I see many places in Pattaya offering a "service" to get you a retirement visa,they put the 800k in the bank for you and do all the paper work,take your passport to immigration and get your visa,prices ranging from,12500,to 20000,any one done this?

That is illegal and could result in serious problems for you, resulting in doing time in jail.

dont touch it ! no guarantee the stamp in your passport will even be real, and getting arrested when you exit the country at some point is a hell of a way to find out .

Google 'Visa shop' in Pattaya. Andrew Drummond has something to say about these guys and what happens to people that use his exploitative 'services'.

Google 'Visa shop' in Pattaya. Andrew Drummond has something to say about these guys and what happens to people that use his exploitative 'services'.

his or this?

I think you mean this, it are not his services.

Google 'Visa shop' in Pattaya. Andrew Drummond has something to say about these guys and what happens to people that use his exploitative 'services'.

his or this?

I think you mean this, it are not his services.

Google 'Visa shop' in Pattaya. Andrew Drummond has something to say about these guys and what happens to people that use his exploitative 'services'.

his or this?

I think you mean this, it are not his services.

Sorry mistake, I am a bit jet lagged. I meant the services of 'Visa Shop'.

why do people allways look for an edge, just have the money in your bank when you go for your visa, simple,

then no one gets in trouble,,

Many years ago I used a shop in Bangkok to get my one year extensions. The last time I went there the shop was boarded up and supposedly the shop owner was deported. Apparently the shop owner still had a lot of foreign passports in process. The owners had a lot of problems retrieving their passports.

The next time I had to go to immigration, I was very worried. I was lucky, the immigration officer said that the stamps from Brisbane Australia were real so I wasn't in real trouble. He then told me that the next time my passport goes anywhere, I MUST go with it.

why do people allways look for an edge, just have the money in your bank when you go for your visa, simple,

then no one gets in trouble,,

only asking.

The problem with this sort of illegal activities is that more and more crack-clamp downs will be considered for "by the book" obtained visa holders.

follow the rules or follow the fools and go!

Personally, I consider myself very liberal as far as people who actually follow the (largely) reasonable rules of Thai immigration. These illegal scams I would love to see totally gone. Thanks to the OP for bringing up the topic so that people can be warned against using such services.

Personally, I consider myself very liberal as far as people who actually follow the (largely) reasonable rules of Thai immigration. These illegal scams I would love to see totally gone. Thanks to the OP for bringing up the topic so that people can be warned against using such services.

I was not aware it was illegal,thin line here in LOS and you all know that,but thank you all.by the way I always keep myself"bomb proof"

Personally, I consider myself very liberal as far as people who actually follow the (largely) reasonable rules of Thai immigration. These illegal scams I would love to see totally gone. Thanks to the OP for bringing up the topic so that people can be warned against using such services.

I was not aware it was illegal,thin line here in LOS and you all know that,but thank you all.by the way I always keep myself"bomb proof"

To be clear, I didn't intend to diss you for asking the question. In some areas, these dodgy services are widely advertised. I'm sure not everyone who gets involved with them fully realizes the implications of dealing with them. The thinking might be, here they are, they've got storefronts, they advertise openly, if they were illegal (or risky to use) the police would have closed them down yesterday, etc. ...

A Lawyer practice in Phuket actually advertises this service in a popular newspaper for those folk that don't have the 800k!!

How does that work??

A Lawyer practice in Phuket actually advertises this service in a popular newspaper for those folk that don't have the 800k!!

How does that work??

There is no corruption in Thailand.

Next ...

Just diss requirements altogether and charge a reasonable fee for a year visa

I think the Op should give it a try for a while and when it goes belly up he could let us know how it went. Thailand is way to easy to stay in if you meet the requirements of visa rules and that is the kicker meet the rules.

A Lawyer practice in Phuket actually advertises this service in a popular newspaper for those folk that don't have the 800k!!

How does that work??

There is no corruption in Thailand.

Next ...

Corruption everywhere many places much much worse than here,and I'm talking about Europe!

I think the Op should give it a try for a while and when it goes belly up he could let us know how it went. Thailand is way to easy to stay in if you meet the requirements of visa rules and that is the kicker meet the rules.

I'll be glad to,I'm going today,12000 for 15 months.

A simple fee of 15.000 baht/year regardless of anything would end corruption right there

A Lawyer practice in Phuket actually advertises this service in a popular newspaper for those folk that don't have the 800k!!

How does that work??

There is no corruption in Thailand.

Next ...

Corruption everywhere many places much much worse than here,and I'm talking about Europe!

Just look at the corruption around the seating arrangements at the London Olympics.

you just have to look in the classified section of this forum.

You will find many "contacts" advertising all kind of thai visa services.

IMHO, it's all part of the system.

Several flames removed.

you just have to look in the classified section of this forum.

You will find many "contacts" advertising all kind of thai visa services.

IMHO, it's all part of the system.

Yes all kinds of visa services are available and of course many of them are perfectly legal.

