Retirement Visa Centre question.

[mtls2005]

9 hours ago, BertM said:

The post you are wanting to circle back to is from Feb 2018. Since there are literally thousands of agents in Thailand, it would be easier to get recommendations on agents that people currently use instead of asking about a particular agency from a post that is more than a year old. Some agencies that I am familiar with are; TSL & Associates on Wireless Road in Bangkok, Siam Legal & Bangkok Buddy. Good luck...

 

Thanks for the current referrals. You've used one or two or three of these before? Have had positive experiences?

 

Not sure how I landed on this thread, a search obviously and maybe the most recent one I could find. (Maybe saw this agent mentioned in a tangential thread, searched and found this one?) 

 

I've been looking for an agent referral for ages, simply looking for someone to speed a fully documented and legitimate extension renewal, plus a few other activities.

 

I see foreigners accompanied by whom I assume are agents, swan in and out at CW in minutes, while I wait for hours.

 

I am hoping to get a new passport - stamp transfer, deal with any potential TM30 issue (will hopefully be reported already via the online system), TM7 (65k for 10 months, certified bank letters in hand), TM8, TM47 all in one day. I expect to pay the 1,900, and 3,800 fees myself.

 

 

I see pop-up ads over there --->, and paid TV sponsors, but I am looking for referrals for legitimate agents. For some reason, these are hard to come by. Threads on agent referrals seem to quickly and repeatedly spiral wildly off-topic; people just seem unable to focus or resist offering unsolicited legal advice.

 

 

 

Edited May 20, 2019 by mtls2005

[klauskunkel]

On ‎5‎/‎20‎/‎2019 at 9:12 AM, mtls2005 said:

 

Thanks for the current referrals. You've used one or two or three of these before? Have had positive experiences?

 

Not sure how I landed on this thread, a search obviously and maybe the most recent one I could find. (Maybe saw this agent mentioned in a tangential thread, searched and found this one?) 

 

I've been looking for an agent referral for ages, simply looking for someone to speed a fully documented and legitimate extension renewal, plus a few other activities.

 

I see foreigners accompanied by whom I assume are agents, swan in and out at CW in minutes, while I wait for hours.

 

I am hoping to get a new passport - stamp transfer, deal with any potential TM30 issue (will hopefully be reported already via the online system), TM7 (65k for 10 months, certified bank letters in hand), TM8, TM47 all in one day. I expect to pay the 1,900, and 3,800 fees myself.

 

 

I see pop-up ads over there --->, and paid TV sponsors, but I am looking for referrals for legitimate agents. For some reason, these are hard to come by. Threads on agent referrals seem to quickly and repeatedly spiral wildly off-topic; people just seem unable to focus or resist offering unsolicited legal advice.

 

 

 

I just received an email from the same Visa Service the OP referred to one year ago:

 

Hey Klaus,
This is Grace from Thai Visa Centre again.
I am happy to let you know that our price for 1 Year Retirement Visa's is now only ฿14,000 (50% discount)!
We help sponsor your financial requirements, and only require passport, and two photos.
If you have any visa needs please contact us ASAP.
Have a wonderful day.

 

To which I replied:

 

Hi Grace, 

I am happy to let you know that my price for a 1 Year Retirement Extension is exactly 1,900 baht. Please explain to me why I should pay you 12,000 baht more for the exact same service...

You also have a wonderful day.

 

I am wondering how they got my email address, though... Probably from an Immigration Officer...

Edited June 4, 2019 by klauskunkel

[satch4d]

I have used this Thai Visa Centre company and I am always surprised to see how much hate some expats can have when talking about things they don't know, also as guests in Thailand it is not farang to say how Thais are running their business. About Thai Visa Centre there is nothing to fear it is a legit company and they services are up and even better than many other companies.

[beddhist]

I just received the very same email from them. I have never heard of them before and I certainly have not communicated with them. Now that leaves the question:

 

Who is leaking expats' personal details to them?

 

The only one I can think of is someone at Thai Immigration. Should I report this to the Counter Corruption Commission?

[rexall]

On 7/7/2019 at 4:35 PM, satch4d said:

I have used this Thai Visa Centre company and I am always surprised to see how much hate some expats can have when talking about things they don't know, also as guests in Thailand it is not farang to say how Thais are running their business. About Thai Visa Centre there is nothing to fear it is a legit company and they services are up and even better than many other companies.

I realize I am replying to an old post, but maybe the OP is still monitoring the thread. Anyway, I am wondering about the requirement (I thought it was a requirement) to obtain your extension at the IO in the district where you reside.  I assume the agent would probably not be filing the application in your IO office.  How does that work, and what do you do about 90 day reports and TM30?  Anybody?

