Why you need to read this and get ready to leave Thailand

[CaptainJack]

Hello!

 

I have two other topics running. I have decided to run one more.  This is a copy of my final post from my other topic

 

Let's get the essentials out of the way.

 

First, I am now back in the USA, safe and sound and planning my next life plans. 

 

Second,  I am retired law enforcement and have worked with the FBI.  I am intimately familiar with both their and my own techniques retiring as a police investigator. 

 

Third, I don't care what insults you want to hurl at me or what you want to say that criticizes me.  Let her rip.  

 

Fourth,  if I am wrong, great! Everyone that things I am a fool or whatever can sit back  laugh and have a beer gloating about what a fool I am.  But if I'm right, God help you if yor are not with money and end up in the gun site of Thailand immigration Department.   Your life is going to really go south.

 

Here is my final post.   I'll not respond to any questions or comments.   I'm gone, heading to Latin America. 

 

Good luck......

 

Captain Jack. 

 

............

 

I have always wanted to see and  experience as much of the world and other cultures after I retired as possible,  and after my parents were no longer with me and no siblings, divorced and no real attachments,  I downsized and started out on this journey. 

I had put my few possessions in a small storage unit for my efficiency apartment and my best friend kept care of my car, and headed aff to again to explore more of Asia and SE Asia, my 3rd time over as a an adventurer.  I spent a month in China and a couple more months everywhere else. 

I was back in Bangkok,  and decided I liked it in Thailand,  thought I understood the retirement route, and decided to give it a shot at being home, first home base and continue to explore more of the world from Bangkok,  but call it home. 

I had my second 90 day visa, but because I was not sure on the visa stuff, I hired an agent who was referred to me by a new expat friend. The agent helped me get a bank account at Krungthai and my non Immigrant visa. I rented an apartment for a year, met my girlfriend and started to settle down.

I was having a great time, going on weekend trips with my girlfriend all over Thailand and was intent enough on staying that I flew back to the USA and sold my car and other possessions to free up that cash flow. 

Everything was going great until I went back to immigration in 90 days, when the s*it hit the fan. I thought the 30,000 baht I paid the visa company was no different then the 500 US dollars I paid back in Austin to an expediter to get my visa for China. Was I ever wrong. 

OMG! I'm sitting there at immigration,  my 90 day report in hand, and that is when everything started to go downhill. 

I'm saying this again so everyone knows, I am a dumb*ss. The IO looks at my passport,  the visa stamp, and tells me, "your in violation of your visa, you have not reported your charge of address ".  I'm totally confused,  she keeps telling me I am three months overdue,  and my visa is invalid.   What! I've done everything right, i have been transferring several thousand dollars a month into my Thai bank account,  and I'm trying to tell her, I have not moved, I've been at the same place for 3 months. She goes and gets another IO who speaks better English, and she finally explains to me what the problem is.  I have a stamp from the Chun Buri immigration office, not Bkk, and I have an address listed in Chun Buri.  What! I've never lived in Chun Buri I tell her.

I'm totally confused,  she actually got it that I had no clue, and looked me straight in the eyes and said, "did you use a visa company"? Yes, of course I did. I paid to have my visa application expited and handled by a professional company. 

So she takes the time to explain to me what has happened,  then tells me my visa can be cancelled, I can be arrested and deported. 

You cannot imagine the terror that ran down my spine.  She took mercy on me, and it was early enough in the new immigration laws, she was probably happy to have me pay a bunch of fines.

So, it was fill out the correct forms, plus my landlord doing a TM30, pay a bunch of fines, and she would fix it.  I did what she said and true to her word, she did update my address and approve my 90 day check in the next morning. 

Oh, she wanted the visa company information,  and I gave her both phone numbers.  She called them and they were disconnected.  Big surprise! She went on to explain to me about the corruption and bribery,  and that they were just starting a new program to put a stop to the corruption,  arrest and prosecute the visa companies and eventually start deporting expats with illegal immigration papers.  

I thought I had, and I had, dodged a bullet. 

That was September 22nd.

I thought everything was going to be okay,  until December 22nd, my second 90 day report,  and that IO started in on why did I have a Chun Buri stamp?

That was it for me.  Agter discovering TV, reading what the system is really like in Thailand,  the new head of immigration and his background,  the end of Embassy letters and the possibility this could come back to haunt me, I had enough.  

So, the long answer to your question is, I was ready to settle down,  was happy and just about everything that could have gone wrong did or a really bad end was starting to unfold before my eyes in Thailand.   I have zero desire to live in a country that the norm just to retire is filled with bribes and corruption and never knowing what is next. I made the decision for myself to leave. 

Was I stupid? Yes.  Was I lucky? Yes. Was I still at risk? Yes.  Time to go.  

Oh, my expat friend that referred me to the visa company? All he did was bitch at me for not contuning to use the visa company.  Thanks a lot!  You did not tell me any details that I was hiring a corrupt company,  one from Japan and no one spoke English to ever explain to me whst was going on.  Thanks a lot!

I'm an adventurer,  an explorer.   I've survived injuries trekking in the jungle and worse.  I have survived combat,  trekking to the Mt. Everest Base Camp,  a career in law enforcement, but I've never gone through this process of feeling at risk being in any country like Thailand,  and that includes several communist countries.

