On 8/29/2026 at 10:46 PM, jaideedave said:

In my case I switched from agent to monthly 65k method 2 years ago. I presented the bank deposit slips etc and they looked it over very carefully and after some discussion approved my extension. I actually was thinking it could have went either way. All okay now...

I'm in the same boat basically. The last extension one month deposit may have been iffy as 2 deposits were made in one month. I used an agent and have decided the 15K is well worth it for me. I bring in way more than 65K/mo but I'm tired of being scrutinized by the IO's. It has nothing to do with not having money.

On 8/30/2026 at 11:24 AM, save the frogs said:

It's mostly tourists behaving badly, not retirees.

Tourists are not bribing immigration officers, ex pats are so they are the badly behaved ones

1 minute ago, visalady said:

Tourists are not bribing immigration officers, ex pats are so they are the badly behaved ones

People are applying western mentality to Thailand.

Thailand works differently.

What you call "bribe" is basically a bunch of people being employed.

And wasn't it you arguing that "soi 6 bars are illegal"?

Edited September 7Sep 7 by save the frogs

On 9/2/2026 at 7:05 AM, SiSePuede419 said:

Visa agents help Farangs who are low income (<65K thb/m) or too poor (<800K thb available for deposit into Thai bank).

Nothing wrong with being low income and poor. 🌴

No they corruptly enable people to get extensions when they do not qualify for one, and over time that has made it more inconvenient for legal applicants. Before we could take all our money out of accounts if we wanted to after the extension, now it has to be kept in for 3 months after and half of it until the next 2 months prior to the next application, an ineffective change to try and hamper fraudulent methods by agents. Nothing wrong with being low income, they should just not be here.

Edited September 7Sep 7 by visalady

Something it occurs to me to mention.

Do people who have been doing extensions the tedious and legit way actually having all the requirements RESENT those who take the agent shortcut?

Should they?
Well, I can only speak for myself as a non-customer of agents.

I don't resent them at all.

If the Thais want to enforce things differently, that's on the Thais.

I'm not going to be their cheerleader to do that.

Also I think people using agents carry worries and risks no matter how unlikely that don't burdem me..

Edited September 7Sep 7 by Jingthing

3 minutes ago, visalady said:

No they corruptly enable people to get extensions when they do not qualify for one, and over time that has made it more inconvenient for legal applicants. Before we could take all our money out of accounts if we wanted to after the extension, now it has to be kept in for 3 months after and half of it until the next 2 months prior to the next application, an ineffective change to try and hamper fraudulent methods by agents. Nothing wrong with being low income, they should just not be here.

I think you have it bass akwards. Did you ever stop and think that perhaps the 3 months after and 2 months prior was done to make using an agent more desirable.

Bangkok Bank stopped listing a SS deposit as FFT and now it's something else that IO won't accept without a credit advice which is one more hoop to jump through.

They want expats to use an agent, it's a win win all around.

Just now, Jingthing said:

Something it occurs to me to mention.

Do people who have been doing extensions the tedious and legit way actually having all the requirements RESENT those who take the agent shortcut?

Should they?
Well, I can only speak for myself as a non-customers of agents.

I don't resent them at all.

If the Thais want to enforce things differently, that's on the Thais.

I'm not going to be their cheerleader to do that.

Also I think people using agents carry worries and risks no matter how unlikely that don't burder me..

Oh come on, now you're being coy. Of course many here resent the agent short cut method and the criminals who use them.

23 minutes ago, visalady said:

Tourists are not bribing immigration officers, ex pats are so they are the badly behaved ones

You realise extra payments to Immigration get shared around the office to everyone? and probably bosses in other offices, that keeps them relatively happy

Edited September 7Sep 7 by scubascuba3

1 minute ago, EVENKEEL said:

Oh come on, now you're being coy. Of course many here resent the agent short cut method and the criminals who use them.

Read the post again.

I said I only speak for myself.

Of course I agree many people who do it the legit way do resent those using agents.

Maybe it's a matter of temperament whether you do or not.

6 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Something it occurs to me to mention.

Do people who have been doing extensions the tedious and legit way actually having all the requirements RESENT those who take the agent shortcut?

Should they?
Well, I can only speak for myself as a non-customer of agents.

I don't resent them at all.

If the Thais want to enforce things differently, that's on the Thais.

I'm not going to be their cheerleader to do that.

Also I think people using agents carry worries and risks no matter how unlikely that don't burdem me..

I'll probably switch to agent method if and when they increase the 800k, better to leave money out of Thailand.

As for agents, they offer a valuable service, sometimes we need them, i used them at the beginning when the exchange rate was a very low 37

On 8/30/2026 at 12:31 PM, Jingthing said:

Are you also talking about those using the legit income method or only bank method legit vs. bank method agent game?

Either case, I don't know the answer or how we could get the answer. Do you?

I can guess but it wouldn't mean anything.

But my guess is about half.

If 50 percent of all retirement-visa applicants are using Agents in order to avoid keeping funds in bank, at low interest rate, that is a huge number.

Therefore, would it not be unlikely that the policy might change?

