8 hours ago, jackdd said:

No, they don't. Whatever an agent might tell you to persuade you, actually the agent fakes the required documents, and for a fee the immigration officer overlooks that these documents are fakes.

If there should ever be a crackdown the IO will say that the foreigner submitted fake documents and that he didn't notice it. The agent will be nowhere to be found.

eventually this scam will unravel, either intentionally or by circumstances not anticipated - when it does they'll be a tsunami of tears and wails..

8 hours ago, Brierley said:

I late edited to add that a command decision and a policy exception are two very different things, especially when a ranking Immi. officer is not in a position to authorize those exceptions. And the fact that the system thrives on bribery, allegedly, doesn't make it any the less illegal. I'm not trying to be righteous on this subject but it might be better just to say that it is illegal but with an acceptable level of risk, for you.

I wonder how many of these upstanding bribers would welcome the same scams in their country?

8 hours ago, CharlieH said:

The camp and opinions on this have and always will be divided.

Personal choice and decision.

Exactly . Stay legal or go the shady way. Up to you

12 hours ago, fishtank said:

Exactly . Stay legal or go the shady way. Up to you

Agreed, all about choice. Could be good to have a 'safety net' too. Anyone can slip up on their calculations or have unexpected need for cash that wipes them out. Even your home Country bank can cause problems intercepting and destroying your renewed debit/credit cards because 'we don't send cards to Thailand'.

7 hours ago, The Fugitive said:

Agreed, all about choice. Could be good to have a 'safety net' too. Anyone can slip up on their calculations or have unexpected need for cash that wipes them out. Even your home Country bank can cause problems intercepting and destroying your renewed debit/credit cards because 'we don't send cards to Thailand'.

mine was sent here...

7 minutes ago, from the home of CC said:

mine was sent here...

Some banks (U.K.) do, others don't. Having said that I received a credit card from a bank that don't. They destroyed my new debit card though and told me their credit card must have 'slipped through' by mistake. Been their customer since the 1960's too!

3 minutes ago, The Fugitive said:

Some banks (U.K.) do, others don't. Having said that I received a credit card from a bank that don't. They destroyed my new debit card though and told me their credit card must have 'slipped through' by mistake. Been their customer since the 1960's too!

when they asked me about my debit card destination (which I don't use here, have free global money transfers) I told them just to give me the updated info (expir. date) so I could continue with online banking (such as the transfers here). No problems so far. btw this is a CDN bank. Don't do any online banking from here, too many scam stories..

On 5/3/2021 at 12:28 PM, The Fugitive said:

I agree absolutely, not legit. No, I have no special reasons (yet) that could merit 'discretion'. More recent retirement extensions have been obtained with the necessary funds in place. My IO was disappointed when I went that route as she had offered to provide same service for less than my agent charged.

. My IO was disappointed when I went that route as she had offered to provide same service for less than my agent charged........Name & Office Please M8......Or it never happened !!

On 5/4/2021 at 3:42 PM, from the home of CC said:

mine was sent here...

You're a Very LUCKY Man then !!!

On 5/4/2021 at 3:55 PM, The Fugitive said:

Some banks (U.K.) do, others don't. Having said that I received a credit card from a bank that don't. They destroyed my new debit card though and told me their credit card must have 'slipped through' by mistake. Been their customer since the 1960's too!

But Did they STOP Yer CC at a later date or what ??

On 5/3/2021 at 8:15 AM, Jeffr2 said:

Not to mention the standing in line potentially with hundreds of others.

Depends where you apply. My local office yesterday.