On November 7, Master of Ceremonies Roger Fox welcomed
everyone to the Amari Resort’s Tavern by the Sea Restaurant for the regular
Sunday meeting of the Pattaya City Expats Club. After the usual opening
announcements, Roger called on member and USA Embassy Warden for Pattaya,
Gary Hacker to introduce first his new fellow Warden Jim Phillips and
second, special guest speaker Tim Swanson, Chief of the American Citizens
Services (ACS) from the US Embassy in Bangkok.
Tim
Swanson, Chief of US Embassy’s American Citizens Services.
Tim has recently taken over these duties. His previous
posting was in Vietnam. Tim was a Peace Corp volunteer in the Central
Philippines for two years in the late eighties. He joined the US Foreign
Service in 1998.
Tim has been in Thailand for 3 months as head of the ACS,
which deals with the needs of US citizens living or traveling in Thailand.
The ACS, part of the US Embassy’s Consular section, has two other units; the
Visa unit that processes visas to the USA and the Fraud Prevention unit that
works primarily at airports.
He gave a brief overview of the other two units and then
a more detailed description of the functions of the ACS. He mentioned that
the ACS is the fastest growing part of the Consular section because the
number of US citizens taking up residence in Thailand is increasing about
10% per year putting more demand on their services.
The ACS is responsible for processing US passport
applications, assisting distressed US citizens, handling matters related to
deaths of US citizens, helping families that are trying to find an American
relative that is supposed to be in Thailand, and notarial services. Further,
the ACS acts as a gateway for US citizens that are applying for social
security or veterans benefits. Counting himself, his unit has a staff of 18
of which 11 are Thai nationals employed by the Embassy.
He briefly described these various services including
visiting jailed US citizens, which is mostly done by Embassy Wardens. The
more solemn of their duties takes place when a US citizen dies in Thailand.
He said that last year there were 190 deaths of US citizens in Thailand. He
said he would first like to clarify that the US Embassy does not act as a
repository for wills. If you have a will, he suggests you make sure that
others know where it is located. Further, the will should name an executor.
The will also needs to be a valid legal document under Thai law. In such
cases, the ACS will deal with and assist the executor who has the authority
to arrange for disposition of the remains and disposition of the decedent’s
property in accord with their wishes as stated in the will. In these cases,
the ACS does not get too involved, but they do issue a Statement of Death
Abroad upon receipt of the Thai Death Certificate, which the executor will
probably need as proof of death to handle legal issues in the US, such as
dealing with financial institutions and insurance companies.
However, if the US citizen does not have such a will,
then the ACS will take several steps. First, they will do their best to
contact the next of kin. The Embassy will consider the next of kin to be the
spouse if the decedent is married. If there is no spouse, then it will be
any children followed by parents then by siblings. If there are none, then
they will look for other relatives. In order for the Embassy to take action
for the disposition of remains, they must have an Affidavit from the next of
kin. Tim said for legal reasons, if there are several children, they would
need an affidavit from each unless they have exhausted all efforts in trying
to locate all of them.
The Embassy will follow the instructions of the next of
kin. However, the expense is the responsibility of the next of kin. If
needed, they will also visit the decedent’s residence and inventory their
property; storing non bulky items at the Embassy for safekeeping. One reason
they make every effort to find a next of kin is because if there is no will
or next of kin, the Thai government will bury the decedent in an unmarked
grave after cremation.
The meeting concluded with Roger bringing everyone up to
date on upcoming general and Club events. He then called on “Hawaii” Bob
Sutterfield to conduct the always informative and sometimes humorous Open
Forum, where questions about living in Thailand and Pattaya in particular
are asked and answered.
(L to R) Dr.
Pasinee Chansoon, pediatrician for children’s allergies and dermatology, and
Wuthisak Nimmalungkun of Bangkok Hospital Pattaya and friends announce the
promotion.
Vimolrat Singnikorn
Bangkok Hospital Pattaya is offering 1,500 free chicken pox
vaccinations to children around Thailand through Nov. 30.
Pediatric dermatologist Dr. Pasinee Chansoon kicked off the
hospital’s campaign Nov. 6 with seminar at the hospital on skin care and
products for children. Rashes, as well as chicken pox, were discussed.
Vaccinations are available at any Bangkok Hospital location in Thailand.
Parents can register for the program and appointment by calling 02-800-8022.