[jacko45k]

13 minutes ago, rexall said:

How does that work, and what do you do about 90 day reports and TM30?  Anybody?

A case I know of, the agent is taking care of that too....

 

[Peter Denis]

On 7/7/2019 at 11:35 AM, satch4d said:

I have used this Thai Visa Centre company and I am always surprised to see how much hate some expats can have when talking about things they don't know, also as guests in Thailand it is not farang to say how Thais are running their business. About Thai Visa Centre there is nothing to fear it is a legit company and they services are up and even better than many other companies.

Hi, my post is not meant to discredit a Thai Agency and I agree that thai people will know much better than any foreigner how to run their business, especially in these matters.

But what puzzles me is that 14.000 THB would be an extremely good deal to ensure that your Non Imm OA - retirement extension is approved.

The clear advantage would be that there is no need for parking/freezing 800.000/400.000 THB in a thai bank-account, or doing the +65.000 THB per month international income transfer. 

When the agency service is used by a foreigner that actually meets one of those requirements (money in bank / monthly income method), but doesn't want the hassle of dealing himself with the IO, then I can see nothing wrong in the Agency offer.

However, when the foreigner does NOT have sufficient financial means to meet those requirements, I am wondering how the Agency service can be legitimate.  Not saying that it is not possible at all, but just wondering how that would work.  Maybe it involves a sort of insurance that the Agency would cough up the money when required (e.g. hospitalization).

If there would be clarity on that issue and if indeed it is fully legit, for sure the Agency would have scores of interested retirees to make use of that service.
 

Edited October 1, 2019 by Peter Denis

[Jingthing]

Hi, my post is not meant to discredit a Thai Agency and I agree that thai people will know much better than any foreigner how to run their business, especially in these matters.
But what puzzles me is that 14.000 THB would be an extremely good deal to ensure that your Non Imm OA - retirement extension is approved.
The clear advantage would be that there is no need for parking/freezing 800.000/400.000 THB in a thai bank-account, or doing the +65.000 THB per month international income transfer. 
When the agency service is used by a foreigner that actually meets one of those requirements (money in bank / monthly income method), but doesn't want the hassle of dealing himself with the IO, then I can see nothing wrong in the Agency offer.
However, when the foreigner does NOT have sufficient financial means to meet those requirements, I am wondering how the Agency service can be legitimate.  Not saying that it is not possible at all, but just wondering how that would work.  Maybe it involves a sort of insurance that the Agency would cough up the money when required (e.g. hospitalization).
If there would be clarity on that issue and if indeed it is fully legit, for sure the Agency would have scores of interested retirees to make use of that service.
 

Are you serious?
The money is mostly for a pay off.
What's the Thai word for baksheesh.
Does anyone not know that?
Only exceptions would be expats only paying for hand holding that actually have the required funds themselves. A service like that shouldn't cost more than a few thousand baht.

Sent from my Lenovo A7020a48 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[rexall]

1 hour ago, jacko45k said:

A case I know of, the agent is taking care of that too....

 

I appreciate your reply, but what does that mean, "the agent is taking care of that"?? Do you get a receipt for the 90 Day Report? I am assuming that if they take care of the 90 Day Report, they are also providing you with an address in the district of the IO they use?  I would think these details and others are pretty important, more important than "they are taking care of that."

[Peter Denis]

6 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Are you serious?
The money is mostly for a pay off.
What's the Thai word for baksheesh.
Does anyone not know that?
Only exceptions would be expats only paying for hand holding that actually have the required funds themselves. A service like that shouldn't cost more than a few thousand baht.

Sent from my Lenovo A7020a48 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

If it's indeed baksheesh - and thus by definition not legit - I would personally never make use of such service.
But each to his own...

[steve187]

On 2/20/2018 at 5:43 PM, elviajero said:

Close, but not a law. The police order is a set of guidelines issued to immigration for them to consider whether or not to issue an extension. Immigration can ask for more than specified in the order, or less (with justification) if signed off by a senior officer.

seems to only be signed off when 'extra' money is paid

[elviajero]

41 minutes ago, steve187 said:

seems to only be signed off when 'extra' money is paid

In many cases yes, but not all. I helped an old boy get a 1 year extension without proof of any funds whatsoever. He had lived in the country for decades and was on a long overstay. They just wanted the overstay fine paid. This was just before the bans for overstay were introduced. 

 

There are situations when immigration will officially and formally sign off on special cases.

[steve187]

23 minutes ago, elviajero said:

In many cases yes, but not all. I helped an old boy get a 1 year extension without proof of any funds whatsoever. He had lived in the country for decades and was on a long overstay. They just wanted the overstay fine paid. This was just before the bans for overstay were introduced. 

