Rosemary

Unfortunately I have received the "proof of life" form. The letter is dated 21st August and they state that I have one month in which to return it but it only arrived on 18th September so that is not attainable anyway. Due to my age and existing health issues I have been in isolation or house arrest as I prefer to call it since the beginning of the restrictions in March yet I am expected to put my life in danger by visiting the town hall to gain the witness signature. I have sent them an e-mail but I suspect that this will be ignored so will have to bear the cost of a phone call.

Has anyone successfully appealed against being put at risk?

Rosemary

Leper

Rosemary, With due respects, all you have to do is travel to the City Hall and have your signature witnessed by an official there. It is essential travel for an essential purpose. I recommend you just get on with it and get it done.

We had enough of holidaymakers making it to Spain this year despite the debacle on the beaches of Bournemouth (not to mention the behaviour of specific UK politicians) and them feeling they were safer in Spain than the UK. I reckon your risk is minute.

Loafing Along

Double check the one month ! I received mine at the same time , assuming you are talking UK pension, and it clearly states 16 weeks from date of letter , 3rd August 2020 ). Agian, if UK, you can get a doctor or similar to sign it . I paid a private GP practise to do it.

Rosemary

I have messaged the pension people who sent me the letter and they have given me another month to get my signature witnessed.

Rosemary

Rosemary

Easy for you to say to go to the town hall to get it done but as I have already said I am high risk so I do not really want to put myself in that sort of danger.

Rosemary

stevesainty

I get one every year and I found it very difficult to get it done. On the face of it is very easy as it asks that you use a bank, doctor solicitor etc. I tried all avenues and they all refused as the form was in English. In the end I got a notary to give me a declaration in Spanish that they had seen me and my passport, they then used their notary stamp, half on the statement and half on the form to prove continuity. Incredibly my pension provider, initially, refused to accept it as it was in Spanish even though I had translated it for them. In the end I rang them and said if they want to check the translation, they could run it through Google, that seemed to sort it.
The following year they added an extra person who could do the verifying, another pensioner with the same company. As I have an ex colleague who is a swallow, I got him to do it.
However, because of covid, my ex colleague will not be coming this year so I will be back to square one if I am asked for proof of life this year.
I had not thought about using a private clinic, as suggested by a previous poster, maybe I could try that.

In your case Rosemary, do you not know of a policeman, doctor, or councillor that could perhaps visit you and do it over the threshold, so to speak, to minimise contact. As a last resort, tongue in cheek, you could call the bomberos and pretend to have a fire, they were on my form as a possible verifyer. LOL.

Rosemary

Wow, thinking outside off the box, impressive.

Since starting the thread I have remembered a police man who would come to my house to do it for me. I will have to translate the form for him first though.

Rosemary

lyric030250

My pension provider accepts a phone interview, easy.

megmet

They would have sent you a reminder before stopping your payment, they did with me.

missile

I had similar. I made a complaint and they waived the requirement.

Rosemary

Just realised that I did not say that it is not state pension. It is a government pension which is peanuts anyway.

Rosemary

gill556

I get a neighbour to sign mine, it just asks for someone who has known you for at least 2 years who is not related or living at the same address.

rafikiphoto

Mine too.

Rosemary

They are asking for Lawyer, Justice of the Peace, Doctor, Permanent Civil Servant or other Public Notary who knows you in a personal or professional capacity. Seems like it is not only Spain that has different expectations at different offices!!!!!!

Rosemary

bobd22

A couple of years ago I was asked to sign one for a friend. It was accepted without issue.