Visa Agents - Why Should We Be Castigated For Using Them

[FolkGuitar]

Ah, thank you for bringing this up.  The Thai Elite Visa is a sanctioned, gov't approved visa option, available throughout the country.  It is not some back-door, hush-hush arrangement.  It's similar to the "special rush" options that our gov'ts charge for processing of replacement passports.   Nothing the matter with these programs or options.  They're openly offered on gov't websites.  Do you see Thai gov't websites listing the names of "approved visa agents"?  Nope.  

Makes perfect sense to me. The Thai government makes money from selling the Elite Visa. Of course they will advertise it. They do not make any money from the Visa agents, and so do NOT advertise them. If they did make money, you can be sure they would list them on every government page.

[Suradit69]

On 2/15/2017 at 7:29 PM, mesquite said:

I pay a visa service to do all the paperwork, stand in line (or allow me to cut in line) for the pictures and other necessary services at Imm., and to be there when I first show up at the meeting place, whether it is their office or at Immigration.  G4T has done all of this.

Probably contributing to the problems that non-agent users experience.

[Suradit69]

20 hours ago, FolkGuitar said:

Posting these subjects and expecting different answers makes no sense to me.

 

[mesquite]

6 minutes ago, Suradit69 said:

 

Einstein never said that.  He said stuff like this. 

[mamborobert]

and in a similar theme.,,,and apt to some TV posters :)

 

[amexpat]

4 hours ago, FolkGuitar said:

 

Makes perfect sense to me. The Thai government makes money from selling the Elite Visa. Of course they will advertise it. They do not make any money from the Visa agents, and so do NOT advertise them. If they did make money, you can be sure they would list them on every government page.

 

Nobody has claimed the money goes to the government.

[Formaleins]

I imagine most of those people castigating the folks who use agents are not having to get their renewals done in Chiang Mai!

 

Anyone who has to go there for the 12 month extension knows what an absolute shambles the entire system is. When it was at the Airport office queues had already formed for marriage and retirement visas by 1 AM, and it is no fun sitting on a plastic seat in the carpark in February.

 

Personally, I think it is a deliberate ploy by immigration to make life so difficult for us that we are glad to pay for a visa agent, who no doubt provides them with a little or not so little tea money.

[Dante99]

1 hour ago, Formaleins said:

 

Personally, I think it is a deliberate ploy by immigration to make life so difficult for us that we are glad to pay for a visa agent, who no doubt provides them with a little or not so little tea money.

Alternatively, perhaps they would just like a lot fewer farangs in CM and trying to encourage more to go elsewhere.

 

Actually, not a bad idea.

[al007]

I am lucky, my immigration office is KhonKaen, they are a nice friendly lot

 

I do not use an agent, but if I found one that was reasonable, I would be happy to pay, and why not if that is how I choose to spend my money

[NoshowJones]

On 2/15/2017 at 7:08 PM, MadMac said:

Don't blame Nancy, it's corrupt Kindergarten in Chiang Mai. I f you want tot support corruption, use an agent. Simple,

If corruption can be used to your advantage then so be it. The country is full of corruption, particularly at the top, and I am not going to be a hypocrite and start moaning about it, a lot of it is to our advantage, besides, what's for the goose is for the gander.

[jippytum]

Cut to the diamond point .Most people have to use agents because the don't have the funds  to do it themselves

[mamborobert]

24 minutes ago, jippytum said:

Cut to the diamond point .Most people have to use agents because the don't have the funds  to do it themselves

Que

 

This is the CM forum...not Pattaya.

 

Whilst that has been a long standing issue in Pats I don't think anyone is suggesting that any agents in CM, or in particular G4S, are doing a scam on the financials by ponying up the required balance.

 

Perhaps CM has a better class of agents and expats than Pattaya after all....what a suprise

Edited February 18, 2017 by mamborobert

[1FinickyOne]

21 hours ago, NancyL said:

Oh come on -- many times, ThaiVisa is like visiting your elderly relatives on a Sunday afternoon and hearing the same stories again and again.

pass the biscuits please... 

[SiSePuede419]

I think I comprehend your point...

 

Spend money on visa agent unnecessarily so you can have more time to spend drinking with your "friends" ?

[Sirbergan]

You don't see LinkedIn users etc. complaining about the other members getting extra services that they, themselves, are not willing to pay for.

 

I have never used a Visa Service myself, but a lot of those services actually reduces the queues for the rest of us. They pay for a Premium product, and they get it. If the rest of us aren't willing, we'll have to accept the fact that we're not. It's not like you hold a grudge against First class passengers on a flight – people paying a premium to get their visa done or get favors is kind of the same thing. Like it or not.

[amexpat]

16 minutes ago, Sirbergan said:

kind of the same thing.

Except that it isn't.  You aren't required to use LinkedIn or fly.  And the fees for services are openly and honestly published. 

 

Upgrades and bribery are not the same thing. 

 

[Sirbergan]

3 minutes ago, amexpat said:

Except that it isn't.  You aren't required to use LinkedIn or fly.  And the fees for services are openly and honestly published. 

 

Upgrades and bribery are not the same thing. 

 

They differ in that you feel people paying extra shouldn't get special treatment. Personally, I think they should make it official – one price for people not willing to pay for it, another price for people who are.

