or it has disappeared into the Langley black hole - had that problem before!

 

So, I informed IPC that it was on its way, not really expecting any response, but I received an email, yesterday, from someone called Sam, informing me that it had not arrived - no surprise there - but that IPC had extended the delivery deadline by a further 16 weeks.  This is good to know so anyone who is concerned about non-delivery should maybe do the same.

[OJAS]

On 9/20/2020 at 11:05 AM, Saltire said:

This I am pretty sure will be the same for me next year.

 

It always seems when I need stuff like this I appear to be the first farang to ask.

 

I can understand them not wanting to sign for fear of being liable for something involving money, and also I would hesitate to sign a document all in Thai. Finding a willing signatory is hard enough, impossible here to find one who can read and understand the form.

 

Look at this photo! Is this me? Am I alive? Sign here please ????. Thanks.

 

Your experience serves to underline my long-held view that the IPC really do need to do more to provide us with all the necessary tools to facilitate life certificate witnessing, by including a Thai translation of the witness declaration section at least in our case. This should only necessitate a one-off exercise on their part to prepare a suitable template on the basis that they have never, to the best of my knowledge, made any substative changes to the format of the life certificate since its inception. In other words there should be no need for them to reinvent the wheel in this regard for each biennial life certificate exercise!

Edited October 5, 2020 by OJAS

[Eff1n2ret]

The problem of foreign language translations of official documents is one that has bedevilled government departments and councils for many years now. Many taxpayers don't like the thought that they are having to pay for leaflets translated into Bengali and Arabic and half a dozen other languages. The DWP might reasonably reply that they couldn't justify the cost of supplying printed translations into the languages of all the countries throughout the world where pensioners reside, and if a written translation is needed it shouldn't be too difficult to get one locally, or be accompanied by anyone who can act as an interpreter.

It would be nice, though, if they could set up a page on the gov.uk website where they could notify you by email and you could submit a selfie holding up your passport, to streamline the current rigmarole and save the taxpayer and us the cost of paper and postage.