SSA Form 7162 Time Again

[watthong]

6 hours ago, Pib said:

When the tracking doesn't show delivery it kinda defeats a key purpose of registered mail to ensure/show delivery. 

I  believe that registered mail for all the extra charges and delay still does its job, or at least the essential part of it in making sure the mail is delivered (whether that shows in tracking or not.)  Whereas regular mail ie unregistered does not offer that certainty. Keep in mind that if you get the 2nd request that does not mean one way or another that your 1st response got there or didn't by unregistered mail - whereas by registered mail at least you could deduct that your mail did get there however it missed the time window (that's why I referred to this shenanigan as trying to hit a moving target.) 

 

Now that I've been reminded that the cost is 355 and not 95 baht for registered mail, I would go just unregistered (59 baht) for the 2nd request. As for the 1st request I will go unregistered and registered (59+355) , the 1st dip is for my response to get there quickly, the 2nd dip is to make sure that it gets there at all, however belatedly.

[Alotoftravel]

Mine was 355 baht too. It is enroute to ssa . Hope is gets there by aug 1st, 60 days from june 2nd . If not i hope my 2nd mailing will arrive earlier than 1st mailing and i will use regular mail for speedy mail 

 

[Pib]

3 minutes ago, Alotoftravel said:

Mine was 355 baht too. It is enroute to ssa . Hope is gets there by aug 1st, 60 days from june 2nd . If not i hope my 2nd mailing will arrive earlier than 1st mailing and i will use regular mail for speedy mail 

 

 

I pretty sure that in this mail universe  it will not arrive Wilkes Barre by "1 Aug".....and very unlikely you will even see it arriving New York USPS International Service Center (ISC) by 1 Aug much less getting thru the ISC by 1 Aug.  

 

But the 2nd 7162 mailing is not until Sep/Oct which means if your 7162 arrives Wilkes Barre by 31 Aug you should be OK.

 

 

[Alotoftravel]

Pibs,

so i have 2 chances to be successful for 2nd mailing :

1) my current 1 st mail reply

2) for 2nd mailing that it returns by 60 days .  Hopefully i get the 2nd mailing not so late that i cannot meet the 60 days 2nd mailing date 

 

if i can do anything else ( should i resent Now another 7162 using regular mail to meet the 2nd mailing request prior to sept) please share . Thanks 

[Pib]

The 2nd mailing only gives a 45 day suspense vs 60 days for the 1st mailing.   

 

What Wilkes Barre is looking to receive is the "barcoded" 7162 they mailed you.  If you have a "really good" copy of the barcoded 7162 you mailed via registered it probably wouldn't hurt to mail them that copy via regular mail.   

 

But IMO mailing Wilkes Barre a bunch of copies via regular airmail  registered  airmail, carrier pigeon, pony express, etc., might make Wilkes Barre get a little suspicious....then again people mailing multiple copies may seem routine to Wilkes Barre.

 

Personally I would just wait to see if you get a 2nd mailing and if so respond via regular airmail.

[jerrymahoney]

On 6/25/2023 at 10:44 AM, Pib said:

What you should see soon is the next status along the lines of "Processed Through Facility...Savarnabhumi Mail Centre (SMC) Thailand" which means it's about to fly out/being prepared to flyout of Thailand to the U.S...

Yes. Then it will go up in a B-I-I-I-G airplane.

[DineshR]

Thought I would add my experience receiving my very first 7162.

 

I just received mine today (July 29, 2023). Date on form is June 2, 2023. Nakhon Ratchasima. Out in the boondocks and the post office here (a small shack by the roadside which is closed most of the time) and the post lady has a bad habit of stocking the mail and when it is convenient for her, she goes on her rounds and drops off the mail. 

 

Based on what I have read above, it looks like I should be ok if it is received by the end of August. Will attempt to mail it out (via regular airmail) on Monday the 31st - not sure if post offices are open on that day due to the long holidays till the 2nd - if it is closed, then will mail it on the 3rd.

 

Any advice of sending a copy after 2 weeks or so by regular airmail ??

 

Good thread on the 7162. Thanks.

[jerrymahoney]

Retract.

Edited July 29, 2023 by jerrymahoney

[Alotoftravel]

5 hours ago, DineshR said:

 

Thought I would add my experience receiving my very first 7162.

