If we take away the hurt feelings etc. there still is a valuable topic & discussion here:
- Is it really the Wild West? I.e. can the Agents ask anything they want for a (retirement) KITAP extension since they can make it extremely difficult to change sponsorship?
- What is the realistic price median nowadays for a retirement KITAP?
- What will Agents include in their quotes? KTP etc? And change of address in the future?
- What in the (not so unrealistic) case an Agent will go out of business 10 years down the road?
- What in case of decease of one of the spouses, what should be the role of the Agent vis-à-vis Immigration and Civil registration? Will they charge an arm and a leg? Same for divorce and if (one of) the KITAP holders decide to leave the country?
- .....
Very good questions. I myself don't have any retirement visa so I can only say about normal spouse KITAP. This is just my opinion:
1. It is like a jungle out there to find a good and reliable agent from my experience. They usually try to "lock" their customer to come back to them once a new issue arise. Therefore they can charge you virtually anything they like.
2. The realistic price of KITAP would be total cost of KITAP (no other bells and whistles) + 20-50% profit for their effort. If they - agents - are the sponsors then maybe their commission should be higher. But charging someone 700% of KITAP price is simply ridiculous. It is free market and if you want and can pay then pay if not try to do it yourself. I can personally spend 70 jt. in so many more productive ways.
3. If the agent incl. in their quote KITAP then all docs necessary to make it has to be incl. in their price.
If you want MERP then new price, if you want to upgrade KTP or change of address then new price. But if they say KITAP and KITAP needs KK, KTP and a bunch of letters then this all should be incl. in the KITAP package.
4. It happens very often and then you are stuck with some previous agent's "lock customer mechanism", cannot find him, cannot call him, business address changed, missing/lost/misspelled important docs. Ideally they should have some small company registered but this will push their prices up as there will be tax upon their service. Many of them are just rough cowboys. Then the end customer has to pay extra to untangle all that mess. Only then you can see what value for money they had. If I am not mistaken there is no agents signature on any of my documents so all the compliance with the law is entirely your responsibility even if they will make mistakes. Bare in mind you still have to go to those gov offices for photo, fingerprints, deliver some letter from another office ect... You are doing 50% of their job.
5. They can charge whatever they like because they can see you NEED this fast and it is important for you. There is sometimes little compassion while conducting business. Yes, you will have to update/change your visa, address, all documents KK, KTP, SIM, perhaps new sponsor. If someone dies, divorce or leave country it is being seen as an UPDATE in the eyes of any office. If your life situation changes you have to notify all relevant offices. This is where the agent comes in and perhaps will give you better quote as it is only an update and you have been their customer for some time.
