Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Posted

There are good agents and there are bad agents in Pattaya,

 

I can recommend KeyVIsa opposite BIg C south Pattaya. They have been doing this for more than 10 years and can be trusted.  

 

Posted
8 hours ago, Jingthing said:

I do agree that some agents use legal methods. Their fees should be less for obvious reasons. I get it that some people have good reasons to need (or want) assistance applying legally such as --

 

Language Issues (those without English or Thai)

Health issues (not wanting to deal with the stress of the immigration office)

Laziness

Too busy

Just paying for a service that makes things easier the same as you pay for any service

 

etc. 

 

I do think it's important to make that distinction -- help with legal applications vs. help that uses corruption. 

 

Cheers. 

some agents make a distinction too

https://www.speedy-visa.com/what-we-do-not-do

Posted
1 hour ago, notamember said:

some agents make a distinction too

https://www.speedy-visa.com/what-we-do-not-do

For me, it's worth paying extra money to get my visa extension/renewal done by an agent who specializes in retirement visas and can get things done without fuss.

 

My renewal has just been done by Speedy Visa for the fourth year in a row, because they make it so easy. The less contact I have with Thai bureaucracy, the happier I am. Why waste your valuable time chasing down whatever weird form/document/photocopy Immigration wants this week, when you could be spending your retirement lying on the beach, chasing Isaan girls, drinking Chang...or whatever the hell else you want to do with your time?

  • Like 2
Posted
46 minutes ago, hitext said:

For me, it's worth paying extra money to get my visa extension/renewal done by an agent who specializes in retirement visas and can get things done without fuss.

 

My renewal has just been done by Speedy Visa for the fourth year in a row, because they make it so easy. The less contact I have with Thai bureaucracy, the happier I am. Why waste your valuable time chasing down whatever weird form/document/photocopy Immigration wants this week, when you could be spending your retirement lying on the beach, chasing Isaan girls, drinking Chang...or whatever the hell else you want to do with your time?

I don't think a couple of hours a year is asking too much of your time.

Posted

The fee of over 20000 Baht usually includes everything, including a multi re-entry. So if you have to travel from a province to get (buy) an income certificate (added expenses), the net fee is about 12000 Baht.

Posted
4 minutes ago, joealx said:

The fee of over 20000 Baht usually includes everything, including a multi re-entry. So if you have to travel from a province to get (buy) an income certificate (added expenses), the net fee is about 12000 Baht.

I have to make a trip to Bangkok every year to get my proof of income but the total cost is nowhere near the cost of an agent. I have been getting them during a planned holiday trip as much as 4 months before my extension is due so no special trip was needed.

Posted
17 hours ago, petermik said:

For first time applications including multi entry visa its 19k..........renewals 13k

 

Cost me 13k the first time too but that was a few years ago.  Same with friends.  

 

In fact I think I once paid only 11.5 k.  

Posted
17 hours ago, Phuket Man said:

19,000 Baht for something that costs 1,900 Baht. :ohmy:

 

Makes perfect sense. :omfg:

 

Er, there is a reason for that if you care to think about it.  But I am not going to go into details on an open forum.  

  • Like 1
Posted
22 minutes ago, Phuket Man said:

I don't think a couple of hours a year is asking too much of your time.

But thats a couple of hrs of my/his time MY/HIS being the over ridding words not YOUR time.

 

Posted
25 minutes ago, flynn said:

Keeps your brain active


Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect

Well it seems its not working gor many then:post-4641-1156694572:

Posted

All this talk about Thai visa agents in Pattaya being a rip-off makes me smile.

 

When I first went to Pattaya to get a retirement visa about 6 years ago, I had been told about Cambodia Visa.  I went down there with my wife and a pal.

 

When we arrived, we went to get a breakfast first just off soi Buakhao (won't say where, but it sells books too and is well-known for having the name of the foremost bishop in the C of E) where there were about 8 loud-mouthed ex-pats enjoying their breakfast with their first few Changs of the day at 8 am.  

 

I asked them if they knew where the agent was, but they suggested that instead, I went to visit a Brit agent they knew who was only a hundred yards or so away near soi Diana.

 

I went, to realise from his accent that he came from very close to the UK town where I spent 36 years.  My jaw then dropped when he quoted me 28,000 baht  for the first retirement extension to my B visa!  

