Pib

From SSA POMS website. POMS are the regulations/instructions that the SSA follows in administration of the SSA/Medicare program. https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0601101050

I got an answer form the US Embassy-Bangkok few days ago. Basically if renewing your passport book "and" passport card at the same time you must include both your book and card in the renewal package. If renewing your book "only," then you only need to include the book. If "only" renewing your card you only need to include the card. So, if you have a passport book and passport card which expire at different times....like maybe years apart like my book and card.... if your card is say expiring next year (like mine) but your book does not expire for numerous more years (like mine) then when your renew your card you only need to mail in card--no requirement to include the book. That's good as I wouldn't want to be without my passport book for a month or two just because I need to renew my passport card. Vice versa if your card is still good for many more years but your book is expiring soon then you only need to mail in your book if only renewing the book. However, if your passport book and card have expiration years apart because you got them at different times you can renew both "at any time" like renewing both at the same time and when the renewed book and card are issued their dates will now be synced. For that renewal you will need to include both your current book and card.

From some googling on this subject/some of your questions the "Thai Postal Courier Pass Back Service/Envelope" does include EMS tracking. Below is a picture I googled-up...found it on a Facebook page. The Thai and English text I circled says: " German Embassy Passport Delivery Service" in Thai (according to Google Translate) and then in English "Courier Pass Back Service." Don't know why they show a Thai passport laying on the envelope...and notice the EMS sticker/tracking number. And then below the picture is a Google AI description. And please note the Courier Pass Back Service is just not just for the US Embassy related docs but the Courier Pass Back Service can apparently be bought for other purposes/for most any organization/person that needs to provide a return mailing envelope. Snapshot from a Facebook page. Google AI Overview

Regarding the ThaiPostal tracking number for the return mailer (i.e., when the embassy mails the renewed passport back to you), while the "tracking number" is contained within your order for the mailer when your passport arrived back in the mailer how did the tracking number appear on that mailer? Was it on a separate sticker with bar code and number like when using EMS.....was it just a number maybe with a bar code on a preprinted address label.....or was it XYZ? Just wondering how easy or hard it might be for the ThaiPostal "not" to do scans on the mailer based on how the tracking number appears on the mailer. I can sure see that if the tracking number does not get scanned when it begins its trek on its way to you that it will not appear in the ThaiPostal tracking system as it will continue to show as "data not found" in the tracking system. When a person uses EMS like mailing from the post office the clerk sticks an EMS tracking label containing a number & bar code on the envelope and then scans it which loads that tracking number into their system as being received/mailed from that post office. And you can see such within the ThaiPostal online tracking within a few hours and sometimes immediately. That separate EMS label kinda stands out and acts as an attention getter for the postal carrier to do scans along the way. But if this return mailed does not have a separate tracking label maybe that sets the stage for scans not to be done....doesn't catch the attention of the postal carrier to do a scan. Well, I'l get a chance to personally see how the tracking numbers appears (or doesn't appear) on the mailer around the end of next week when the wife's renewed passport should have arrived back from the US passport center to the Bangkok Embassy and the embassy remails it to her in the mailer. I'll continue to do daily checks of the ThaiPostal tracking system to see if tracking data appears.. Time will tell.

Yeap...understand. That's why a person would need to check the tracking number daily at the ThaiPostal web site or using their mobile app. I use their mobile app. It's just one of a half dozen shipment tracking mobile apps like DHL, USPS, etc., I have on my phone. I already have the wife's return mailer tracking number loaded the ThaiPostal app that supposedly will give me an automatic notification once the embassy remails the passport. But I won't solely rely on the automatic notification and just try to remember to check daily. Literally just takes 10 seconds or so to check using the mobile app. Now if the embassy don't use the mailer that was bought for some reason and instead uses another mailer then I expect the current tracking number will be useless for tracking.

But you could have tracked the item by getting the tracking number from your ThaiPostalMart online account when you placed the Bt100 remailer order. There it shows your order number "and the tracking number." I don't know why the tracking number is not shown on the order confirmation/notice....but as mentioned the tracking number is shown in the online order transaction info.

