Uk Pension Letters

[VisasPlus]

Pension letters at the UK Embassy

As your well informed readers will know, to get a pension letter (or any other notarial requirements and affirmation) for the UK can now only be obtained in the UK Embassy Bangkok.

Our directors have decided to offer to take the pension request personally to the embassy for a fee of 400 Baht (plus government fee). This is you will appreciate below cost unless the update is great but will save customers travelling or posting.

On the British Embassy web site, it states the requirements as follows:

• Photocopy of your current British passport
  
• Original evidence of your current pension/income which will be returned to you
  
• Your local address to be typed on the letter
  

Please ensure the pension/income evidence you provide is in a form that is simple and easy to understand and contains the key financial amounts that are required for inclusion in the letter. According to Thai Immigration, your pension currency should not be converted into Thai Baht.

However, as with many things involving governments including the UK nothing is always so simple. It would seem that Bangkok is using ‘on the spot’ judgemental decisions as to whether certain documents will be accepted as evidence (see examples below).

We therefore can only offer our best advice on what you are submitting and the final decision rests with the consular, if they will not accept the documents we will bring them back but have to charge you should you wish to re submit with new documents. Obviously of course, if you have gone personally or submitted by post then it would have cost you more.

Examples:

· A client took a letter showing his dividend money from his business partnership that had full address, VAT number. The head partner signed it. They wanted the company licence number.

· The businesses lawyer in UK signed a letter confirming income (it was rental not earned). They stated the auditor should sign it.

Firstly as a retired UK accountant, I was not aware the law had changed on either of the above. Partnerships do not have a licence as requested; it is limited companies that require to register. Partnerships, SME’s and small Limited companies are not required to have an auditor or even an accountant if SME or partnership.

In the past our Honorary Consuls Barry and Howard knew these things and used common sense.

Finally a comment from an Embassy official, ‘the rules are changing all the time and it is difficult to keep up with them’, surely that is there job, I as a British taxpayer think so

Lloyd

Visas-Plus

[jrtmedic]

I very recently (28 November 2012) obtained a "statement of Income" from a Honary British Consule here in Thailand. As I was leaving the Consule said "See you next year!"

Whilst I do not doubt the information supplied by ThaiVisaPlus - is the Embassies Consular division able to cope with this additional workload in a timely manner and without causing undue delays by being "selective" about evidence or by citing excess workload ?

The immigration office I use will not accept a "statement of income" which is more than one month old.

I would suggest that this scheme be closely monitored as the change has the potential to cause serious disadvantage to longterm expat Brits !

[melsnet]

Is your Visa Plus Office next door to where the British Consular Office was in Jomtein Soi 5 ?

[jrtmedic]

I have just spent some time reseaching this issue.

It would seem that this "change" only affects those who choose to live in the area of Pattaya.

If this is the case then please amend the topic title and so avoid causing unecessary anxiety to those of use who live in nicer parts of Thailand

Edited December 20, 2012 by jrtmedic

[gamini]

why pay Bt400 when you can simply post the application yourselff?

[NancyL]

I doubt this applies to the Hon. British Consul in Chiang Mai, although I do know they've "tightened" the rules on documentation needed for reporting non-pension forms of income in the past year -- for example, income from property rentals. I don't know the exact details, just know that people how had received letters "no problem" in the past had to return to the Hon. British Consul with additional documentation never before requested.

I agree, the OP's post has a certain "fear-mongering" aspect, since it doesn't seem to apply to the region served by the Hon. British Consul in Chiang Mai. Just to be sure, I'll call them on Monday. But as of earlier this week, they were still issuing income letters.