Thread: 1st visit to my new immigration office.

They want the "i"s doted and the "t"s crossed to protect themselves from future problems.

on a couple of occasions it was made quite clear to me that by paying extra charges, certain minor discrepancies in my paperwork could be rectified/overlooked and i would be granted the extension i was seeking without any further inconvenience.

........ or, i could go away and get that extra letter from the bank, or come back on the exact date of renewal instead of a week in advance etc.etc.etc.

it was all explained to me in a friendly way, there was no demanding or aggression.

others i know, by asking if they could be helped and agreeing to pay extra fees have been able to gain extensions with less than the specified amounts in the bank, with less than the three months minimum time for the deposits to have sat in the account.

whether those extra fees are legitimate or not i cannot say, but it does sound as if there is a great latitude of flexibility as to when and how and if t's and i's are able to be crossed and dotted, at least in the day to day dealings of local immigration offices.

I, like Nid, have never been asked for anything outside what is required. I will say I make a point of going to immigration fully prepared, all docs in hand and paperwork in order. I usually have all the forms filled out before I arrive. I take extras every trip and fill them out the night or so before. I have reminders in my BB calendar a week before my next required visit. With that said I have never had to deal with a situation of harsh or bad service or "Pay a bit more and we will look the other way" deal. Usually a smile and off or to the next window if required.

I really think you get what you deserve in regards to service. Politeness and a smile goes a long way. I do believe that most scrutiny comes from as someone mentioned, CYA. Most workers here do not want to lose their jobs and are making sure that all is in order.

In the few short minutes I was there, I witnessed 2 foreigners behave aggressively towards the counter gal and both were totally in the wrong from what I over heard(which was not hard to do being that spoke with a harsh voice). One guy filled out the wrong form and did not want to step out of line to fill the correct one out and another guy was 21 days late checking in and yet had the balls to want an exception and not pay. One thing I will also add, foreigners seem to look down on Asians as a lesser class of people at times. Like they are better and therefore smarter. They default to this behavior like they do in their home country and try and be the irate customer and figure if they scream loud or throw a fit they will get what they want. In US we call it "The customer is always right BS". More times than not, they aren't. I have found most customers were wrong and are lashing out as they are angry at themselves and embarrassed.

I, like Nid, have never been asked for anything outside what is required. I will say I make a point of going to immigration fully prepared, all docs in hand and paperwork in order. I usually have all the forms filled out before I arrive. I take extras every trip and fill them out the night or so before. I have reminders in my BB calendar a week before my next required visit. With that said I have never had to deal with a situation of harsh or bad service or "Pay a bit more and we will look the other way" deal. Usually a smile and off or to the next window if

well i also go fully prepared, paperwork done in advance, respectful, clean and tidy, only use thai with them bla bla bla etc.etc.etc.

on one occasion, after receiving my bank letter confirming my balance from the cashier at the bank, i withdrew some atm cash and updated my bank book on the way out of the bank resuting in the balance in the book not matching that on the letter. a 10K baht difference. i went on to immigration to extend my visa and they noticed this. fine, it was an silly error on my part to update the bank book.

the choice i was given was to return to the bank and get a new letter, or pay an extra fee of 3000b and things would be accepted as they were. i chose to return to the bank and get a new letter. at all times they were polite and friendly as was i.

a friend wanted to change his status from non imm with 90 day visa runs to non imm based on retirement. he didnt have enough in the bank and the bank account had only been opened for a month. no problem he was told, for an extra fee of 7000b he could have his extension based on retirement there and then.

i know of dozens of extra fee scenarios, so when it is claimed that paperwork must be absolutely correct etc.etc. that is clearly not the case. anything is possible here if a mutually beneficial understanding can be reached. such an understanding can never be reached if aggression and complaining is used by the customer, they will just ignore you and leave you in limbo and enjoy watching you squirm.

as a matter of interest, when renewing a retirement extension, they ask you to sign a long letter written in thai. i would be interested to know if anyone has bothered to read it and if so what do they think of the contents of this letter. did they match your situation?

Originally Posted by benbaaa

During a recent trip to immigration, I had the misfortune to be sitting next to an Australian with a bad case of Tourette's and a need to get quite a lot off his chest. He told me his story over a period of about 10 minutes, and spoke extra loudly with more than the usual number of expletives whenever he mentioned immigration officers. If ever I wished I had one of those Harry Potter invisible cloaks it was then.

