Key Visa Thailand
reviews and complaints

I contacted key visa at the beginning of November of last year (2022),concerning a marriage visa and was told to forward all necessary documentation to them along with the fee of 25000 baht. I told them I would pay the fee on confirmation of receipt of the Documents, some of which are originals and extremely hard to replace. The were posted on the 7th of December by registered post from Krabi, and my partners documents were sent by registeted post on the 9th of December from Khemerat.

Unfortunately Darren at Key visa passed away and so I sent a mail to key visa offering my condolences and giving them a week to grieve before discussing how to proceed. After a week I began mailing them and trying to phone the office, but had no reply to my mails and the phone would give an unobtainable tone. I finally had a reply from a woman called Gemma Purcell after I had made a comment on Google review, to say that she had no knowledge of my documents, but she would investigate. After yet another week I mailed her to enquire on the progress, and received a reply asking me to supply dates and times of postage. I sent proof of postage and of delivery, as someone at the office had signed for the documents. I sent proof of postage to her on the 27th of December, and despite numerous mails to her since, Gemma Purcell has failed to acknowledge or reply to me. I would question her qualifications to operate this type of business, as these people are highly unprofessional and should not be allowed to operate.

Let me be absolutely clear - Darren is a con man. It has been a while since anyone has posted on this site but I am writing here in the hope that I can stop someone else from being taken in by this awful man and his lies. Read on...

I approached Darren to organise a settlement visa for me with a cast iron case as I had been planning it for over 2 years. As a busy working professional I thought I would employ someone who knew what they were doing to take the stress out of it for me. He was very keen for me to send a 25, 000 baht deposit before starting any work, which I duly did, together with all the prepared documents and associated preparation. I assumed that within a month or so we would simply be waiting for the visa decision to be made.

To cut a long story short, what then followed for 2.5 months was a series of lies and fob offs. Messages stopped being replied and e-mails were ignored. In desperation, my thai partner visited the office 3 times and each time was told that everything was happening and Darren was in regular contact with me (which he wasn't). My partner contacted two other people she knew who were also waiting for Darren to process their visa's and we had the horror of realising that they too were finding themselves banging against the same brick wall. It eventually became clear that in 2.5 months, Darren had done NOTHING. He was simply a conman that relies on obtaining hefty deposits from people and then just fobbs them off/ignores them forever. A nice way to earn a living! I am surprised that there are actually so few negative comments plastered over the net about his shoddy practices but I also understand that his 'repuation' is quite well known in Pattaya.

After 2.5 months I cut my losses and applied for the visa directly myself online. I was actually surprised how easy it was and the visa followed 35 days after our application.

Make your own choice but if I can prevent a few more people lining his pocket for nothing and having their lives put on hold by his shady lies and deceit than I am pleased to have helped.

My name bruno locatelli. UK
Partner Patinya namarsa. Thailand
We applied. For marriage visa for Patinya to go to UK. Paid money to key visa. His name Darren I think? He's so arrogant
Then my partner had to pass English exam 3 times failed his English is better than mine. Then had a medical said he had newmonia. Load off rubbish but passed eventually. After all money paid. Told key visa he just keeps saying stop phoning it's in the process. It's been going on for months I don't believe his rubbish what he talks could you please investigate this

I contacted key visa to help me get a visa for my thai girlfriend to come to the uk on the 25/11/17 and they sent me out a list to get for them but my girlfriend stop the relationship so i ask darren the owner for a refund as i no longer needed the visa but to this day i havent got a reply and ive emailed the business now four times with no reply it was told to me by darren no visa and we will refund all monies also states this on the wed page i asked for a refund on the 22/1/18 which is 10, 000 baht which is £240.00 pounds

Scam
I would say the real scam is this - Mr McGarry masquerades himself as a well-educated, astute businessman and the owner of a visa company that ‘he’ believes is the number one visa agent in Pattaya, this is so far from the truth as nearly everyone in Pattaya has a tale to tell about you and the word is out, they don’t believe or trust you anymore.
The real reason why people don’t post their names is very simple Mr. McGarry they value their privacy and don’t want any threats as I have heard you often make to dissatisfied ex clients. However everyone is entitled to their opinion as you are in your many different guises posting about other company’s in Pattaya, surely this smacks of desperation and anyone who has been in business or has received a moderate level of education will understand that having a go at your competitors guised as a client is cheap shot. The internet is littered with you and other company’s arguing in guises of clients trying to discredit one another it only takes a few moments to look.
My tale is common to those disgruntled clients who regularly post on here and your Facebook page. I gave you a deposit to begin work on my partner’s settlement visa application. We then forwarded you all the required documents. We then waited then waited some more. Finally we tried phoning you and it’s a common theme from your disgruntled clients you never answer, return calls or reply to e mails. After FOUR months of waiting and no progress we decided to go elsewhere. You wouldn’t give back the deposit. . We chose another agent in Pattaya, after updating pays lips and bank statements, the application was lodged inside of 5 days the visa issued in two weeks so that my partner could join me in the UK for Christmas. My case was very simple salary employed for over 15 years with an income in excess of £45, 000 per annum plus I and my partner had been in a relationship for three years. It does seem the most simplest of applications and it was posed difficulties for you perhaps a word of advice is needed here – STOP the overseas visa business and concentrate on your UK Embassy income letters and passports as this really does seem to be the level that you and your business are at and stop pretending or ‘masquerading’ to be something you clearly are not which is a professionally run visa company. It may be only a ‘visa’ or ‘money’ to you but what you’re dealing with is peoples relationships and future relationships it is unthinkable how many relationships have ended because of the poor service and advice you offer through your company, please step aside and admit finally you can’t offer the services your marketing and let others do the work you obviously cannot.

Having gone to key visa and spoken to the boss 'Darren' in Feb 2015 asking for a UK Visit visa for my wife i was assured all the paperwork was in order, and he checked my finances were fine and sufficient and assured me being self employed would not be an issue.
3 Months down the line i have had confirmation from the embassy that this visa application has never been submitted.
Darren is refusing to return my paperwork, fees paid (despite what his website said) or submit the application. Having checked with another agency a lot more paperwork is needed for self employed persons and this visa app would be declined!
Complete was of time and now has set my plans back, we have just purchased a dry cleaning business and now i can't get back to the UK to look after the shop...
If you want a visa i would avoid this company