Good morning. i have been living in Thailand for 8 years now on a retirement visa and every year i renew it there is never/not a problem with Phuket Immigration as long as you have

all the correct forms completed and the required documents i.e. marriage certificate, letter from bank, copy of bank statements for last 3 months evidencing the minimum funds

requirement have been met, photos etc....

2 of my friends use lawyers to renew their Retirement Visas as i think they are just lazy to do themselves... but their costs including the standard fees of about thb5500 for Retirement Visa and

Multiple re-entry visa and lawyers fees is well over thb30,000 whereas i do myself and pay about thb5,500 (1,900 + 3,600)

i know the lawyers need to make money for their time and effort... but in their fee structure payable there is a special levy/charge called 'Special Government Fee' , i questioned this as for one

gentleman its thb7,000 and for the other its thb10,000 i think they are using different lawyers... but has anyone else heard of the Special Government Fee, they telling me its a new charge...

i did my visa renewal at the end of May and nothing was mentioned..

also i understand now they (Immigration) want proof of residence... i assume this means blue book and also some form of letter/mail to your residence with your name appearing to show

you live there.... i.e. letters from bank/TOT/Amex showing name and address.... or do they require a written form from lawyer or others to confirm your proof of address..

i own my own villa and have the blue book etc..

anyway i am more curious about this so called Special Government Fee....

look forward assistance/comments thank you...

The fee is 1,900 baht for extension of stay and 3,800 baht for multi re-entry permit. Other costs will be for financial proof and copies of passport and such if you do not do yourself.

Payment of 30k to a "lawyer" sounds more like not actually meeting requirements and using back door methods. Fee for hand holding should not be anywhere near that level.

Foreigners do not have blue books with name as resident. Yellow at best and normally only condo owners bother to have them. Rental agreement, mail addressed to home and such are normally accepted as proof of residence (if even asked). What has happened, at a few locations, is a push to see landlords and there documentation/bluebook to check for non-reporting of foreigners living in there abodes.

The 7,000 to 10,000 baht listed were probably special under to the table fees to get the extension done.

I suspect for 30,000 baht total they did not have the money in the bank and special arrangements were made.

HI Lopburi 13

fees yeah i got them slightly wrong..

they only using lawyers as they don't want to go there themselves, they lazy and just don't want to get involved with any Thai Politics incase they don't have all the correct

documents with them, more for convenience it seems i know this for a fact and i know their documents all in order they been living here for similar period to myself..

i agree fully re legal fees to do it - but there is a lawyers for for doing the work and processing then there is this FEE for SPECIAL GOVERNMENT .... one paying 7,000 the other 10,000

seems might just be something the lawyers add to boost their own fees...

bluebook agree its not in my name in book but i do have documents from the developer where i living saying i own the villa i think i also have a document from my lawyer

which Phuket Immigration also verified for me a few months back of my home address... but are they asking for proof of residence now when renewing visa..

Ubonjoe..

no they both extremely well off guys they have all the money requirements in bank accounts met.. they also have all the correct documents...

its either a fee they paying to Immigration to get it done faster which i don't understand as when my wife and i go to do

ours its takes maximum 45 minutes to do both visa and re-entry....

i think its the lawyers just scamming for adding fees... and claiming its a SPECIAL FEE..

The requirement is to do the process in person - so if they are not making an appearance there is something fishy going on - only those with valid medical conditions/very old are normally provided special consideration. Perhaps those fees are special consideration?

Do not believe normal layers fee for hand-holding is in the 30k range if paperwork is in order (but am sure they would not refuse extra baht) - there are many here playing the role and but without valid financials to show - but this could also be they just do not know any better and never did any shopping.

If the have the money requirements. And they have it in the bank as they should. And they also have all the correct documents.

