Originally Posted by
Bettyboo
With respect to grass is greener, that's not true with regard to immigration - Thai immigration is a nightmare...
1) In one job, I had the correct paperwork, went to the immigration place (in central Bkk, this was back in the day), the immigration woman wanted to do the visa but the fat fuk sitting in some high-up chair looking down at everyone refused (for no reason in the regulations that I or anybody else I've spoken to understands...) - he simply said no, whether he was having a bad day or didn't like the look of me who knows; I asked why, so that I could put the application in properly, and wasn't told anything other than this visa wouldn't be given to me... The woman was very apologetic and could give no reason. So, I sat down, made a call to a Thai woman with some status, she was there within 30 minutes, walked in, smiled to the guy, said who she was, and the visa was done within 60 seconds (literally...).
2) I had done the same visa and work permit, the same way, at the same place for 7 years, everything was tedious going back and fro between visa and work permit offices (the main ones in Bangkok), but ok, I knew what I had to do and how to do it. I changed job, went to a new office in a new province (up at Mahidol), and an entirely different approach with an entirely different application of rules, done in a different order (seemed to breach the Thai work laws as I understood them, but who I am I to tell these folks) - got it done, but was a real pain...
3) Changed the job again a couple of years later, back into Bkk, got all the documentation, went to the big Immigration, and they said the documentation was wrong... I asked them what they wanted, they detailed it, and basically said that I had to leave the country, come back with the same paperwork, but with an entrance stamp from an airport and all would be fine; said I'd see her in 2 days. Went to Singapore, came back, saw the same woman, she said the paperwork was wrong, I mentioned that I'd done exactly as she'd asked 2 days previously, she said that there was a different line manager now, different implementation of the regulations and there was nothing she could do to help me, I had to start the application all over again with new paperwork from the employer dated after I entered the country... Got a job in Oman that afternoon, and never came back to work in Thailand...
Thai immigration is terrible, even if you follow the rules and know the process, you can be fuked over for no other reason than a new manager who decides on new processes from the day before - welcome to Thailand...
Korean visas/work permits are professionally managed, quick and exact - everything is on your ARC, a photocard registration, takes me less than an hour to redo it every year or two (depending on my work contract), the wife's automatically links to it, she doesn't even go to the immigration office to renew (I do both); bank, credit card, taxes, healthcare, etc all link to the ARC and work perfectly. I use the Korean automatic entrance machines went entering Korea, takes me just a few seconds at immigration; exactly the same as when entering Oman on the Omani ARC. Some countries are efficient, consistent and work. Thailand immigration is not and does not... No, Thai immigration is certainly not the same as other countries...