Transcript of the above video:

At the title of this video suggests, we're discussing a Visa agent situation that came to my attention; I will get to the citation here in a moment, but this is one of those videos where it is good to remind people that at the end of the day you need to be careful when you are handing over your passport to anybody to have your Visa processed. And more to the point, you need to kind of stay on top of folks and if you hear something that doesn't sound right, maybe follow up. 

So I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Pattaya News, that is thepattayanews.com, the article is titled: Over 100 Tourists Allegedly Duped in Passport Scam, Agent in Pattaya Faces Legal Action. Quoting directly: "Over 100 foreign tourists in Pattaya were allegedly scammed by a Visa Agent who promised to handle their passport extensions." (I think they mean their visa extensions). Quoting further: "However, the agent reportedly kept the passports far past agreed-upon dates, without processing the extensions, leading to some of the tourists overstaying their stays in Thailand and keeping money paid by the tourists." 

Yeah this is unfortunate; it does happen. We see it. Folks will go to quite honestly a Visa Agent that maybe is not the most reputable or has their best interest at heart and sort of takes the money and then doesn't really follow up and doesn't really do anything about it. It's a bad situation because it can put someone into overstay when they did not mean to go into that kind of status. They were trying to do things right and they end up getting sort of well bilked or scammed, and then at the same time, at the end of the day you as the foreigner in Thailand are ultimately responsible for maintaining your own status. 

Now again if you are truly scammed or whatever, I am sure that there are exceptions that can be made under certain circumstances but bear in mind, at the end of the day as a foreign national here in Thailand, it is your responsibility to maintain your ongoing lawful Visa status here in the Kingdom.