Shakedown at CW

[Lemsta69]

27 minutes ago, proton said:

Most going to agents are poor!

but they're still wealthy in comparison to your average, factory working Thai. the top end of town don't follow the law so why should I or any other farang? it's only wrong here if you get caught.

[Lemsta69]

@Robbie63your got a good deal mate, I'm jealous. I've been quoted 20k for "retirement visa" renewal at CW via agent.

[Robbie63]

2 minutes ago, Lemsta69 said:

@Robbie63your got a good deal mate, I'm jealous. I've been quoted 20k for "retirement visa" renewal at CW via agent.

Sounds like it now I am feeling better. lol

[Robbie63]

Thanks for all the comments appreciate it. Feeling pretty good right now like I really dodged a big bullet.

[Robbie63]

2 hours ago, skatewash said:

The true cost of using an agent who gets your extension for you by sending your passport out of the province where you live is often deferred until the time you attempt to not use an agent and get the extension from your own immigration office according to the rules.  You may want to go straight but the gang won't let you.

I really had no choice but to use an agent at the time I figured there would be some problem with the address but never thought that the stamps themselves were illegal. The officer did say my Retirement Visa is now clean and next year just get the Bank Statement so there's that. I always like to get feedback to keep it real. Thank you for your time

 

1 hour ago, KannikaP said:

But the IO will remember it for years to come.

 

[KannikaP]

3 hours ago, KannikaP said:

After 16 years here, I would have thought you knew that a joint account is un-acceptable.

@Moonlover What's confusing about this?

 

[asiaexpat]

Years of faking income to get a letter from the Embassy it seems, then using a an agent that circumvents the rules to get an extension. If the OP, after 16 years in Kingdom does not understand Thai Immigration policy shame on him and  he got off cheap. I have dealt with CW on my own for many years for both Thai Wife and Retirement extensions and never had an issue. Never even a hint of Tea money. 

[Guest truthman]

5 hours ago, skatewash said:

The true cost of using an agent who gets your extension for you by sending your passport out of the province where you live is often deferred until the time you attempt to not use an agent and get the extension from your own immigration office according to the rules.  You may want to go straight but the gang won't let you.

Get a good agent and then all you have to do is consult with them on how to get back in the system. His mistake was in trying to reenter the system by himself.

[skatewash]

6 minutes ago, truthman said:

Get a good agent and then all you have to do is consult with them on how to get back in the system. His mistake was in trying to reenter the system by himself.

Or you might say that his mistake was going outside the system in the first place.  If he had stayed inside the system he would be paying 1,900 baht.  Although I understand from a previous reply that he didn't have a choice but to employ an agent.

I think this case is instructive that once going down the agent route it's not always an easy path back into the system, by which I mean doing one's extension of stay oneself following the rules established for doing so at your local immigration office.

[Jack1988]

The immigration officer just tried to still more money from you. And how they knew your extension has been made in another province? You can say you used to live in another city at that time. I don't see any reason why he must charged you all that money and your stamp wasn't dirty as he said. You can apply for visa or extension in every city in Thailand and after just change TM 30 if you go to live in another place. Immigration only try to get more money ????

[DrJack54]

56 minutes ago, skatewash said:

I think this case is instructive that once going down the agent route it's not always an easy path back into the system, by which I mean doing one's extension of stay oneself following the rules established for doing so at your local immigration office

I have refrained from this thread.

In part because the OP has no idea. Along with many posts the same. 

After using an agent there is clear path back to doing extension by yourself.

It requires one year forward planning. 

Finding this thread very poor advice. 

[skatewash]

15 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

I have refrained from this thread.

In part because the OP has no idea. Along with many posts the same. 

After using an agent there is clear path back to doing extension by yourself.

It requires one year forward planning. 

Finding this thread very poor advice. 

Someone capable and willing to do one year of forward planning is the exactly the sort of person most unlikely to use an agent in the first place.  And vice versa. ???? 

[DrJack54]

1 minute ago, skatewash said:

Someone capable and willing to do one year of forward planning is the exactly the sort of person most unlikely to use an agent in the first place.  And vice versa. ???? 

