Why should I manage my O visa marriage application myself instead of hiring a lawyer?

There are translation services in Bangkok and in every major city that can do that. Depends on where you will be living.

I came here on 90 day exempt visa in 2022. Took fiancee to about 15 bank branches over 2 days. Different branches of the same bank had different requirements to open account, including Bangkok bank wanting a copy of a work permit despite me telling them I was soon to be changing to a retirement Non O visa. You will have to spend time, and legwork, going to as many as you can in your area, eventually you will get one opened. As MANY previous posts have commented in the near 2 years I've been here, IF the agent messes up it is not them in trouble. You could get banned because of their mistakes! As others said here, take a Thai speaker with you to immigration and ask for an up-to-date list. My experience is they are extremely helpful. Good luck, I hope it works out OK

IMO, the VIP visa service agencies are worth the price. Google the visa agencies in your area. Look for ones with 4 or 5 stars. Then look for reviews of them on Youtube. Then visit their shop to see if they are professional and communicate well.

Hopefully you was married in Thailand with a Thai Marriage certificate or you will have extra steps to do.

"why not just pay a fee to the lawyer and have them do it"... because if they falter and don't do it, you are still wholly responsible, not them. Someone posted about a day or two ago about a very similar situation. Promises were broken, goods were not delivered. Now she is in overstay and needs to blow town PDQ.

Just to clarify: Visas wether based on retirement, marriage or any other reason are actually

stated as an extension of stay from one year to another, provided of course the applicant meets all the requirements.

As Brandon confirmed it is Immigration who ultimately issue these Extensions, so time and money could be wasted by going to anywhere else other than an Immigration Office

These comments are based on my personal experiences of over 20 years in Thailand,during which time I have never used any external

agencies.

These comments are made

without Prejudice.

It's only an issue if you don't meet the requirements that immigration request. Lawyers and agents are mainly used to circumvent this if you don't meet them . Otherwise you are paying a ridiculous amount of money for something you can do yourself.

Becasue its really not that hard if you have the correct documents. Sometimes those requirements do change, but not nearly as much as some claim. If you get an updated list prior to going its no problem even if they did.

If you use a lawyer you still have to get the documents together, they end up a post box.

Why waste money on an agent when you can do it yourself for 2000 baht? Plus you trust handing your passport over to some stranger for an unknown amount of time?

Just go to the immigration office before you'll apply and get the list of requirements. Then you know exactly what you need. It's not rocket science.