Is it worth getting an agent to manage my Thai visa requirements if I have 800,000 Baht but don't want to tie it up in a bank?

@Eric *****

He asked for an opinion, I gave one. Plenty of stories of people being ripped off or in trouble for using a dodgy one! If you found a good one, put a link.

@Jim *******

no. I simply draw from atm or occasionally transfer funds via western union. Something called wise is also indispensable here. Unfortunately health insurance is an issue here. It is available but since nearly all of it precludes pre existing conditions it would be likely not to cover me. I have diabetes in good control but it precludes good coverage here. However healthcare is actually quite good and literally 10% of the costs we pay in the west. Many westerners “self insure” here. That’s a risk I’m only willing to take first a few years. I never anticipated this as my “final destination” but intend to return stateside when I’m older. I think around 2029.

@Jarek ***********

now THAT I would believe!

@Jarek ***********

wipe your D!ck Niskiewicz

@Doc *******

IF they lost it all. People make stuff up and it gets repeated by others. I see it all the time on FB. Someone will just make something up. Hundreds of people will blindly believe them and post their opinion. I’m thinking, hmmm, that sounds suspect. I’ll do 15 seconds of research and find that it is total BS. I read a story like that about a Thai bank last year. But no evidence and no confirmation. I’m just saying that if it were that common, it would be all the forums and internet. Plus, it should have been insured. Plus, wouldn’t there have been a paper trail of where it went?

@Eric *****

Perhaps the unlucky person who lost their cash got punked.

@James *******

mustve been a phenominal experience

@Eric *****

Yes that is a fair point.

@John *******

And why would they begrudge them making a living?

@Jim *******

I'm feeling fine when entertaining you 🤗

@Eric *****

better to stay in your nanny country. Don't come here.

@Greg ********

I am not sure. But I assume should be no problem

@John *******

I have seen people like you crying and complaining about the immigration officer because their visa was cancelled and they were deported. It's always someone else's fault!

@John *******

I bet you cried like a baby when you got smacked for doing something wrong too 🤣🤣🤣

@Mma ******

you can search One Stop Visa on You Tube and watch some interviews he’s done with several channels.

@Mma ******

I'm not sure, my friend did it. I just know he paid 15k and the year before 17k with a different agent. Walk around Pattaya and get some quotes.

@Nick ******

that wouldn’t be acceptable for immigration in my experience. It has to be same day monthly

@Nick ******

Hi Nick I can only tell you what I was told by Thai immigration. It has to be same day every month as a pension would be paid. I set up like a standing order from my pension company. I was going to use a company like transfer wise but I read stories of how unreliable the payments were for whatever reason so I used the company mentioned which was like clockwork. If you don’t do same day or within a day or two it will be questioned if it’s a legitimate pension payment. Think about it , would your pension be paid on different days in the real world

@Kal ********

bt holding Bitcoin. Easily. Look it up

@John *******

your mama not teach you 2 wrongs don't make it right? ..."up to you"

@Mitchell ******

I see you’re from Bermuda. I’ve been wanting to go there.

@Mitchell ******

what are some of the changes? The monthly 65,000 is still an option.

@Joseph ********

Joseph costs of single or multiple if l decide to travel not likely. But a moments regret is somtimes never retrieved. Joseph either a map or a bloody good description of how to find Immigration at Suvarnabhumi Airport. Help please.

@Dave *********

I think you must have mis-read my comment.. the very point i was making was that Thai banks are every bit as safe as (if not safer) than banks in western countries.. and it's the western banks that will go under first when the sh1t hits the fan.. every retort has automatically focused on US deposit schemes for some reason.. whereas the term 'western' covers just about every North American, European, and Australasian country on the map.. and I'm pretty sure we have expats living in Thailand from a multitude of such origins.. all with different banking regimes and different deposit insurance schemes.. and taking a cross section of the 'rest of the world' into consideration I'd suggest it's safer to trust the (bigger) Thai banks with your money.. so I'm not sure what you think is 'hogwash' exactly.. unless you have a crystal ball of course!?

@Jason **********

I'd like to know your definition of 'safe' then.. because btc is largely unregulated and largely untraceable.. it was invented by a 3 letter agency as a means of funding their black ops.. an ideal 'currency' for the criminal underworld to trade without conventional banking oversight.. which allows its value to be manipulated of course.. but then it was sold to the man on the street as an 'investment' product.. to suck more money into its coffers and to try to legitimise it.. it remains a soft target for cyber criminals and fraudsters.. and the biggest risk has to be the volatile nature of its value.. with the current high of around $73k comparing to a low of just under $16k 2 years ago.. and its been a rollercoaster ride in between.. so it's definitely not for the faint hearted or anyone that cant afford to lose all of their holdings.. most people are also unaware that the world is on the precipice of a quantum financial revolution.. the evolvement of BRICS being a taster of what is to come.. but ultimately only 2 recognised (and regulated) crypto's (XLR and XRP) will exist in the quantum world.. so the future of btc is precarious to say the least.. when it starts to drop again it will look like a lead balloon on steroids!

@John *******

not really, if there was no risk why would people use agents 🤣.

@Eric *****

I did a copy and paste 😉

@Руслан ********

did you his name in my response to Sharon? You can search One Stop Visa on You Tube and his interviews with different will populate.

Thanks!

@John *******

Absolutely. Glad it worked out for them 20 years ago when it much easier. And I voiced all of these scenarios with the agent and was comfortable in his replies. If they didn't want this to go on, they could have stopped it looong ago. Think of many agents and probably thousands of people that have done this and been fine. If it falls apart in the future, I'll just do it the 'correct' way. I wouldn't think they would 'ban' ALL those people from coming back. Just my 2 cents.