 

I gulped, told him I would go for breakfast, (I'd already eaten) think about it and return later.  I hopped it sharpish to Cambodia Visa 200 yards away and paid 13,000 baht for the initial visa extension, as he'd quoted me on the phone.  It was all sorted by the early afternoon.  

 

I mentioned the 28k I'd been quoted and he burst out laughing.  'I know him.  You farangs think we Thai cheat you, but your own people are worse' he said.

 

And he was right.  

  • Like 2
Posted
15 hours ago, hitext said:

My renewal has just been done by Speedy Visa for the fourth year in a row, because they make it so easy. The less contact I have with Thai bureaucracy, the happier I am. Why waste your valuable time chasing down whatever weird form/document/photocopy Immigration wants this week, when you could be spending your retirement lying on the beach, chasing Isaan girls, drinking Chang...or whatever the hell else you want to do with your time?

 

As I mentioned earlier in this thread, my retirement extension took me less than 15 minutes in total in Jomtien. I think I can easily spare that much time once a year. In fact I could easily spare that time every day, and still have plenty of time left for everything else.

Posted
6 hours ago, KittenKong said:

 

As I mentioned earlier in this thread, my retirement extension took me less than 15 minutes in total in Jomtien. I think I can easily spare that much time once a year. In fact I could easily spare that time every day, and still have plenty of time left for everything else.

As mentioned earlier thats your choice. But not everone wants to do that that there choice.

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

the COST of ANNUAL VISA through local agents , whether 19K or 13K.

compared that with the cost of EACH VISA RUN multiply by the length

of your stay . I am sure you can makeup your decision based on COST

only.  YES , the agents did not follow rules , do shortcuts , but that's

the reality - they have their own Inside Track .

Kiosk to the left of the IMM Office at Soi-5 Jomtien can assist you in

most cases plus they speak good English ..... maybe other languages too.

  • 1 year later...
Posted

Finding a good agent in pattaya can easily become an odyssey! In 2017 I did my visa with a bigger agent in pattaya, looking reliable and having a nice office (Good coffee????). By accident I gave the wrong password for the bank account. It blew up my mind when another totally different agent called me to solve the problem. As some agents are sending their work to other agents with a better connection to immigration, I felt like having paid for both agents (so the coffee was not free).

Since then I avoid paying for two agents and directly contact her. 

<contact by personal message for contact details>

 

 

 

Posted
33 minutes ago, marcimarc said:

Finding a good agent in pattaya can easily become an odyssey! In 2017 I did my visa with a bigger agent in pattaya, looking reliable and having a nice office (Good coffee????). By accident I gave the wrong password for the bank account. It blew up my mind when another totally different agent called me to solve the problem. As some agents are sending their work to other agents with a better connection to immigration, I felt like having paid for both agents (so the coffee was not free).

Since then I avoid paying for two agents and directly contact her. 

<contact by personal message for contact details>

 

 

 

Sry for this.... use facebook and look for visa pattaya 

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

Recently, Friend got his extension  done through agent with 800k seasoning help but was told next time it can't be done unless the big wigs change back to  the easing of rules.

If you've got the 800k and follow the rules I wouldn't bother with an agent.

In the future I'll be relying on repeat non oa visas every two years with 800k in Aussie bank. No need to bother with extensions if doing a trip back home every two years.

Not sure if seasoning in home bank of 800k is needed for o-a visa. I don't think so. And if not begs the question a money agent might be an option for o-a visa for those who struggle to meet the money requirement.

Posted
1 hour ago, stud858 said:

Recently, Friend got his extension  done through agent with 800k seasoning help but was told next time it can't be done unless the big wigs change back to  the easing of rules.

If you've got the 800k and follow the rules I wouldn't bother with an agent.

In the future I'll be relying on repeat non oa visas every two years with 800k in Aussie bank. No need to bother with extensions if doing a trip back home every two years.

Not sure if seasoning in home bank of 800k is needed for o-a visa. I don't think so. And if not begs the question a money agent might be an option for o-a visa for those who struggle to meet the money requirement.

your friend needs to get a new agent with better connections and more seed money

Posted
37 minutes ago, notamember said:

your friend needs to get a new agent with better connections and more seed money

What do you mean by better seed money? Do you have any insights into this? 

