I have the 800,000 in the bank. I use a Visa Agent who charges me 2,500 Baht for full service: pickup at home, doing all the paperwork, no more than 45 minutes at Immigration, then delivered back home again. The Immigration Officers love these guys because they streamline the work. The officers know that the Agents will deliver all the correct paperwork, properly signed, so they can quickly do their part and move on to the next person. Sure, some unscrupulous Agents pay unscrupulous immigration officers under the table. No doubt about that. But in reality, what percentage of people need that service and are willing to pay 15,000-20,000 Baht to an agent for what amounts to an hour of paperwork and an hour of waiting at the immigration office? Then, my real question is, wouldn't every agent in the office and all the immigration assistants need to be in on the take? It's not realistic to give one person money and expect the entire office to be corrupt. From the Document Checkers outside the building to the Document Checkers INSIDE the building, the young college kids Immigration Assistants all corrupt? Because when my agent arrives, these checkers just quickly scan the papers and send him along. No double and triple reading through each page. They trust that the agents will do it correctly, which speeds up the workflow. The first 6-10 people called for photos in the first half hour: in, out, and gone. All legit. Those are the people using agents. Then it slows down to 4-5 an hour being processed because the officers need to review and study every page carefully. If you are following the rules, an agent speeds things up, and removes all the pressure of visa renewal.
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