Houston! We Dont Have A Problem

[sidzz]

for all you readers out there... Dont believe everything you hear on this forum.

after all the panic about Houston Non-imm B visas, my friend was advised by Dr. Pat Pong to go to Immigration in Bangkok and admit to using a visa agent as he may well be arrested at Don Muang Airport trying to leave....

He didnt do this... instead he extended the visa at immigration without any hastle and also had no trouble leaving the country at Don Muang.

Wonder what would have happened following the advice given on this site...

Just something to think about

Sidzz

[huski]

after all the panic about Houston Non-imm B visas, my friend was advised by Dr. Pat Pong to go to Immigration in Bangkok and admit to using a visa agent as he may well be arrested at Don Muang Airport trying to leave....

true, he could have been arrested at the airport with a fake visa or stamp.

for all you readers out there... Dont believe everything you hear on this forum.

your right, so let's start with an honest answer from you.

i didn't see the orginal thread so i ask you, was the visa obtained by your friend in houston, or was it sent to houston from within the United States? if no, then it was obtained illegally and may contain bogus or missing entry/exit stamps.

He didnt do this... instead he extended the visa at immigration without any hastle and also had no trouble leaving the country at Don Muang.

Report fake border stamps, expats told

why are you coming down on doctor pat pong for quoting something that is true?

He didnt do this... instead he extended the visa at immigration without any hastle and also had no trouble leaving the country at Don Muang.

guess what, you may think it's cool your friend got an extension from a bogus visa and most likely NOTHING WILL EVER HAPPEN TO HIM now that the computer is updated, however there are people that have been arrested at borders 2 or 3 visa runs later after getting real visa extensions from immigration. he may have slithered through, but his passport is tarnished and if he runs into the wrong officer that wants to examine his passport completely or gets a fresh list of numbers and sees just one thing wrong from a PAST VISA or stamp, date etc.., those cuffs hurt baby.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

after all the panic about Houston Non-imm B visas, my friend was advised by Dr. Pat Pong to go to Immigration in Bangkok and admit to using a visa agent as he may well be arrested at Don Muang Airport trying to leave....

true, he could have been arrested at the airport with a fake visa or stamp.

for all you readers out there... Dont believe everything you hear on this forum.

your right, so let's start with an honest answer from you.

i didn't see the orginal thread so i ask you, was the visa obtained by your friend in houston, or was it sent to houston from within the United States? if no, then it was obtained illegally and may contain bogus or missing entry/exit stamps.

He didnt do this... instead he extended the visa at immigration without any hastle and also had no trouble leaving the country at Don Muang.

Report fake border stamps, expats told

why are you coming down on doctor pat pong for quoting something that is true?

He didnt do this... instead he extended the visa at immigration without any hastle and also had no trouble leaving the country at Don Muang.

guess what, you may think it's cool your friend got an extension from a bogus visa and most likely NOTHING WILL EVER HAPPEN TO HIM now that the computer is updated, however there are people that have been arrested at borders 2 or 3 visa runs later after getting real visa extensions from immigration. he may have slithered through, but his passport is tarnished and if he runs into the wrong officer that wants to examine his passport completely or gets a fresh list of numbers and sees just one thing wrong from a PAST VISA or stamp, date etc.., those cuffs hurt baby.

It was a mail order visa through a visa agent in Thailand Huski. The punter has been lucky.

[sidzz]

One might say a Lot luckier than if he had taken your advice!

[huski]

One might say a Lot luckier than if he had taken your advice! 

sidzz, you really don't understand visas so i want you to read this very very slowly, there are two types of obtaining visas,

legally and illegally.

your friend has an illegal visa in his passport, it will always be in THAT passport. yes, your friend had an extension and then exited the country. very lucky. now that he has left, the visa and his extension are stamped/considered expired.

read this very slowly...thai immigration does not care about if your friend's PAST visa or entry/exit stamps are current, just if they were legally obtained, which they were not.

MOST LIKELY NOTHING WILL EVER HAPPEN TO HIM, however there will ALWAYS BE A CHANCE he could be arrested and thrown in jail if that illegally obtained visa or the entry/exit stamps involved achieving it were ever discovered. this may happen months or even longer if he re enters or exits thailand again and runs into just ONE nit picking anal immigration officer that takes a microscope to his passport .

[dr_Pat_Pong]

One might say a Lot luckier than if he had taken your advice!

We'll see won't we. My way wouldn't have got him banged up...your way might. Please do not reply.

[mrmnp]

Newcomers to this forum may very well feel that advice from the gurus of the administration are wrong in their advice, due largely to their own ignorace as to immigraton proceedures. Rarely due I see only one guru answering a question, and when they seem to me to be in conflict, my nature causes me to read further to determine why the conflict, my understanding of their words or is their truly a conflict.

Every Thai consulate in the world and every Thai immigration official is different in thier interpretation of the regulations, and thus there are many varied results. The gurus give the legal or regulation way to do something, thereby minimizing the risk of jail or reasons for the official to collect "coffee money"

Example: Being very anal retentive and comming from a lifetime in a profession that prides itself on interpreting regulation, I was supremely confident that my obtaining my retirment visa and long stay permit extentions (I used to say visa extentiions until this forum taught me otherwise) was flawless and so trumpeted my knowledge in this forum. I found the process I went through to get my O-A visa changed to non-immigrant (retirement) in Thailand without having to go out of the country (as so many long term 90 day visa run farang advised wasn't possible) could help many others in the forum.

Roger quickly advised me that I was even refering to my proudly won visa by the wrong designation. Having callled by visa by that name for a year, and my Thai companians use of the same name, generated an immediate "your wrong" response in my mind.

Fortunately, I was able to read my passport at hand, and lo and behold, while there were many, many stamps, both large and small, designating my visa's as non-immigrant, there was only one that had writing just above the right corner indicating the first non-immigrant visa issue was "non-o" not O-A. I thanked Rodger for his adivce in my reply post, needless to say and I was thankful that I didn't knee-jerk respond to Rodger that he was so wrong.

When the Thai General Counsel office in Sydney were impossible when I tried to get a non-o there, they did advise that all General Counselates interpret the regulations differently and they are not even the immigration department, which is staffed by POLICE.

The proof of the pudding in the "pissing match" in this thread would be to conduct a poll of experienced expats in Thailand asking them how many would be willing to go through the same visa proceedure dr pat advised against. The answer would be a resounding NONE.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Thanks mate....what you say is true.... every official seems to place their own perspective on things so outcomes vary from place to place and officer to officer.Thus it is difficult to give advice that can be relied on anywhere. Then we get newbies giving their ideas. Said ideas being boozily generated at places of entertainment in the evenings

[mrmnp]

dr pat, your last phrase was enlightening. I failed to realize that there is internet access in drinking establishments. I am going to be more foregiving of some posters in the future , who in the past I have relegated to the low class, ignoramus bin. Thank you.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

dr pat, your last phrase was enlightening. I failed to realize that there is internet access in drinking establishments. I am going to be more foregiving of some posters in the future , who in the past I have relegated to the low class, ignoramus bin. Thank you.

Those of us that enjoy a mild shandy on a hot day can always find a shandy establishment with stock on hand