Does anybody know a good agent in Chiang Mai who can arrange (800k) a retirement extension non o at a good price? Thanks

Please note: the OP is asking for info, not comment or discussion on the use of an agent.

 

OP have seen the pinned notice at the top of this forum re: "Star visa service" ?

 

 

I think one of the best legit. agents in CM is Assist Thai Visa on Chaing Mai Land. They are efficient, well connected and part British owned so there are no language issues. I've used them for over ten years without a problem, they do not however get involved in some of the dodgy practices that some other visa agents do.

32 minutes ago, Brierley said:

I think one of the best legit. agents in CM is Assist Thai Visa on Chaing Mai Land. They are efficient, well connected and part British owned so there are no language issues. I've used them for over ten years without a problem, they do not however get involved in some of the dodgy practices that some other visa agents do.

What practices are those?

11 minutes ago, Barney13 said:

What practices are those?

Arranging visa's for people who don't meet the Immigration Department requirements for one.

I have used both Assist Thai and Star Visa in the past. Both were excellent. Star Visa was a bit cheaper.

Best Friend Visa. Been using them for a few years. Good service at a reasonable price.

 

David

 

Agree with Best Friend Visa.

About five minutes in their office and 3 minutes at Immigration.

Only thing I have to do is get a letter from the bank, everything else done for me.

 

Started using them when you had to line up at 3am to get a queue number!

 

6000 THB, they get bank letter, they do 90 day reports. Show up at Immigration for interview with wife, be home with wife for onsite interview.

Can you go do a 90 day report for 16.5 THB ? 555

I agree---Best Friend Visa are excellent and good value

On 4/17/2021 at 3:46 PM, canthai55 said:

6000 THB, they get bank letter, they do 90 day reports. Show up at Immigration for interview with wife, be home with wife for onsite interview.

Can you go do a 90 day report for 16.5 THB ? 555

OP wants a retirement extension, not a marriage extension. Wife not necessary.

On 4/16/2021 at 9:12 AM, Barney13 said:

What practices are those?

now I know this is a b<deleted> post lol..

On 4/16/2021 at 9:24 AM, Brierley said:

Arranging visa's for people who don't meet the Immigration Department requirements for one.

Obviously not that well connected then.

On 4/16/2021 at 9:24 AM, Brierley said:

Arranging visa's for people who don't meet the Immigration Department requirements for one.

 

Why would someone who does meet the requirements need an agent? They can simply do it on their own.

 

17 minutes ago, Caldera said:

 

Why would someone who does meet the requirements need an agent? They can simply do it on their own.

 

 

Saves a lot of time, effort and possible hassle. For both you and your family. ???? 

 

Personally, pay an agent a small amount of money and then don't do anything else. Perfect. Why go dealing with IO's, unless you're broke and cannot pay an agent to do it. 

 

If the OP still hasn't decided which one to use, DM me. 

11 hours ago, Caldera said:

Why would someone who does meet the requirements need an agent? They can simply do it on their own.

Why would someone who does meet the requirements need an agent? They can simply do it on their own after all the hassle or pay some money and only spend 5 minutes at Imm getting the photo taken.

All Thai Visa Solutions on the Hang Dong Road.

Emmy  is delightful and I have never had any issues with her. Her assistant Joy is also  competent.

She can easily fulfill your requirements

Just Google her details

On 4/22/2021 at 8:40 PM, Caldera said:

 

Why would someone who does meet the requirements need an agent? They can simply do it on their own.

 

There is this thing called “money well spent”.....I’m all done with worry and hassles in my life and take the easy road every time now!

The Easy Road is the one that leads to a good visa agents front door!

 

I've been using Assist Thai Visa for over 10 years without complaints for visa renewals and 90 day reporting... Aside from visa services, they provide legal and notary services also... 

Not looking for specifics, but would the majority of agents operating in Chiang Mai be "well-connected" enough to magic away some of the requirements?

And would that be a fairly common request / reason for using an agent?

STAR VISA Services are good. (Chiangmai) 

I used them last December.

59 minutes ago, Poet said:

Not looking for specifics, but would the majority of agents operating in Chiang Mai be "well-connected" enough to magic away some of the requirements?

And would that be a fairly common request / reason for using an agent?

They have no power to change any requirement of Immigration.

They do know the people, and the people know them, what is required, and are given some leeway - eg. doing 90 day reports with a passport copy on file, etc

Not to say that some can - 'Accomodate' - some requirements if the person making the application is deficient i.e. funds in the bank.

But that is not an Immigration thing. That is the visa agents doing.

18 minutes ago, canthai55 said:

Not to say that some can - 'Accomodate' - some requirements if the person making the application is deficient i.e. funds in the bank.

But that is not an Immigration thing. That is the visa agents doing.

Right, thank you, that is exactly what I wanted to know ????

If performed unilaterally by agents, I can guess it would be fairly common practice, fairly easy to find that service in Chiang Mai.

5 hours ago, Poet said:

Right, thank you, that is exactly what I wanted to know ????

If performed unilaterally by agents, I can guess it would be fairly common practice, fairly easy to find that service in Chiang Mai.

 

A visa agent cannot "unilaterally" renew a retirement extension if the requirements are not met. They would have to be coordinating with someone at Immigration (getting the right stamp and signature, getting it inputted into the computer, etc.)

9 hours ago, lexilis said:

 

A visa agent cannot "unilaterally" renew a retirement extension if the requirements are not met. They would have to be coordinating with someone at Immigration (getting the right stamp and signature, getting it inputted into the computer, etc.)

Neither canthai55 nor I suggested that visa agents can renew retirement extensions.

The part of his reply I quoted specifically mentioned the bank requirement. An agent could, without the knowledge of the IO, have his own arrangments to acquire the bank documentation required to satisfy the IO that the funds exist. As canthai55 said, "some requirements".

On 4/22/2021 at 8:40 PM, Caldera said:

 

Why would someone who does meet the requirements need an agent? They can simply do it on their own.

 

I've used agents for over 15 years. Doing so saves me time. ensures I don't have to hang around at Immigration waiting to be seen. The main reason however is certainty, it avoids those one-off situations which seemed to crop up each year.

 

In prior years, when I've done the renewals/extensions myself, I've been: sent home to fetch a copy of my lease to prove my address (despite it never being required previously); had to fly up to Bangkok to get a new bank letter because the one I had was dated the previous day; spent literally hours trying to reconcile multiple bank books back to the bank letter, despite only needing to prove 800K I was forced to reconcile the full value of all my accounts, in doing so I had to teach the officer accounting 101; every single time, I've never had the correct number of copies of something or other, no matter how many I made I've always been told to go out back and make more. Then there was the time I was asked by Phuket Immi. to produce paper copies of my monthly statements from HSBC showing money I'd spent on living expenses, even though the 800k was in a UOB account. When I finally got those statements they never even glanced at them.

 

For me, using an agent is frustration avoidance. Now, I give everything to the agent, we quickly check things together and I'm told what time to show at Immigration offices. I show up as required, am seen straight away, my picture is taken and I leave, ten minutes at most. Plus the agent emails me and reminds me to do my 90 day report and they also took care of TM 28 issues in the background. All of that is well worth the 5,000 Baht I pay for the service each year, I think it's excellent value for money.

 

 

 

On 4/17/2021 at 10:46 AM, canthai55 said:

6000 THB, they get bank letter, they do 90 day reports. Show up at Immigration for interview with wife, be home with wife for onsite interview.

Can you go do a 90 day report for 16.5 THB ? 555

Are you referring/recommending a specific agency?