Stop.

Many examples of someone making slip up for example money in bank.

Then require agent.

Provided they then cover next 12 months then next extension won't be an issue. 

[Neeranam]

8 hours ago, truthman said:

The extension wasn't fake or illegal. If that had been the case they would have canceled it, charged him an overstay fine, and given him 7 days to leave the country. Rather, they refused to accept the stamp.

It was most certainly illegal if you he paid 15,000 baht to get it. They can't do anything as it was issued by one of their own. 

[Jack1988]

1 hour ago, Jack1988 said:

The immigration officer just tried to still more money from you. And how they knew your extension has been made in another province? You can say you used to live in another city at that time. I don't see any reason why he must charged you all that money and your stamp wasn't dirty as he said. You can apply for visa or extension in every city in Thailand and after just change TM 30 if you go to live in another place. Immigration only try to get more money ????

I made a mistake on my previous message. I wanted to say how they knew that you used an agent for your one year extension? Immigration cannot know unless you do not say

[Jack1988]

4 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

It was most certainly illegal if you he paid 15,000 baht to get it. They can't do anything as it was issued by one of their own. 

it is not illegal, stamp is 100% legal but he paid an agent and it's expensive
a friend of mine use agent every year and he never had a problem with immigration

Edited May 11, 2022 by Jack1988

[Neeranam]

Just now, Jack1988 said:

it is not illegal, stamp is 100% legal but he paid an agent and it's expensive

Bypassing immigration requirements by using a corrupt officer is totally illegal.

How on Earth do you think the agents get the visa? 

[Jack1988]

Just now, Neeranam said:

Bypassing immigration requirements by using a corrupt officer is totally illegal.

How on Earth do you think the agents get the visa? 

 

Just now, Neeranam said:

Bypassing immigration requirements by using a corrupt officer is totally illegal.

How on Earth do you think the agents get the visa? 

immigration know about that, they are working with agents for take more money from falangs

[Neeranam]

1 minute ago, Jack1988 said:

 

immigration know about that, they are working with agents for take more money from falangs

Of course the bent ones know, it doesn't mean you are not an illegal immigrant. 

[Nickelbeer]

The discussion about the validity of the visa is confusing to me. My rental agent also does my visa renewals each year for 14 thousand baht. The first couple of times she drove me to Immigration in Jomtien where she got a big welcome from officers. They took my passport and my bank book (even though there was only a thousand baht in the account). I got the passport back with a Jomtien stamp in it. It was not sent outside Jomtien to another office, nor was there any deposit into my account. It's obviously strictly a "brown envelope" type of transaction and there is no possibility of the stamp being "Fake" or "dirty" or any other description. I wouldn't want to do things any other way. I can't park 800 thousand baht in a Thai bank account. I draw over 80 thousand baht a month from three pension sources and that seems to suffice. The continued insistence that these transactions are, somehow< "invalid", seems to ignore the usual Thai way of doing things.

[mvdf]

9 hours ago, Robbie63 said:

The Immigration officer took one look at my Passport and threw it back at me told me to go back to agent that my Visa was dirty because of the Northern Immigration Stamps end of discussion.

That's truly sad. He literally threw it back at you with that look of disdain? 

 

[Neeranam]

2 minutes ago, Nickelbeer said:

I can't park 800 thousand baht in a Thai bank account. I draw over 80 thousand baht a month from three pension sources and that seems to suffice.

Why can't you do it the legal way? You have enough money per month.

[nightfox]

12K is a good deal. My local immigration charged me 15K to bypass the 2 month 400K requirement for marriage extension. 

[Onerak]

10 hours ago, Robbie63 said:

The Officer now shows my wife her calculator with 12,000 baht on it up to us if we want them to clean up my Visa.

12K Baht is an excellent price to pay. It seems out of 15K that I paid in Pattaya, the agent got only 3 K and the immigration tea money is the rest. Of course, with an agent I did not have to go to immigration for more than 15 minutes and no paperwork hassles. Make sure go to a reliable agent that does not get the stamp from out of jurisdiction offices. 

