I returned my proof life certificate in the pre addressed envelope provided, I sent it by EMS, it took over three weeks but showed up on the Royal Mail track & trace as having been delivered.

Gee , all very confusing , I go back and forth from here to England , 65 in a month or so , so for convenience sake , for letters and the suchlike from anybody I give address of a relative in UK who can open ,look and forward to me anything that is not better off in the bin !

I will be going back to live in UK in 2 or 3 months after selling up here ( we all know how easy that is ( not ) having tired of the thai mental ity.

Said relative received letter from Newcastle in November (4 months before birthday ) telling me that they would contact me again before 10 Feb ( no forms , no nothing , just that I would be contacted ., kinda pointless , If not contacted by then I should phone them , an 0800 number !!!! nothing else .

Naturally this contact has not happened , I am not happy about calling them from here .for obvious reasons ,questions ,questions ., then some more questions......unless whoever answers does not have any idea that its a number abroad, dont know about these things .........and I dont want to waste a 1000 pounds flying back make a bloody phone call. then to come back and finish my affairs in the L.O.S

( Land .Of. ( non). Sense.

I had read / thought that a claim form is normally sent 4 months before your 65 , easy, no...instead a letter saying they will send me another letter later .( been watching Little Britain have they ? or Indian beaurocracy for beginners ?) bananas!

My thoughts are that the best thing to do is .....errr.... NOTHING ...and apply when I get back , which could be months and months , Does anyone know if the pension will be backdated and for how long , 6 months sticks in my mind , dunno why , but seems logical ,but does logic apply to the pension service and/or government in general ?

Any thoughts , or similar experience welcome , or even , if I phone a 0800 number or any number from a cell phone ,, can you ? does it go through a switchboard ?

Or even , maybe does the pension just appear ,asking you for a bank account to put it in .

Dazed and Confused .

P.S be getting a beer or two early on today ,I reckon !

I am following this thread with some interest as I am about to send my "Claim Pack" off to the UK. Having read most of the thread I started getting concerned about the "Life Certificate" as I was not aware of it.

I did a Google and was taken to the British ExPats website, where this is posted. It was re-assuring to me, and might also be worth reading for the OP.

http://www.britishexpatsdirectory.com/2014/12/uk-pension-life-certificate-international-pensions-centre.html

OP - Please keep us updated with progress.

JC

Gee , all very confusing , I go back and forth from here to England , 65 in a month or so , so for convenience sake , for letters and the suchlike from anybody I give address of a relative in UK who can open ,look and forward to me anything that is not better off in the bin !

I will be going back to live in UK in 2 or 3 months after selling up here ( we all know how easy that is ( not ) having tired of the thai mental ity.

Said relative received letter from Newcastle in November (4 months before birthday ) telling me that they would contact me again before 10 Feb ( no forms , no nothing , just that I would be contacted ., kinda pointless , If not contacted by then I should phone them , an 0800 number !!!! nothing else .

Naturally this contact has not happened , I am not happy about calling them from here .for obvious reasons ,questions ,questions ., then some more questions......unless whoever answers does not have any idea that its a number abroad, dont know about these things .........and I dont want to waste a 1000 pounds flying back make a bloody phone call. then to come back and finish my affairs in the L.O.S

( Land .Of. ( non). Sense.

I had read / thought that a claim form is normally sent 4 months before your 65 , easy, no...instead a letter saying they will send me another letter later .( been watching Little Britain have they ? or Indian beaurocracy for beginners ?) bananas!

My thoughts are that the best thing to do is .....errr.... NOTHING ...and apply when I get back , which could be months and months , Does anyone know if the pension will be backdated and for how long , 6 months sticks in my mind , dunno why , but seems logical ,but does logic apply to the pension service and/or government in general ?

Any thoughts , or similar experience welcome , or even , if I phone a 0800 number or any number from a cell phone ,, can you ? does it go through a switchboard ?

Or even , maybe does the pension just appear ,asking you for a bank account to put it in .

Dazed and Confused .

the easyest for you is to deferr claiming.then take [eg.deferr for 1yr.] then take it as a lump sum.

if you need to contact them.

its the international pension centre.

department for work and pensions,

tyneview park,

newcastle-upon-tyne,

ne98 1ba.

tell.no.44 191 218 7777