3 good news events for a Change

[orchidfan]

Living Pathum Thani :

 

1.  New Oz Passport

Despite numerous warnings of LONG delays (given by the Embassy in good faith), from the initial submission for a new Passport and 2 photo rejections ( By Passport Office Aus ?), the new passport arrived at my house in under 3 weeks.

Much assistance and help provided QUICKLY (email) by the "Consular Team" at Aus Embassy Bangkok!

 

2. 90 Day Report:

I did my last one online last Saturday and, despite there being a public holiday on the Monday, "Approved" email arrived on Tuesday afternoon.

Well done PT Immigration.

 

3. Transfer of stamps from old to new PP

I went to PT Imm office (arriving 1330hrs) and submitted ( at the triage station !!)the 2 passports and documents as listed on the back of the "Request for transfer of stamps" form.

She took them, checked them and left her booth for 5 - 10 minutes (Queue forming behind me not impressed!!).

She returned with photocopies of numerous other "stamped" pages from my old PP.

No explanation.

Waited outside ( as directed) for about 35 minutes and another staff lady came out, found me and returned both passports.

" all done Sir"..................NO charge!!

 

Well Done all three????

 

 

[nikmar]

any chance of next month's lottery numbers?

[BritTim]

Indeed, excellent service, and not even a charge for the photocopies. I think I might have dropped Pathum Thani immigration office a box of cakes after this. 

[Andyfez]

Same happened to me at CW recently.

New British paaport came through surprisingly fast.

Only problem was they forgot to transfer my re-entry visa to the new passport, so i have to carry them both with me till September when i get my new one....

They apologised. But didnt want to bother doing it properly so late in the afternoon.....

[brianthainess]

May I ask did you apply for new passport on-line or go to BKK ? 

[DrJack54]

18 minutes ago, Andyfez said:

Only problem was they forgot to transfer my re-entry visa to the new passport

Regards the reentry permit stamp.

Did you obtain it at immigration office where it was issued? 

Meaning perhaps you obtained it at airport

[sirineou]

Alway good to hear good news especial when it involves the immigration. office.

I did my 90 days a couple of weeks at the office, it is on my way to Macro, and being retired have nothing better to do, in addition it is good for them to know your face. it helps expedity things when you have to go . 

My 90 day at the office , without exaggeration, took five minutes. 

Not sure because they like me or did not want to have to look at me ????

[orchidfan]

16 hours ago, BritTim said:

Indeed, excellent service, and not even a charge for the photocopies. I think I might have dropped Pathum Thani immigration office a box of cakes after this. 

I did mark "Very Satisfied" on the TM47 post submission survey.... maybe that helps????

[orchidfan]

1 hour ago, Andyfez said:

Same happened to me at CW recently.

New British paaport came through surprisingly fast.

Only problem was they forgot to transfer my re-entry visa to the new passport, so i have to carry them both with me till September when i get my new one....

They apologised. But didnt want to bother doing it properly so late in the afternoon.....

I need one too for travel next month but will use the new PP and get it at Swampy prior to Immigration.

 

There was an American guy just ahead of me at IO submitting papers for a reentry permit and he was still waiting outside when I left  

Earlier and quicker at the airport !

[orchidfan]

1 hour ago, brianthainess said:

May I ask did you apply for new passport on-line or go to BKK ? 

I filled in the printed off application and attached the 2 OP photos and sent it be EMS the the Oz Embassy

(Includind a self addressed big envelope ).

 

From memory,  this is the preferred (and only???) method at the Oz Embassy.

 

My new passport came back home to me by EMS also. So has to stay around waiting for the EMS posture to arrive.....who luckily called me on my mobile to say " I am EMS postman, come your house now".

I gave him a nice tip for his efforts.

[brianthainess]

Just now, orchidfan said:

I filled in the printed off application and attached the 2 OP photos and sent it be EMS the the Oz Embassy

(Includind a self addressed big envelope ).

 

From memory,  this is the preferred (and only???) method at the Oz Embassy.

 

My new passport came back home to me by EMS also. So has to stay around waiting for the EMS posture to arrive.....who luckily called me on my mobile to say " I am EMS postman, come your house now".

I gave him a nice tip for his efforts.

That is good news, last year must book an appointment up to 2 months before, AM only, and 'must' attend in person (unless medically unfit) no agents can apply. Glad to hear they have woken up at last, I Had to travel/drive to BKK from KC about a 6hr drive, stay overnight, get up early for AM appointment, I was knackered so stayed an extra night near Rayong, on the way home. Now just need the OZY banks to wake up.

[KhunBENQ]

Congrats to you OZ folks!

