BangkokRobert Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 Hello all! Any info on ProLanguage Silom branch? Here's what ProLanguage desk staff told me today at the Sukhumvit branch: - students at Silom were caught working - immigration visited Silom branch - Silom branch is now closed - to speed up paperwork at the Ministry of Education, ProLanguage Sukhumvit sometimes submitted students as Silom branch students - ProLanguage is scrambling to help Silom students interstate with Sukhumvit These events might explain part of why I received only 30 days last month - I always wondered why my paperwork said Silom... Also: - Khun Na no longer helps ProLanguage students at CW. New team at CW is Ms Oil and Mr Angel. - new helpers can get students 70 days for a ฿2,000 processing fee. Sorry if this info was already shared with the group. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangkokRobert Posted March 13, 2015 Author Share Posted March 13, 2015 And....I paid the ฿2,000 and got.....April 18, 2015. wth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visarunner Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 I think both branches are blacklisted by Thai Immigration. I feel sorry for the real students 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbi1 Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 "- Khun Na no longer helps ProLanguage students at CW. New team at CW is Ms Oil and Mr Angel." Who are these "helpers"? Why is a "helper" even necessary? Is this some immigration officer who gets paid a bribe? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangkokRobert Posted March 14, 2015 Author Share Posted March 14, 2015 These are, as far as I can tell, independent people that work as middlemen between schools/students and the immigration officers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbi1 Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 These are, as far as I can tell, independent people that work as middlemen between schools/students and the immigration officers. How do they actually help? Surely the students can help themselves without using middlemen. Or do these middlemen have some special connections? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbi1 Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 And....I paid the ฿2,000 and got.....April 18, 2015. wth You paid ฿2,000 to the middleman in addition to the standard 1,900 fee for the extension of stay? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangkokRobert Posted March 14, 2015 Author Share Posted March 14, 2015 That is correct. I was told about ProLanguage's decision, when I first applied, to register me as a Silom branch student although I wasn't as a way to speed up paperwork with the Min of Ed. This was a win win for them until this year. They said paying the middle man would ensure me at least 70 days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitsune Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 (edited) Well well well Thank you for reporting that First I want to point out that the Prolanguage students being caught working was not just a rumor. Secondly: yes, obviously when immigration start targeting a school by harassing the student or extortioning them, the school eventually goes down and closes down. And that's exactly what immigration wants. Now where are the people who said immigration were targeting absenteeism? There are sill people using schools as visa mills but none of these actions target them. They work, they can pay extra for extension or go back on a tourist visa when the ED visa will be dead, and the real students will be left without schools. But immigration does not care about this. They take the opportunity of catching students working to penalize the whole school and the vast majority of the other students who go to school and don't work. Can we now stop blaming the students and openly say immigration is just lowering numbers of ED visas holders, regardless of your adherence or abuse of the system? These students were accepted as such, they were told they can study 'one year" in Thailand,they pay good money, they go to Laos to get the visa and at the first extension they get treated like criminals and everything is done so they abandon their visa. Edited March 14, 2015 by Kitsune 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soutpeel Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 Is this some immigration officer who gets paid a bribe?[/font][/color] no it can be someone who is ex-immigration who understands and helps with the process/compliance and has contacts and acts an an agent for an entity/ company the company I work for has such a person who deals with all the extensions/WP applications and renewals bribery is not involved 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbi1 Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 (edited) That is correct. I was told about ProLanguage's decision, when I first applied, to register me as a Silom branch student although I wasn't as a way to speed up paperwork with the Min of Ed. This was a win win for them until this year. They said paying the middle man would ensure me at least 70 days. So they said that you would get 70 days but in fact based on your 2nd post you only got just over a month? Edited March 14, 2015 by bbi1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbi1 Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 Is this some immigration officer who gets paid a bribe?[/font][/color] no it can be someone who is ex-immigration who understands and helps with the process/compliance and has contacts and acts an an agent for an entity/ company the company I work for has such a person who deals with all the extensions/WP applications and renewals bribery is not involved What help with the process/compliance & having contacts helps the students with an ED extension? My school gave me all the required paperwork & all I needed to do was wait for my turn for half a day to see the immigration officer, hand over the paperwork, then read & write some Thai. