Transcript of the above video:

Social Security is a major issue especially among retirees out here in Thailand, American retirees specifically. Frankly it's something we don't deal with very often candidly because oftentimes there's no real value-added by our firm to be able to interact with Social Security or anything. But something I thought of recently because an old friend of mine recently passed away and there were some issues associated with this person's widow and Social Security and interacting with Social Security. It got me thinking pretty long and hard about Social Security's presence out here in Thailand.

I thought I would go ahead and quote from the US Embassy in Bangkok's website. Again this is from th.usembassy.gov and then quoting directly: "The Social Security Administration's Federal Benefits Unit, (FBU) in Manila, Philippines provides a wide range of services for federal benefits. To receive assistance, please contact the FBU via their online inquiry form. You may also contact the FBU by mail, phone or fax." That information is on the US Embassy website for the Consulate here in Bangkok. This is a question, I remember sitting around ACS years ago, especially back in the years when USCIS had a local office here I would be over in ACS a couple of times a week usually because I would be paying filing fees on Immigration petitions filed through the local office. I knew this question, it came up all the time, it was back in the days when you could essentially just, you didn't need an appointment, you could just go in during their office hours and talk to somebody at the American Citizen Services unit and it was kind of like almost a repetitive track you would hear in the background when sitting there in the waiting room and somebody would say "hey we are not the Security Office. There is a Social Security Office in Manila. You can contact them." and it was kind of a routine spiel. I often times wondered if they didn't have almost like a script for answering that question but I totally, on the one hand let me be very clear, I have a lot of sympathy for ACS folks. I have watched ACS folks work at the Embassy for over 15 or about 15 years now, somewhere around there and boy that is a job. It's pretty darn thankless it looks to me and for those in the comments who are going to burn me as being a shield for the Embassy people, whatever! I have watched those folks in action and that's a tough game. There are probably DMVs in this world that are easier to work at than ACS Bangkok and that could probably be said for ACS in other parts of the world too, but I only have primary experience dealing with ACS here in Bangkok or some of the other Embassies close by in this region. 

Long story short and again the thrust of this video is, why doesn't Bangkok just have even a minimal Social Security Office? I am really starting to wonder especially where the US Embassy in Bangkok is I believe the largest Embassy on earth at this point. I mean they have liaison officers from virtually every Government Department in the United States and then as we discussed and I am getting into in another video made contemporaneously with this one, they got rid of USCIS. USCIS, that used to be one of the few things that just an expat could enjoy some benefit from because you could file your petition for your spouse at that office. That went by the wayside under the last Administration for good or real; not getting political it just did. In my opinion, that was a major service that was lost to the American Community here in Thailand. Putting that aside and I am well aware because I remember talking to personnel at the USCIS Office, they were not thrilled about going anywhere. They preferred to have a field office here but the last Administration made a decision that went the other way. Okay.

But another question honestly, really there can't be like a walk-up window for Social Security in Thailand? I mean there are a lot of Americans here: a lot of retirees, veterans, a lot of folks here in Thailand who could use that benefit and I just find it kind of odd that at present, the closest place to deal with one's social security stuff is in Manila. It also kind of dovetails in with this overarching theme of trying to put, the Government especially trying to put everything on websites, sort of stand up a website seemingly so they don't have to deal with anybody and again I find that really problematic. I find it very odd that you can't just talk to somebody about some pretty nettlesome stuff. I do get it. I have seen over the years watching bureaucracies, you will have somebody just sort of walk up to a window and say "hey I want to do XYZ" and the response is "well there is umpteen million papers associated with that. You are sort of coming to me and expecting me to do it." That's not their function. But it would be nice in my opinion, I think it would be not only a major benefit to expats here in Bangkok and Thailand, not only that, but also to have a Social Security Office on the Southeast Asian mainland even, that could assist in servicing for example Americans in Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar for that matter. Again I get Philippines is sort of a regional hub for the Social Security issues but I just think it might not be a terrible idea to have another office like if nothing else maybe just a little branch office with just one or two people working there if nothing else to provide Q&A for people that can get into some issues involving their social security that don't have ready answers.