That is a lot of money being paid.

3 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

I'll probably switch to agent method if and when they increase the 800k, better to leave money out of Thailand.

So you don't believe they will eventually crack down?

4 minutes ago, save the frogs said:

So you don't believe they will eventually crack down?

50/50, depends if they decide they want to raise the standard of farang and increase levels, Bali is something like U$3k a month income,.and a chunky bank deposit something like U$50k

28 minutes ago, save the frogs said:

So you don't believe they will eventually crack down?

You guys talk one official says to other:

O1 What are you doing today

O2 Not much

O1 Let's have an agent crack down.

If a crackdown does come, it may be involuntarily.

51 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

I'll probably switch to agent method if and when they increase the 800k, better to leave money out of Thailand.

As for agents, they offer a valuable service, sometimes we need them, i used them at the beginning when the exchange rate was a very low 37

They will probably grandfather increases for 800k, agents are corrupt parasites

1 hour ago, EVENKEEL said:

Oh come on, now you're being coy. Of course many here resent the agent short cut method and the criminals who use them.

Criminals? 🤬🖕

15 minutes ago, Bagwain said:

Criminals? 🤬🖕

Yes.

Section 144. Granting of Benefit by Official

Whoever, giving, offering or agreeing to give the property or any other benefit to the official, member of State Legislative Assembly, member of Provincial Assembly or member of Municipal Assembly so as to induce such person to do or not to do any act, or to delay the doing of any act contrary to one's own duty, shall be imprisoned not out of five years or fined not out of ten thousand Baht, or both.

any act i.e. to induce an official to exercise or not his/her discretion.

44 minutes ago, JerryM said:

You guys talk one official says to other:

O1 What are you doing today

O2 Not much

O1 Let's have an agent crack down.

If a crackdown does come, it may be involuntarily.

In the meantime, you guys sure seem to be having a lot of fun on here fear-mongering about an imminent crackdown.

Edited September 7Sep 7 by save the frogs

Just now, save the frogs said:

In the meantime, you guys sure seem to be having fun on here fear-mongering about an imminent crackdown.

no one said imminent although it could be.

It's been that way for years so one has to look at maybe what has changed.

And what has changed is the nominee situation not that the crux of it is similar, just look at what it took to crack it.

Edited September 7Sep 7 by JerryM

42 minutes ago, visalady said:

They will probably grandfather increases for 800k, agents are corrupt parasites

If you ever make a screw up with your 65k or 400k/800k you'll need to use an agent or leave

On 8/30/2026 at 11:51 AM, Jingthing said:

Maybe through this discussion we've identified a logical reason why they wouldn't do the crackdown.

The resulting expat earthquake would be momentous to a degree they wouldn't want and also there would be a lot of bad international press suggesting Thailand isn't a stable choice for expat retirement.

Do you think the "dumbest people in the world" could care less about expats. The elites despise us!

2 hours ago, save the frogs said:

Thailand works differently.

What you call "bribe" is basically a bunch of people being employed.

Thai Immigration calls it a "gift" as in:

3 hours ago, EVENKEEL said:

I think you have it bass akwards. Did you ever stop and think that perhaps the 3 months after and 2 months prior was done to make using an agent more desirable.

Bangkok Bank stopped listing a SS deposit as FFT and now it's something else that IO won't accept without a credit advice which is one more hoop to jump through.

They want expats to use an agent, it's a win win all around.

I've believed that for years. The IO doesn't make anything on the 1,900 Visa. But they sure as hell do with 15k plus from an agent.

I spoke with an agent office girl once a few years ago and she told me from the 10k fee paid by me to her office she only got 2k of that amount. The rest went to the IO.

2 hours ago, save the frogs said:

In the meantime, you guys sure seem to be having a lot of fun on here fear-mongering about an imminent crackdown.

They're creaming their pants just thinking about it.

5 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

They're creaming their pants just thinking about it.

That's OK -- if one keeps posting what the regs actually are you some times get to see comedy lines like this above this topic:

I said agents r up to speed with changes to regs...

3 hours ago, GammaGlobulin said:

If 50 percent of all retirement-visa applicants are using Agents in order to avoid keeping funds in bank, at low interest rate, that is a huge number.

Therefore, would it not be unlikely that the policy might change?

That is a lot of money being paid.

Its no where near 50% using agents to supply money. There's projected to be between 400 to 500K total foreigners here using Non Imm O or OA. I would be surprised if 10% use agents to supply money. What the real number is no one will know.

15 minutes ago, JerryM said:

That's OK -- if one keeps posting what the regs actually are you some times get to see comedy lines like this above this topic:

I said agents r up to speed with changes to regs...

Have you got regs regarding the 800k?

15 minutes ago, JerryM said:

That's OK -- if one keeps posting what the regs actually are you some times get to see comedy lines like this above this topic:

I said agents r up to speed with changes to regs...

What changes to regs are you talking about?

1 minute ago, EVENKEEL said:

What changes to regs are you talking about?

I didn't say that.

3 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

Have you got regs regarding the 800k?

They haven't changed since 2019.