22 hours ago, saakura said:

Austrians are not referred to as 'Aussies'!

Correct. Its Convicts 😉

4 hours ago, Keeps said:

No, 'almost German' is the correct term. 

It is Sepp or more common Ösis.

Reminds me of something back in early 2000's (over 20 years ago). Just arrived back in Thailand, walked into gullivers (usual stop before heading back to kow taow) and shocked, it was full of dive instructors and dive masters from Kow Taow.  All getting replacement passports. (What a great night),  ("Mini Me", a great guy from holland) was going back to see his family, stopped at airport! Forged stamps in his passport.  A certain bast@rd on the island decided it was cheaper having a stamp made than doing his advertised passport visa run.  Arrived on kow Taow  a couple of days later and there he was, sitting outside his shop, sign still above him, visa passport run 2,000baht!!!  He was protected. While "Mini Me" was in prison facing massive fine and ban for life!!! 

1 minute ago, BritScot said:

Reminds me of something back in early 2000's (over 20 years ago). Just arrived back in Thailand, walked into gullivers 

 

    Was you carrying any raw sausages ?

On 11/18/2025 at 4:40 PM, NativeBob said:

Likely his "visa agent" stamped his passport with fake imm. stamps. The punishment is very harsh - even 15+ years ago one young woman got 7 years for "Royal seal forgery". sad for dumb dude. 

And people get their knickers in a twist when I say never use an "agent". Never place anything that important into the hands of strangers. And I stick by that - at best it's a roll of the dice as to if and when something goes wrong. And doing it right is not difficult at all most of the time, there's a learning curve, and then it's a snap every time you renew. How would you like to have a nice comfy 10 or more years of living a wonderful life here only to have it upended and destroyed when things go south one time because your number was up or your guard was down or all of the above? Would it have been worth it? Now what about this supposed agent - what happens to all of his "customers"? How many will get caught? 

On 11/18/2025 at 5:03 PM, saakura said:

Austrians are not referred to as 'Aussies'!

Maybe he MEANT Aussies!

7 hours ago, Sydebolle said:

If the immigration would be as thorough in each and every part of their work, such headlines would never happen. 

Went for an endorsement and re-entry visa on my permanent residency status which I have had for decades. While the officers, who know me, continue to be nice and forthcoming, the bureaucracy in that connection is mind boggling. You need to fill in a TM13 and a TM22 form, both sides, one form each. The officer had to retype my pre-typed form into their computer, took a (lousy) photograph and printed the pages out. This, together with photocopies of passport, residence booklet TM17, police book, ID card and house register had to be signed; four photographs were required as well. Nobody has had the slightest clue, what all these copies are necessary, why the completed forms had to be redone (identical to what I brought along) and why all this needed to be signed with blue ink. Less than an hour later I was out and on my way; excellent customer service in an absolute maze of paper which nobody really knew or understood. 

Less paperwork on such money earners (let's face it, a re-entry serves to get some money into the state's coffers); just charge an amount, affix a stamp into the passport and everybody is happy. 

This would free up personnel to go through the database to identify, who is - according to the immigration computer - overstaying the welcome and hence go and look after those overstayers. In the past they "caught" overstayers with 11 years ...... seriously wondering about setting priorities in certain government offices. 

You make a lot of sense - you would be fired immediately if you ever got a job there. I've had to redo  forms that I had thought I had done correctly, and I've also had times when everything I'd printed with nice legible typeface was accepted without batting an eye. Last year everything sailed through. I even got my appointment ahead of time. The  blue ink thing is because  it "proves" an actual signature and not a photocopy. Sometimes they just want to see you sign in person is all. I use a color setting so that all of my signatures print blue and in high quality. Sometimes they'll have you sign again just to witness you actually signing. But I really don't care about extra work or even if I have to come back another day. I chose to live here for good reasons and bureacracy just comes with the territory. One thing I will NOT do is break any laws here, I don't care how many people get away with it.

6 hours ago, thaibreaker said:

On 11/18/2025 at 12:40 PM, NativeBob said:

Likely his "visa agent" stamped his passport with fake imm. stamps. The punishment is very harsh - even 15+ years ago one young woman got 7 years for "Royal seal forgery". sad for dumb dude. 

I doubt that. The visa agents aren't risking their job or business for a few fake stamps. 

 

The stamp they obtain is as real as it gets, there is nothing fake about it. 

6 hours ago, thaibreaker said:

What fake visas are you referring to? There is nothing fake about the visas agents obtain through immigration. They are as real as any others.

 

That’s my guess as well.

 

It’s quite possible the guy had no idea the stamps were dodgy and genuinely believed he was paying for a legitimate agency service - if such a thing even exists.

Perhaps the agent themselves was unaware that the stamps were invalid - or maybe the stamps were technically real but hadn’t been entered into the Immigration system - i.e. a fast one pulled by an grafter.

