Hat's off to Chiang Mai Immigration!

[fangless]

1 minute ago, BritManToo said:

Don't give a flying one.

Yet another helpful and insightful comment but where is the proof to substantiate your allegations.

[Peter Denis]

19 hours ago, FolkGuitar said:

I do feel badly for those that feel the need to bash Thailand, or those that insist there is some sort of conspiracy creating mass corruption because visa agents get the job done quickly, but unless every member of the Immigration Police is corrupt, this just flies in the face of reality.

I am definitely not a Thailand or Agent basher.

But you need to differentiate between what I would call a Legwork Agent and a Fixer Agent.

 

If you want to avoid the admin hassle that applying for a Non Imm O Visa or 1-year extension can bring, and you can meet all the requirements for such an application, engaging an Agent to do the 'legwork' for you can be useful.  He knows the ropes and will check your documentation to ensure that your application is correct and complete, and will apply at the IO on your behalf and deal with the Immigration officer handling your application.  The fee for such a legitimate service is relatively low (a couple thousand bath depending on the service) and could be worthwhile if you are unsure about applying in the thai Visa Jungle.

 

Then there is the Fixer Agent.  If for one reason or another you are not able to meet the requirements for your Visa or retirement extension, you can make use of a Fixer Agent to 'circumvent' these requirements.  He will use his connections at IO to get your application approved and IO turning 'a blind eye' on the requirements you did not meet.  Of course there are some requirements that cannot be 'forgotten' by the IO handling your application, e.g. it will not be possible to apply for reason of retirement when you are not 50 years of age, or apply for reason of marriage to a thai national without the marriage certificate.  But pretty much anything else, and especially the financial requirements, can be 'fixed'.

Obviously such a 'fix' is not legitimate, and the price is much higher than the regular legwork service.  This because of the 'brown envelope' involved, required to persuade IO to overlook the requirements in your application that weren't met.  Note that a Fix for a marriage extension application is more expensive than a retirement one, because  a marriage extension application needs to get final approval at divisional HQ and thus requires two 'brown envelopes' (one at local IO level and one at divisional level).

 

Also please note that contrary to what some posters may say on the Forum, that engaging a Fixer agent is not entirely without risk.  A HQ audit of the local IO where your application was fixed, might reveal anomalies in your application and can result - worst case - in you being summoned to leave the country immediately.  The risk of something like that happening is very low, and if it happens it is usually because of an inter-office strife between immigration officials, as the officers 'on the take' will also be fired without appeal.

A 'minor' fix even when detected during an audit, will probably not result in a ban for the applicant.  I mention this because it is only fair that you are aware that when engaging a Fixer Agent to fix a major shortcoming in your application (e.g. having depleted the required financials during the previous 12 months and hence not being able anymore to meet that retirement extension requirement), that it is not entirely without risk.  The Fixer Agent will of course not inform you about this and will assure you that it is 'normal business' (which it is not).

Conclusion > A Fixer Agent is a 'solution' of the last resort, and ONLY engage such an Agent to fix your non-compliant application, when there is really no other possibility of doing it legit. 

 

[deej]

11 minutes ago, Peter Denis said:

That's why IO now requires a 12-month bank-statement, because some banks consolidate the transactions when not regularly updating your bank-book, and as a result IO can not check whether you didn't slip under the 800K/400K tressholds.

Of course that 12-month bank-statement is redundant when you do regularly update your bank-book so that it shows all transactions, but the 12-month bank-statement has now become 'part of the rules' irrespective of whether you update the bank-book regularly or only do one transaction yearly. 

Many thks for the above

In my case my 800k is placed in a fixed 3 yr Long Term deposit fund and was accepted by Cmai Immgr .accompanied with same day bank letter

[1FinickyOne]

5 minutes ago, Peter Denis said:

you need to differentiate between what I would call a Legwork Agent and a Fixer Agent.

Thanks for making this very clear to people.... good job too.

 

Where I lived before there were no agents... but moving to CM area, I was so pleased to hand over all the paperwork to a 'legwork' agent... they do this stuff everyday and know exactly which documents and photos... and all I have to do is sign here, there, there.. as they flip the pages.. in their office... I have no problem qualifying for a visa and for a small fee, they take the paperwork annoyance out of my life... 

 

For me, it is a great service... 

[hotandsticky]

3 minutes ago, Peter Denis said:

I am definitely not a Thailand or Agent basher.

But you need to differentiate between what I would call a Legwork Agent and a Fixer Agent.

 

If you want to avoid the admin hassle that applying for a Non Imm O Visa or 1-year extension can bring, and you can meet all the requirements for such an application, engaging an Agent to do the 'legwork' for you can be useful.  He knows the ropes and will check your documentation to ensure that your application is correct and complete, and will apply at the IO on your behalf and deal with the Immigration officer handling your application.  The fee for such a legitimate service is relatively low (a couple thousand bath depending on the service) and could be worthwhile if you are unsure about applying in the thai Visa Jungle.