I expect the Embassy expects the person to track the Bt100 mailer tracking number as that would tell when they mailed it. Did you use that return mailer tracking number (not to be confused with the order number)? When looking at other embassy websites in other countries and even the State Dept general instructions they say to use the return/prepaid mailer tracking number. I expect the State Dept/embassy figure by telling folks to use the return mailer tracking number then that's one less task they need to accomplish....save a few minutes/X-amount of manhours of work I guess.

Yes, she had to submit both since both were being renewed...both were expiring at the same time. Now if a person's passport book and card have different expiration dates....like maybe numerous years apart, the Embassy instructions are unclear to me as to if a person only needs to say renew their passport card, do they also need to include their passport book to get the card renewed OR do they only need to include their passport card if only needing to renew the card. I have queried the embassy for clarification because I don't want to include my passport book and be without it for 1 to 2 months just to renew my passport card. My passport book and card are out of sync by "years" right now....if I have to send in both book and card to only renew the card I'll probably just let the current card expire and then wait until my passport needs renewal "still years down the road" and then get a new passport card....that way I get the book and card expiration dates synced-up. And Yes, just "one" order covers both. The passport book will supposedly come back in the mailer you ordered and "if" the passport card comes in a separate mail it will just be in a standard 1st class type envelope. From past renewal of book & card for both the wife and I the cards arrived several weeks later in separate, simple 1st class USPS envelopes....and back then you also only provided "one" prepaid envelope for return mailing just like now. Now the status update notice the wife got said both the passport book and card were mailed. To me that could imply both would be coming back at the same time and maybe in the same package. HOWEVER, that same update notice then goes on to say the book, card, and any supporting docs are mailed in separate packages. See partial quote below. Will have to wait and see if book and card arrive in same mailer or if it occurs like in past renewals where the book arrives in the pre-paid mailer but the card shows up weeks later in a 1st class USPS envelope. Regarding the ThaiPostal mailer, the parcel tracking number and purchase order number are different. The parcel tracking number did "not" appear on any purchase order correspondence I got...only the order number appeared which is "not" a tracking number. However, if you log onto your ThaiPostalMart account where you ordered the mailer, click your User ID, select My Account, then select My Purchases, when you look at the mailer order details it will show the order number "and the 13 digit tracking number." The tracking number is the typical 13 digit number that start with two letters, then 9 numbers, and then ends with two letters (typically letters TH for Thailand).

Thanks. Just checked on the status of the wife's passport again at 11:15am/1 July Thailand time and the US State Dept passport status webpage now shows her passport book and card were "mailed" 30 June. This is a status change because when the wife checked a few hours earlier it still showed "in process." And while writing this post at 11:33am/1Jul she got an email update from the US State Dept repeating the info found on their passport update website. Based on the updates provided when her renewal application was received by the passport center and when they mailed the new passport back these passport status updates appear to reflect status from 1 or 2 days earlier because in both cases the status was always reflected "as of" a day or two earlier. As posted earlier the passport status webpage earlier showed the passport center received her renewal application from the US Embassy on 24 June. So, as mentioned the new passport was mailed back 30 June....a 6 day turnaround time "at a US passport center" which was apparently in the wife's case National Passport Center in New Hampshire vs one of the 30 or so possible passport centers/agencies in the US. I expect all passport applications sent from the US Embassy Bangkok go to the NH passport center which probably has responsibility for applications from outside the U.S....just my guess. Now it's just a matter of waiting for the passport to get from New Hampshire to US Embassy-Bangkok (that comes via the US Postal System) and then the embassy remailing it to the wife here in Bangkok. It took 8 days to reach the passport center when initially mailing the renewal application (i.e., our home to Bangkok Embassy via EMS and then the embassy mailing it to the passport center vis USPS assuming it was snail mailed vs electronically sent). So, I'm expecting the return mailing time will be in the 8 to 10 days ballpark which takes in account the embassy remailing it via that Thai Postal prepaid Bt100 envelope once the embassy receives the renewed passport. I'll start watching the Thai Postal tracking number for that Bt100 return envelope since buying the envelope which supposedly ThaiPostal send to the US Embassy - Bangkok. That tracking number still shows "data not found." I don't expect it will show anything until the embassy actually remails the new passport assuming they did get the Bt100 envelope and that same envelope is used to mail the passport from the embassy to our home. Time will tell but it looks like the wife may get her passport back in less than 30 days from the date the renewal application was mailed from our local Bangkok post office. But I expect the passport card will show up a few weeks later in a separate envelope based on US State Dept info and previous experience. Cheers.

