Makes sense now.

But surely you can do that with (watch, card, phone, intra cranial chip etc,) I don't see such a big plus to having one.

@Greg *******

The is standard for doing paperwork that you could and should do yourself. Guarantees are worthless all round in this kind of scenario, in my humble opinion.

@Greg *******

They won't care, he's stuck in Hanoi.

I don't rate your chances of getting approved. Prepare for rejection is my advice, good luck all the same. If you must use an agent, use one in the country you are applying, but they can only speed up the process, not improve the chances of being accepted..

My experience has been mixed. In theory it’s no problem because hotels file the TM30 automatically at check-in. In practice, it really depends on what’s going on at the place you go to and the mood on the day. Most of the time they just see a valid TM30 in the system and move on. Occasionally, if it’s hectic, or they’re already stressed, or they don't like the look of you, they might start asking questions, but that’s still pretty unlikely. Keep it simple, don’t over-explain, and you’re usually fine.

Please see my previous answer to the other trolls Sherlock.

What you experienced isn’t unusual — and it’s not an extortion racket at the checkpoint. It’s just how agents filter clients.

Real visa agents only take cases they already know will succeed. That’s why they push to see your passport bio page, stamps, and visa up front. They’re not doing “checks with immigration” — they’re checking whether you’re an easy, low-risk file before they quote or take money.

A couple of things to be very clear about:

Agents do not have people “inside the embassy” or inside immigration making decisions. None of them do. At most, some have contacts who can move an application to the top of a pile or do a cursory document check. That’s it. Final decisions are made by immigration officers, and those officers are untouchable. They are not risking their careers for a few thousand bahts. It doesn’t happen.

The reason the agent kept pushing despite you already having a DTV is simple: once you already hold a valid visa, there’s nothing meaningful for them to sell you. So they switch to vague warnings, nationality-based “pricing,” and urgency to create doubt and see if you’ll bite.

Land border re-entry on a valid DTV is not something agents can influence. If your visa is valid, and you meet the conditions, you either get stamped in or you don’t — and no agent at Facebook-message level has any leverage over that.

The red flags here weren’t the request to see documents — that part is normal — it was the insistence after you made it clear you didn’t need a service, plus the theatrics about nationality and “it’ll be more expensive later.”

Bottom line:

You weren’t about to be stopped at the checkpoint.

You weren’t missing anything.

And no one can charge you to “re-enter” Thailand if you already hold a valid DTV.

If you don’t need a service, don’t engage. Immigration isn’t negotiable, and Facebook agents don’t control borders.

@Kenneth **********

You are mistaken, how could you know that to be true? Did an agent tell you that? Thailand may have been like that in the past, not now.

Alex Ve Good luck with that.