Corruptions at Immigration? or What?

Post by **pal52** » April 24, 2015, 2:33 pm

Had to take my wife to do a re-entry at Nong Khai yesterday.
She had renewed her passport in Bangkok just 2 weeks ago.

She got to immigration to get stamped out & they refused to allow her to leave.
Told her she must go to Immigration to get her old visa put into her new passport.

I took her to Nong Khai Immigration office which is only 1 KM from the bridge.

The Nong Khai Immigration Staff were extremely helpful.

They told me because the Passport was issued in Thailand the 30 day visa had to be transferred to the new passport.
We did not have the receipt from the Embassy with us for when the Passport was issued.

The boss was called in & I explained my wife was only doing a Re-entry & not staying in Laos as we would be going to Savannakhet to get a new Non Immigrant Visa for her in 2 weeks time.

He was very helpful & told the staff to change the Visa into the new passport after inspecting my passport with a 1 year visa in it & that my wife had already had 2 one year Non immigrant O visas in her old passport.

They took photo copies of Passports TM60 & entered everything onto the Computer system.

All was done in 25 mins & the Staff very friendly & helpful.

I was then informed without asking the price that the fee was 20 baht for the 4 photo copies of the passports & the changing of the Visa into the new passport was a free service.

Is it only Udon immigration who tries to charge for this service???

Post by **udonman** » April 24, 2015, 2:40 pm

As I stated on a previous thread that whilst we were using the Nong Khai Immigration Office we had no problems.
Just wish I could go back to NK IM as it was a lot easier and friendly than the Udon Office.
Good to hear a positive success story re immigration from somebody.

Post by **tamada** » April 26, 2015, 10:18 am

747man wrote:
seagulls wrote:Not too sure that if one requested an "Express" service and did not wish to return in a month or did
not want an additional stamp in their passport how on earth could that be construed as Corruption on
the part of the "requester" regardless of what transpires on the other side .I just paid 1100 baht to UPS
to get a letter to the UK in three days or I could have waited 3 weeks .To each his own .
I've just sent A Parcel to the U.K ( Registered Mail ) at the Post Office.....It Took 3 DAYS to get there & cost 450 Baht .....So UPS Just " Ripped You Off "

Probably not. Seagulls possibly needed a more secure and guaranteed service for his letter. Courier services have a much better success rate for international documents than Thai Post EMS. Possibly your package wasn't so important. Either way, you both seem happy so nobody got ripped off.

Post by **GT93** » April 26, 2015, 4:02 pm

udonman wrote:As I stated on a previous thread that whilst we were using the Nong Khai Immigration Office we had no problems.
Just wish I could go back to NK IM as it was a lot easier and friendly than the Udon Office.
Good to hear a positive success story re immigration from somebody.

I did. I loathed the Nong Khai Immigration Office but I might be the exception.

Post by **bumper** » April 26, 2015, 6:10 pm

Well have read most of this, Seems to me if think your being taken advantage of, the thing to do would be to file a complaint.

If not accept things as they are complaining on here isn't going to get a thing done, that's for sure

What is the cost multi entry?

Haven't left in 13 years so I don't have a clue

Post by **uluru** » April 27, 2015, 8:06 am

If you want to complain anonymously you can send a letter to the below address.

http://www.nacc.go.th/ewt_news.php?nid=939

Office of The National Anti-Corruption Commission (ONACC)
361 Nonthaburi Rd., Thasaai Distict, Amphur Muang, Nonthaburi 11000 , Thailand

Post by **wazza** » April 27, 2015, 8:30 am

An email will leave an IT tracking location.

If sending a letter dont send a self addressed envelope for the reply.

I wonder how many people actually submit formal complaints and then whats the follow up % and how many are proved to be correct and remedial plans in plans to correct this.

Seeing a few people now filming local tea money hot spots. Saw 1 thai guy chased with his tablet in hand up posri road recently for a red light infringement.

Wonder if a dash cam is worth the money ?

Post by **BobHelm** » April 27, 2015, 8:38 am

wazza wrote:Wonder if a dash cam is worth the money ?

They regularly have them as 'specials' on the Landmark adverts - under 1,000 baht (seen as low as 500 for very basic) - so I would think that they are almost an absolute must add on in Thailand...

Post by **wazza** » April 27, 2015, 8:51 am

1 trip to BKK and return might pay for itself.

Tea money isnt a tax deduction sadly.