 

I just received mine today (July 29, 2023). Date on form is June 2, 2023. Nakhon Ratchasima. Out in the boondocks and the post office here (a small shack by the roadside which is closed most of the time) and the post lady has a bad habit of stocking the mail and when it is convenient for her, she goes on her rounds and drops off the mail. 

 

Based on what I have read above, it looks like I should be ok if it is received by the end of August.

 

Should it not be Aug 1st as the last day and not end of Aug ,  60 days from June 2nd for our 1st mailing 7162? 

[watthong]

8 hours ago, DineshR said:

Thought I would add my experience receiving my very first 7162.

 

I just received mine today (July 29, 2023). Date on form is June 2, 2023. Nakhon Ratchasima. Out in the boondocks and the post office here (a small shack by the roadside which is closed most of the time) and the post lady has a bad habit of stocking the mail and when it is convenient for her, she goes on her rounds and drops off the mail. 

 

Based on what I have read above, it looks like I should be ok if it is received by the end of August. Will attempt to mail it out (via regular airmail) on Monday the 31st - not sure if post offices are open on that day due to the long holidays till the 2nd - if it is closed, then will mail it on the 3rd.

 

Any advice of sending a copy after 2 weeks or so by regular airmail ??

 

Good thread on the 7162. Thanks.

At this point in time, regardless of what you do (including doing nothing) you will likely receive the 2nd request slated for September. If I were you I would do this, send your response to this 1st request that you just received, actually one + one copy, mailed separately of course,  via regular ie non re-gistered, airmail. Total cost would be 2x 59 baht. Make sure in the Note box in the back page of the form, tell them that if they have received one copy just like this one already, then disregard this one. The strategy is that one of the two would not get lost and will arrive in an expedient manner.

 

Come September, if/when you receive the 2nd letter, do it all over again as above. The only variation for each instance of mailing would be 1 regular + 1 registered, the latter one would cost you 355 baht but it would reach them rain or shine, albeit would take quite a bit longer and the tracking might never tell you about the final outcome.

[Pib]

2 hours ago, Alotoftravel said:

Should it not be Aug 1st as the last day and not end of Aug ,  60 days from June 2nd for our 1st mailing 7162? 

According to the SSA regulation (below) regarding the 7162 2nd mailing (a.k.a., Foreign Enforcement Questionnaire-FEQ) it occurs in Sep....but doesn't say what part of Sep.  And I expect whatever "cutoff date" is used before generating that 2nd mailing will be a key date as to whose name appears on the 2nd mailing.    Like maybe the SSA will use a 1 Aug "cut off date" to generate the Sep 2nd mailing....or maybe 15 Aug...or maybe 31 Aug....or maybe just the day before the Sep 2nd mailing.   

 

Their regulation does not go to that level of detail in specifying an exact 2nd mailing generation date in Sep.  I expect various factors (like their IT system capability, how the mailings are printed, whether the govt or contractor prints/mails them, etc.,) determine what cutoff date is needed to ensure a successful Sep 2nd mailing.   Just because they can possibly run the retrieval in a few hours or even minutes to determine who didn't respond does not mean the next morning they can printout and mail thousands upon thousands of 2nd notices. 

 

One would hope they don't use a cutoff date that's too much before generation of the Sep 2nd mailing.  Hopefully they use an end of Aug vs beginning of Aug cutoff date to increase the number of 1st mailings received back/processed which would reduce the number of people appearing on the Sep mailing....or maybe the will use the day before in Sep as the cutoff date....who knows.

 

 

SSA Regulation/Instruction talking FEQ 2nd mailing

https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0302655010

 

 

 

[DineshR]

@Alotoftravel The instructions for Form 7162 states that it should be sent no later than the date the notice was received (not sent). That said, SSA probably presumes that most foreign recipients should receive their notices perhaps no later than the end of June (my opinion only - not based on anything). If that were the case, then I would also presume that they would expect to receive completed forms by the end of August - again, my opinion. Nonetheless, I am mailing the original form either today or tomorrow (heard that the main office here is open 24 hours but will verify when I go into town later this morning) and a copy week of Aug 7. Both regular airmail.

@PibThank you for that information.

