What are the risks of using an agent for the 800 baht visa sponsorship in Thailand?

I paid the equivalent of $800us for my multiple entry retirement Visa. I didn't have the initial deposit required so I went with a Visa office. It was quick and painless.

it is a bit of semantics and practical reality. Once you are using an agent, you are on that pathway unless you exit and restart the whole process. But... what are the odds of someone having full service for 5 years and no 800k in the bank suddenly deciding to make their lives more miserable by organizing paperwork and standing in line at banks and govt offices. Perhaps if you have totally run out of money and all you can afford is 1900 baht... but otherwise, you are likely enjoying the agents work on your behalf

Quite a few are using agents for their extension. Is a “privilege” for poor people and make you in reality even poorer. But it’s Thailand a crowding place for the poor earner

Why is it always a friend or someone's friend when will people stop believing the bs

You pay for it.

The upside is,you don't have to keep 400k in bank at all times,🤷

Free? I mean, you pay for the service

The catch is 1, you've got a fraudulently obtained visa/extention of stay. 2, you have to use an agent the following year unless you leave and start the process again.

You need 2 bank accounts, put 800k in one before your renewal date, do your visa with an agent as normal using the other account, next time 1year forward use the other account at immigration with the 800k in it, you will qualify.

No catch . It's part of the service

You can go to jail if you get caught, that's the catch!

For those worry of a crackdown on agents... it already happened 7+ years ago due to the Khon Kaen Immigration scandal. It was the volunteer visas that became obsolete. It was replaced by getting Non-B very easily, amongst other things.

Those on it (with or without agent help), were able to stay until their extension end, but had to cancel the visa before leaving Thailand. Then, they were all able to come back the same day if they wanted. Those who didn't cancel before leaving were not been accepted back in.

So even tho everyone knew those visas were done with agent help, without actually volunteering, it didn't affect anything except to have a stain in your passport in which if you border run Cambodia, you pay 1k baht in extra fees. Yeah, that's about it, and ofc, avoiding BKK airport since they want everyone on previous Volunteer or Ed Visa history to use Fast Track.

You pay premium for your visa (whatever they quote you) and you end up having to pay that year after year. If you seed your own 800K baht in the bank and do the visa yourself it costs about 1900 baht per year. While you may lose some interest doing it that way - you can recoup that watching the exchange rate and transferring funds at the right times to live on and using some of the 800K through the year (other than the required two months before the application date / three months post application date where 800K must be in the bank)

If you invest the equivalent to 800,000bht in your own country you will get more interest than the agent charges you to put the 800,000bht into your account, its been happening for a very long time don't worry about all those people hollier than thou attitude ,thousands use agent every year without a problem .

Ignore the self-righteous on here .

If you cant afford it don’t

do it you are adding to the problems for other legit retirees

A friend used an agent when he first came to Thailand, he then deposited 800,000 3 months before renewing,immigration checked his bank statement and noted the discrepancy he was "fined" 10,000 baht but got his extension, its best to do things right as not all immigration officers will be that "friendly" 😀😀😀

No catch just ignore the do gooders that try to put you off.

Khwaaay mak maak

Do it yourself. Fear is worse than reality. You should season your account for at least 3 months before renewal. An agent cheats the system. This could get you thrown out

Good question.

Try it and gain personal experience.

There is no catch, you pay a premium price to by-pass financial requirement. Some agents will put money into your account for 10 min to get a screenshot, but some won't because office the they work with won't require it. Once you get the stamp, it's the same stamp as anyone who got it without using an agent. So there nobody to hunt down, you are there legally. Each office decide on the restriction (how long the $ need to be in the account). It's arbitrary in which if they work with agent, the requirement will be very loose.

You pay them big bucks to do what they do

Put 800K in your Thai bank account , take a statement , then remove it , depending who does it , they keep your passport for 35 days and repeat the same process to satisfy their friends at immigration

The stamps are all legit , their processes may not be

That you’re stuck with using agents going forward. You won’t be able to “DIY” later down the road without first leaving and entering on a “fresh” stamp and start over doing it yourself.

the catch is you are hooked into using their service every year for renewal, AND run the risk of your visa being cancelled as you do not meet the requirements

Much higher fee than if you have your own funding in an account, and the risk of immigration cracking down.

It is part of their fee.