For example some LEGAL services:

Taking people on visa runs

Assisting people with paperwork, filing out forms, dealing with immigration to file legit applications needed by some people for convenience or lots of reasons such as not speaking English

What I was addressing here are the ones that happen to be totally ILLEGAL.

Examples:

Taking your passport out of the country without you when you are supposed to be with the passport.

"Fixing" things for retirement extensions so that you can get an annual extension and not actually have the legally necessary financial requirements to qualify.

Thai prison is also part of the so called system. Cheers.

Borrowing 800,000 Baht from someone, putting it in your bank account, applying for an extension based on retirement, and then withdrawing the whole amount the day after getting the extension is not illegal.

However, if an agent/company can do this in less than 60 days (first application) or 90 days (subsequent applications) then they are at best bending the rules and at worst acting illegally.

So, having determined that the company you are dealing with is is at least dodgy and possibly doing things illegally, what confidence can you have that the stamp provided in your passport is actually real ??

Just saying.

Borrowing 800,000 Baht from someone, putting it in your bank account, applying for an extension based on retirement, and then withdrawing the whole amount the day after getting the extension is not illegal.

However, if an agent/company can do this in less than 60 days (first application) or 90 days (subsequent applications) then they are at best bending the rules and at worst acting illegally.

So, having determined that the company you are dealing with is is at least dodgy and possibly doing things illegally, what confidence can you have that the stamp provided in your passport is actually real ??

Just saying.

That makes sense to me. Borrowing money is not illegal and there is nothing in the written rules prohibiting it. Of course the money seasoning rules were added to discourage that. So in that context borrowing money and still properly seasoning the funds would be legal. As far as fake or real stamps, I think generally people are getting real stamps who are playing the pay to fix it game. However that doesn't mean they aren't still culpable for the way in which they obtained those stamps.

Agree that seasoning rules were introduced to stop the 'overnight' borrowing (sometimes offered by immigration officers themselves) and, yes, the stamps are probably real.

A few years back when some people were giving their passports to agents for entry stamps they also thought their stamps were real, some, especially with Phuket stamps, if I remember correctly, found out later that they were bogus.

Edit to add.. Expect at least one or more of these agents/assisting companies will get extra greedy sometime and go for the bogus stamp route, reasoning 'why should they share the income'. Maybe a cynical view or I've been here too long.

Agree that seasoning rules were introduced to stop the 'overnight' borrowing (sometimes offered by immigration officers themselves) and, yes, the stamps are probably real.

A few years back when some people were giving their passports to agents for entry stamps they also thought their stamps were real, some, especially with Phuket stamps, if I remember correctly, found out later that they were bogus.

Edit to add.. Expect at least one or more of these agents/assisting companies will get extra greedy sometime and go for the bogus stamp route, reasoning 'why should they share the income'. Maybe a cynical view or I've been here too long.

Yes you are correct about the fake stamps with border crossings that have happened in the past. I'm not aware of recent cases. I am aware of places openly advertising to "fix" retirement extensions. Use your imagination on that one.

Borrowing 800,000 Baht from someone, putting it in your bank account, applying for an extension based on retirement, and then withdrawing the whole amount the day after getting the extension is not illegal.

However, if an agent/company can do this in less than 60 days (first application) or 90 days (subsequent applications) then they are at best bending the rules and at worst acting illegally.

So, having determined that the company you are dealing with is is at least dodgy and possibly doing things illegally, what confidence can you have that the stamp provided in your passport is actually real ??

Just saying.

That makes sense to me. Borrowing money is not illegal and there is nothing in the written rules prohibiting it. Of course the money seasoning rules were added to discourage that. So in that context borrowing money and still properly seasoning the funds would be legal. As far as fake or real stamps, I think generally people are getting real stamps who are playing the pay to fix it game. However that doesn't mean they aren't still culpable for the way in which they obtained those stamps.

who is going to lend money for that time, it would mean paying interest and borrowing money and getting interest is also illegal as in being a money lender.

Borrowing 800,000 Baht from someone, putting it in your bank account, applying for an extension based on retirement, and then withdrawing the whole amount the day after getting the extension is not illegal.

However, if an agent/company can do this in less than 60 days (first application) or 90 days (subsequent applications) then they are at best bending the rules and at worst acting illegally.

So, having determined that the company you are dealing with is is at least dodgy and possibly doing things illegally, what confidence can you have that the stamp provided in your passport is actually real ??

Just saying.

That makes sense to me. Borrowing money is not illegal and there is nothing in the written rules prohibiting it. Of course the money seasoning rules were added to discourage that. So in that context borrowing money and still properly seasoning the funds would be legal. As far as fake or real stamps, I think generally people are getting real stamps who are playing the pay to fix it game. However that doesn't mean they aren't still culpable for the way in which they obtained those stamps.

who is going to lend money for that time, it would mean paying interest and borrowing money and getting interest is also illegal as in being a money lender.

OK, if you say so. In any case, getting an extension without really meeting the rules is dodgy.