@watthongThank you for the excellent suggestion re the 2nd notice.

[watthong]

22 minutes ago, DineshR said:

@Alotoftravel The instructions for Form 7162 states that it should be sent no later than the date the notice was received (not sent). That said, SSA probably presumes that most foreign recipients should receive their notices perhaps no later than the end of June (my opinion only - not based on anything). If that were the case, then I would also presume that they would expect to receive completed forms by the end of August - again, my opinion. Nonetheless, I am mailing the original form either today or tomorrow (heard that the main office here is open 24 hours but will verify when I go into town later this morning) and a copy week of Aug 7. Both regular airmail.

@PibThank you for that information.

@watthongThank you for the excellent suggestion re the 2nd notice.

Just one small favor, how do you get those member names in blue in your post? I want to do that but at a loss... thanks

[Pib]

15 minutes ago, watthong said:

Just one small favor, how do you get those member names in blue in your post? I want to do that but at a loss... thanks

Type the @ symbol and then start entering the person's user name....as you begin to enter it a window will pop up showing members names that match what you are typing in.....select the correct member and you now have this:  @watthong

[watthong]

2 minutes ago, Pib said:

Type the @ symbol and then start entering the person's user name....as you begin to enter it a window will pop up showing members names that match what you are typing in.....select the correct member and you now have this:  @watthong

@Pib Here we go! Thanks Pib :=) - was trying to insert a smiling emoji but none to be found....

[watthong]

One point I really want to make to my fellow 7162 "sufferers" is that there are too many moving targets in this endeavor, we don't have to pull our hair out by second guessing what's going over there whenever the "dead or alive" season comes around. Just do the mail bombarding. Send them 2, even 3 copies each time, 59 baht a shot and surely at least one would get there as quickly as US-postally possible. For both June and September mailings. For extra fuzzy feelings, register one of them for 355 baht. Then sleep soundly at night.

 

If/when we get a check cutoff notice in November (or January?) because they haven't heard back from us, despite our efforts, then just call SSA directly. I've done that, though not regarding 7162, and it's not hard.

[DineshR]

Just curious ... I've heard 59 baht for overseas airmail in this thread. But when I mailed mine yesterday, they told me it was 52 baht. I asked again to make sure it was overseas airmail and they said it is 52 baht. Am I missing something ? BTW ...the main post offices in every region are open everyday till midnight including all holidays. I will be mailing my copy early next week. Thanks.

[Alotoftravel]

 

2 hours ago, DineshR said:

I asked again to make sure it was overseas airmail and they said it is 52 baht. Am I missing something ?

 

I was quoted 59 baht when I mailed mine but opted for the registered. I plan my 2nd mailing using only air mail , 59 baht in sept 

[Pib]

2 hours ago, DineshR said:

Just curious ... I've heard 59 baht for overseas airmail in this thread. But when I mailed mine yesterday, they told me it was 52 baht. I asked again to make sure it was overseas airmail and they said it is 52 baht. Am I missing something ? BTW ...the main post offices in every region are open everyday till midnight including all holidays. I will be mailing my copy early next week. Thanks.

I've weighted the envelope with enclosed form 7162 with a cheapo scale I bought off Ebay years ago.....I think it weighs up to 1 pound...it reads out in grams, seems pretty accurate since it made to measure light items like envelopes for mailing purposes, etc.   When I use that scale to weigh the 7162 mailing package it gives me 18.3 grams.  However in the past when mailing at the Thai post office when they throw it on their scale they use to weigh envelopes "and much heavier packages" some times they have charged me for only 12 grams which cost Bt52 and other times around 25 grams which cost Bt59.   

 

I expect the issue it totally with the accuracy of their scale when weighing "light" items as I expect the accuracy of the scale is less for very light items like envelopes.  The scale they use seems more suited for weighing heavier items like small boxes/packages.

 

Anyway, you can use the Thai postal system calculator to determine mailing costs....just enter the country you are sending to and the weight in grams.   If entering USA then anything less than 20 grams costs Bt52....but  21 to 30 grams is Bt59....etc....etc....etc.   Yeap, all depends on how many grams the particular Thai post office scale says you envelope weights and if you included anything additional in the 7162 mailing envelope other than the 7162 form itself....and we are dealing with a very light item weighed on scales more geared to weight small packages.  And I don't know how often the post office has it's scale officially calibrated.   With that in mind a 7162 mailed back via regular airmail will cost either Bt52 or Bt59.

