ubonboe Posted May 10, 2018 Share Posted May 10, 2018 OKay, so I am a longtime lurker, 1st time poster I heard a while ago from a filipino friend about a visa service that would deposit the money you needed into your acct for you so you could get a visa. For example: You need 800k for a retirement visa? They would deposit that money in your acct wiith the necessary paperwork hold your passport and bank book for the few months that are needed and charge you a fee on the money. Am I crazy? Or does this really exist? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
overherebc Posted May 10, 2018 Share Posted May 10, 2018 (edited) Why would you let someone you don't actually know hold your passport for 2 or 3 months. It's not actually your passport, it belongs to your government until they decide to take it away from you. Edited May 10, 2018 by overherebc 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KittenKong Posted May 10, 2018 Share Posted May 10, 2018 Yes, it exists and seems to be quite common in Pattaya. I personally know more people who have visas "arranged" that way than those who actually deposit their own money. Cost seems to vary between 12,500B and 25,000B, though it isnt clear to me whether the people who pay more actually get anything better. Basically the payment is going to the immigration official as a bribe to ignore the 2 or 3 month seasoning requirement for the money. There is never any requirement that the money should actually be yours: just that it should be in your account for x time. Some say that such procedures are illegal, but I think that if there is any illegality going on it is on the part of the agent and the immigration official, not on the part of the applicant. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poanoi Posted May 10, 2018 Share Posted May 10, 2018 (edited) yes, if you are age 50+ you can do that. in theory its cheaper to deposit 800k or show income of 800k, or a combination of the two like for example 400k in bank & 400k income, and do it yourself, the total cost is just 2k baht, but as things stand, the immigration officers tend to refuse visa extension to those that want to do it them self, so in the end you are forced into the corruption scheme paying 15k-25k to agency, where the agency & immigration split the extortion money, much the same way as the schools & immigration officers split the profit from those on ED visa Edited May 10, 2018 by poanoi 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post phuketrichard Posted May 10, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted May 10, 2018 2 minutes ago, poanoi said: yes, if you are age 50+ you can do that. in theory its cheaper to deposit 800k or show income of 800k, or a combination of the two like for example 400k in bank & 400k income, and do it yourself, the total cost is just 2k baht, but as things stand, the immigration officers tend to refuse visa extension to those that want to do it them self, so in the end you are forced into the corruption scheme BS 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thailand Posted May 10, 2018 Share Posted May 10, 2018 Don't see this thread lasting very long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poanoi Posted May 10, 2018 Share Posted May 10, 2018 1 minute ago, phuketrichard said: BS not at all, it happened to me personally on marry visa, and it would happen again if i tried retirement visa myself Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezzra Posted May 10, 2018 Share Posted May 10, 2018 I have a friend lawyer in Pattaya who can do miracles when it comes to getting visas, all sorts of visas, circumventing most requirements... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phetpeter Posted May 10, 2018 Share Posted May 10, 2018 Why would it need a payment for the Immigration officer? If you borrow the money to put in your account for the 60 days. you show the office you have full filled their requirements. and you return the money to lender plus interest payment...job done. Have house or land or car that will do as a deposit ..the papers. Or if you have a wife and family they can get the money from several legal sources including banks and deposit her gold. for 3 or 4 months. I know, had a short fall and have just done exactly that last month. or perhaps you have a friend who would be willing to do that at? Monthly interest rate for 50,000 is around 345 baht per month for pawn shop. the 'green' bank less. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poanoi Posted May 10, 2018 Share Posted May 10, 2018 1 minute ago, phetpeter said: Why would it need a payment for the Immigration officer? If you borrow the money to put in your account for the 60 days. you show the office you have full filled their requirements. and you return the money to lender plus interest payment...job done. Have house or land or car that will do as a deposit ..the papers. Or if you have a wife and family they can get the money from several legal sources including banks and deposit her gold. for 3 or 4 months. I know, had a short fall and have just done exactly that last month. or perhaps you have a friend who would be willing to do that at? Monthly interest rate for 50,000 is around 345 baht per month for pawn shop. the 'green' bank less. cause the immigration officer will not do their job without extra money on top of their salary. TiT 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phetpeter Posted May 10, 2018 Share Posted May 10, 2018 That doesn't happen here ...Where I live, So, it must be 'cause you all keep that alive by thinking that under the counter payment makes life easy! Time to grass up with evidence and clean your office up. You will be surprised how nice and quick the office will become when they work legally. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post KittenKong Posted May 10, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted May 10, 2018 Why would it need a payment for the Immigration officer? If you borrow the money to put in your account for the 60 days. People interested in doing this either do not have the time available to season the deposit correctly, or do not have anyone who will lend them 800kB. Obviously, anyone with the time and the cash would just do the extension himself in the normal way for 1900B. Like I do. Contrary to some comments in this topic, this is a very easy and simple procedure and I have never had the slightest trouble doing it many times. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post wgdanson Posted May 10, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted May 10, 2018 23 minutes ago, phuketrichard said: BS Totally agree. Absolute rubbish. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wgdanson Posted May 10, 2018 Share Posted May 10, 2018 29 minutes ago, KittenKong said: not on the part of the applicant. Who knows he is paying for illegal activity. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wgdanson Posted May 10, 2018 Share Posted May 10, 2018 23 minutes ago, poanoi said: not at all, it happened to me personally on marry visa, and it would happen again if i tried retirement visa myself There must be something about you they do not like. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubonboe Posted May 10, 2018 Author Share Posted May 10, 2018 32 minutes ago, KittenKong said: Yes, it exists and seems to be quite common in Pattaya. I personally know more people who have visas "arranged" that way than those who actually deposit their own money. Cost seems to vary between 12,500B and 25,000B, though it isnt clear to me whether the people who pay more actually get anything better. Basically the payment is going to the immigration official as a bribe to ignore the 2 or 3 month seasoning requirement for the money. There is never any requirement that the money should actually be yours: just that it should be in your account for x time. Some say that such procedures are illegal, but I think that if there is any illegality going on it is on the part of the agent and the immigration official, not on the part of the applicant. Do you know of any in chiang mai? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post KittenKong Posted May 10, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted May 10, 2018 in theory its cheaper to deposit 800k or show income of 800k, or a combination of the two like for example 400k in bank & 400k income, and do it yourself, the total cost is just 2k baht, but as things stand, the immigration officers tend to refuse visa extension to those that want to do it them self, The total cost for an official retirement extension is 1900B, plus the cost of photos, plus the cost (if any) of the bank confirmation letter. For me this means a total cost of about 1930B. There is nothing theoretical about this. I have never had the slightest difficulty in doing my extension myself, nor do I know anyone who has ever had a correctly-formulated application refused. YMMV. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poanoi Posted May 10, 2018 Share Posted May 10, 2018 1 minute ago, wgdanson said: There must be something about you they do not like. yes, i know that, i never got along with anything resembling authorities, but i will never find out what it is Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KittenKong Posted May 10, 2018 Share Posted May 10, 2018 Do you know of any in chiang mai? No. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubonboe Posted May 10, 2018 Author Share Posted May 10, 2018 If I had 800k I would not be asking about this. I do not have 800k and would like to stay. I am trying to find a visa service like this in CM. Anyone have any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poanoi Posted May 10, 2018 Share Posted May 10, 2018 2 minutes ago, KittenKong said: The total cost for an official retirement extension is 1900B, plus the cost of photos, plus the cost (if any) of the bank confirmation letter. For me this means a total cost of about 1930B. There is nothing theoretical about this. I have never had the slightest difficulty in doing my extension myself, nor do I know anyone who has ever had a correctly-formulated application refused. YMMV. the immigration officer that refused to extend marry visa couldnt find anything according to regulation as an excuse to not do her duty, so she made up her own: first to get a stamp at ministry of foreign affairs, and when i came back after that run, demanded proof i brought money from abroad, and when i to her surprise came with ATM slips covering the money, -she still refused to extend 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phetpeter Posted May 10, 2018 Share Posted May 10, 2018 Just now, KittenKong said: People interested in doing this either do not have the time available to season the deposit correctly, or do not have anyone who will lend them 800kB. Obviously, anyone with the time and the cash would just do the extension himself in the normal way for 1900B. Like I do. Contrary to some comments in this topic, this is a very easy and simple procedure and I have never had the slightest trouble doing it many times. Me too! 12 years have been doing it myself, this year the first time I had to borrow some of it! A few situations over the years mainly changing office, with one year having to travel to NAN, got there and missing one document, but, officer changed me to a 'B' Visa save travelling the distance, and to cover for the time to another change of office to Phitsanulok, followed by a 3 month row with them, and then a few years of immigration deciding their own rules of 90 day deposit. The last few years (since Junta) normal rules and 60 days isn't a long time, to reduce spending and waiting, no excuses to try and 'bend' the system. Knowing I don't have to grease the system, makes me feel safer! plus now the whole service never takes more than an hour. Last year was also the first time I was given finance in my own name without wife having to sign to buy a car, so borrowing should become easier for many! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poanoi Posted May 10, 2018 Share Posted May 10, 2018 4 minutes ago, ubonboe said: If I had 800k I would not be asking about this. I do not have 800k and would like to stay. I am trying to find a visa service like this in CM. Anyone have any ideas? it becomes irrelevant if you are not above 50, cause if you are below, its not going to happen and you must go for ED visa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phetpeter Posted May 10, 2018 Share Posted May 10, 2018 3 minutes ago, ubonboe said: If I had 800k I would not be asking about this. I do not have 800k and would like to stay. I am trying to find a visa service like this in CM. Anyone have any ideas Maybe your answer would be to do a run to Cambodia then, Ubonjoe should be able to furnish you the details, and I understand the outlay is only 5000baht...check with the expert! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubonboe Posted May 10, 2018 Author Share Posted May 10, 2018 Just now, poanoi said: it becomes irrelevant if you are not above 50, cause if you are below, its not going to happen and you must go for ED visa I am above 50. So it is pretty relevant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubonboe Posted May 10, 2018 Author Share Posted May 10, 2018 Just now, phetpeter said: Maybe your answer would be to do a run to Cambodia then, Ubonjoe should be able to furnish you the details, and I understand the outlay is only 5000baht...check with the expert! good idea! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phetpeter Posted May 10, 2018 Share Posted May 10, 2018 3 minutes ago, poanoi said: The total cost for an official retirement extension is 1900B, plus the cost of photos, plus the cost (if any) of the bank confirmation letter. For me this means a total cost of about 1930B. There is nothing theoretical about this. You forgot bank letter cost ...100 baht =total 2030baht 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poanoi Posted May 10, 2018 Share Posted May 10, 2018 Just now, phetpeter said: You forgot bank letter cost ...100 baht =total 2030baht you messed up the quoting, i said 2k, as in 'roughly 2k' someone else went into counting satangs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phetpeter Posted May 10, 2018 Share Posted May 10, 2018 Look after the Satangs and the Baht will care for itself! plus the annual Tambon form 40 baht plus the iced coffee to calm the nerves and help keep the smile! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post wgdanson Posted May 10, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted May 10, 2018 8 minutes ago, ubonboe said: good idea! And it might be a good idea to change your username please so members do not confuse you with Ubonjoe, who helps many people on this site. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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