Post by **bumper** » April 27, 2015, 12:40 pm

There are many red lights that phased wrong allowing 1 second from green to red, yellow phase needs to be adjusted. The finally fixed the one on the way to Nong Sai. On the other hand lots of red violations can be seen daily I've ran a few I know. I was lucky most of the time Police were no working those places when it happened.

See one phased wrong might be worth reporting. In the states you had the option of presenting your defense in court. I have no idea how i works here??????????????????????????????????????

Not to get to far off the subject, yes guys have had to wait thirty days. I haven't met up with anyone who paid the extra.

Not a big deal if you are not far away so you can time for another activity in Udon

Is it legal your guess is a good a mine

Post by **FrazeeDK** » April 27, 2015, 3:18 pm

I think we can be pretty sure that if you pay a fee and then ask for a receipt and it is not given, that the charge is illegal...

Post by **Arosolius** » April 27, 2015, 5:13 pm

I would think that if the Anti-Corruption Commission received half a dozen anonymous letters on the subject somebody up there would at least get suspicious?

Post by **FrazeeDK** » April 27, 2015, 5:43 pm

I could probably go out and complain to my fish pond and get quicker results.. From watching the news, it appears that the only way to get a rapid government response is for something to be splashed all over social media thus embarrassing the top folks... Then the heavy hand comes down quickly...

Post by **merchant seaman** » April 27, 2015, 6:00 pm

So much has been running on corruption for so long take away corruption a lot could come to a halt.

Post by **fdimike** » April 27, 2015, 6:21 pm

Interesting statement MS. Just what are you referring to?

Post by **merchant seaman** » April 27, 2015, 6:41 pm

Many aspects of doing business is paying the right people to look the other way to remain in business. Beach chair and umbrella rentals, sidewalk food stalls, GoGo Bars, taxi stands, the list is endless.

Post by **fdimike** » April 27, 2015, 7:55 pm

Hopefully most of that will all go away and the sooner the better. I've never paid anyone anything under the table to do anything for me and that includes immigration. There is no need to pay anyone "tea money", "under the table money" or any other illegal payment especially government workers. All you have to do is insist they do their job correctly. Whe it came time for my annual extension of stay and they told me to come back in 30 days I simply said ok and returned in 25 days to pick up my passport with all the proper stamps. I just don't find the rules here all that difficult to comply with legally.

Post by **papaguido** » April 27, 2015, 8:34 pm

fdimike wrote:Hopefully most of that will all go away and the sooner the better. I've never paid anyone anything under the table to do anything for me and that includes immigration. There is no need to pay anyone "tea money", "under the table money" or any other illegal payment especially government workers. All you have to do is insist they do their job correctly. Whe it came time for my annual extension of stay and they told me to come back in 30 days I simply said ok and returned in 25 days to pick up my passport with all the proper stamps. I just don't find the rules here all that difficult to comply with legally.

Well stated =D>

Post by **Bandung_Dero** » April 28, 2015, 6:18 am

fdimike wrote:<snip> All you have to do is insist they do their job correctly. Whe it came time for my annual extension of stay and they told me to come back in 30 days I simply said ok and returned in 25 days to pick up my passport with all the proper stamps. I just don't find the rules here all that difficult to comply with legally.

I guess you also live in the city?
Doing their job properly should not include moving goal posts in such away as to inconvenience the applicants for no real reason AND I don't believe "The boss is out" or "We are understaffed". Don't forget this is the ONLY office in the country doing it. What is their motive other than to "Wave the Tea Bag".

Post by **fdimike** » April 28, 2015, 7:19 am

Bandung
Not really inside the city but just north of the ring road in Nong Sam Rong.
I do not disagree with anything you're saying. However, my Thai American wife (also on a retiree visa) and I have always stood our ground with the IO people and have never paid anything under the table to them. When they insisted we needed a Certificate of Residence to obtain an International Driving Permit despite both of us having 5 year licenses and living in the same house for nearly 10 years and ALWAYS doing our 90 day report on time we said ok. When they demanded payment without a receipt we refused and demanded to speak with the supervisor who then admitted the money was to help buy the student volunteers lunch!! I almost fell off my chair laughing and refused to pay them anything. He then shifted tactics and said it would take a couple of days to visit us at our house. Our reply was ok that's just fine and we got up and left. 2 or 3 days later they arrived at our home to verify that we actually lived there offering lots of apologies for the inconvenience. I picked up the certificate the following day without any additional problems.

I still maintain it's not difficult to comply with their rules although it may be a little inconvenient at times. Then again I'm retired and have nothing but time on my hands other than when I'm cycling. Coming back to pick up the extension of stay is just not a big problem as far as I'm concerned.