 

Swiss: travel to Bangkok to sit at the bio-metric monster machine (from Siemens) taking picture, fingerprints, signature. Pay some 5xxx Baht. No self-taken pictures at all.

As a convenience the new passport is sent home by EMS.

 

Germany: travel to Bangkok, similar procedure like above. No self-taken pictures at all.

And as an extra goodie you can travel again to pick up the new passport.

Alternatively you can write a power of attorney for someone else to pickup or use some costly service. German consulate has about the worst service compared to what I read here.

[brianthainess]

16 minutes ago, orchidfan said:

.who luckily called me on my mobile to say " I am EMS postman, come your house now".

I can't even use my own address for mail as KOH CHANG post office NEVER delivers to my house. useless counts.

[orchidfan]

2 minutes ago, brianthainess said:

That is good news, last year must book an appointment up to 2 months before, AM only, and 'must' attend in person (unless medically unfit) no agents can apply. Glad to hear they have woken up at last, I Had to travel/drive to BKK from KC about a 6hr drive, stay overnight, get up early for AM appointment, I was knackered so stayed an extra night near Rayong, on the way home. Now just need the OZY banks to wake up.

Yes, the EMS method is quick, cheap (B45 I recall) and by tracking number you Know it has been delivered (Thai Post App on your phone) .

 

Ozy banks.....yes I went through the "Proof of Identity " and "are you a tax resident of another country " crap a little while ago.

Needed a notorised copy of my passport done by the Embassy in Bangkok (B1700) and sent EMS to them.

 

All finally accepted and my account "unfrozen"

 

The "Tax residency " query answered in a quick phone call to their Overseas Tax team.

Asked "are you a tax resident of a country outside of Australia ?"

Answer NO.

Thank you sir, that's all we need to know!!!

[DrJack54]

38 minutes ago, orchidfan said:

I need one too for travel next month but will use the new PP and get it at Swampy prior to Immigration

That will work fine for you as you already have your new pp.

 

Anyone that plans to obtain new pp should be aware that if you obtain the reentry permit at airport and subsequently obtain a new pp your local immigration office cannot transfer the stamp and will require traveling with both pp..

[orchidfan]

15 minutes ago, brianthainess said:

I can't even use my own address for mail as KOH CHANG post office NEVER delivers to my house. useless counts.

My real full Thai address is soooooo long that I use an abbreviated one showing house number, moo baan name and local district (Rangsit, Not Thanyaburi  ) .

Most (99%) mail gets to my house, plus I tip the EMS delivery guy(s) well.

 

Also, I changed most of my bills to Ebills, received by email. Much easier!

[brianthainess]

6 minutes ago, orchidfan said:

Yes, the EMS method is quick, cheap (B45 I recall) and by tracking number you Know it has been delivered (Thai Post App on your phone) .

 

Ozy banks.....yes I went through the "Proof of Identity " and "are you a tax resident of another country " crap a little while ago.

Needed a notorised copy of my passport done by the Embassy in Bangkok (B1700) and sent EMS to them.

 

All finally accepted and my account "unfrozen"

 

The "Tax residency " query answered in a quick phone call to their Overseas Tax team.

Asked "are you a tax resident of a country outside of Australia ?"

Answer NO.

Thank you sir, that's all we need to know!!!

As I said my postie hardly delivers anything, I did get one of those tax res letters that gave you one month to reply, it came 4 months after it was posted, in the bin, got one this year same in the bin. To my knowledge my Acc has never been frozen  was yours actually frozen? if so did they e-mail you? thanks in advance.

[orchidfan]

10 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

That will work fine for you as you already have your new pp.

 

Anyone that plans to obtain new pp should be aware that if you obtain the reentry permit at airport and subsequently obtain a new pp your local immigration office cannot transfer the stamp and will require traveling with both pp..

Good advice.

I think doing it at the airport with pre~filled form and photo is by far the easiest  ......especially into a new passport as you noted.

Ps. Due to the brief PP photos interruption I had getting this new PP,  I now have over a dozen pp photos.

All perfectly acceptable to Thai Immigration ????

[brianthainess]

2 minutes ago, orchidfan said:

Also, I changed most of my bills to Ebills, received by email. Much easier!

Yes I have set up direct debits for power and TOT, bcoz of Thai post, and i should still get the bill in the post but if i'm very lucky maybe twice a year they all come at once! where do they keep them? under the posties bed? 

I have been waiting 3 years!!! for 2 new card readers to arrive from a UK bank, got my daughter to send me one in the end. 

[DrJack54]

2 minutes ago, orchidfan said:

All perfectly acceptable to Thai Immigration

It's an open secret that Oz embassy want folk that apply in person to obtain photo from certain nearby shop to embassy.

