Legallity of visa agents

[sunnyboy2018 3,624]

9 hours ago, The Cobra said:

I have know of instances where the person actually accompanies the agent into the Thai immigration office to have their photo taken etc and received the visa stamp in front of the issuing officer ! there isno way that can be deemed illegal, it is not the responsibility of the recipient to question or not the validity of the stamp/visa issued by the lawful authority.

My agent took me to the IO, my 4th retirement extension,  took the money off me  25 k  passed a portion to the IO behind the desk who noted my photo needed replacing, after i got the new pic i handed it, my pp, and bank book to same IO and the day after, got my docs teturned with stamped extension and my multi entri.

[tropo 7,643]

9 hours ago, from the home of CC said:

ah yes, the briber and the bribee - two sides of the same corruption coin - buyer beware..

"briber - bribee", what a load of crock. It's a service with a set and advertised fee, no one is bribing anyone. Do people wake up and forget they are in Thailand? "legal", "illegal"... best to save those words for your home country where they MAY have some meaning. Some expats are fearful of consequences when following a well established system? I would not be having any sleepless nights over this. If this would keep you up at night, deposit 800k and be done with it. It's your choice.

 

 

[jacko45k 11,690]

12 hours ago, The Cobra said:

If the services were illegal they would not be allowed to operate and certainly not allowed to advertise the service.

Haha, you know you are in Thailand right? Can you think of any other service that is well advertised, is actually illegal and yet is allowed. You should be able to. 

[moontang 1,416]

1 hour ago, jacko45k said:

Haha, you know you are in Thailand right? Can you think of any other service that is well advertised, is actually illegal and yet is allowed. You should be able to. 

I think you are talkig about the oldest profession, but you could also add the second oldest profession:  teaching.  If you look at a few of the FB groups, the people advertising are often illegal, and it appears that there is near zero chance of you ever being legal.  Almost as brazen as the whacky weed sellers. 

[Skallywag 2,085]

13 hours ago, SCOTT FITZGERSLD said:

 the fee of 15K baht is worth it, if i can keep 800K out of thailand.

investing 800K in conservative way , with 3% annual return, will bring

24K annual profit, which will cover the visa agents commision.

It is not "profit" if it is earmarked to be paid annually to a visa agent. IMO

[mlkik 379]

With the new requirements for keeping a minimum of 400000 baht in the Thai bank account all year round ,many of us thought it would be the end of agents.

However it seems to have affected the agents in such a way that they are now doing more business as more people prefer to use them than keep the money in a Thai bank.

[jacko45k 11,690]

24 minutes ago, mlkik said:

With the new requirements for keeping a minimum of 400000 baht in the Thai bank account all year round ,many of us thought it would be the end of agents.

However it seems to have affected the agents in such a way that they are now doing more business as more people prefer to use them than keep the money in a Thai bank.

No, I felt it was designed to push people towards using agents.

What other reason?

[moontang 1,416]

35 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

No, I felt it was designed to push people towards using agents.

What other reason?

The rules were designed to make it much more difficult for a quick deposit, and a withdrawal right after the stamp... but it just created the need for more "services." 

Edited October 18 by moontang

[ThomasThBKK 3,385]

6 hours ago, balo said:

Listen , there are more than 10 000 retired expats right now only using agents and who do not have the 800k in the bank, and been doing so for many years, you would be surprised how many. But you need to stay in the Pattaya / Bangkok region.   
The stamps are legal because they are official!y stamped by an IO. 

If the agent will get in trouble later , that's not your problem. 
 

 

That's not how law works 

 

If an IO did something in breach with law, like accepting money, your stamps are entirely useless and void.

 

You guys are so naiveeeee... it's unbelieveable, one would think after many years in thailand you guys would wake up but nope, after 10 years still as naive as on day one.

[ThomasThBKK 3,385]

1 hour ago, jacko45k said:

No, I felt it was designed to push people towards using agents.

What other reason?

 

Why would the thai gov give a hoot about agents and rogue IOs? You know exactly who runs this country, why would they care? Like really what makes u guys believe these absurdities?

 

If you meant Thai Elite as an agent, the sole agent of thailand, then yes maybe.

The government want to kill off these methods and force everyone to buy the elite visa, otherwise they have zero interest in agents and rogue IOs earning money, all they want is to earn money themselves.

Edited October 18 by ThomasThBKK

[Olmate 962]

1 minute ago, ThomasThBKK said:

 

That's not how law works 

 

If an IO did something in breach with law, like accepting money, your stamps are entirely useless and void.

 

You guys are so naiveeeee... it's unbelieveable, one would think after many years in thailand you guys would wake up but nope, after 10 years still as naive as on day one.

Who,s naive? You can show us an example I,m sure, of a void stamp issued by a IO using the agent assisted process.The point being it’s not in breach at all . 

[moontang 1,416]

The folks that got "favors" from the various land offices were left holding the bag.  Look at the Madoff investors, who actually made good money.. It was clawed back.  Usually referred to as ill gotten gains. 

Edited October 18 by moontang

[NanLaew 17,322]

16 hours ago, The Cobra said:

I have heard this before and I dont agree at all.

 

If the services were illegal they would not be allowed to operate and certainly not allowed to advertise the service.

 

The stamp/visa is issued by the legal authority, by a lawful officer entitled to issue such a visa/stamp. The actions of the agent are NOT illegal, the actions of the issuing officer could be described as questionable in some circumstances but the agent is not doing anything illegal. 

 

If at some stage the actions of the immigration officer concerned was brought into question/doubt that is another issue and nothing at all to do with the agent.

 

Through not actually having funds that are legally required, the foreign applicant will be charged with visa fraud, jailed, fined and deported. They are the ones that are soliciting any perceived crime or illegality here.

 

The Thai agent and immigration officers facilitating this fraud won't be affected.

[NanLaew 17,322]

7 hours ago, sunnyboy2018 said:

My agent took me to the IO, my 4th retirement extension,  took the money off me  25 k  passed a portion to the IO behind the desk who noted my photo needed replacing, after i got the new pic i handed it, my pp, and bank book to same IO and the day after, got my docs teturned with stamped extension and my multi entri.

How about showing immigration that the funds went untouched and are still in the Thai bank account 90-days after the approval?

 

How about the requirement for the money in the Thai bank account not to drop below 400 k during the ensuing year?

 

Or is that 25 k you paid 'all-inclusive'?

 

 

[Exploring Thailand 177]

1 hour ago, moontang said:

The rules were designed to make it much more difficult for a quick deposit, and a withdrawal right after the stamp... but it just created the need for more "services." 

Have Immigration ever officially given that as the reason for the change in rules? I know that it is often given as the reason, and does seem logical, but if they really wanted to shutdown the agents, it would be much simpler to root-out the officials within their own department who are cooperating with the agents, which I'm sure they could very easily do. And if they don't really want to shut down the agents, why make the change at all?

 

I guess one reason could be that there was pressure from on-high to be seen to be doing something, so that is what they came up with.

Edited October 18 by Exploring Thailand