John Jowett I think your comment needs to be considered with a little more perspective my friend.. imo if an agent acting on someone's behalf follows the legitimate process for obtaining a visa.. and their sole purpose is to guide you through it and attend to all the necessary filings.. thereby saving you time and energy and the headache of communicating with immigration directly.. and you are happy to pay for such a service.. then it a very 'positive' arrangement for everyone involved.. however many people turn to an agent because they do not meet the criteria to obtain the visa they want to secure.. often because they cannot meet the financial requirements.. such as the seasoned deposit in a Thai Bank account.. and some agents will offer to fudge this by presenting an application to a 'friendly' IO at an immigration office they 'work with' to get it passed without too much scrutiny.. in other words they have someone on the inside on their payroll.. and this practice is indeed illegal.. and the applicant, the agent, and the obliging IO are all breaking the law.. and whilst everyone turns a blind eye and nobody cares that the system is being abused like this it will clearly continue unabated.. however the danger is that there will come a day when someone does start to care.. when the authorities decide to clean up the agent process.. and to begin auditing these visa applications more stringently.. and if it's your application that is found to have been illegally obtained you could find your visa is terminated and / or worse.. that you get banned from the kingdom entirely.. that's the risk you take if you decide to use an agent to try and beat the system.. and in this latter scenario it doesn't just have negative implications for said applicant.. it has a knock on effect for all of us that need to renew our visa's periodically.. since we could find we have more hoops to jump through in the future and greater costs as a result.. the process is already a bureaucratic nightmare without any more red tape being introduced!

@Eric *****

You mean 800k baht

@Jon ****

$800k baht required to have in a Thai bank account.

@Ally ***********

of course I read what Brandon writes, and those were the concerns I voiced to the agent. And again, I was satisfied with response I got from him.

@Roy **********

That 65K has to be imported so you cannot use interest from your account.

@Roy **********

I can do 65k per month but I am only doing less than 6 months a year in thailand and I wouldn't be able to spend it all. I want to avoid any border bounces, hence thinking about the retirement visa.

@Kane ******

in an ING Savings Maximiser account in Australia at 5.5%. Very good. %20savings%20maximiser&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwvpy5BhDTARIsAHSilyl3oWjBFCIYuTvRECm1TPy8ajpDh3T_YK532F_1lae-ZonqMwXwww4aAkTFEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

@Jonnie ******

if you have the money in your account from last year, you should be able to do it yourself this year.

@Ron *******

Yep

@Lee **********

That is one option. You can also just put the money in your account when the agent gets you an extension in a subsequent year and then do it yourself the following year.

@Rene *******

If you don't meet the financial requirements of your visa, you cannot get next year's visa by yourself. You will need an agent. You have to plan 1-year ahead if you want to break out of the agent cycle, because your 12 month bank statement that you submit for your extension must be able to show you had the 800,000 last year and never dropped below 400,000 the rest of the year.

And that's the easy ones. There are agents that take your passport to a province hundreds of km away that's known to be a province that agents use, and get your stamp from there. If you get one of those, then you simply cannot do it yourself, period. Immigration will not touch a passport that has one of these extensions, and you will 100% be stuck using an agent.

@Ken **********

It's finances by the way, not financials lol

@Ken **********

God there's a lot of purists on FB living in Thailand.

@Peter ******

12 65k monthly deposits releases the 400k after the first year

@Jeff *********

I never did tie up 800k for my retirement visa although that was years ago and I applied from Canada. I showed my pension income and kept bank statements showing the 65k deposited monthly for my extension. I changed to a marriage visa about 3 years ago and now only have to show an income of 40k per month and I do that through my embassy with an income letter. The immigration office does not even require the bank statements so I don’t even need to show the monthly income but I deposit the amount (more because I need to live) each month. The paperwork is annoying but once you complete it keep a copy of what you did and you can use it as a template for the following years (I haven’t done a good job of this and redo all the paperwork regularly). Depending on your IO the whole system is not that bad and certainly better to do yourself rather than paying thousands (I heard at least 10k to an agent but could be more or less). I am sure you could find another expat wherever you are and buy him a few beers to help you through the process.

@Jeff *********

The 800k has to remain in your account for 3 months after the extension is granted and be back in 2 months before you apply for your next extension. Can never go below 400k for remaining 7 months.

@Braulio ********

I agree ot is best to avoid an agent; however, I also give blame to a corrupt Thai Immigration that accepts bribes from agents.

@Mohit *********************

No.

@Mohit *********************

My point was if you start using an agent to bypass formal requirements you’ll need to use agents to bypass the other agent bypass for previous year or years and you’ll never be able to get a formal legitimate stay unless you cancel your stay by leaving and start all over again from scratch.

You can stay for several years with an agent borrowing you the 800K baht for your extensions, but you’ll never be able to have a complete juridical legitimate stay.

And if you’re doing it the correct way the fee or cost each year is only 1900 baht instead of using thousands for agent when you have the possibility to do it easy and legal yourself.

@Bob ********

And that’s the madness of the whole system…

@Todd *********

Don't they require that the whole amount be deposited in a Thailand bank as the thailand US consul do not do authentication these days that you receive that much from social security?

@Ray *******

can you please dm me the agent you worked with? thanks!

@Ray *******

Could you share the agent's contact details?

@John ********

yes the Thai mafia guarantees it

@John ********

Doubt any of the major banks Bangkok,Kasikorn,SCB etc are going to go belly up.Someone warned me about that 22 years ago 😂