27'000 baht for 1 year married person visa?

[manly100]

Had Joy the Patong lawyer get 1 of her staff to do my 1 year married person visa. I gave her my bank statements and passport and photos. The visa was granted. The lawyer (staffers) has asked for 27'000 baht for her costs and her efforts. I asked her how many hours she spent working on my visa and she said she went from patong to immigration office about 4 times and that amounted to about 12 hours work. I asked her how much money did she pay the government and she said 17'000 baht. So I asked her did she think it reasonable to charge 10'000 baht for 12 hours work. She said her work was very hard.

Can someone tell me if this is fair and how much would it cost if I did it myself.

[stevenl]

See here for costs.

You agreed to a price (at least I presume you did), challenging afterwards is IMO a no-no.

[LivinginKata]

Are you talking about the one year extension ? Fee is 1,900 baht. I always go to the immigration office myself. I only takes 2 trip, first to make the application, second to get the extension stamp. I would never think of using a lawyer or accountant office. Most charge rediculous high fees.

[terak]

depends whether it was a legal application or not !!

[falkan]

well you choose this service and you need to pay for it, why not do it yourself next time? its easy if you can read english..

[terak]

well you choose this service and you need to pay for it, why not do it yourself next time? its easy if you can read english..

Marriage extension easy !!! Not the easiest in a lot of cases

[LivinginKata]

well you choose this service and you need to pay for it, why not do it yourself next time? its easy if you can read english..

Marriage extension easy !!! Not the easiest in a lot of cases

Sure is easy if you have all the correct paperwork.

I have to wonder what type of visa or extension the OP is talking about. If applying for the married to Thai extension the husband and wife must go to Immigration and make/sign a statement.

Waiting for the OP to answer before I make further comment.

[terak]

well you choose this service and you need to pay for it, why not do it yourself next time? its easy if you can read english..

Marriage extension easy !!! Not the easiest in a lot of cases

Sure is easy if you have all the correct paperwork.

I have to wonder what type of visa or extension the OP is talking about. If applying for the married to Thai extension the husband and wife must go to Immigration and make/sign a statement.

Waiting for the OP to answer before I make further comment.

You said it - if you have all the correct paperwork !! - how many times a year does that change in Phuket Immigration and is it the same requirements or paperwork at all the Immigration Offices ???

NO !!!

I would rather make a retirement extension rather than marriage anytime

[terak]

How much would a western lawyer charge for 12 hours work ??

[Jimi007]

well you choose this service and you need to pay for it, why not do it yourself next time? its easy if you can read english..

Marriage extension easy !!! Not the easiest in a lot of cases

Sure is easy if you have all the correct paperwork.

I have to wonder what type of visa or extension the OP is talking about. If applying for the married to Thai extension the husband and wife must go to Immigration and make/sign a statement.

Waiting for the OP to answer before I make further comment.

I have to agree! Unless he is talking about converting from one type of a visa to another, which I have never done. But still ฿27,000 is pretty steep! Visa extensions here are easy. Any Thai visa is relatively easy! Making a K-1 visa to the USA for my Thai wife certainly wasn't, but I managed to get her one without an attorney...

[manly100]

Well it's me and my thai wife. It's just a 1 year extension I have them do it every year. They say they pay immigration 19'000 baht for 1 year extension, 4000 baht for re-entry fee (though I haven't left the island) and 800 baht for 3 month report, the rest they keep.

[Lite Beer]

No layers needed. Pretty straight forward to do it yourself.

1,900 Baht fee to Immigration.

Re Entry permits cost 1,000 baht for a single and 3,800 Baht for a Multiple. (No need to have one if you do not need it)

90 day address reports are free of charge.

You need to check if you actually have a legal extension.

[manly100]

well you choose this service and you need to pay for it, why not do it yourself next time? its easy if you can read english..

Marriage extension easy !!! Not the easiest in a lot of cases

Sure is easy if you have all the correct paperwork.

I have to wonder what type of visa or extension the OP is talking about. If applying for the married to Thai extension the husband and wife must go to Immigration and make/sign a statement.

Waiting for the OP to answer before I make further comment.

yes its a married to a thai extension.

[manly100]

No layers needed. Pretty straight forward to do it yourself.

1,900 Baht fee to Immigration.

Re Entry permits cost 1,000 baht for a single and 3,800 Baht for a Multiple. (No need to have one if you do not need it)

90 day address reports are free of charge.

You need to check if you actually have a legal extension.

Does this mean I have leave the kingdom and re-enter ever year?

[krisb]

Its ok, your falang and falang have much money.

[Hedghog]

Another mug.

Got mugged.

No great surprise.

Plenty of info re -visas on this site.

Open your eyes.

Sent from my GT-P7500 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Nowhereman60]

I just can not understand how people come here and know about their visa, at least spend some time researching. You agreed to pay the 27,000, and now you complain. I learned a lot here just be reading this forum dealing with visas including my own.

[manly100]

Yep, it seems for me to get a thai married visa I may need a work permit. (which I don't have) I'm told if I go myself, immigration will want me to explain where my money comes from and show proof of tax paid my country. 1 reason I live here is so I don't have to pay tax. (except for VAT) In any case my lawyer says she pays a fee of 19'000 baht in corruption money and she openly states that. She said if I do it my self it will cost about 3'000 to 7'000 depending on a re-entry permit tagged on. But they may not grant me a visa as I have no work permit and no proven source of income. So it seems I'm stuck with the 27'000 baht fee. No great hardship and a lot better than flying in and out of the kingdom every 3 months. (which is what I used to do to get a visa and does cost much more than 27'000 baht) I hope the less fortunate don't get stuck with corruption like me. Next year I may have a go at doing it myself if someone reputable here thinks I can.

