Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing well as can be seen, there has been accusation that a "clerk" at the Thai Embassy in Beijing has committed some level of Visa fraud apparently. I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Bangkok Post, that's bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: Former Thai Embassy Clerk arrested for Visa fraud. Quoting directly: "He said while the man was working as a clerk at the Thai Embassy in Beijing under a temporary employment contract, nine Chinese students intending to travel to Thailand to study at Dhurakij Pundit University applied for Non-Immigrant Visas. The man instead issued them Tourist Visas and kept the difference in payment for himself. A Non-Immigrant Visa costs more than a Tourist Visa." 

Yeah, so look, this will come up from time to time in a US Immigration context albeit extremely rarely. There are instances where you will see Visa fraud in various guises if you will in that sort of bailiwick with regard to Immigration in the United States so this isn't something that is only a Thailand problem. That said, it's pretty darn rare. That's why when I saw this, article I was like I really need to make a video on that because it's so rare that it even comes up. But yeah at the end of the day, in this instance this was a situation where this individual was allegedly operating unilaterally just to make some money; they basically pocketed the difference in cost between a Tourist Visa Application and a Student Visa Application which I can't imagine that being a lot of money but I don't know, I haven't dug far enough deep into this and frankly I don't know that it is overly relevant. 

Other types of Visa fraud you might see out here, like not out here but you might see out in the world from time to time are things like collusion between someone who is supposed to be adjudicating an application and those who are applying for facilitating them. At the end of the day, the thing to understand, shortcuts yes there are methodologies whereby one can make the process more efficient, streamline the process of getting a Visa but the notion that one can sort of pay to change an outcome or to get around requirements or to overcome legal blockage, something like a legal ground of inadmissibility, this is folly. You don't want to go anywhere near this because even though it's one of those "it's a sure thing, we have got a lock, oh that kind of thing", you don't, because at the end of the day folks that engage in some sort of fraud, it has always been my experience they are ultimately caught from what I have seen as an outside observer dealing with Immigration lo these past 15 years. 

Long story short, when you are dealing with the Visa process, just go ahead and deal with things on the up and up. In this situation though this is kind of a different type of fraud insofar as again, this was sort of unilateral on the part of the person who was pocketing the difference between one visa fee and another so apparently it didn't have anything to do with any sort of collusion between applicant and adjudicator but bear it in mind, Visa fraud is not something you want to mess with.