UK Farangs Receiving a Capped State Pension

[transam]

2 hours ago, izod10 said:

keep looking

 Am not joining yet another thread debating issues,there are already 2 or 3 running i was involved in        I'm not frozen  no intention of being frozen either

Hoooorah.........Promise.....?    

[theoldgit]

1 minute ago, Moonlover said:

All my certificates have been signed by Thais @Max69xl and not one of them has been rejected.

 

Indeed, the list of those qualified to sign makes it very clear that the witness doesn't need to live in the UK or hold a UK Passport, nowhere does it say that a foreign national cannot sign.

 

Given that these forms are usually only sent to pensioners living overseas and the witness doesn't have to be a UK Passport holder, it seems pretty obvious that a foreign national can witness the signature, the evidence of a number of forum members supports this.  

[Saltire]

My UK pension will start Feb next year. I already now know I will find it hard to get a life certificate signature, being the only farang in the village and having no one I could ask who would sign. As someone said Thai always think they are liable for something even though it's just a witness. Getting a non family member to sign my annual home lease agreement is a pain in the a$$.

 

I am already dealing with the IPC to apply for my UK pension and am already asking for alternatiives to posting my original birth and (Thai language) marriage certificates to them. If I send copies they too have to be notarised in the same way as the life certificate.

 

Has anyone used their Poo Yai (local village chief) for signatures? Mine is helpful and friendly but it would take a bit of explaining what he was being asked to sign.

 

 

 

 

[Moonlover]

12 minutes ago, Saltire said:

My UK pension will start Feb next year. I already now know I will find it hard to get a life certificate signature, being the only farang in the village and having no one I could ask who would sign.

If that's how you think, then that's how it will be!

 

Needs must @Saltire. When the time comes you'll find a way. As your wife has a vested interest in ensuring that your pension continues, just ask for her help. she'll find a way. ????

 

When I sent in my application from Egypt I had an local lawyer notarize a copy of my birth certificate. That was accepted by DWP.

 

Edited September 8, 2020 by Moonlover

[Saltire]

6 minutes ago, Moonlover said:

If that's how you think, then that's how it will be!

 

Needs must @Saltire. When the time comes you'll find a way. As your wife has a vested interest in ensuring that your pension continues, just ask for her help. she'll find a way. ????

 

When I sent in my application from Egypt I had an local lawyer notarize a copy of my birth certificate. That was accepted by DWP.

 

Thans for your concern ???? I have no doubt I will deal with it as I have done for the last 8 years out of the UK.

 

Having just jumped through the many hoops with HMPO for a new passport, I really believe it's about time the UK government bodies woke up to the technology available today to streamline such requests and still be secure, in fact, more secure using personal portals the same as the banks and insurabce companies. They could do much more with the Government Gateway than they do now.

 

My wife obviously helps me a little sometimes but having a father from Myanmar automatically excluded her from any basic education but that doesn't hold her back. I already have 2 private pensions running, one for 10 years now and one just started. Everything with the recent one done by email and online. They even had no problem with me sending a scan by email to my brother in the UK who then posted it on. Slick process with no drama.

 

There is no comparison between private pension companies and the UK government pension as with these she will get a widows pension and a death benefit payment when I kick it. Makes me wonder why I have to show marriage certificates as there are zero benfits for her now and when times up.

 

My nearest 'local' lawyer is at least 3 hours away so I will likely get the poo yai to sign for a bottle of Hong Thong ???? (after he's drunk it) .

 

 

[Pilotman]

I'm on holiday, so I'm okay Jack. 

[theoldgit]

31 minutes ago, Saltire said:

My nearest 'local' lawyer is at least 3 hours away so I will likely get the poo yai to sign for a bottle of Hong Thong ???? (after he's drunk it) .

 

The list of those qualified to sign is fairly extensive

Life_Certificate_Witness_Options.pdf

[Saltire]

20 minutes ago, theoldgit said:

 

The list of those qualified to sign is fairly extensive

Life_Certificate_Witness_Options.pdf 17.75 kB · 1 download

Thanks this is very helpful.

 

My best bet from a first glance at the list would be my bank, even though I rarely visit the branch I am likely the only Farang with an account there.

 

While it says they don't have to be in the UK or hold a UK passport, inevitably my signatory will, I am sure, have to be a Thai. The list was obviously drawn up with UK-based signatories in mind for another purpose.