Posted
1 hour ago, notamember said:

your friend needs to get a new agent with better connections and more seed money

I think they all took their stuff to the place with the "retirement visas (sic) 12,500 Baht" sign on Soi Bukow Rd (south end - offer was valid until March 1), and pocketed the rest.  The "nicer office" places wanted 15K, and "law offices" even more.  All just needed you to have a bank-account in your name, for them to "flash" the 800K in/out of. 

 

It remains to be seen how much the "90-day bank-money reports" (or exclusion from them, or whatever scheme) will add to the cost of their offers.

  • Like 1
Posted
39 minutes ago, onera1961 said:

What do you mean by better seed money? Do you have any insights into this? 

If an agent application needs to show 800,000 seed money now and 800,000 again three months later and then 400,000 later for hundreds of clients on their books, then you will need to find one that has the funds to be able to service those clients

Bottom feeder agents with no money to invest in their clients futures will be driven out of business and take their clients down with them

 

Old English proverb ''Buy cheap, buy twice''

Posted
1 hour ago, notamember said:

your friend needs to get a new agent with better connections and more seed money

It will be interesting to see as of today if any stories come through of seasoning agents bypassing rules and successful extensions given. But I'm also guessing those people won't want to share their experience.

Posted
1 hour ago, stud858 said:

It will be interesting to see as of today if any stories come through of seasoning agents bypassing rules and successful extensions given. But I'm also guessing those people won't want to share their experience.

i expect the agents would want to declare if had been possible but decided that discretion is the better part of valor.....

Posted
On 8/23/2017 at 11:14 PM, Jingthing said:

I do agree that some agents use legal methods. Their fees should be less for obvious reasons. I get it that some people have good reasons to need (or want) assistance applying legally such as --

 

Language Issues (those without English or Thai)

Health issues (not wanting to deal with the stress of the immigration office)

Laziness

Too busy

Just paying for a service that makes things easier the same as you pay for any service

 

etc. 

 

I do think it's important to make that distinction -- help with legal applications vs. help that uses corruption. 

 

Cheers. 

Bureaucracy phobia in my case. 

Even when I was on tourist visas, I only went to places where I was able to find an agent. 

  • Like 1
Posted
4 hours ago, notamember said:

your friend needs to get a new agent with better connections and more seed money

He mostly need to wait a little,

as nobody knows still today how things will work in Jomtien/Pattaya Immigration !

 

From the first reports we got in Pattaya from guys getting their Retirement Extension this week with new 800k rules,

- some of them were told the "checking" will be done at next extension

- some of them were told they will have to come back for "checking" in 3 months :ermm:

- in all cases, Officer was not able to say which document will be required for the "checking"...

:wacko:

Posted
On 8/23/2017 at 5:35 PM, Phuket Man said:

19,000 Baht for something that costs 1,900 Baht. :ohmy:

 

Makes perfect sense. :omfg:

Don't cost 1900 if you can't supply the funds...   

  • Like 1
Posted
14 minutes ago, Pattaya46 said:

He mostly need to wait a little,

as nobody knows still today how things will work in Jomtien/Pattaya Immigration !

 

From the first reports we got in Pattaya from guys getting their Retirement Extension this week with new 800k rules,

- some of them were told the "checking" will be done at next extension

- some of them were told they will have to come back for "checking" in 3 months :ermm:

- in all cases, Officer was not able to say which document will be required for the "checking"...

:wacko:

 

example 1 pattaya.jpg

Posted
3 minutes ago, notamember said:

<document>

Interesting, but which Office?

None of the person interviewed at Jomtien Immigration mentioned such document ??

Posted
3 minutes ago, Lovethailandelite said:

So you cannot show where I supposedly said agents would be stopped? Once again your full of yourself.
The only agents that have been stopped are those working outside the parameters of Immigration, supplying fake passports and stamps in conjunction with rouge immigration officers. I guess a man with your knowledge and understanding of how the system actually works, would know that?

you have misunderstood, i did not say i was going to direct you to a statement then turn it upon you to prove you are wrong

Thats up to you if you want to do that to try to prove you were right

i am bothered by your evasiveness, your defensiveness and your inability to answer a question

you said ''Agents are operating as normal. None of these changes effect agent assisted applications. Everything is as it was.''

i simply want to know how you know that?

you said it as if its gospel so put some meat on the bone so that maybe we can be enlightened by your knowledge and worship at thine feet

or are we just supposed to have faith in you ?

 

 

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.




×
×
  • Create New...