US Embassy Outreach Payment of Fees

[kimchibob]

A friend of mine went to the US Embassy Outreach today in Pattaya. He was told that, as of 1 Oct, they will no longer accept cash. They will only accept a bank draft from Bangkok Bank, Kasikorn Bank, or SCB, made out to "American Embassy Bangkok" for the exact amount of the fee in Thai baht. As far as I know, this only applies to the Outreach Program and not to fees paid directly at the embassy. I tired to find further information on this on the embassy website, but couldn't find it.

[ubonjoe]

I cannot find any info on their website either. I assume there will be announcement about it later.

[kimchibob]

He sent me a picture of the flyer he was given, but, for some reason, the forum won't allow me to post attachments today.

[ubonjoe]

The are still in the process of indexing forum after the upgrade. Until that is done attachments will not be possible.

Perhaps you could upload it to photo sharing site and post the link to it as a image.

[kimchibob]

Here you go:

https://www.flickr.com/gp/145743024@N02/kF6A8y

[ubonjoe]

That certainly confirms the requirement for a bank draft. Perhaps they are worried they will get robbed on the way to the embassy.

[kimchibob]

I would think they will still accept cash at the embassy, since that is a secure environment. But, we shall see.

[Jeffrey346]

Sounds like a security issue to me...  Or they can make all services free....lol

[ubonjoe]

I sent an email to a embassy warden with a copy of the flyer attached that I know and he has sent an email to the ACS asking about it. It will probably be Monday before he gets an answer.

Edit: Well the flyer just appeared I tried to upload earlier.

[kawika4058]

Do they accept debit cards? They did a while back.

[ubonjoe]

10 minutes ago, kawika4058 said:

Do they accept debit cards? They did a while back.

They do at the consular section in Bangkok but not at the outreaches. It appears the bank drafts are only for outreaches and you will still be able pay in cash in Bangkok.

[pearcerf]

I wonder if you have to have an bank account at one of the eligible banks to purchase a bank draft?

[ubonjoe]

29 minutes ago, pearcerf said:

I wonder if you have to have an bank account at one of the eligible banks to purchase a bank draft?

I don't think you would need an account to buy a bank draft. I looked on Bangkok Bank's website and found no mention of an account being needed.

 

[Mansell]

Last year they took credit cards at the outreach, but not this year. Making it a bit more complicated and time consuming. Changes....Changed.

[Qman]

I was there today and got the flyer.  They said when going to future outreach meetings they will post the baht figures on their website and in the email notification so people will have the correct Baht amount in their drafts due to exchange rate fluctuations.  Since they do not have cash there will be no ability to pay differences or get refunds if the amount is incorrect.  Seems overkill but easier for them.

[Benmart]

6 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

That certainly confirms the requirement for a bank draft. Perhaps they are worried they will get robbed on the way to the embassy.

I politely asked the lady that was the notary, closest to the windows, as to the reason behind the change. She said it was to combat fraud. You can interpret that as you wish.

[Benmart]

4 minutes ago, Qman said:

I was there today and got the flyer.  They said when going to future outreach meetings they will post the baht figures on their website and in the email notification so people will have the correct Baht amount in their drafts due to exchange rate fluctuations.  Since they do not have cash there will be no ability to pay differences or get refunds if the amount is incorrect.  Seems overkill but easier for them.

Good points. I plan to check and double check their website prior to any future visits. In the event I do need to get to a bank due to my error, I will go early enough so I can get to one with plenty of time left before the outreach closes.

 

By the way, I told the lady that I was extremely thankful that they do such outreaches and provide the service they do. Many other countries have cut back or ended consular/embassy support and programs (UK and others). 

[ubonjoe]

1 minute ago, Benmart said:

Good points. I plan to check and double check their website prior to any future visits. In the event I do need to get to a bank due to my error, I will go early enough so I can get to one with plenty of time left before the outreach closes.

 

By the way, I told the lady that I was extremely thankful that they do such outreaches and provide the service they do. Many other countries have cut back or ended consular/embassy support and programs (UK and others). 

The best way to know what you will need is to check the outreach schedule and click on the link for the one you are going to which will have the fees in baht shown. Unless they change the website again this page has the outreach schedule. https://th.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/consular-outreach/

[IAMHERE]

14 hours ago, pearcerf said:

I wonder if you have to have an bank account at one of the eligible banks to purchase a bank draft?

doubtful it will take much more than a couple hundred baht to buy a check, and your passport with the proper visa/stamps, plus a registered cell phone sim, and a smile.

[skatewash]

13 September 2016 the following was posted at the US Embassy site regarding the "no-cash-accepted" policy at new consular outreach events:

https://th.usembassy.gov/new-outreach-policy-no-cash-accepted/

 

It's as previous posts have already explained just thought I would post something from an official source.  Note: that this policy covers only consular outreach events and not at the Embassy itself.