The Stress Of Getting a Thai Visa
Getting a visa for Thailand is a stressful undertaking, and those who have at one time tried to do it themselves will know there is a learning curve to go through that is sometimes like a game of chess and after you wonder why you have wasted so much time reading so many expat forums on the internet, asking many people, and calling into immigration and sitting for hours when after all is said and done you somehow feel the whole process is based on luck anyway.
“I hope the lady on my desk is in a good mood” you think to yourself, as she smiles at you and is laughing with her friends and generally enjoying her work, so you sit down full of hope in front of Miss Sunshine and then she is instantly replaced by Miss Thunder who has stark news for you …it’s 12.00 AM dinner time, you will have to wait for your verdict.
You are beginning to feel like a small time crook, when really you are just trying to do the right thing and be legit in Thailand.
Upon her return at 2.30 PM she tells you regulations changed last night, at 3 AM they had a meeting, and you have to go to the other side of town to get 15 more forms signed and stamped and dance naked with a wild bear under the third full moon at midnight!
You wake up in a screaming fit from your nightmare to realise your Thai visa run is not for a week or so yet, so you switch on the air con again and return to sleep.
The price of knowledge is never to be underestimated, it is equal to the time invested and the experience one needs to become an expert at anything. They say 10,000 hours is a good yard stick to become a real expert at what you do. You can try to be a jack of all trades, but you will always be a master of none.
Becoming a Thai Visa expert is what many expat retirees in the bars in Pattaya sat facing the road from 10 AM till the end of happy hour claim to be, but are they doing the work full time, have they been endorsed by the UK immigration office to give advice for acquiring a UK visa for your Thai spouse?
Many Thai business people will also set up shop and claim to know the Field Marshall of all allied forces and two Star trek Admirals as ‘close family friends,’ and is able to get your Thai Girlfriend a UK visa or an Australian Visa ‘no probpem!’ Then with a kind of geng Jai, save face, “Sure we can not, but we can not tell you we can not, it is our culture to make you happy.” There is nothing wrong with that per say, hey this is Thailand, until you get your letter back from the consulate and your Thai Missus has to take her warm coat back to her cousin that she was going to wear in ‘Engrand’ as her UK Visa application was rejected and that is your money up the Swanee to use the vernacular.
Getting a Thai Visa or even a new UK passport in Thailand is not like a carpenters skill of say; building a teak coffee table, where the experience has been handed down through generations, these are skills that are never going to change, however sending off the correct paperwork to get your retirement Visa for Thailand or maybe even presenting a case as to why you have overstayed your Thai Tourist visa, then this will involve the meandering Thailand government legislation that changes constantly like British weather.
Therefore unless you have not even been for a drink in Pattaya, or tasted great Thai food in a Phuket restaurant or walked along a world class beach on Koh Samet for the last 2 years because you are glued 18 hours a day to the immigration websites and forums to be a Thai Visa expert yourself to sort your visa confidently, then I would hazard a guess you would need the services of a reputable Thai Visa consultancy to get it done once and done right and enjoy Thailand which was why you came in the first place right?
Thai Visa Express is a premier provider of personal and professional UK & Australian visa application services, specialising in cost-effective solutions for clients applying for Australian or UK visa for Thai citizen. the company offers comprehensive consultancy services for different visa types and categories from their UK Office or their Thailand office in Pattaya. you can contact them here