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Thailand visa

#3
daxbr said:
You can achieve the same goal with annual student visa and save 20k. Best deal is still annual retirement visa for over 50yo, $2.5k income or $25k bank deposit.
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Why "save $20k"? Is an anual student visa free? He'd still have to pay for either visa anyway.

Besides, a student visa requires you to actually visit the classes. Otherwise they'll find out and invalidate it. I wouldn't want to visit classes, I'd better buy the Elite visa.
 
#4
rainy said:
a student visa requires you to actually visit the classes. Otherwise they'll find out and invalidate it.
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@rainy I am intrigued by your faith in the system.

If you're living a backpacker lifestyle. Small income, small remittances. Then yes you can get some fake student or business visa and not get in trouble. I met plenty of these people.

@Apgu I agree, f you have legitimate high net worth from outside Thailand and you want to move there and remit a ton of money then the Elite visa is easy and convenient.

If you're in the Big Leagues, just get a top Bangkok lawyer and let them sort it all out. They know what to do. A few million $ gets you a crazy lifestyle in Bangkok, compared to London, Singaapore or New York. :)
 
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#5
khinkali said:
If you're living a backpacker lifestyle. Small income, small remittances. Then yes you can get some fake student or business visa and not get in trouble. I met plenty of these people.
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Firstly you're talking about a fake visa. Of course, with a fake student visa one won't have to visit the classes. But try not visit them with a real one.
Secondly, with a fake visa you might get into a trouble because of the fact that a visa is fake.
 
#6
Do schools in Thailand have an incitament to actually report you to the authorities if you dont meet up? I mean you paid them money,
and other students paid them money. If they report that you never showed up they might miss out on future revenue from fake students.

I can understand that schools in Europe have some moral high ground and will report that a student never showed up, but a school in Thailand? really?
 
#8
@rainy I should have been more specific when I wrote "fake visa". A forged visa won't do you much good and I suspect unless you're living in the forest and somehow cross the border illegally you'll get caught. Thai bureaucracy is frustrating, but capable. They rigorously match up visas, entries, exits, hotel and apartment stays, etc. Farang former colleagues were questioned by the police because they previously checked into a hotel for a weekend and didn't register with immigration when they moved back into their house (that they own) two days later.

What I mean is where you have a school that likes to make money from students, but doesn't care about educating. There are some police raids but of course, certain schools are friendly with the local cops. Your visa isn't fake, but your course attendance is. A friend already spoke quite good Thai, so he signed up as a student to learn Thai at some dodgy school. If he was every questioned, he could quite easily describe his lessons and demonstrate that he was learning to speak the language.

NicolasMaduro said:
I can understand that schools in Europe have some moral high ground and will report that a student never showed up, but a school in Thailand? really?
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I don't know about the continent but UK investigations have uncovered tens of thousands of visas given for attendance at dodgy further education colleges in the UK.

@PiersBlack Sorry I don't. My visa was for work. My employer in Thailand was meticulous and did everything the hard way (no bribes). When I finished I hired a (non Thai) lawyer to advise on setting up in Thailand myself. He took $3k5 and ripped me off, so I won't be recommending him. I moved away anyway, due to crypto law and tax uncertainty. For the Big League stuff I would go for the biggest names, because they already dealt with enough similar cases.
 
#9
khinkali said:
@rainy I should have been more specific when I wrote "fake visa". A forged visa won't do you much good and I suspect unless you're living in the forest and somehow cross the border illegally you'll get caught. Thai bureaucracy is frustrating, but capable. They rigorously match up visas, entries, exits, hotel and apartment stays, etc. Farang former colleagues were questioned by the police because they previously checked into a hotel for a weekend and didn't register with immigration when they moved back into their house (that they own) two days later.

