1 hour ago, The Hammer2021 said:

He informed  the embassy when he applied  for a new passport  and informed  the immigration  police. Your brown  envelope talk is nonesense.  He is 80, frail and does not speak Thai so his use of an agent is entirely  appropriate, legal and above board.

BTW. This use of agent isn't to get a visa, it's to renew his passport so saving him two trips to trendy building in BKK and checking the paperwork at a cost of 7,000 Baht.

47 minutes ago, YorkshireTyke said:

BTW. This use of agent isn't to get a visa, it's to renew his passport so saving him two trips to trendy building in BKK and checking the paperwork at a cost of 7,000 Baht.

I used an agent to renew  my passport recently. They did  all the paperwork  and travelled to Bangkok and back for me saving me time, money and effort.

5 hours ago, The Hammer2021 said:

Your brown  envelope talk is nonesense.  He is 80, frail and does not speak Thai so his use of an agent is entirely  appropriate, legal and above board.

Not at all. I never said that the use of an agent was or is illegal, so you can keep your panties from twisting.
 

The need for an agent and brown envelopes is it prevent him from being expelled from Thailand once he is on overstay. Depending on the length of overstay an ordinary IO will be constrained to fine, eject and ban him. An agent has the ability to get a higher level official to wave the ban and deportation, if needed a brown envelope or envelopes will be required.

 

That he is 80, frail and does not speak Thai does not change that.

 

If allowed to stay he will need a Non-O visa from immigration, if he goes into overstay he is specifically NOT permitted to get this. This is from the immigration guidance document.

 

again a well connected agent has the ability to get a higher level IO to overlook the fact that he will almost certainly be on overstay and give him the visa that immigration rules specifically do not permit.

 

Once again the need for an agent and brown envelopes becomes apparent doesn’t it?

 

The use of agents to get things done by immigration is not illegal until the exchange of brown envelopes then it may or may not be technically illegal 

 

5 hours ago, brewsterbudgen said:

Nothing he is doing is illegal, except overstaying for which he will pay a fine!  People can and do lose passports while in a foreign country.  Applying for a new one is perfectly OK.

Unless the country requires that you have a valid passport to legally remain in the country, and requires that if lost you get a valid passport or other document as fast as possible. This is a normal requirement, in fact arguably in Thailand you are required to carry that document/passport with you at all times
 

since an ETD is available on the same day you apply and a passport currently takes more than a month, 30 to 60 times longer, that is not as fast as possible is it?

 

FWIW I was in the situation of loosing my passport in Thailand a while ago and went through the difficulties the is entailed by that, I was more fortunate than the 80 year old as after getting a travel document my passport was handed in to the police and I got it back, even though it had to be cancelled, before I went into overstay. I mention this to show that my knowledge is direct and personal not theoretical as many here.

6 minutes ago, sometimewoodworker said:

Not at all. I never said that the use of an agent was or is illegal, so you can keep your panties from twisting.
 

The need for an agent and brown envelopes is it prevent him from being expelled from Thailand once he is on overstay. Depending on the length of overstay an ordinary IO will be constrained to fine, eject and ban him. An agent has the ability to get a higher level official to wave the ban and deportation, if needed a brown envelope or envelopes will be required.

 

That he is 80, frail and does not speak Thai does not change that.

 

If allowed to stay he will need a Non-O visa from immigration, if he goes into overstay he is specifically NOT permitted to get this. This is from the immigration guidance document.

 

again a well connected agent has the ability to get a higher level IO to overlook the fact that he will almost certainly be on overstay and give him the visa that immigration rules specifically do not permit.

 

Once again the need for an agent and brown envelopes becomes apparent doesn’t it?

 

The use of agents to get things done by immigration is not illegal until the exchange of brown envelopes then it may or may not be technically illegal 

 

Unless the country requires that you have a valid passport to legally remain in the country, and requires that if lost you get a valid passport or other document as fast as possible. This is a normal requirement, in fact arguably in Thailand you are required to carry that document/passport with you at all times
 

since an ETD is available on the same day you apply and a passport currently takes more than a month, 30 to 60 times longer, that is not as fast as possible is it? 

As has been explained, an ETD is an emergency travel document and not relevant for staying in a country. It is not a passport.  He is getting a new passport as fast as possible and he will just have to pay the overstay fine when he gets it and goes to Immigration to sort out his Extension.

6 minutes ago, brewsterbudgen said:

As has been explained, an ETD is an emergency travel document and not relevant for staying in a country. It is not a passport.  He is getting a new passport as fast as possible and he will just have to pay the overstay fine when he gets it and goes to Immigration to sort out his Extension.

As I said, though he may be doing that, if he does go into overstay he will almost certainly need an agent to get the visa he must have to be allowed to stay long term.
 

you miss understand an ETD it is equal to a passport as far as remaining in the country is concerned until the date you say you are flying out. So when the new passport arrives you are able to just use that.
 

Immigration will probably/possibly be able to do an extension (COVID extensions are still available) but by their rules CANNOT later give him the visa he needs to stay long term. Thus an agent.

10 hours ago, Sticky Rice Balls said:

I did mine in Thailand...just saying

He's done his in Thailand........

The reason for notifying the Embassy of a lost passport is to prevent identity theft by bad people who my find it and use it. On that basis your friend should notify the Embassy of it's loss. You never know - it might also turn up.

 

As an afterthought, has he contacted police stations in the areas he has stayed in? This in case hotels or others have found it and handed it in? Police won't know where to go to return it and will keep it in someone's drawer almost certainly. Not all Thais are crooked or corrupt and it may well have turned up somewhere and be just waiting for someone to go ask!

1 hour ago, cliveshep said:

The reason for notifying the Embassy of a lost passport is to prevent identity theft by bad people who my find it and use it. On that basis your friend should notify the Embassy of it's loss. You never know - it might also turn up.

 

As an afterthought, has he contacted police stations in the areas he has stayed in? This in case hotels or others have found it and handed it in? Police won't know where to go to return it and will keep it in someone's drawer almost certainly. Not all Thais are crooked or corrupt and it may well have turned up somewhere and be just waiting for someone to go ask!

He has reported the loss at the police station and received notification from them which he has used to apply for his replacement.0