Nautilus05

Wait as long as you can before you get the next VISA (ie. days before arrival in Thailand). For example, a double entry is only valid for 3 months. So if you're getting a double entry with hopes of staying 6 months, the clock actually starts ticking from the day you get the VISA, not the day you arrive in Thailand.

The downside is the wasted money (it serves no purpose whatsoever and doesn't help at all)

We'll have to agree to disagree on that one. I think it helps turn a pissed off immigration officer who's tired of dealing with idiots like me, into someone just a tad more pleasant towards me. Considering how much power he has over my life at that particular juncture, I'd say a simple 1000 baht is more than worth it.

and it encourages corruption in an area in which there wasn't any previously.

Right, because there was never any corruption throughout the Thai police / immigration before people like me came along. Most definitely.

You never know, if you come across an honest one you could just make things worse.

What exactly would they do? Throw me in prison for counting out a stack of 20 bills wrong? If he called me on it, I would have just played dumb and said, "sorry, I must have counted wrong".

That's what the overstay fine is for.

No. The law states maximum 20,000 baht fine, 2 years in prison, or both. Even with paying the fine, the immigration officer is still within their legal right to chuck you in the IDC if they'd like. They never do, but they can.

Besides, what's 1000 baht? It's nothing, and definitely didn't hurt anything.

I was recently in this situation a few days ago, although with a longer overstay than yours. You'll pay 20,000 baht, but make it 21,000 to make things more comfortable.

Why would you pay extra on top of the normal overstay fine?

To help ensure I didn't end up in the IDC?

Sounds like you chose that WRONG path knowingly.

Easier and better to stay on track, :-)

True enough. Live and learn. :-)

Never again will I overstay. Way too frightening and stressful for a guy like me.

I was recently in this situation a few days ago, although with a longer overstay than yours. You'll pay 20,000 baht, but make it 21,000 to make things more comfortable.

Also, realize you're the one in the wrong, you're the illegal immigrant, and you're the one who could potentially spend 2 years in prison if the immigration officer doesn't like you. Due to that, dress respectfully. While I was in the overstay office, I seen people walking in as if they were just coming off the beach. I couldn't believe it. I spent 3000 baht on a new shirt and pair of pants just for the VISA run.

Be apologetic, be respectful, dress nicely, and don't question the immigration officer. Seen one guy do that, and the officer put him in his place rather quickly. Other than that, you should be fine. Just make sure you get to the border before you get caught being illegal, and you'll be fine.

Picking up another VISA at a Thai embassy in a neighboring country it no problem. If anything, I wouldn't be surprised if there's an internal policy within Thai immigration saying if someone is clearing their overstay, just approve their VISA without question. The government wants people to clear their overstays, and be here legally, so if you do the right thing and clear it, they're not going to punish you for it and will approve the next VISA without issue. The government doesn't want people too scared to come clean, and clear their overstays.

You are correct, visa agents have existed long time.

In Penang the consulate prefers the agents as they have already cleared the paperwork once.

Ohhh, and it just clicked. That's why the Thai government doesn't add a couple staff to the embassies to help speed up VISA applications. They want us to use these private VISA agents. The Thai govt still gets the same fee, but without the hassle of checking and correcting the paperwork of everyone. Alright, that makes sense now!

Definitely sounds worth the money to me. Sounds like you only paid around 900 - 1200 more than you normally would have if you went at it alone, grabbed your own hotel room, used tuk-tuks to get to/from the embassy, etc. Well worth the money, I'd say.

I'm curious if those "urgent" VISA services you see are legit or not? For example, just outside the Vientiene embassy, there's loads of people with tables setup offering these "urgent" VISA services. I didn't use them, but I will next time if I know it still goes through the proper channels, and the VISA is legitimately approved by the government. I read the warnings about them located in the embassy, and the biggest warning was basically, "don't get pissed off at us if your documentation is incomplete, and your VISA is declined because of it". The warnings didn't say anything about scams, fake VISAs or anything though.

So I don't really know, but as far as I can gather it's probably legitimate, otherwise they wouldn't be able to operate directly outside the embassy. Only difference is instead of standing in line for hours yourself, you pay a little extra money and they hand it to their friend in the embassy through the backdoor. That, and your paperwork isn't checked for completeness by an embassy official. The application still goes through the embassy though, and the VISA is still issued by the Thai government.

Is that about right, or am I wrong? If right, I'll definitely be using that next time. I'd rather pay a little extra to save myself from waiting for hours in the heat while wearing heavy clothes to look good for immigration. Anyone know?

For anyone interested, the Thai cabinet just approved to continue the Elite Card program.

http://www.ttrweekly.com/site/2012/11/plan-to-revive-elite-card/

2 million baht gets you 20 years worth of VISAs -- 4 x 5-year VISAs. About 100k/year is probably pretty much what it costs go the annual ED or B route, so the amount works out to about the same. Makes sense if you're in your 20s or early 30s, and still a ways away from being eligible for a retirement VISA.

It'll probably take me anywhere from 3 - 6 hours to do this myself, so I was wondering (hoping) anyone who's far better at Thai than me, could you maybe translate the following for me? Would be greatly appreciated! I should really be doing this myself to better my Thai, but don't really have the time right now.

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I just wanted to thank you for taking such great care of my dogs. They're my best friends, and I'm grateful to have you as a veterinarian, because I know with you they're always in good hands.

As a token of my appreciation, I'd like to give you, your wife and son a nice dinner together. Enclosed is a gift certificate, thank you again for everything, and I hope you enjoy the meal.

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