Thanks for the update. Did you do any status checking of the passport completion/return mailing at the the U.S. State Dept Passport Application Status tracking website which shows when the passport center in the U.S. received your application from the Bangkok Embassy and also returned mailed it to the embassy? Thanks. https://passportstatus.state.gov/

Seems like the key may be providing proof you are now "retired" like some documentation from your former employer saying you retired from your job. Otherwise you may may have to wait until you file a tax return proving your reduced MAGI for the year the IRMAA is being charged...and then hope that might also qualify for a refund for the IRMAA. Yea...seems the key may be in proving you are truly retired now and making a lower income. Good luck...hope it works out.

It's my understanding that an IRMAA refund is automatic "only when you qualify under one of the life changing events on the SSA-44 form" (see snapshot below) which you said you submitted but it was disapproved. High income/jackpot winnings is not one of the accepted life changing events for IRMAA reduction....if anything, it just means you are more able to pay a higher rate. Unless you can get a a SSA-44 approved you have "not been overcharged" based on an accepted life changing event which would then require a refund....the refunded would be automatic with the SSA-44 approval for one of the accepted life changing events. Now regarding the lowering/removal of IRMAS when you MAGI changes that is automatic but it does not result in the SSA refunding those tax years when your MAGI triggered IRMAA. With the automatic change your IRMAA requirement either decreases (maybe to zero) or increases....all depends on MAGI for the tax year being looked at for IRMAA determination purposes. So, unless you can get a SSA-44 approved for the IRMAA years you will not get a refund for those years.

Yeap....for example a partial snapshot from the US Embassy in Trinidad & Tobago talking the 7161/8162 forms....talks the mailing will occur in June and July 2025. https://tt.usembassy.gov/update-social-security-administration-ssa-benefit-payments/ U.S. Embassy in Trinidad & Tobago

The SSA instruction states the form is mailed in May/June. June is not even over yet....got a few more days. Let's assume SSA mails them on 30 June this means it will be around 10-15 July before they start showing up in Thailand. I looked back thru copies of some of my old 7162 documentation as I knew I sometimes wrote down on the SSA envelope when I received it here at my home in Bangkok. For 2022 it was 8 July. Now most years the form has arrived in mid to late June....but some years it's been in July.

When the wife got the status update today from the US State Dept regarding status of her passport renewal it included a 9 digit Application Number Status number...and the first 2 digits of that number reflect the US passport center/agency that's processing the application. The first 2 digits for of her status locator number was 47. So, I do some googling in trying to figure out which passport agency/center had a locator designator of 47 and where it's located. The State Dept webpage Q&A below didn't list a number 47....closest number was a 46 which was the National Passport Center in New Hampshire. Figuring the State Dept webpage might not reflect all location designation codes I then did some more googling and Google said passport status locator designation code 47 was the National Passport Center in NH....see snapshot at bottom. So, I guess passport applications from Thailand get sent all the way to the New Hampshire for processing/approval. "Maybe" all applications sent from embassies go to New Hampshire for processing. Now based on the graphic in my earlier post and some more googling it appears passports are "printed" at the Arkansas and Tucson passport printing centers. So, after the passport center in New Hampshire approves the wife's passport renewal it appears it will be "electronically" sent to the Arkansas/Tucson center for printing and mail-back to Thailand. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/get-fast/passport-agencies.html