This... Just this...Just go to Immigration yourself and sort it out directly. There are some reputable agents out there, and a few are regularly recommended by people on this forum. Unfortunately, there are also plenty of charlatans, scammers and middlemen promising miracles they cannot legally deliver. Historically, the system was far easier to game. At remote land borders and smaller ports, long before everything was centrally linked and digitised, all it sometimes took was a cooperative official, the right stamp, and someone willing to look the other way. Those days are largely gone. Over 30 years ago, I handed my passport to a company representative for what was described as a routine visa renewal. It came back showing an exit and re-entry through Songkhla Port despite me never having left my office. I hit the roof. At the time, these shortcuts were common, but they carried obvious risks if the paperwork was ever scrutinised. This case strikes me as a modern version of the same story. A naïve young lad overstayed, then convinced himself that someone could magically put him back on the right side of the system. He paid a lot of money to people who promised they could fix it. That was foolish, but it was also trusting. He bears responsibility for his own actions, but I do have some sympathy. Rather than focusing solely on the foreigner caught holding the passport, I'd be equally interested in knowing who supplied the stamps, who arranged the paperwork, and whether the same agents are still operating today. If forged or irregular stamps were involved, they didn't appear in that passport by magic. The easiest person to prosecute is often the one standing in front of you. Finding and dismantling the people selling these services is considerably harder. The lesson is simple: if you need a visa, deal directly with Immigration. If something sounds too easy, too convenient, or too expensive to be true, it probably is.