 

Or, applying Occam’s razor, the agency could have been running a straightforward scam, obtaining some immigration stamps illicitly. In that case, there are likely many others in the area who went through the same process, ending up with “fake” stamps and now inadvertently overstaying their visas - and now might be getting nervous.

 

 

 

 

 

12 hours ago, Vlada Floric said:

Wait until they start poking their noses into all those fake retirement visas issued down south with no cash to back it up, All of those extensions issued with crooked financials, that really will put the cat amongst the pigeons.

that's different that is done by them.  They only go after people stepping in on their money making. 

 

10 hours ago, thaibreaker said:

I doubt that. The visa agents aren't risking their job or business for a few fake stamps. 

 

The stamp they obtain is as real as it gets, there is nothing fake about it. 

it's happened in the past that a visa agent make fake stamps. Actually it's happened many times.

 

578 days in Thailand. That sounds scary. I guess Austria must be in a big decline, no booze, no sex, no drugs. 

8 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

That’s my guess as well.

 

It’s quite possible the guy had no idea the stamps were dodgy and genuinely believed he was paying for a legitimate agency service - if such a thing even exists.

Perhaps the agent themselves was unaware that the stamps were invalid - or maybe the stamps were technically real but hadn’t been entered into the Immigration system - i.e. a fast one pulled by an grafter.

 

Or, applying Occam’s razor, the agency could have been running a straightforward scam, obtaining some immigration stamps illicitly. In that case, there are likely many others in the area who went through the same process, ending up with “fake” stamps and now inadvertently overstaying their visas - and now might be getting nervous.

 

 

 

 

 

The BP had a pic of his stamps,  and at least 3 of them were very weird, the dates didn't make sense. 

Visa free 30 days for an Austrian?

Admitted to Laos on May 20, allowed to stay until May 19?

Less than 5 months for a DTV?

 

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/3139671/austrian-arrested-at-phuket-airport-for-forged-stamps-long-overstay

 

 

 

On 11/18/2025 at 4:46 PM, smedly said:

and his passport was stamped by ?

 

will they be arrested ?

How do you know that he didn't make the stamps himself they've caught a couple of guys over recent years that could make perfect passports 

2 hours ago, kiwikeith said:

How do you know that he didn't make the stamps himself they've caught a couple of guys over recent years that could make perfect passports 

well I don't know for sure, what  I do think is he used an agent that stamped his passport, the lack of detail or follow up means we will never know

20 hours ago, Nick Carter icp said:

 

    May have scanned his PP at immigration and his entry stamps didn't tally with info on the computer  

That’s the most likely explanation. After that, the spin story took on a life of its own and we ended up with a story on steroids

On 11/19/2025 at 8:54 AM, Vlada Floric said:

Wait until they start poking their noses into all those fake retirement visas issued down south with no cash to back it up, All of those extensions issued with crooked financials, that really will put the cat amongst the pigeons.

Those stamps are legit.

17 hours ago, BritScot said:

(...) visa passport run 

 

I was offered a 'visa passport run' to Malaysia by an IO at Pattaya Immigration while extending my visa there about 20 years ago. I politely declined. 😆

6 hours ago, StayinThailand2much said:

 

I was offered a 'visa passport run' to Malaysia by an IO at Pattaya Immigration while extending my visa there about 20 years ago. I politely declined. 😆

yes, I reckon same offers back in 1997-98 (not sure) in BKK, Sukh. 22-24. Nice polite pole. I'm not sure was it 8K? Later on it appeared that the stamps were fakes. 

 

4 hours ago, NativeBob said:

yes, I reckon same offers back in 1997-98 (not sure) in BKK, Sukh. 22-24. Nice polite pole. I'm not sure was it 8K? Later on it appeared that the stamps were fakes. 

 not that high,  The 90's the baht was still 25 to the USD.. I cant recall the exact fee but it was around 1000 baht maybe a little higher. 

This was for running your passport to the boarder. I dont recall anything about retirement visas at the time, I dont think they needed the 800K at the time. I was on a B visa so didn't pay attention to the retirement visa. 

There were are few back then,, Jack Golf was big and then a few bars around BKK offered the service.  I believe the one place was called "the wall" down off Sathorn in the gem area. 

Thailand was much easier back then..

On 11/19/2025 at 12:22 PM, motdaeng said:

 

people from Austria are called "Ösis" 

Austrian people are called Austrians. In German, the term is Österreicher

On 11/20/2025 at 10:33 AM, StayinThailand2much said:

 

I was offered a 'visa passport run' to Malaysia by an IO at Pattaya Immigration while extending my visa there about 20 years ago. I politely declined. 😆

People like you spoilt it for everyone, 

54 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

People like you spoilt it for everyone, 

 

Excuse me? I only extended my tourist visa there. I didn't ask for any shady services, but, uninvited, it was offered to me by an IO, who approached me there! And I also wrote that I politely declined. Perhaps you should read other members' posts more carefully.

I always thought Austrians were German anyway