John - precisely - the banks like immig and DL office have cottoned on to the agent gravy train - also means they don’t have to deal with us grumpy farang - in some ways we’ve brought it on ourselves - but they get nowt out of me and I’m not even from Yorkshire 😊
If he doesn’t mind dealing with agents and feeding corruption sure - I did ours in South Africa 7 years ago and I haven’t paid a cent to an agent and we are on British and Singapore passports - Sail through immig every year
go to thai embassy in Pretoria they will give you all the requirements for an O-A visa you will need B800k in a bank account in ZA or offshore , you will need a medical cert from local doctor and health insurance - otherwise do it in Thailand with a O visa but you will need an agent to help you with local account fir the 800k
can he apply for a Non O after a border bounce ? wont he be coming backvin on an exemption rather than a tourist visa ? only Thai embassy in UK can issue him a tourist visa !
I am sure - but he has explored that avenue and they wanted silly money I am sure he could shop around but i think he would rather avoid that option just fuels the corruption down here……
urban myths do exist about retirees being arrested for maintaining their homes , gardens or boats but I believe that’s all they are , good conversation over a cold one.