Fidel Posted October 9, 2003 Report Share Posted October 9, 2003 I have a friend who was duped by a fake visa service guy, (Farang), into having his passport sent off every 90 days for a new entry-exit stamp. The guy is 75 and doesn't have much to go back home to. When his passport was full he took it to the British embassy to get a replacement and a letter requesting them to have the visa, (fake), transferred from the old passport to the new one. The embassy impounded his passport and after much arguing his friend convinced them to release it to him.... without the letter, needless to say. Now he has two passports, one full of dodgy stamps and one with no stamps. What can he do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 9, 2003 Report Share Posted October 9, 2003 Now this is a toughie. only thing I could think of would either a) get on the embassey grounds and stay until they send you home b)stowaway on a ship headed for British territory c) join a religious order. since none of these would be serious options, I really don't know. at his age and not wanting to go home, he can either a) try to go straight with a good possibility of ending up in prison........if he's lots of $$$ then a good lawyer could minimize it, but maybe not in todays climate b)disappear into the woodwork and try to live out his years c)lose both of them and pray he can work out something with the embassy........but they don't have a good reputaion for compassion here. If he won't go home it's really going to be tricky. Maybe FlyW and some of the others with more experience in this might be able to offer a 'solution'. so if he only had to do the exit/entry thing, do we presume he is on a retirement visa? Not sure, but even the Thai Immigration might have some compassion here then. Hope he's got lots of good Thai friends who would vouch for him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 9, 2003 Report Share Posted October 9, 2003 first of all, he should lay low until the present crackdown is finished, most likely it will wain out when apec is over. then he should contact a thai lawyer to help him smooth things out with the immigration. given his age he might very possibly come off with a slap on his fingers, maybe won't even need to have to pay a lot. very important though is then when he deals with the authorities then that he is apologetic and humble. don't do anything before the crackdown is over! he should not do it alone as he might be forced to tell on his foreign friend who organised the stamps for him (don't we all need those kind of friends...?). in his case i don't see any other option right now as everythings else he could do carry a risk of a serious prison sentence which a 75 year old guy will not survive here. he should also start saving up, he might need to cough up a considerable amount of money. right now the fines are around 200 000 baht from what i have heard. it might go down after the crackdown though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
didierhardy Posted October 9, 2003 Report Share Posted October 9, 2003 This advice is ok. But h e should already NOW to get in contact with a lawyer. One of the best in this field (NO ANY CONNECTION WITH ME!) is: H. Toosi, Law office 65/177 Rama 9 Rd. 21th Floor Chamnanpenchat Tower Huay Kwang, Bkk 10320 Tel. 02-643-8867-9 ask for Miss Anongnart www.htoosi.com In a even more complicated case, she could reach (legally!!) an astonishing outcome! Didier Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 9, 2003 Report Share Posted October 9, 2003 My opinion is he should report the old passport with dodgy visa lost (and do lose it somewhere as well) and go to the immigration to get his last valid visa stamp replaced in his new passport. Now he does need to take along some money and a ticket out of the country, preferably on the day of the immigration visit or no more than 1 day later. The amount of money depends on when his last valid visa expired, and he should be prepared to pay the overstay fine in full. But that's a maximum 20K. Beste to wait untill after APEC. A few days more shouldn't hurt. But don't carry that passport with dodgy visa around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fidel Posted October 9, 2003 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2003 Thanks for the advice guys, for a 75year old he's really active and doesn't act his age... He told me about his problem last week before he sent his friend to pick up his passport. 'Fidel.... how about these fake visas?'.. 'What about them? Are any of yours fake?'. 'Every f***in one of 'em.'. He went on to explain that this guy, who's renound for providing this 'visa' service, had gotten him a retirement visa from Hull in England... even that one is dodgy I think. He was delighted that he got the new passport and he thinks all he needs to do is go to Burma via Ranong. I told him to go nowhere until he had shown me his passports and until I had posted up here for some advice. I think I'll advise him to lie low and to call that lawyer... either way I think he's in shit... at least a fine. He doesn't seem to think so. Cheers again, Fidel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 9, 2003 Report Share Posted October 9, 2003 i would say that oran gave the best advice, as long as he does not get his story confused. second choice would be the lawyer way. but if he thinks that he is not in trouble than he is very mistaken. please explain that to him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 10, 2003 Report Share Posted October 10, 2003 Completely agree with FlyW and Oran.. and it is rare that we all vehemently agree on a single issue. So Fidel, if this chap is really friend...then do him right. Sit him down and get this info through his head. Might be tough if he's still in the Old World headspace of 'tisk tisk, these are only the colonies'. But he IS already in serious KAKA, he just doesn't see it. Hell I'd get him drunk and steal his dodgy passport and burn the bloody thing. If he's not that good a friend then just give him the info and walk away, shake your head and hope his karma bank is filled up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALHOLK Posted October 10, 2003 Report Share Posted October 10, 2003 Hi! How would burning the passport help him. To my knowledge the Thai immigration keep very reliable records. He would still have to tell them where and when he entered the country and the given information would have to conform with the aforementioned records. regards ALHOLK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 10, 2003 Report Share Posted October 10, 2003 because then he has no choice except to take his 20k baht to the airport and go for a jaunt....even to HK or wherever. Instead he may wave the bloody thing full of fake stamps around until they DO have to jail him. he's old, can't remember, been here many times, etc But i like my friends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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