Anyway, if you're interested in the story, he was here on a non-immigrant visa, but had been unlucky or careless enough to lose his passport. He'd been to the police and filed a report, he'd kept a photocopy of the passport and all the stamped pages, and he'd been to the Aussie Consulate where they'd issued him with a one-year replacement passport. All he needed now was a stamp from immigration saying that he had a valid visa.

Ooops. Immigration told him they could only give him a "copy" visa in his new passport if he brought his old lost passport along with him. You could see the penny drop as he began to absorb this information, and then smoke started coming out of his ears. He tried to remain calm as he explained that he'd lost his original passport, but he had a copy, had been to the police and had had a new temporary passport issued. Could they please just put a stamp in the new passport to allow him to stay here up to the expiry of his original visa? If he had his old passport, he wouldn't be here now asking for a visa in his new passport.

You can probably guess the answer: they told him that if he wanted a new visa he would have to go back to Australia to get it. Meanwhile, they would give him a stamp for seven days while he got himself a ticket. The poor guy lost it.

Moral of the story: don't lose your frigging passport.

Photocopy evidence of a previous issue is always dubious and not many self respecting bureaucracies would accept it. However, the example given here is quite appalling and disgraceful laziness on the part of the immigration office concerned. All the monkeys had to do was to contact the consulate which issued the visa for confirmation that it was authentic. A simple email would have verified what the photocopy evidence purported and paved the way for a substitute endorsement showing he had leave to enter.

Originally Posted by thegent

A simple email

Have you ever been to Thailand?

A simple email

simple e-mails and simple thais, a sure recipe for confusion, misunderstanding, delay and farce.

In Thailand I have never had any real luck in business or dealing with the government getting a Thai to respond quickly or at all to an email that would help or benefit me.

Originally Posted by benbaaa

Immigration told him they could only give him a "copy" visa in his new passport if he brought his old lost passport along with him

that is incorrect but they probably didn't like him

Originally Posted by thegent

A simple email would have verified what the photocopy evidence purported

strangely enough the visa and details would have been immediately available on the computer. It has happened to me before and they know everything they want to about your visas past and present

purportedly

Originally Posted by DrAndy

Originally Posted by thegent

A simple email would have verified what the photocopy evidence purported

strangely enough the visa and details would have been immediately available on the computer. It has happened to me before and they know everything they want to about your visas past and present

purportedly

When I had a passport put through the washing machine, they could only give me the remainder of my current permission to stay. The proof was taken from my last entry into Thailand and the details were faxed up from Bangkok where they were stored on a computer. The Udon office didn't have direct access to this computer. The immigration officer said that he had no way of knowing or finding out when my visa was due to expire, so I had to get a new one.

This was 2 years ago.

Originally Posted by JPPR2

I, like Nid, have never been asked for anything outside what is required. I will say I make a point of going to immigration fully prepared, all docs in hand and paperwork in order. I usually have all the forms filled out before I arrive. I take extras every trip and fill them out the night or so before. I have reminders in my BB calendar a week before my next required visit. With that said I have never had to deal with a situation of harsh or bad service or "Pay a bit more and we will look the other way" deal. Usually a smile and off or to the next window if required.

I really think you get what you deserve in regards to service. Politeness and a smile goes a long way. I do believe that most scrutiny comes from as someone mentioned, CYA. Most workers here do not want to lose their jobs and are making sure that all is in order.

In the few short minutes I was there, I witnessed 2 foreigners behave aggressively towards the counter gal and both were totally in the wrong from what I over heard(which was not hard to do being that spoke with a harsh voice). One guy filled out the wrong form and did not want to step out of line to fill the correct one out and another guy was 21 days late checking in and yet had the balls to want an exception and not pay. One thing I will also add, foreigners seem to look down on Asians as a lesser class of people at times. Like they are better and therefore smarter. They default to this behavior like they do in their home country and try and be the irate customer and figure if they scream loud or throw a fit they will get what they want. In US we call it "The customer is always right BS". More times than not, they aren't. I have found most customers were wrong and are lashing out as they are angry at themselves and embarrassed.

I think you will find that it is the other way around.. Government officials tend to look down on farangs... I got married at Amphur not long ago and the lady thought she was the bees knees.... I wish i had my income paperwork with me to laugh at here miserable salary... Fucks me right off that coz your a farang they think they can piss you off ... I love the general Thai public but asoon as you meet one of them behind a desk then most of them suck and ohhh the police r the worst.. Rant over