IFinish

4 hours ago, Kohsamida said:

Thanks for the clarification on lead time in Jomtien.  In Chiang Mai where I currently live it is 45 days.  It's really odd how variable the rules and regulations are between different provincial offices throughout the Kingdom. 

 

Just curious, was it an actual immigration officer who said you needed to pay 20k baht or was it a private visa agent?  If she is a government immigration officer, are you sure it might not have been a misunderstanding (i.e.: language miscommunication)?  

 

I only ask because many private agents charge a fee in that price range to handle a visa conversion, which in itself is on the outrageous side of things, but for a government agent to ask you to pay that would be pretty shameful, not to mention, criminal.

I understood her to be asking me to pay her (she didnt offer a range of baht to pay but an exact amount and said good for TODAY only). She scribbled up a case on a paper trying to justify that it would be cheaper for me to do that than to go to another country to get a non-o. I was so ensenced at the time, but i bit my lip HARD and just said ill think about it and left, after all, TIT.

So i dont think it was any misunderstanding but i really didnt take it far enough to see how she would have actually carried it out. 

Corruption exists yes, but ill be damned if im going to contribute to it unless there is no other choice.