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangkokRobert Posted March 14, 2015 Author Share Posted March 14, 2015 My personal observation of Khun Na, before her parting with ProLanguage, is just as a helper. She meets students there, makes sure they get photos and photocopies downstairs, and she has a handful of queue numbers in her bag that an officer saved for her. Once I had just one page left in my passport and got denied a stamp. I told Khun Na, she made faces then said, "ok, give me 500 baht and I'll get this approved." I said ok and walked out, got a cab, and went straight to the U.S. Embassy where I got new pages added. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soutpeel Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 Is this some immigration officer who gets paid a bribe?[/font][/color] no it can be someone who is ex-immigration who understands and helps with the process/compliance and has contacts and acts an an agent for an entity/ company the company I work for has such a person who deals with all the extensions/WP applications and renewals bribery is not involved What help with the process/compliance & having contacts helps the students with an ED extension? My school gave me all the required paperwork & all I needed to do was wait for my turn for half a day to see the immigration officer, hand over the paperwork, then read & write some Thai. I have never been on a Ed visa, so no idea, but just correcting your first remark involving your suggestions of bribery, as your inferring these "agents" are paying people off which may not be true, in may be true in some cases, but don't automatically suggest this is what happens in all cases, its not 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbi1 Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 My personal observation of Khun Na, before her parting with ProLanguage, is just as a helper. She meets students there, makes sure they get photos and photocopies downstairs, and she has a handful of queue numbers in her bag that an officer saved for her. Once I had just one page left in my passport and got denied a stamp. I told Khun Na, she made faces then said, "ok, give me 500 baht and I'll get this approved." I said ok and walked out, got a cab, and went straight to the U.S. Embassy where I got new pages added. If the above comment doesn't suggest a bribery, then I don't know what does. "500 baht & I'll get this approved". And why do these "agents" have a bunch of queue numbers they get & hold onto, rather than whichever student arrive at the counter number to get a queue number get one on a 1st come 1st served basis? No wonder it takes half a day or longer to get to see an immigration officer, because these agents were the 1st ones to grab a handful of these best ones for their students who pay these agents 2,000 baht. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soutpeel Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 My personal observation of Khun Na, before her parting with ProLanguage, is just as a helper. She meets students there, makes sure they get photos and photocopies downstairs, and she has a handful of queue numbers in her bag that an officer saved for her. Once I had just one page left in my passport and got denied a stamp. I told Khun Na, she made faces then said, "ok, give me 500 baht and I'll get this approved." I said ok and walked out, got a cab, and went straight to the U.S. Embassy where I got new pages added. If the above comment doesn't suggest a bribery, then I don't know what does. "500 baht & I'll get this approved". And why do these "agents" have a bunch of queue numbers they get & hold onto, rather than whichever student arrive at the counter number to get a queue number get one on a 1st come 1st served basis? No wonder it takes half a day or longer to get to see an immigration officer, because these agents were the 1st ones to grab a handful of these best ones for their students who pay these agents 2,000 baht. The few times I have had to go with the agent to immigration over last 14 years, he has never had a ticket, I have walked in with the agent, into an office, sat down, immigration officer comes in, done an dusted 15 minutes in and out, stamped for another year, and no bribes paid for certain. funny thing is there are people whining about bribery around these Ed visa,s and large number's of "so-called students" are abusing their visa's to live and work long term in Thailand and they have the cheek to complain about immigration.. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post bigt116 Posted March 14, 2015 Popular Post Share Posted March 14, 2015 Why do Immigration not just set financial requirements for an Ed visa, the same as they do for marriage and retirement ? Say for instance, proof of income from outside Thailand of 30k a month or a seasoned 350k ? That would stop the illegal workers in their tracks, that would stop the people who step off the plane with a backpack and a dream. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puukao Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 Why do Immigration not just set financial requirements for an Ed visa, the same as they do for marriage and retirement ? Say for instance, proof of income from outside Thailand of 30k a month or a seasoned 350k ? That would stop the illegal workers in their tracks, that would stop the people who step off the plane with a backpack and a dream. I am studying to become monk. I think the opposite is true!! Let the backpackers dream and experience Thailland!!! Forget all this visa stuff, and financial requirements that burden our poor!!! If they want to learn Thai, let us help them reach nirvana!!! Note: I live in a gated community in NYC. I do FBI background checks on my waiters and cooks. I inherited all my money and just put on 200 lbs, but who cares...I have the money!