Edited May 11, 2022 by Onerak

[digbeth]

10 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

Does that mean your original Visa or extensions of stay was fake ?

 

The Immigration officer at Chaeng Wattana spotted that the current visa you were holding was fake and thus extorted you by charging 12,000 baht to extend a fake visa and legitimise it ?

 

It definitely seems like extortion, but IF your original visa was obtained through illegal channels (i.e. a visa agent using a corrupt Immi officer and ’stamps from the north’)... then you may have got off lightly...

 

The alternative refusal or even being dealt with more seriously because you were holding an illegal visa is a far worse alternative. 

 

The officer who was prepared to ‘bend the rules’ in your favour for a fee may have done you a favour. 

 

As bitter as the taste this has left in your mouth, there may be a positive aspect from which to view this ’shakedown’.

 

 

You can always call their bluff, the alternative is either they sent OP to immigration detention center and deport him, and investigate how the compromised stamp came from and uncover the bribe rings exposing their whole network over the claim of one farang, which is not likely, the even offered the option for him to go back to the same agent to continue the previous arrangement 

 

Now knowing the price, come next extension time, you can cut out the middle man

[Nickelbeer]

1 hour ago, Neeranam said:

Why can't you do it the legal way? You have enough money per month.

Shockingly naive question. I live on my income. It would take me YEARS to save up 800 thousand baht. According to IO, this way IS legal. It is the same stamp I have gotten since I first came here. My passport never leaves the Jomtien office. Some retirees bring huge sums of liquid cash with them when they retire. All I have is my monthly income which was fine until they stopped issuing statutory declarations of income at the American Embassy. The attitude of many on this forum seems to be "Don't come here to retire unless you have a large sum of money to park in a dodgy bank." Sheer elitism.

[Neeranam]

50 minutes ago, Nickelbeer said:

Shockingly naive question. I live on my income. It would take me YEARS to save up 800 thousand baht. According to IO, this way IS legal. It is the same stamp I have gotten since I first came here. My passport never leaves the Jomtien office. Some retirees bring huge sums of liquid cash with them when they retire. All I have is my monthly income which was fine until they stopped issuing statutory declarations of income at the American Embassy. The attitude of many on this forum seems to be "Don't come here to retire unless you have a large sum of money to park in a dodgy bank." Sheer elitism.

As a Thai, I would need a lot more than $15k to retire in the UK. 

$500k I think. 

If I didnt have it, I'd not break the law. 

The regulations are lax here, a lot of entitled people thinking they can buy a visa. 

 

 

[proton]

2 hours ago, Jack1988 said:

I made a mistake on my previous message. I wanted to say how they knew that you used an agent for your one year extension? Immigration cannot know unless you do not say

The extension the agent got was from a different province from the one he lived in, illegally issued.

[proton]

25 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

As a Thai, I would need a lot more than $15k to retire in the UK. 

$500k I think. 

If I didnt have it, I'd not break the law. 

The regulations are lax here, a lot of entitled people thinking they can buy a visa. 

 

 

Just need 5k to get a dingy at calais and claim 'asylum' after the border farce escort you in- 3 star hotel 40 quid a week etc

[proton]

2 hours ago, Nickelbeer said:

The discussion about the validity of the visa is confusing to me. My rental agent also does my visa renewals each year for 14 thousand baht. The first couple of times she drove me to Immigration in Jomtien where she got a big welcome from officers. They took my passport and my bank book (even though there was only a thousand baht in the account). I got the passport back with a Jomtien stamp in it. It was not sent outside Jomtien to another office, nor was there any deposit into my account. It's obviously strictly a "brown envelope" type of transaction and there is no possibility of the stamp being "Fake" or "dirty" or any other description. I wouldn't want to do things any other way. I can't park 800 thousand baht in a Thai bank account. I draw over 80 thousand baht a month from three pension sources and that seems to suffice. The continued insistence that these transactions are, somehow< "invalid", seems to ignore the usual Thai way of doing things.

Just the stink of local corruption, you got an extension where you lived, many don't.