If you live in Thailand then I am sure you have heard the term tea money. Little extra unofficial payments to Government officials, to oil the wheels of bureaucracy, for which you will receive no receipt. Well until today I reckoned I had done quite well in the tea money stakes, since I had never been asked for any whilst living in Thailand.
However that all changed on my visit to Thai Immigration at Singkhon this morning. No problems were encountered as usual when I completed my 90 day reporting procedure, in fact the young male officer was very polite and efficient. But today I had another mission at immigration because I also needed a certificate of residency to prove my address so I can apply for my Thai drivers licence. "No problem," the young man offered and asked for my passport, visa, lease agreement and two passport photographs. Drat I had thought of everything but I only had 1 photograph.
"No problem Khun Michael, you can come and see me later when you have them." So off we go to get some photographs, returning to Singkhon an hour later. After waiting a few minutes my new found friend appears. Processes my application, but before doing so asks if I want a car and motorcycle licence. Now at the time I didn't think this strange, but hang on a minute he's Thai Immigration Officer and I have to go to the Department of Land Transport for my licence, surely the letter is just to show where I live. Isn't hindsight a wonderful gift?
Anyway the guy produces two letters for DLT one for a motorcycle licence and one for a car licence both of which are identical as regards proving my address. He then applies the various stamps and the asks for 600 Baht. "But I thought it was free." "No sir, its 300 Baht for a letter and you have two."
Now this is the point in Thailand, when you suspect a request for tea money, you have to make a decision, do you cause a fuss (politely) or do you cough up. Well I paid, since I figured that I need to return to Singkhon every three months and don't want any hassle in the future. As for my money well it went in a drawer and no receipt was given.
I had just paid my first tea money.
I now have my two letters, when I only needed one, but what the heck, I just need to pay the doctor to say I am fit now (200 baht) and I can get my licence from DLT(300 baht). So in total I will have paid 1300 Baht if you include the price of the photographs I had taken. Now I don't think this is excessive based on a similar process in the UK, or by proving residence here using a UK Embassy letter (2000 Baht), however I do now have a personal dilemma on whether I should have paid up at immigration or not since you could argue that my actions simply fuel corruption.
What do you think, should I have paid the tea money?
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9 comments:
I got the same driver license certificate of residence from my embassy. No tea money requested, all legitimate and with proper receipts. Four hour wait and 1200 baht (for one letter, not two).
Seems likeyou got a better deal.
Anon you are obviously not a Brit since the going rate at UK Embassy is around 2000 (depends on exchange rate).
Yes it is a good deal BUT the service from Thai Immigration is supposed to be free-its just the principle of it all. Plus I know full well I didn't need two letters since the DLT determine the class of vehicles you can drive based on your International driving licence/permit.
Good news it didn't take 4 hours and lots of smiles from the IO!
Mike, tea with a sour taste. I would have kept the tea man sweet for my future three monthly visits. I would be more concerned with the tea money you will have to pay in future police fines.
I would say you got off lightly and forget about it. Like you said in the U.K. or U.S. just the normal amount of monies involved with renewing your license is much more.
Many years ago, I worked for the U.S.A. Federal government. At that time, our Federal Joint Travel Regulations allowed us to "pay" (or bribe) foreign officials in Customs, Immigration, Agriculture, etc., to do their ordinary jobs. If you paid for a no-cost immigration stamp while on official travel, or your luggage wouldn't pass Customs without "consideration," your bribe would be considered a proper and reimbursable expense. Obviously, it wasn't proper to bribe any official to allow an illegal activity.
These practices were more common in poorer African nations, as their public officials were not paid living wages.
I think you did fine...alternatively (as you noted), you could have politely & quietly protested (perhaps, that you had no extra funds?), and made a respectful departure.
Thankfully, it doesn't seem as if you run into these situations often.
Ken C., San Diego, CA
Mike , thats why you get a smile with your service , good or bad here in the LOS, I would have done the same as you ,as yes we have to go back all the time and one thing for sure ,you never want to get on a Thai's S--- list no matter where they work.
For your info any time you need a proof of address you can also get it at your local Amphor office for free and at any Gov. clinic you can get a Dr.'s letter , for 30 baht. I have done it for 5 years now . I hate the thought of tea money , but here in the LOS it seems to me to be a custom that the Thai's are comfortable with , not wanting to "ROCK THE BOAT" so to speak. Malcolm
We call this Coffee Money in Malaysia.
Wonder how it is called in other places.
In your situation, I would have paid it. As a local in South Africa, I just used to politely tell them that they were trying with the wrong person but how about we both forget they'd just asked me that?
Thank you for all the responses. Reflecting on the incident and taking into account your views I figure I can rest easy.
I just picked up my new licence and the whole thing cost me a lot less than what my own embassy would charge just for a letter. So I guess the boys at Wireless Road in Bangkok charge champagne money compared to Thai Immigrations tea money!!
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