British people are weird, I am British, and we accept our consistently apologizing before we even speak:
“Sorry err, could you be as kind as to tell me the way to the flight gate?”
We are also nervous passengers…
Some of us, even though we know we packed our bags ourselves and clung to it like it contains our Euro lottery cash winnings all the way to our destination, will still open up our luggage and check, just in case a ghost has added 50 Kilograms of drugs to our bags, right before we go through the ‘Nothing to declare’ isle!
Heck I even think that Airport security people know who is British and have a ‘leeway’ for body heat, because we are all so paranoid.
“Harry look at this one he’s sweating like a horse!”
“Relax George he’s a Brit, they are all like that, worst he has in his bag is a Toblerone, he is not sure that counts as taxable imported goods lol!!”
Nothing makes you feel more illegitimate than handing your passport over to an immigration officer and you know that at that point God is looking down on you right at that very moment and you are being judged, and may smite you any second for being, well; just you!
Oh sure you may even take your own litter home, you have never even had a speeding ticket, and coach underprivileged kids free on Saturdays. You drift off to a nightmare -ish reverie as the immigration officer sneers at your passport:
“No you cannot come in, No you cannot get an extension, you are now an over stayer the worst kind of criminal, hunted and persecuted like the low life you are!!”
“Next!” The immigration officer says, as you wake from your dreadful daydream and wonder through to the other side shaking and thanking every deity you can imagine for your good fortune to be allowed to pass with the proper stamp in your passport.
See the thing is; laws change, and change often, and more so here in Thailand because it’s such a tourist destination and immigration has to try to change to keep current as to try to attract more to the country as they can
There are certain aspects of life that really requires professional help, surgery, bedroom design (for heterosexual males) and immigration!
Yes, you will always get that one person in your group who is offended by fees that immigration consultants charge, the one who always tries to tell you to do it yourself and save so much money, but after a while the time spent to gain the PhD needed and take a fresh exam each month only to find out there is a new lady at immigration, the old lady whom enjoyed his ‘special cakes’ so much has been ‘logistically moved’ he then collapses in a fit of tears outside the immigration office and then he admits defeat.
If you want to stay in a foreign country then immigration issues are always best left to professionals and this is 100% the case in Thailand, language difficulties and the reliance on reams of paperwork that must be signed on every page that which changes monthly, makes it so difficult for a middle aged bloke, who forgot his glasses again and who last completed a written an exam in 1973 to be able to cope with the paperwork needed.
When it comes to changing over from say a tourist visa to a retirement visa or getting a Thai girlfriend a visa to go to Europe or the US, or getting married to a Thai lady and changing to married Visa, you will hear so many stories of how many fail when they try to do themselves, wasting money and time.
I have always used professionals and never failed to get what I needed, and the stress factor was minimal, at our age do you really need more stress? Only a few years to the pension eh lads so the less stress the better eh! Sorry!
If you have any kind of visa issues even if you think you are beyond help there are always ways and means and a friendly chat with a real immigration expert who knows the people is always your best bet.
