Getting life certificate signed. What a drag.

This is about The Netherlands and it is not about the SVB.

It used to be so easy, see your Thai doctor and have him/her sign the document.

Probably this option was abused too much as it was cancelled. Now only a notary, the Embassy or a district office could do.

Last year I saw an embassy employee who visited Chiang Mai. Nice. The year befor I went to my local Amphur, easy, 20 Baht and quick in and out.

Since last year my local amphur said they didn't sign such documents anymore and it seems no official body is allowed to sign anymore.

Not the police, the Tessa Baan, not the Pooyai Baan. Actually it's  a notary or the embassy. Notary expensive and a trip to BKK as well.

Only easy way out now is that it can be done digitally for which you need a phone with NFC build in chip, which I don't have.

So, I decided to buy an extra phone only for the NFC and that was another drag. Check around on Lazada and found a couple of low budget phones that had NFC in their specification list. I chatted with the sellers befor ordering and they bluntly said NO HAVE. Even with phones that were mentioned on the web. Chinese scam?

Then I finally found one and the NFC function was acknowledged by the seller.

Then the phone arrived...all Chinese language. Had to contact the seller to help me out. That worked. Still a lot of apps were only in Chinese.

Next bummer was that it was a Huawei phone and the kind Chinese people in power had decided that Google was banned on Chinese phones/browsers.

I found a way around it and finally was able to download a special app needed for reading my passport with the NFC.

And then the hammer. Though the NFC was activated it didn't read anything. So, no chip installed? Chinese scam again? This phone was clearly meant for the chinese market and maybe a bootleg as well as the packing was pure card board with no printing on it

Did a return that was accepted and now  I need to take more care of what I buy. A more expensive one probably but that is not far from the cost of a notary or a return ticket CNX-BKK.

Do people here have similar experiences and how do you get the life certificate signed?