3 month's ago i went to the Pattaya immigration office, to apply for a retirement visa ( married to a Thai ) , the paper work was checked, and found to be in order. the officer said to grant the visa , the immigration office would need to come to my house to " check me over " , at this point i paid no visa fee ( 500bt) and the officer said some one would ring to arrange a visit at my house. One week later an officer came to the  house, came in had a look around, and took some photo's of my self, and wife along and  some of the house. also as the house is rented, he wanted to speak to the owner, which i arranged. When he departed he said come to the Immigration in a weeks time to collect my visa,  when i turned up to collect my visa, all i was told was " come back in a month ". the next month I turned up, only to be told again come back in a month, at this point i asked if there's any problem, and was told " NO " , so again on the 8th of August  have to go back to the Immigration for the third time. now ive seen the article about the visa fee rise, i am now wondering if the Immigration are trying to string me along until after the new fee's come into effect..?, just to get the increased fee ( 500 Bt old fee, New 5,000 Bt ) or as i applied be for the new visa fee date, should the old fee still stand ...?

Always pay the fee before you apply, or youll get ######ed!!!!

what they want is probably som cash themselves.

Always pay the fee before you apply, or youll get ######ed!!!!

what they want is probably som cash themselves.

That is SO true.

When I was married, we had attempted to get my visa.

Well, the exact same thing happened to me. Finally, my wife went in there and started knocking some heads together. She had a way of doing this. No more waiting.  

I have no doubt at all that they are considering both factors.

1. they want some money

2. the fees will go up soon and they assume you know that

So they probably figure they can push you close enough to the date that on top of the 500 they can probably get 1,000 or 2,000 for themselves.

Never under any circumstances use immigration on Soi 8 in Pattaya. They are the most corrupt officials in the land, it might be a pain, but use Bangkok. Don't even request a 15 day extension. The officials there demand bottles of Jonnie Walker, bribes, threaten etc. They are worse than Nigeria.

True story: A friend of mine went to get a 30 extension to a two month tourist visa; cost 500 baht. When he collected his passport it was stamped "extention request under review" return in two weeks. He went back in two weeks, only to be told he had overstayed, had to pay 15 times 200 baht overstay and leave for border immediately. NEVER go to Pattaya immigration for anything ever, ever, ever!!