[amexpat]

But if it was made official the extra fees would be accountable and go to the Immigration dept - not to Mercedes and mansion payments. At least not at the lower levels.

 

Ain't gonna happen. 

[Sirbergan]

1 minute ago, amexpat said:

But if it was made official the extra fees would be accountable and go to the Immigration dept - not to Mercedes and mansion payments. At least not at the lower levels.

 

Ain't gonna happen. 

It's not. So in the meantime, the question is who are going to follow the rules and who are not, and the ones who can afford it is normally going to be in the latter category. In a perfect society, my scenario would be the case, and the fee would be a lot lower than what they are paying to do that under the table today. I do see your side of it, but that's not how it (or the world as such) works.

[Flustered]

It all goes back top the first rule you learn in the Army. You can't beat the system so use the system.

 

If the system says that it's easier to use an agent, then use an agent. Unless you are one of the whining socialists who can't bear the thought of people having a choice and spending their money as they see fit. They would rather we all live in poverty with no entrepreneurial ideas allowed.

 

Who are we to tell another country how to run it's affairs? What's right for countries like the USA/Australia/UK/France/Germany et al. does not mean it's right for Thailand.

 

Having spent a lifetime saving and investing for my old age, I will spend it how I like and if that includes agents to do the work for me, then so be it and screw the whining losers.

[FolkGuitar]

 

I keep hearing a few people talking about corruption and about bribery. And they are talking about it as if these are proven facts rather than suppositions.

 

Can anyone here point out these proofs?  I'm sure we all would love to see them.

If not, can we agree that these are just assumptions and not facts? 

And as such, can we allow that we each are free to follow our own beliefs without name calling for doing so?

If you want people to agree with your point of view, provide some proofs of that point of view.

[Chiengmaijoe]

I don't know why  anyone would care what anonymous people behind a keyboard thinks about anything they do.

[amexpat]

1 hour ago, Flustered said:

Unless you are one of the whining socialists who can't bear the thought of people having a choice and spending their money as they see fit. They would rather we all live in poverty with no entrepreneurial ideas allowed.

Ya got me.  I confess.  I want to see everyone in abject poverty with no hope of upward mobility. I just can't help it.

 

And FolkGuitar has me pegged too.  I fall for the assumptions that corruption, bribery, evolution, and gravity exist. 

[TheFishman1]

Hasn't this subject been beaten to death ever few months somebody starts this topic think it should be closed three words.  Up To You. TIT

[jippytum]

13 hours ago, mamborobert said:

Que

 

This is the CM forum...not Pattaya.

 

Whilst that has been a long standing issue in Pats I don't think anyone is suggesting that any agents in CM, or in particular G4S, are doing a scam on the financials by ponying up the required balance.

 

Perhaps CM has a better class of agents and expats than Pattaya after all....what a suprise

The post was in the general topic forum .When you  haven't got  a pot to pee in and have to use agents it seems you  can't reply to the post sensibly and your answer is to  divert  the topic .

[FolkGuitar]

7 hours ago, amexpat said:

And FolkGuitar has me pegged too.  I fall for the assumptions that corruption, bribery, evolution, and gravity exist. 

 

We know these things exist. What some folks assume is that they exist in every situation in which they are not comfortable.

 

Please show us your proofs that bribery and corruption exist in Chiang Mai Immigration.

Not assumptions... proof.  (We can stipulate that 'gravity' exists there, if that simplifies the process for you.)

 

I am in full agreement that this particular Immigration office does not operate as efficiently as all of the others in Thailand. But that does NOT constitute proof of illegal behavior, only suggestion of mismanagement.

[Dante99]

And the management issues are not necessarily in CM as the CM staff is controlled by BKK people for staffing, budget and construction....

 

Proof?  Not here.

Edited February 19, 2017 by Dante99

[worgeordie]

Everything would be solved if Immigration employed even one

more officer,or opened up the booking online,then nobody would

have to pay for what is a FREE* service to apply,why dont they,I know,

and its not about not having enough money to employ more staff,

as they are spending Millions on a new building,and not because

they cannot find qualified staff,as they have done that with the new 

 offices that are opening up around the country.

*FREE to apply,but everyone pays the 1900 THB,just to clarify things.

regards Worgeordie

[jonwilly]

"Perhaps CM has a better class of agents and expats than Pattaya after all....what a suprise"

 

Nay no surprise. I have a couple of blokes I know who live there, haven't seen them for years and have no intention of doing so.

 

Corruption as one poster says lets see some Proof.

The Anglo nations of the world do not score in top half dozen for World Honesty, and Asia and has had it's own rules for thousands of years.

We are guests in their country, we play by their rules.

Play or go home or Scandinavia.

 

john

[FolkGuitar]

13 minutes ago, Dante99 said:

And the management issues are not necessarily in CM as the CM staff is controlled by BKK people for staffing, budget and construction....

 

... which makes me wonder?

Is getting posted to the Chiang Mai office some sort of punishment for the Immigration officers? Is it like getting posted to the Buttbottle, Idaho FBI office instead of New York City, or Thule, Greenland for an US Air Force officer?

 

I'm only guessing, but I doubt the people that work in that office are happy with the existing situation.