[stevenl]

Have you considered getting a visa extension based on retirement in stead of being married?

BTW, you're talking about a visa when you mean extension, don't confuse the 2.

[ivowatson]

If you would have done it yourself -pretty straightforward, just making copies of documents you own- it would have cost about 2250 thb:

1900 fee, 100 bank statement, 50 pics, 200 gas.

If you didn't pay already, don't, even if you agreed.

This is daytime robbery and you should report (or threaten to report) them to the police or DSI.

Show some balls!

[Jimi007]

Here is a thread that explains it: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/642693-getting-ready-for-the-1-year-extension-based-on-marriage/

[Morakot]

Daylight robbery?

[glassdude007]

I just can not understand how people come here and know about their visa, at least spend some time researching. You agreed to pay the 27,000, and now you complain. I learned a lot here just be reading this forum dealing with visas including my own.

He just asked for a break down of the charges that the lawyer charged him,

He was not complaining at all just asking if any of us have used a service like this before,

It was not until he found out that he got overcharged that he started to gripe a bit.

Cut the guy some slack he was just asking for some visa advice not complaining?

Geeez

[LivinginKata]

Yep, it seems for me to get a thai married visa I may need a work permit. (which I don't have) I'm told if I go myself, immigration will want me to explain where my money comes from and show proof of tax paid my country. 1 reason I live here is so I don't have to pay tax. (except for VAT) In any case my lawyer says she pays a fee of 19'000 baht in corruption money and she openly states that. She said if I do it my self it will cost about 3'000 to 7'000 depending on a re-entry permit tagged on. But they may not grant me a visa as I have no work permit and no proven source of income. So it seems I'm stuck with the 27'000 baht fee. No great hardship and a lot better than flying in and out of the kingdom every 3 months. (which is what I used to do to get a visa and does cost much more than 27'000 baht) I hope the less fortunate don't get stuck with corruption like me. Next year I may have a go at doing it myself if someone reputable here thinks I can.

First thing - you do not need a Work Permit for a married man's extension.

But you do need to show 400,000 baht in the bank (seasoned for 3 months) or proof of income of something like 40,000 baht/month.

Seems like you have no proof of income and it looks like you are paying the big bucks to 'show' the money in the bank. So 27,000 baht is not so high. That's about the rate for that sort of 'service'.

If you do-it-yourself then it will cost you 1,900 baht for the extension, 1,000 baht for each re-entry permit (assuming you plan to travel out of Thailand) and nothing for the 90 day notification. BUT you do need 400,000 baht in a Thai bank if you cannot prove any income.

[LivinginKata]

No layers needed. Pretty straight forward to do it yourself.

1,900 Baht fee to Immigration.

Re Entry permits cost 1,000 baht for a single and 3,800 Baht for a Multiple. (No need to have one if you do not need it)

90 day address reports are free of charge.

You need to check if you actually have a legal extension.

Does this mean I have leave the kingdom and re-enter ever year?

No ...

[nedkellylives]

How much would a western lawyer charge for 12 hours work ??

I do not know the price here but a law firm i am using iAustralia charges $400 a hour

[LivinginKata]

2 defamatory posts removed.

[manly100]

Yep, it seems for me to get a thai married visa I may need a work permit. (which I don't have) I'm told if I go myself, immigration will want me to explain where my money comes from and show proof of tax paid my country. 1 reason I live here is so I don't have to pay tax. (except for VAT) In any case my lawyer says she pays a fee of 19'000 baht in corruption money and she openly states that. She said if I do it my self it will cost about 3'000 to 7'000 depending on a re-entry permit tagged on. But they may not grant me a visa as I have no work permit and no proven source of income. So it seems I'm stuck with the 27'000 baht fee. No great hardship and a lot better than flying in and out of the kingdom every 3 months. (which is what I used to do to get a visa and does cost much more than 27'000 baht) I hope the less fortunate don't get stuck with corruption like me. Next year I may have a go at doing it myself if someone reputable here thinks I can.

First thing - you do not need a Work Permit for a married man's extension.

But you do need to show 400,000 baht in the bank (seasoned for 3 months) or proof of income of something like 40,000 baht/month.

Seems like you have no proof of income and it looks like you are paying the big bucks to 'show' the money in the bank. So 27,000 baht is not so high. That's about the rate for that sort of 'service'.

If you do-it-yourself then it will cost you 1,900 baht for the extension, 1,000 baht for each re-entry permit (assuming you plan to travel out of Thailand) and nothing for the 90 day notification. BUT you do need 400,000 baht in a Thai bank if you cannot prove any income.

well i keep around 500'000 baht in my account because i was told to by my lawyer a number of years back. Seems like I should have no problems doing it myself so I will try next year and if they don't give me the run-around to much I'll get it done. buy the kids some extra toys instead.

[patongphil]

Why all this talk about lawyers?

Pretty basic info available in heaps of places re visas, work permits, extensions of stay etc etc.

Even your local drunk could have probably saved you a few pennies.

[poanoi]

FYI immigration officers can also be corrupt.

I fulfilled every requirement but the officer kept demanding additional *proof*

such as a copy of my debit VISA card etc, until time expired and i had to get out of the country