 

We do have a great lawyer who helped my wife when her dead husband's (and his 2 brothers, now in jail) finance company tried to sue her for massive debts that were not hers. He lives in Ayuthaya but I am sure we could mail him and he could return the signed docs. Great lawyer but zero English. When we first met him ( the brother of a long time friend of the wifes in Bangkok), I thought we were getting the Columbo of Thai lawyers, but he wiped the flooor with the finance company and the brothers 2 lawyers in court.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[treetops]

17 hours ago, Chris.B said:

Where does the DWP state that? Can you give me a link please?

 

4 hours ago, faraday said:

Why don't you be helpful & post the link?

Don't hold your breath waiting guys.  The poster has some strange views on pensions, whch exist only in his own small imagination.  He's never been able to back one of them up with evidence, but will come back (when drunk I reckon) and post some incoherent nonsense claiming you're to blame for not knowing what he's on about.

[Hi Tea]

5 hours ago, hotandsticky said:

19 hours ago, Hi Tea said:

Why?  If you're already in the Post Office why not register/track it?  That way you don't have to scan anything to them.

Why bother.

Unnecessary cost and tracking only shows arrival in the UK. Doesn't evidence receipt by Wolverhampton - or processing by DWP staff.

Airmail is just as likely to get there and costs peanuts.

I prefer to have the evidence of posting the LC back which you get with registered mail, and that costs peanuts also.  Normal mail doesn't give you that back up, if you ever needed it.

Edited September 8, 2020 by Hi Tea

[Hi Tea]

4 hours ago, PaDavid said:

It appears a batch were sent out dated 2nd or 3rd August. Most received end of August. But, check the postmark- sent from Laksi, Bangkok. So, for whatever reason, there is a 3-4 week discrepancy between dating the letter and posting it. 

The LC are not sent from Laksi!  They are sent from the DWP using a Netherlands agent, Spring Global Mail and come through Laksi as per normal international post into Thailand.

[Hi Tea]

18 hours ago, Max69xl said:

You do know that any Thai are not allowed to sign the 'proof of life' form? 

Nonsense.

[Hi Tea]

17 hours ago, OJAS said:

20 hours ago, Hi Tea said:

Why should the DWP provide a Thai (and, therefore, every other language) translation? 

And why on earth should they not? IMHO they should give us all the tools needed to do the job properly, which, quite clearly, they aren't. Why should we have to stump up the cost of a translation merely because DWP are too lazy to provide one themselves?

No one has to stump up the cost of a translation but some people posting here seem to have so much difficulty getting it witnessed (that the majority don't have) that someone here suggested a translation from the DWP.  Laziness on the part of the DWP doesn't come into it.

Edited September 8, 2020 by Hi Tea

[Hi Tea]

15 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

I've had 5 life forms in 8 years 2 this year and a Thai person has witness them so why are you posted false nonsense.  

The witness does not have to be Thai so why did you post false nonsense?

Edited September 8, 2020 by Hi Tea

[Kwasaki]

2 minutes ago, Hi Tea said:

The witness does not have to be Thai so why did you post false nonsense?

Never said that I answered someone saying Thais could not sign life forms, kapese. 

[Hi Tea]

5 hours ago, simon43 said:

I detest the fact that the DWP consider 'snail mail' as the only efficient and secure way to contact me, unless I am proactive and telephone them to ask if they are trying to contact me.  I live in north Laos, and am trying to sort out top-up NI payments for my pension that's due in a few years from now.

 

To date, not one letter that they claim to have sent to me has arrived.  This hardly surprises me at all, since postal theft and gross inefficiencies in the postal service seem the norm over here.  (I always send documents by DHL).  I've asked them to use email for their messages to me, but they refuse, saying that it's not secure.  Well, snail mail is not secure either!

It's your choice to live in wonderful northern Laos, thievery and inefficiency there is not the DWP's problem and it's certainly no reason for them to change their procedures just for you.

[Hi Tea]

3 hours ago, Saltire said:

I am already dealing with the IPC to apply for my UK pension and am already asking for alternatiives to posting my original birth and (Thai language) marriage certificates to them. If I send copies they too have to be notarised in the same way as the life certificate.

It will be interesting to hear how you get on with asking the DWP to ignore their ID requirements just because you don't want to find somewhere to get them notarised.  Don't lawyers exist in your part of Thailand?

[Saltire]

6 minutes ago, Hi Tea said:

It will be interesting to hear how you get on with asking the DWP to ignore their ID requirements just because you don't want to find somewhere to get them notarised.  Don't lawyers exist in your part of Thailand?

