Hi, I'm thinking of living in Thailand for a few years. Can anyone recommend Visa agents inBangkok or Pattaya. Any advice appreciated. Also been quoted 50,000 for an initial retirement visa, is this the going rate?

Thanks, any help appreciated

That's about right for starting from nothing in country. Far better to get a single non O before leaving for Thailand, (easy to do), that'll bring the agent cost down well below 20k. @ThaiVisaCentre gets my vote.

As noted above. Obtain the Non O eVisa prior to entering Thailand.

Has financial requirements.

13 minutes ago, Chanseasider said:

Also been quoted 50,000 for an initial retirement visa, is this the going rate?

Who quoted 50k.

That was for what... Non O retirement + 12 month extension + bank account? Do you have an existing Thai bank account?

50k would be cheap.

Pattaya agent?

8 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

50k would be cheap.

No, it's about right....

8 minutes ago, Upnotover said:

No, it's about right....

Thinking would be upcountry. If that's not an issue then all good

1 hour ago, Upnotover said:

That's about right for starting from nothing in country. Far better to get a single non O before leaving for Thailand, (easy to do), that'll bring the agent cost down well below 20k. @ThaiVisaCentre gets my vote.

Thing about them is they send passport away to Udon. Think price is about 18K, that's what I was quoted. just saw above price list 14 K is good price.

Edited August 14Aug 14 by EVENKEEL

2 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

As noted above. Obtain the Non O eVisa prior to entering Thailand.

Has financial requirements.

Who quoted 50k.

That was for what... Non O retirement + 12 month extension + bank account? Do you have an existing Thai bank account?

50k would be cheap.

Pattaya agent?

Not cheap, just a standard headline figure.

One option is to go direct to an Immigration Officer....... a friend did that this week at Jomtien - he needed a bank account and the full retirement extension works,...... 42,000 Baht all in.

Edited August 14Aug 14 by hotandsticky

1 minute ago, hotandsticky said:

One option is to go direct to an Immigration Officer....... a friend did that this week - he needed a bank account and the full retirement extension works,...... 42,000 Baht all in.

Your point?

OP stated Agent.

What you suggest occurs does happen.

I receive pm,s outlining various accounts of dealing with office directly.

It is very random.

Try that at CW and let me know how it goes.

1 minute ago, DrJack54 said:

Your point?

OP stated Agent.

What you suggest occurs does happen.

I receive pm,s outlining various accounts of dealing with office directly.

It is very random.

Try that at CW and let me know how it goes.

My point is that 50k is not cheap.

I wasn't talking about CW, I specifically mentioned Jomtien.

8 minutes ago, hotandsticky said:

I wasn't talking about CW, I specifically mentioned Jomtien.

Guess that's why Pattaya has no agents (joke) .

Why go to agent when you can visit immigration officer and obtain bank account + Non O + 12 month extension for 42k .

Nup

NB the above says nothing about 'covering' your 800K baht in the bank

3 minutes ago, JerryM said:

NB the above says nothing about 'covering' your 800K baht in the bank

The financials would be covered.

1 hour ago, JerryM said:

NB the above says nothing about 'covering' your 800K baht in the bank

But it most certainly is. Hand holding only, where offered, is typically half that cost.

2 minutes ago, JerryM said:

So why don't they say "Your 800K baht one-year deposit will be 'covered'" in the poster ad? Because their lawyers have told them they can't.

No, they knew dip sticks like you are trolling!

Everyone and their barbers knows the main business model of agents is about "covering" the financials.

Wink wink nod nod.

I think some don't even want just hand holding clients.

The 64 thousand baht question has always been why has there never been a crackdown on this?
Isn't it corruption?

I don't know but my understanding is that it is actually quasi legal.

I don't do it and my main arguments to others for not doing it is it tends to create a long term dependency on agents or that one agent which leaves you in a vulnerable position.

Edited August 18Aug 18 by Jingthing

1 minute ago, Jingthing said:

I don't know but my understanding is that it is actually quasi legal.

The 800K baht discretionary waiver is likely legal. The bribe isn't.

Just now, JerryM said:

The 800K baht discretionary waiver is likely legal. The bribe isn't.

Just don't call it a bribe.

Call it happy money.

Was doing my annual extension in Maneerat (Pattaya Soi 13/2) a couple of weeks back and the guy next to me was paying 29K for the Conversion to a Non-IMM O + 1st 12 month extension (am assuming he already had a Bank Account).

I did overhear another guy getting assistance with opening a Bank Account but did't hear how much a combination of the 2 would cost.

Give them a call or drop them on message on LINE.

15 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

The 64 thousand baht question has always been why has there never been a crackdown on this?

It's called plausible deniability.

If an agent "covers" the financials for a Retirement extension, does 400,000 baht remain in the foreigner's account for the whole year?

2 minutes ago, brewsterbudgen said:

If an agent "covers" the financials for a Retirement extension, does 400,000 baht remain in the foreigner's account for the whole year?

No. More like 5 minutes. (800,000)

Edited August 18Aug 18 by Upnotover

Certainly legal that an IO of a high enough grade can waive financial requirements for an extension of stay.

If he does so, to stay legal, he needs to record it with a reason and pass the info up to division.

BUT..

If the agents/IO s are using this method then why is a bank account with 800,000 Thb in it need to be shown at all?

It would suggest that this is not the method being implemented.

2 minutes ago, terryq said:

If the agents/IO s are using this method then why is a bank account with 800,000 Thb in it need to be shown at all?

It is so the IMM officer who actually puts their signature in the farang's passport can say that the agent supplied application is no different from any other passport application they have received.

1 hour ago, JerryM said:

Immigration calls it a bribe or a gift when a payment is made to an official to exercise (or not) his/her discretion.

As usual they make rules but are unable (or not willing) to enforce it. Bribes are easily untraceable.

Several trolling posts removed.

Further posts re legality or otherwise of agents with be removed.

Offensive off topic post removed.

1 hour ago, brewsterbudgen said:

If an agent "covers" the financials for a Retirement extension, does 400,000 baht remain in the foreigner's account for the whole year?

No and thats why using an agents creates dependency on continuing to use them as the next extension cant be done without them easily. You can leave the country and start over.

2 hours ago, Dan O said:

No and thats why using an agents creates dependency on continuing to use them as the next extension cant be done without them easily. You can leave the country and start over.

Exactly and that is a very real downside of starting with agents

Isn't it best to get a 90 day retirement visa outside of Thailand, then after entering you only need to pay agent around 15,000 THB or so for the first annual extension ?

15 minutes ago, Packer said:

Isn't it best to get a 90 day retirement visa outside of Thailand, then after entering you only need to pay agent around 15,000 THB or so for the first annual extension ?

Certainly is best option to obtain the Non O via eVisa platform.

All online and not difficult.

After entering Thailand if you were to opt to use agent you could still open the bank account yourself as you have non immigrant status.