 

Then there is the Fixer Agent.  If for one reason or another you are not able to meet the requirements for your Visa or retirement extension, you can make use of a Fixer Agent to 'circumvent' these requirements.  He will use his connections at IO to get your application approved and IO turning 'a blind eye' on the requirements you did not meet.  Of course there are some requirements that cannot be 'forgotten' by the IO handling your application, e.g. it will not be possible to apply for reason of retirement when you are not 50 years of age, or apply for reason of marriage to a thai national without the marriage certificate.  But pretty much anything else, and especially the financial requirements, can be 'fixed'.

Obviously such a 'fix' is not legitimate, and the price is much higher than the regular legwork service.  This because of the 'brown envelope' involved, required to persuade IO to overlook the requirements in your application that weren't met.  Note that a Fix for a marriage extension application is more expensive than a retirement one, because  a marriage extension application needs to get final approval at divisional HQ and thus requires two 'brown envelopes' (one at local IO level and one at divisional level).

 

Also please note that contrary to what some posters may say on the Forum, that engaging a Fixer agent is not entirely without risk.  A HQ audit of the local IO where your application was fixed, might reveal anomalies in your application and can result - worst case - in you being summoned to leave the country immediately.  The risk of something like that happening is very low, and if it happens it is usually because of an inter-office strife between immigration officials, as the officers 'on the take' will also be fired without appeal.

A 'minor' fix even when detected during an audit, will probably not result in a ban for the applicant.  I mention this because it is only fair that you are aware that when engaging a Fixer Agent to fix a major shortcoming in your application (e.g. having depleted the required financials during the previous 12 months and hence not being able anymore to meet that retirement extension requirement), that it is not entirely without risk.  The Fixer Agent will of course not inform you about this and will assure you that it is 'normal business' (which it is not).

Conclusion > A Fixer Agent is a 'solution' of the last resort, and ONLY engage such an Agent to fix your non-compliant application, when there is really no other possibility of doing it legit. 

 

 

 

 

The 'fixer' arrangements (not just relating to immigration) are common throughout Thailand and are typical of the endemic corruption that exists here.

 

Thailand has created the environment where such arrangements not only exist - they flourish. When you have local IO's inviting you to invest in 'under the counter' operations it only adds weight to the belief that corruption in Thailand is an industry in itself. I agree entirely that such arrangements are not without risk for the applicant choosing to take the 'fixer' route - however, that risk is minimal because too many people have their fingers in that particular pie and there is no incentive for immigration officials to kill that particular golden goose.

 

 

[JimGant]

Rank	Country	% of Public Firms Receiving Bribe Requests
1	Cambodia	69.4%
2	Yemen	64.3%
3	Kyrgyzstan	59.8%
4	DR Congo	56.5%
5	Ukraine	50.4%
6	South Sudan	48.0%
7	Bangladesh	47.7%
8	Afghanistan	46.8%
9	Myanmar	42.9%
10	Iraq	37.3%
11	Laos	37.3%
12	Morocco	37.2%
13	Tajikistan	36.3%
14	Mongolia	33.4%
15	Madagascar	32.9%
16	Moldova	31.0%
17	Pakistan	30.8%
18	Burundi	30.3%
19	Mauritania	28.9%
20         Hmmm. Thailand not in top 20.	Nigeria	28.9%

[Dante99]

2 minutes ago, JimGant said:

Hmmm. Thailand not in top 20.

 

2 minutes ago, JimGant said:

% of Public Firms Receiving Bribe Requests

likely that Public Firms in Thailand would not report that information or perhaps they do not receive requests but just make offers instead

 

more useful to study bribe payments than requests

[dingdongrb]

5 hours ago, JimGant said:

Rank	Country	% of Public Firms Receiving Bribe Requests
1	Cambodia	69.4%
2	Yemen	64.3%
3	Kyrgyzstan	59.8%
4	DR Congo	56.5%
5	Ukraine	50.4%
6	South Sudan	48.0%
7	Bangladesh	47.7%
8	Afghanistan	46.8%
9	Myanmar	42.9%
10	Iraq	37.3%
11	Laos	37.3%
12	Morocco	37.2%
13	Tajikistan	36.3%
14	Mongolia	33.4%
15	Madagascar	32.9%
16	Moldova	31.0%
17	Pakistan	30.8%
18	Burundi	30.3%
19	Mauritania	28.9%
20         Hmmm. Thailand not in top 20.	Nigeria	28.9%

I'll guess that this data has come from the same database that is used to put out those COVID-19 stats.....

[Mahseer]

Submitted 90 day online this morning at 0920. Approval received at 0957. Nice one.