Why would they pay 30k to a lawyer ?

their being ripped off; end of story

last year of u didn't have the $$ needed it was 24,000 which included a year extension and multi entry permit

not sure if they still do this since the new government

get it done faster which i don't understand as when my wife and i go to do

ours its takes maximum 45 minutes to do both visa and re-entry....

thats all mine took in June and it wouldn't have taken that long if they thai's didn't butt in the line

PS; u dont need marriage papers for retirement extension

The 7,000 to 10,000 baht listed were probably special under to the table fees to get the extension done.

I suspect for 30,000 baht total they did not have the money in the bank and special arrangements were made.

Personal experience.

I recently tried to make transportation reservations outside of Thailand to get a visa so I could renew my retirement extension.

Was told by someone that they could "fix" my soon to expire retirement extension with no money required in bank and no need for me to leave Thailand..

Just hand them my passport with the money and they would arrange everything.

Cost 18K Baht for everything.

Naturally I told them no. I can do it all myself at less than 1/3 of that cost..... I've done it three times before.

But such a "service" is "available" if your silly enough to pay.

And, yes, I'm well aware it isn't legal.

But the signature is supposedly "valid" and legal. That is what the "Government fee" charge is for.

Just so it is clear, I've done it the legal way before, and I intend to do it that way this time also.

My opinion is that someone in immigration is doing "favors" if he (or maybe she) is given enough.

The 7,000 to 10,000 baht listed were probably special under to the table fees to get the extension done.

I suspect for 30,000 baht total they did not have the money in the bank and special arrangements were made.

I recently tried to make transportation reservations outside of Thailand to get a visa so I could renew my retirement extension.

Why do you need to get a visa? Why can't you just go in and apply for a new extension?

Very common for a company to give a name to one of its fees which "implies" the government is levying the fee to hopefully convince the customer it's not a company fee but a govt fee--the bad ol' govt is charging the high fee---NOT!!. "It's a company fee that stays in their pocket."

Renewing your retirement extension of stay cost Bt1,900 govt application fee. If you are going the Bt800K in a Thai bank account route to prove income then there will probably be a small bank charge to issue the bank letter. Bangkok Bank charges Bt100...takes about 10 minutes to get the simple letter...just walk in, show your passport and passbook, wait a few minutes, and you'll have the letter in hand shortly....been doing it for years.

Getting a retirement extension of stay is cheap and easy...but if some folks want to give some company/lawyer tens of thousands of baht to do it, then it's there money to waste.

Ubonjoe..

no they both extremely well off guys they have all the money requirements in bank accounts met.. they also have all the correct documents...

its either a fee they paying to Immigration to get it done faster which i don't understand as when my wife and i go to do

ours its takes maximum 45 minutes to do both visa and re-entry....

i think its the lawyers just scamming for adding fees... and claiming its a SPECIAL FEE..

I would not say it's a scam. These people are the typical ones that pays up all the time and seem to be happy about.

The extensions are genuine, all is done by law, everyone is happy, well done by lawyers.

Ubonjoe..

no they both extremely well off guys they have all the money requirements in bank accounts met.. they also have all the correct documents...

its either a fee they paying to Immigration to get it done faster which i don't understand as when my wife and i go to do

ours its takes maximum 45 minutes to do both visa and re-entry....

i think its the lawyers just scamming for adding fees... and claiming its a SPECIAL FEE..

I would not say it's a scam. These people are the typical ones that pays up all the time and seem to be happy about.

The extensions are genuine, all is done by law, everyone is happy, well done by lawyers.

Good morning. i have been living in Thailand for 8 years now on a retirement visa and every year i renew it ...

Your permission to stay is extended, not your visa.

But the extensions (not visas as several people in this thread persist in calling them) need to be done in person, no?

If the "lawyer" is getting it all done without the applicant having to go to Immigrations with him, (if that is true in this case??), that means the rules are being bent and the applicant really doesn't see who it is who is stamping his passport or if his documentation is actually filed with an immigrations officer or dumped in a trash bin.

There was a recent warning about using "agents" who obtained unofficial extension stamps in passports. If the lawyer or agent goes with you to immigrations, then at least you know the stamps are put in the passport by an official.

Edited October 14, 201411 yr by Suradit69