So here is my analysis. I don't think you have seen the worse of what is coming to Thailand's immigration requirements and enforcement.   For me? I am outta here.

I have zero desire to live my life always feeling like I am one step away from arrest and deportation.  

It cost me way too much on too many levels.  I have enough income to live in Thailand and many other countries. The medical insurance issue I blew.  That cost would blow my financial planning. I am working on a legal (not lying to travel insurance companies I'm traveling when in fact I'm living there) and that will be settled this week.

I travel a lot. The entire TM30 thing is an absurdity.  If I wanted to, I could come back to Thailand after my retirement visa expires and be a tourist,  spend my money at pricey hotels and go my way.  This was the biggest mess up in my life travelling to over 60 different countries. I have only myself to blame. 

 

Bottom line? I simply did not understand the system.  That is my fault. For everyone that thinks they are safe that has been scamming the corrupt immigration system for years? Wait until visa companies and their Thai employees get arrested and they give up their client list, and others cut deals to avoid arrest. You are next.

 

Everyone forgets tbe critical point of what makes "Big Joke" different.   He is a United States FBI trained graduate and knows exactly what he is doing and how to bring down  criminal organizations.  It's simply whether he wants to or not. I worked with the FBI and I can tell you with absolute confidence.   He is using an FBI script,  and he is just getting started.  If I was still in law enforcement or National Security,  I'd be working with him.

 

For all that want to be quick be to say he is, "a joke"? Wait? If I'm wrong, laugh your rear ends off at me.  Call me what ever you want.  If I'm right? You better have an exit plan or already be on your way out.  

 

PS. I'm a retired law enforcement officer and believe in the concept of a society that is governed my fair and well thought out laws.  Thailand has a long way to go  but "Big Joke "? I'd be working with him to identify,  arrest and deport any and all criminal organizations and elements in Thailand.   Go get them! It's time for a change....

Edited February 25, 2019 by CaptainJack

[Nurseynutcase]

OK I have read all of this post and whilst in some respects I agree with you in others I do not.  You say you are a retired law enforcement officer so you must surely have had to use computers?  Whilst the immigration data on the website is not always accurate you could have avoided all of these problems(and money) by doing it yourself.  Yes the annual paperwork is a nightmare but if you had prepared well in advance you should not have had any of the difficulties you describe.

Maybe I am lucky in that here in Phuket we have volunteers in immigration who will point you in exactly the right direction to take with your paperwork - no referral to agents.

 

Good luck with your travels(if you bother to read this)

[Justin Side]

Oh dear. retirement status is really not that difficult.

Stay away from dodgy agents.

[onera1961]

47 minutes ago, CaptainJack said:

I'd be working with him to identify,  arrest and deport any and all criminal organizations and elements in Thailand. 

Why didn't you come to Thailand on an O-A visa? Are you working now with Big Jokes? Is he only interested in agent scams that help desperate foreigners who could not meet financial requirements to legally get retirement extension? 

 

What about corruption in high levels or corruption that affects ordinary poor Thais? What about corruption in Government contact awards? I think it could better to address those corruption first rather than agent corruption.

 

Edited February 25, 2019 by onera1961

[Lacessit]

I've been living here for ten years, and I have never had the problems the OP mentions. I use a reputable agent in Chiang Mai.

I am wondering how effective the OP was as a police investigator in his former career, when he was apparently unable to discriminate between a dodgy and genuine visa agent. 30,000 baht for a visa shrieks dodgy to me. Apart from the actual visa fees, the service fee should be only 5000 - 8000 baht.

[glegolo]

I am not so sure that you really are a retired law enforcement officer. Not at least an officer merely a footboy of some kind. What about gather information, get organized and learn the process?

 

thousands and thousands of expats do this more or less everyday and YOU failed miserable... You did "buy" your way out you thought but instead what you did was to neglect to larn the laws and rules and tried a shortcut called 30.000 baht....

 

To put the blame on Thailand is for some people rather typical, these kind of humans will never learn, they will repeat it until their dying days.

 

glegolo

[Crossy]

54 minutes ago, CaptainJack said:

I have two other topics running. I have decided to run one more.  This is a copy of my final post from my other topic

And we really, really don't need another.

 

The thread referred to in the OP is here https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1085656-exit-planning-and-survival-strategies-if-leaving-thailand/ I suggest we continue there.

 

[ubonjoe]

1 hour ago, CaptainJack said:

I have a stamp from the Chun Buri immigration office, not Bkk, and I have an address listed in Chun Buri.  What! I've never lived in Chun Buri I tell her.

Very simple what the problem was.

One of the typical problems when using an agent.

They applied for the visa in Chonburi instead of Bangkok and it was issued there.

Probably if you had looked at your stamps you would no noticed they show Chonburi immigration on them.

Others that have had similar problems when the had it done by an agent who did everything at an office where they had contacts and when they tried to do a 90 day report the were told to do it at the office where the extension was issued. One person had to do border runs since every 90 days since he could not do 90 day reports.

So to sum it up you cannot blame Thailand for your problems.

[ubonjoe]

17 minutes ago, Crossy said:

And we really, really don't need another.

 

The thread referred to in the OP is here https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1085656-exit-planning-and-survival-strategies-if-leaving-thailand/ I suggest we continue there.

 

i agree.

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