 

 

[DrJack54]

5 minutes ago, orchidfan said:

I think doing it at the airport with pre~filled form and photo is by far the easiest  ......especially into a new passport as you noted.

Definitely airport good option.

 

For my recent extension I opted to obtain the reentry permit at immigration on same visit as I plan to obtain new pp soon..ish..

 

[orchidfan]

9 minutes ago, brianthainess said:

As I said my postie hardly delivers anything, I did get one of those tax res letters that gave you one month to reply, it came 4 months after it was posted, in the bin, got one this year same in the bin. To my knowledge my Acc has never been frozen  was yours actually frozen? if so did they e-mail you? thanks in advance.

Yes "frozen" in a sense that it restricted me to ONLY depositing.

Not able to withdraw or transfer out.

 

My Oz pension is paid into this (Westpac) account (they won't pay it into any overseas account ) so I needed to settle this quickly to be able to use WISE

 

As I said, a quick phone call to your bank's tax residency section (their number is usually provided.on the letter you get )should fix it.

Worked for me....less than a 5 minute call.

[Ralf001]

2 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

It's an open secret that Oz embassy want folk that apply in person to obtain photo from certain nearby shop to embassy.

 

 

They rejected my pics from that photo shop initially and suggested I go there to get new ones.

 

I showed them the receipt time stamped that morning 1 hr ago from that shop..... the lady called supervisor and photos accepted !!

[brianthainess]

2 minutes ago, orchidfan said:

Good advice.

I think doing it at the airport with pre~filled form and photo is by far the easiest  ......especially into a new passport as you noted.

Ps. Due to the brief PP photos interruption I had getting this new PP,  I now have over a dozen pp photos.

All perfectly acceptable to Thai Immigration ????

I printed off the PP photos requirements, and got a local professional photographer to read it, he understood exactly what was required, at application "oh these may not be good enough, go get some more" I said ''they are correct " ''Oh but but" they were accepted 

 

[orchidfan]

4 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

It's an open secret that Oz embassy want folk that apply in person to obtain photo from certain nearby shop to embassy.

 

 

Well, to apply in person would have meant making an appointment months in advance (as another member has stated here).

This was impractical with future travel this year.

 

Also, it was never suggested in emails from Oz Embassy that I needed to come in person or use any "suggested" photo shop.

I can't imagine anything nearby to Fort Oz !!

Only suggestion was to just email them the jpeg photo file.

But I got new photos done...only B100.

Can't imagine the Embassy can/could get much cut out of that???

[brianthainess]

2 minutes ago, Ralf001 said:

They rejected my pics from that photo shop initially and suggested I go there to get new ones.

 

I showed them the receipt time stamped that morning 1 hr ago from that shop..... the lady called supervisor and photos accepted !!

My mate got held up at the embassy for 2hrs, they had a problem with not being able to print a receipt, he also went to the same guy who did my photos and was told no good, but I had pre-warned him, Then held up as she had lost her frigging stapler. I kid you not. Thank heaven no one has to go there now for a PP.

[Stevemercer]

We did go to the Australian Embassy to get a new Australian passport for my wife. I noted the possibility of doing it all online, but there was an embassy appointment available in 2 weeks.

 

We drove down from Khon Kaen and spent the night at the hotel where the recommended passport photo shop is located (mediocre accomodation). At the embassy they accepted all the paperwork and photos. We then drove back home.

 

Two weeks later (yesterday) we received an email to say the passport had been posted to us so we should get it on Monday (I hope).

[DrJack54]

39 minutes ago, Stevemercer said:

At the embassy they accepted all the paperwork and photos

I intend to do same in person at Oz embassy.

Can you please list the docs you provided.

I'm aware of the photo office that embassy staff recommend. 

Also how was payment made. 

Vaguely recall cash not acceptable 

 

Edited June 10, 2023 by DrJack54

[orchidfan]

1 hour ago, DrJack54 said:

I intend to do same in person at Oz embassy.

Can you please list the docs you provided.

I'm aware of the photo office that embassy staff recommend. 

Also how was payment made. 

Vaguely recall cash not acceptable 

 

Posting in includes a debit authority so that was simple (albeit painful to pay B10,500).

 

But the last time I attended to get the notorised copy of my PP for the bank I has to use my BBL Debit card.....BUT the ha.d held POS device they use doesn't fit under the glass in the tray where you deposit everything.

So, the lady swiped my card a.d I had to tell her the PIN number to access the account!

Might be different with a credit card?

 

What do they always tell us?

NEVER disclose your PIN number to anyone (especially wife ????????????)

[orchidfan]

Worth noting that the new PP is dated from the day they receive your application. 10yrs from late May (in my case) not 10yrs from expiry of old passport !

So, lost a few months.....but probably won't make a difference by 2033!