It's not the notarization that worries me, I will prevail, it's trusting Thai and UK mail to both receive and send important documents (original birth certificate and marriage certificates), especially in the current climate.

 

Of course there are lawyers. The only one I know personally is a 5 hour drive away in Ayuthaya, and the closest law practice a 3 hour drive to Kanchanaburi.

 

 

[Hi Tea]

31 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

35 minutes ago, Hi Tea said:

The witness does not have to be Thai so why did you post false nonsense?

Never said that I answered someone saying Thais could not sign life forms, kapese. 

"Kapese"

What? 

 

This is what you said and what I responded to...

"I've had 5 life forms in 8 years 2 this year and a Thai person has witness them so why are you posted false nonsense".  

 

That phrase, "and a Thai person has witness them" does not make sense as posted and I simply interpreted it as your meaning that "a Thai person "has TO witness them".  If you meant to say that "a Thai person has witnessED them" perhaps you should have said that.

 

Capiche?

Edited September 8, 2020 by Hi Tea

[Hi Tea]

11 minutes ago, Saltire said:

Of course there are lawyers. The only one I know personally is a 5 hour drive away in Ayuthaya, and the closest law practice a 3 hour drive to Kanchanaburi.

It's not necessary to know the lawyer at all, never mind personally.   Just curious, though, which area do you live in that is 3 hours away from the nearest lawyer?

[Saltire]

10 minutes ago, Hi Tea said:

It's not necessary to know the lawyer at all, never mind personally.   Just curious, though, which area do you live in that is 3 hours away from the nearest lawyer?

2 hours from Sangkhla buri, 3 from Kanchanaburi. Closest 'town' 1 hour, just a market supply town.

 

In 3 years I have rarely met another English speaker in any capacity, other than the odd travelling farang.

 

For my documents the witness is supposed to actuallly witness the original and copy so a meeting would be needed. Not so much for the life certificate.

 

 

 

 

[Hi Tea]

5 minutes ago, Saltire said:

20 minutes ago, Hi Tea said:

It's not necessary to know the lawyer at all, never mind personally.   Just curious, though, which area do you live in that is 3 hours away from the nearest lawyer?

2 hours from Sangkhla buri, 3 from Kanchanaburi. Closest 'town' 1 hour, just a market supply town.

Sorry, but what's the name of the area that you live in (I'm not asking you to give your address!).  That's what I meant, not how far away are you from places that you don't live in.  I just find it hard to imagine how anywhere can be a minimum of a 3 hour drive from a lawyer.

[Hi Tea]

13 minutes ago, Saltire said:

For my documents the witness is supposed to actuallly witness the original and copy so a meeting would be needed. Not so much for the life certificate.

The witness for the LC does have to see your original ID document also, that's in the declaration that he signs.  In theory.

[elfpattaya]

Did mine over the phone last Thursday, no problem at all. Rang the number on the form, listened to all the Covid bumf and waited for the options, option 1 was life Certificate.

Got answered immediately, by a very friendly lady, who went through a few questions with me, she then told me everything was OK. Total length of call was just over 4minutes cost me about 50 Baht.

I originally rang querying the postal service, as I have something posted from Thailand and is stuck in UK, hasn't moved since 11/8/2020, still in transit.

I wanted to know if there was any way to do it electronically.. That's when she told me we can do it over the phone.

[pontious]

6 hours ago, elfpattaya said:

Did mine over the phone last Thursday, no problem at all

What number was that.?

[treetops]

2 hours ago, izod10 said:

..but you did give a couple of pointers  (in the wrong direction)  duh

Nope.  You actually ended up looking a little bit simple, but allegedly not for the first time.  And certainly not for the last as this thread proves.

[Chris.B]

15 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

https://www.gov.uk/international-pension-centre

No, can't see the statement there either? ????

[Chris.B]

13 hours ago, theoldgit said:

 

The list of those qualified to sign is fairly extensive

Life_Certificate_Witness_Options.pdfUnavailable

No Doctor on the list but there is "licensee of public house". Just look for your nearest bar. ???? 

[izod10]

10 hours ago, treetops said:

Nope.  You actually ended up looking a little bit simple, but allegedly not for the first time.  And certainly not for the last as this thread proves.

Oh! dear   fell out of a tree perhaps,,bit of a put down a while ago got you all stirred up    put it in the past  lol

[izod10]

18 hours ago, treetops said:

I think you must be mixing me up with an imaginary friend.

 

The reason I'm not getting it is due to age, but all's good if you've not much more to add.

What is it..10 years old  lol