 

There are situations when immigration will officially and formally sign off on special cases.

how many do we hear about, compared to the amount of extensions, achieved by the help of an agent, maybe not all of them without any financials.

[Jingthing]

If it's indeed baksheesh - and thus by definition not legit - I would personally never make use of such service.
But each to his own...

Me too. It's safe until it's not safe.

Sent from my Lenovo A7020a48 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[jacko45k]

15 hours ago, rexall said:

I appreciate your reply, but what does that mean, "the agent is taking care of that"?? Do you get a receipt for the 90 Day Report? I am assuming that if they take care of the 90 Day Report, they are also providing you with an address in the district of the IO they use?  I would think these details and others are pretty important, more important than "they are taking care of that."

Hard to get detailed feedback from people who, in reality, are unsure how things are being handled themselves, and for me it is second hand. For some, 'it has been taken care of', suffices. Why would a person need a receipt of the 90 day report? 

[beddhist]

Because the IO will put one in your passport when you do it in person and there are a number of reports in this forum from people saying they were asked for proof.

[rexall]

4 hours ago, jacko45k said:

Hard to get detailed feedback from people who, in reality, are unsure how things are being handled themselves, and for me it is second hand. For some, 'it has been taken care of', suffices. Why would a person need a receipt of the 90 day report? 

You need a receipt to prove that you actually submitted your 90 day report on time. If you don't have a receipt and someone should ask, will you sa "it is being taken care of"?  When you file your 90 Day Report, if you have lost your receipt (or have never filed in the first place, you get a B2,000 fine).  I understand that this is  (or seems to be) done all the time, and it could be very useful for me this year.  However, I can't imagine how anyone would go for it being left in the dark to answer questions if they come up. 

So, assuming that they provide an address for you to use on your application, how do you deal with the fact that you are not in fact living there?  Aren't you supposed to report a change of address promptly?  

Anywho, lots of vagaries and loose ends that make me uncomfortable.

[jacko45k]

23 hours ago, rexall said:

You need a receipt to prove that you actually submitted your 90 day report on time. If you don't have a receipt and someone should ask,

Who is this 'someone'.... where on earth will someone ask to see your 90 day reporting receipt? I can only think of immigration, and if an agent is handling all those immigration issues, why on earth are you going there? 

Edited October 3, 2019 by jacko45k

[rexall]

20 hours ago, jacko45k said:

Who is this 'someone'.... where on earth will someone ask to see your 90 day reporting receipt? I can only think of immigration, and if an agent is handling all those immigration issues, why on earth are you going there? 

Well, if no one asks you, then I suppose the point is moot.  At the same time, if no one asks you, you can get away with doing all kinds of stuff. I am just trying to anticipate the "what ifs?"   There is supposed to be a paper trail documenting where you are residing and your movements in and out of the country as well as TM30s following you inside the country. All that stuff should ideally be in sync with the IO where you obtain your extension.  For B14K, an agent is going to provide the initial service and then and then be on the ball to attend to your 90 reporting every 3 months. 

[Olmate]

29 minutes ago, rexall said:

Well, if no one asks you, then I suppose the point is moot.  At the same time, if no one asks you, you can get away with doing all kinds of stuff. I am just trying to anticipate the "what ifs?"   There is supposed to be a paper trail documenting where you are residing and your movements in and out of the country as well as TM30s following you inside the country. All that stuff should ideally be in sync with the IO where you obtain your extension.  For B14K, an agent is going to provide the initial service and then and then be on the ball to attend to your 90 reporting every 3 months. 

Some suggest mailing passport back to agent, or make a day trip to do the report. Or even do a border hop to alleviate the 90 day requirement .

[mark5335]

2 hours ago, rexall said:

Well, if no one asks you, then I suppose the point is moot.  At the same time, if no one asks you, you can get away with doing all kinds of stuff. I am just trying to anticipate the "what ifs?"   There is supposed to be a paper trail documenting where you are residing and your movements in and out of the country as well as TM30s following you inside the country. All that stuff should ideally be in sync with the IO where you obtain your extension.  For B14K, an agent is going to provide the initial service and then and then be on the ball to attend to your 90 reporting every 3 months. 

For B14K the agent (referred to earlier in the thread) arranges the 12 month retirement extension. For an additional B1.5K they can also take care of the 90 day report and they will mail the physical stamped/signed 90 day report receipt to you. You can either use their deemed address in the province where the extension is obtained or your own if you have an address there. If you intend leaving the country during the year you can also get the re-entry permit for additional cost via the agent.