 

https://www.thailandpost.co.th/index.php?page=rate_result_nrs3

 

 

[John Drake]

5 hours ago, DineshR said:

Just curious ... I've heard 59 baht for overseas airmail in this thread. But when I mailed mine yesterday, they told me it was 52 baht. I asked again to make sure it was overseas airmail and they said it is 52 baht. Am I missing something ? BTW ...the main post offices in every region are open everyday till midnight including all holidays. I will be mailing my copy early next week. Thanks.

52 baht is what I paid, too. In fact, I mailed mine twice. Both times, 52 baht at two different post offices.

[DineshR]

@Pib  @John Drake Thank you for the clarification ... 

[jerrymahoney]

So this is likely the final message I will receive on my bar-coded envelope sent to a 7162 PO Box at Wilkes-Barre and a -7162 Wilkes-Barre zip code suffix sent via registered mail -- same as last year with no 2nd mailing.  

 

[Farrows3399]

Have not received it yet,Aug 6 in Pattaya. So I have blank copies from last year w/bar code and going to mail those.

[jeffandgop]

I received my 7162 from the SSA on 20June. I returned it via Registered airmail 23June. This is the last tracking info I ever received:

 

May wife received her 7162 from the SSA on 3 July. She returned it via Registered airmail 5 July. This is the last tracking info she ever received:

Her mailing got what we paid for; don't know if mine ever made it......

 

Edited August 6, 2023 by jeffandgop

[Farrows3399]

These SS forms + post offices are the combo from hell. Just by the volumes of mailings there will be unknown errors. 

[Alotoftravel]

Update to 1st mailing (June 2nd 7162) form :

received - Jul 23

Returned via registered mail Jul 23

latest usps below 

wait for 2nd mailing if ssa sent another if not on time . Thanks for all your advise .

 

[Pib]

17 hours ago, Farrows3399 said:

Have not received it yet,Aug 6 in Pattaya. So I have blank copies from last year w/bar code and going to mail those.

Keep in mind the bar codes on the form contain specific info which may or may not be important to the "current year 7162 exercise." 

 

If you scan the two main bar codes you'll see one barcode contains your SSN "plus some additional numbers/letters"....and the other bar code only contains the  additional numbers/letters that was also shown in the first bar code. 

 

I don't have a clue what the additional letters/numbers mean but I could tell from the sequence it's not date related.  Probably a code generated specifically to a person's SSN record.....or maybe a code that only applies to the current year 7162 exercise with that code being different every year.  I can only guess what that code represents and how important it may be to ensure your barcoded 7162 is accepted by Wilkes Barre.

 

You might want to consider mailing back a 7162 which does "not" contain a bar code vs the bar coded form from last year....just download/complete a blank 7162 from the Manila FBU website and send that back.  And if you still get a bar coded 7162 later on (like the 1st mailing finally showing up or getting the 2nd mailing) be sure to mail that back also.  

https://ph.usembassy.gov/services/social-security/

[Sheryl]

For anyone wanting to call the Baltimore office the number is (1) 410-965-0160

 

Took a few tries but I got an actual human

 

The bad news is they say they never received the form I mailed within the US more than 2 months ago (goes first to Pa of course).

 

????

[jerryonjay]

2022 Experience . Sent first one in June registered mail . They received it in October !!!!!!!  Received another one in the meantime saying they never received first one  and just sent it regular mail . Bottom line . Payments continue . 2023  Registered mail took just 2 days to leave Thailand from the north . Got to New York in July . Now its sitting in Scranton PA or Wilkes Barre . Today's date is September 20th ! Jeez . They need a better system . But sounds like this is happening to everyone . I read there are 440,000 Expats living outside the US . 

[jerryonjay]

On 8/7/2023 at 9:32 AM, Alotoftravel said:

Update to 1st mailing (June 2nd 7162) form :

received - Jul 23

Returned via registered mail Jul 23

latest usps below 

wait for 2nd mailing if ssa sent another if not on time . Thanks for all your advise .

 

Same here