Can somebody help me out?

A friend of mine is about to pay 85.000 BHT to get a permanent stay in England. She is married to an english guy.

Myself, I come from Sweden and when I visit the Swedish Embassy I can read that the application fee is 5.000 THB and the documents they ask for is not very complicated.

Should there not be similar procedure and costs to migrate to England since both countries belong to the EU? or is the 85.000 THB fee just another scam?

Can somebody help me out?

A friend of mine is about to pay 85.000 BHT to get a permanent stay in England. She is married to an english guy.

Myself, I come from Sweden and when I visit the Swedish Embassy I can read that the application fee is 5.000 THB and the documents they ask for is not very complicated.

Should there not be similar procedure and costs to migrate to England since both countries belong to the EU? or is the 85.000 THB fee just another scam?

Sounds like she is using an agency. The visa fee for the UK for a settlement visa is about 34,000 baht.

A settlement visa application using a consultant should be no more than 30,000 Thai baht for their fees which should include all translations etc and taking her to Bangkok.

The visa fee for the UK for a settlement visa is 33,930 baht if he does the aplication himself. if he use a visa agent then the price is what there say. if he needs to use a agent then use a registered OISC Advisers and not some bargirl that say visa 100% give me yur money honey i like you.

Yes such as my company registered in the UK.

I was quoted 60,000 baht by an agent who said they guarantee we get a visa......

Chose to do it myself..... and guess what? We got a visa.

It is easy enough to put together the application, most of the hard work is in collating the evidence, stuff you would have to do anyway if you were using an agent.

You don't need a degree in immigration law, just an understanding of what is required. And if you need advice, there is plenty of good advice on forums like this.

Should there not be similar procedure and costs to migrate to England since both countries belong to the EU? or is the 85.000 THB fee just another scam?

Just to point out that the EU is not a federal entity and hopefully never will be.

Subject to ensuring EU and EEA treaty rights, individual member states are free to set whatever immigration rules and fees they wish.

Despite the extortionate increases imposed by this Labour government, as already pointed out the UK settlement visa fee is a lot less than 85K, it sounds like your friend is being ripped off by an 'agent.'

Yes sounds correct any agent fees should be a maximum of 30 k some companies are charging 90.000 baht I'm aware of this as we are getting plenty of work in Pattaya at the moment. We are the only consultancy regulated by the OISC and possibly the least expensive.

Edited June 22, 200917 yr by ThaiVisaExpress

Off topic post deleted.

Can somebody help me out?

A friend of mine is about to pay 85.000 BHT to get a permanent stay in England. She is married to an english guy.

Myself, I come from Sweden and when I visit the Swedish Embassy I can read that the application fee is 5.000 THB and the documents they ask for is not very complicated.

Should there not be similar procedure and costs to migrate to England since both countries belong to the EU? or is the 85.000 THB fee just another scam?

Thank you all for your answers.

As I understand it, 85.000 THB is a common fee for this service if performed by an agent, but could be done to a much lower and more fair price.

Sounds like most other things in this country - buyers be aware!

Can somebody help me out?

A friend of mine is about to pay 85.000 BHT to get a permanent stay in England. She is married to an english guy.

Myself, I come from Sweden and when I visit the Swedish Embassy I can read that the application fee is 5.000 THB and the documents they ask for is not very complicated.

Should there not be similar procedure and costs to migrate to England since both countries belong to the EU? or is the 85.000 THB fee just another scam?

Thank you all for your answers.

As I understand it, 85.000 THB is a common fee for this service if performed by an agent, but could be done to a much lower and more fair price.

Sounds like most other things in this country - buyers be aware!

It certainly sounds a very high price. The visa fee itself is just under 34k baht, so they are actually paying almost twice the cost of the visa to the agent. I would not expect to pay much more than the cost of the visa itself to an agent to help with a visa application. Possibly you should point your friend in the direction of ThaiVisaExpress. I believe he now has an office in Pattaya, which I'm presuming is where your friend is as you have this as your location on your profile.

Yes we are in Soi LK and in the UK we offer a good service at a fair price, or do it yourself.