[jacko45k]

21 hours ago, rexall said:

Well, if no one asks you, then I suppose the point is moot.  At the same time, if no one asks you, you can get away with doing all kinds of stuff. I am just trying to anticipate the "what ifs?"   There is supposed to be a paper trail documenting where you are residing and your movements in and out of the country as well as TM30s following you inside the country. All that stuff should ideally be in sync with the IO where you obtain your extension.  For B14K, an agent is going to provide the initial service and then and then be on the ball to attend to your 90 reporting every 3 months. 

As I heard very recently, 'you lot are retired and have nothing else to do but sit around and worry about things!' 

I believe doing the 90 day report need only be done for you when a person has a retirement extension from a different region than they actually lived... and that is what I thought we discussed. I personally would be uncomfortable with such an extension. 

[rexall]

Dude. You are missing my point.  If I obtain an extension outside of the jurisdiction of my usual place of residence (which is improper), I have to use an address in the jurisdiction of the IO where I apply.  Since I don't have one, I am assuming that the agent will provide one for me to use.  OK. 90 Day report comes around and I have two choices.  As the OP said, have the agent file the 90 day report for me and mail me the receipt.  If I file at the IO where I live, it is possible someone will ask why I am filing here rather than where I renewed.  They might want to know why I did not report my change of address when I moved to the jurisdiction where I obtained my extension or file a change of address when I got back home. I am not sure if the change of address is just a TM30 or some other form. 

You may believe that I am being overly-cautious and asking questions about situations that will never arise.  Perhaps. However, let me assure you that I do indeed have better things to do than obsess over this kind of thing. I have been in Thailand for 20 years, and this is the first year the issue of my immigration status has taken such a toll on my time and emotional energy. Obviously, if I had B800K lying around, this would be a non-issue.  But I don't, and it is.

[Olmate]

3 hours ago, rexall said:

Dude. You are missing my point.  If I obtain an extension outside of the jurisdiction of my usual place of residence (which is improper), I have to use an address in the jurisdiction of the IO where I apply.  Since I don't have one, I am assuming that the agent will provide one for me to use.  OK. 90 Day report comes around and I have two choices.  As the OP said, have the agent file the 90 day report for me and mail me the receipt.  If I file at the IO where I live, it is possible someone will ask why I am filing here rather than where I renewed.  They might want to know why I did not report my change of address when I moved to the jurisdiction where I obtained my extension or file a change of address when I got back home. I am not sure if the change of address is just a TM30 or some other form. 

You may believe that I am being overly-cautious and asking questions about situations that will never arise.  Perhaps. However, let me assure you that I do indeed have better things to do than obsess over this kind of thing. I have been in Thailand for 20 years, and this is the first year the issue of my immigration status has taken such a toll on my time and emotional energy. Obviously, if I had B800K lying around, this would be a non-issue.  But I don't, and it is.

Suggest you ask the agent if your not happy with suggested methods of handling this matter,they charge the fee and you stop stressing ,otherwise stay away from IO by doing border run. You cannot report in your current area so work on the other variables..

[jkthai]

Just wondering if any one has any up to date info on this company, any ideas what the charges are and what services they offer.

 

 

would appreciate pm if any one has any actual experience about them rather than just anecdotal stories

[DulceDee]

16 hours ago, jkthai said:

Just wondering if any one has any up to date info on this company, any ideas what the charges are and what services they offer.

 

 

would appreciate pm if any one has any actual experience about them rather than just anecdotal stories

I just went through this process. I had a retirement visa already. I stopped by their office on Monday of last week, and came with a passport, and two photos. (and a refundable deposit of 14,000 THB).

What was not mentioned is that they do charge an additional 500 THB for 90 day reporting, with the option of prepaying 1500 THB for 4 reports. (I advise using them for the 90 day reporting because if you do it on your own you really don't want to risk it... This is their job, let them do it, they have the connections that you don't have.

I have two other friends that have been using this company for 2 years, which is why i bit the bullet and moved away from my other agent which was charging me about 40% more.

Best of luck.

[asok99]

recently had an email from these people appears they are all ok and are heavily advertised on here, is there any more first hand experiences

[rexall]

Recently had very positive experience and successful renewal of my retirement extension with My Thai Visa 
mythaivisa com. 

[asok99]

rexall, can you let me know how much the charges were for renewal , and any idea if a new visa would be a similar price , tia

[walterrose]

 

33 minutes ago, asok99 said:

rexall, can you let me know how much the charges were for renewal , and any idea if a new visa would be a similar price , tia

I just got mine done through Thai Visa Centre for 14,000.

 

But I remember when i was searching through agents that "MyThaiVisa" was charging 16,000 THB and required me to go to Pattaya.

I'd stick with Thai Visa Centre.