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoFarAndNear Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 Why do Immigration not just set financial requirements for an Ed visa, the same as they do for marriage and retirement ? Say for instance, proof of income from outside Thailand of 30k a month or a seasoned 350k ? That would stop the illegal workers in their tracks, that would stop the people who step off the plane with a backpack and a dream. Ok who earns 30k without work or has 350k thb to study a few months in thailand? I guess then you can sort out 70% of all serious thai language students... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbi1 Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 Why do Immigration not just set financial requirements for an Ed visa, the same as they do for marriage and retirement ? Say for instance, proof of income from outside Thailand of 30k a month or a seasoned 350k ? That would stop the illegal workers in their tracks, that would stop the people who step off the plane with a backpack and a dream. Show 350k from an overseas bank account, no dealing with any of the current rubbish happening with ED visa extensions & getting rid of people who illegally work on an ED visa. My yearly rent that I pay is nearly that amount. I'm up for that, sounds good to me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gezginrocker Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 That is correct. I was told about ProLanguage's decision, when I first applied, to register me as a Silom branch student although I wasn't as a way to speed up paperwork with the Min of Ed. This was a win win for them until this year. They said paying the middle man would ensure me at least 70 days. I got my 70 day extension 2 weeks ago and paid the usual 1900 baht. I didn't pay a single baht to the middleman. Mr. Angel was there, and he handled everything. I'm from Sukhumvit branch btw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Kitsune Posted March 18, 2015 Popular Post Share Posted March 18, 2015 (edited) Why do Immigration not just set financial requirements for an Ed visa, the same as they do for marriage and retirement ? Say for instance, proof of income from outside Thailand of 30k a month or a seasoned 350k ? That would stop the illegal workers in their tracks, that would stop the people who step off the plane with a backpack and a dream. People with a backpack and a dream were those who made this place so enviable for you. Have the decency to recognize it. Edited March 18, 2015 by Kitsune 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gezginrocker Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 I have a question. As I told before, I got 70 days for my first extension. So how many days I will get for my 2nd one? 20 days? Does it have to be completed to 3 months in total? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timwin Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 Why do Immigration not just set financial requirements for an Ed visa, the same as they do for marriage and retirement ? Say for instance, proof of income from outside Thailand of 30k a month or a seasoned 350k ? That would stop the illegal workers in their tracks, that would stop the people who step off the plane with a backpack and a dream. Why don't immigration put the retirement visa age to 65 years! 50 years old with "retirement" is a cowardly quitter. He has not done his part in job markets fully back in homeland and should be deported! How about that? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangkokRobert Posted March 24, 2015 Author Share Posted March 24, 2015 I got my 70 day extension 2 weeks ago and paid the usual 1900 baht. I didn't pay a single baht to the middleman. Mr. Angel was there, and he handled everything. I'm from Sukhumvit branch btw. Correct. Mr Angel is there to help you, at no cost, but has fees for added services such as my previous examples. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitsune Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 I got my 70 day extension 2 weeks ago and paid the usual 1900 baht. I didn't pay a single baht to the middleman. Mr. Angel was there, and he handled everything. I'm from Sukhumvit branch btw. Correct. Mr Angel is there to help you, at no cost, but has fees for added services such as my previous examples. Yeah Let's all pretend 70 days is normal, that we are not getting ripped off and that we never got 90 days for 1.900. Better yet if we have 70 days now we should feel lucky. I got 90 DAYS for 1.900 baht Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigt116 Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 Why do Immigration not just set financial requirements for an Ed visa, the same as they do for marriage and retirement ? Say for instance, proof of income from outside Thailand of 30k a month or a seasoned 350k ? That would stop the illegal workers in their tracks, that would stop the people who step off the plane with a backpack and a dream. People with a backpack and a dream were those who made this place so enviable for you. Have the decency to recognize it. They had absolutely nothing to do with my decision to move here !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitsune Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 Why do Immigration not just set financial requirements for an Ed visa, the same as they do for marriage and retirement ? Say for instance, proof of income from outside Thailand of 30k a month or a seasoned 350k ? That would stop the illegal workers in their tracks, that would stop the people who step off the plane with a backpack and a dream. People with a backpack and a dream were those who made this place so enviable for you. Have the decency to recognize it. They had absolutely nothing to do with my decision to move here !! what made you move here then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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