What I mean is where you have a school that likes to make money from students, but doesn't care about educating. There are some police raids but of course, certain schools are friendly with the local cops. Your visa isn't fake, but your course attendance is. A friend already spoke quite good Thai, so he signed up as a student to learn Thai at some dodgy school. If he was every questioned, he could quite easily describe his lessons and demonstrate that he was learning to speak the language.
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Alright. But an average Joe who doesn't know Thai language - will this work?

I'd obtain a student if I had no obligation to visit classes. Or visit them once in 1-2 weeks, for 1-3 hours. Can it be done? And I neirner speak Thai, nor have intentation to lean it. I'd rather learn other things I see worth and on my own - not in those classes, regardless of what they teach.
 
#10
The police will check if the dirty falangs really learn something in these classes they attend from years.
They do not want them in their holy land, they just want their cash in huge piles.
This is a brief sum up from one of bkks top lawyer whose name i will not mention here ;)

You can find them easily by googling certain thai related legal questions, there are just a few.

You will just wanna get the elite visa for decently rich and above. That is what the thai gov wants from you.
or invest the 300k into the real estate.

You can get away with other methods if you have local contacts.
 
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#11
rainy said:
Alright. But an average Joe who doesn't know Thai language - will this work?

I'd obtain a student if I had no obligation to visit classes. Or visit them once in 1-2 weeks, for 1-3 hours. Can it be done? And I neirner speak Thai, nor have intentation to lean it. I'd rather learn other things I see worth and on my own - not in those classes, regardless of what they teach.
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No, it will not work over the long term.
You should speak thai anyway if you wanna live there. They will give you a hard time if you visit for 4 years thai language classes but can only say sawatdee lol.
 
#14
A surf bum who does a bit of paid blog posting might well get away with dodgy visas (real visas, for spurious reasons) for quite a long time by being a fake student for an ED visa or paying a local lawyer THB20k to "prepare the paperwork" (in other words, give half the cash to the immigration police) for a B visa. Not what I'd want to do. You are always at risk of deportation if the army insist on a crackdown, arrest a couple of police officers and make it look like they've tackled corruption...again.

@JackAlabama the difference is often scale. I totally agree for someone with $$$$s get Thailand Elite and a reputable bangkok lawyer.

Chiang Mai police offered a 12 month ED visa for a "self defense course". Classes scheduled every Saturday and Sunday from 3 to 5 p.m. Over THB 30k for the course. Obviously this was a paid visa that the police were offering publicly. They even allowed "flexibility" regarding attendance if you need to travel. Thailand can be very strict and very flexible at the same time.
 
#15
khinkali said:
Chiang Mai police offered a 12 month ED visa for a "self defense course". Classes scheduled every Saturday and Sunday from 3 to 5 p.m. Over THB 30k for the course. Obviously this was a paid visa that the police were offering publicly. They even allowed "flexibility" regarding attendance if you need to travel. Thailand can be very strict and very flexible at the same time.
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What do you mean "paid visa the police were offering"? Is it a legit and official visa and classes? $1k for year, that is?

How does one look for such sorry-a*s, cheap, flexible but still legit and legal classes?
 
#17
@rainy I was half joking but it's still running. People made fun of it when it started but it's been going ten years now. The instructors seem to be highly qualified ex Royal Thai Army Military Police combat instructors.

The founder is former bodyguard to prime ministers. I guess his contacts help the credibility of the school when it comes to getting certified for ED visas, but the school is legit.

About Us - Hand-to-Hand Combat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOmHldS_UJI
hand2handcombat.com hand2handcombat.com

I suggest that you only apply for Thai visas in your home country. Thai embassies in neighboring countries are not as willing to issue a visa (especially an ED visa), even if you meet all the qualifications.

I still think that if you're running some international business, making a lot of $$ and driving around in a Lamborghini then you should get some advice from an experienced Bangkok lawyer before relying on an ED visa....
 
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#19
I doubt there are a lot of cheap, flexible *and* legit options. But maybe the education can be worthwhile if you want to be a student. Would you like to train as a chef? Maybe become a SCUBA instructor if you can find a school that's registered with the MOE?
 
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