Appealing 1 year ban for overstay

[FreshThaiBrit]

I am below the age of 21 and a British citizen currently living in LA. 

 

On my last trip I overstayed, after extending my tourist visa, by a little over 90 days.. I was very close to not getting the ban. 

 

But, my overstay was due to my passport being stolen. I did not know that a Thai girl was stealing it. On my first trip it went missing so I got a new one. 

 

When my second one went missing I knew it couldn't have just gone missing again as it was stored in my safe. It was Christmas and my family were coming over on a pre-booked trip that I paid for,  if I was to go straight to Bangkok then I would've delayed it and I would've been alone on Christmas or lost out on thousands of pounds most likely as i'd have to wait a LONG time in the UK for a new passport!

 

In the end I went and there were many more delays in Bangkok; i wont get into these. The main issue really was that my passport had been stolen so I couldn't just 'leave' the country. I even made an attempt to leave early at another airport but they said I had to go to Bangkok! 

 

Where can I appeal this? Will it be worth appealing? 

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I miss the friends I made, places I stayed and just the overall vibe in Thailand. I'd love to be able to visit for my birthday in a few months :(

 

 

[faraday]

How long did you overstay for ?

[ubonjoe]

6 minutes ago, FreshThaiBrit said:

Will it be worth appealing?

Probably not.

There is no clear process for doing the appeal of it and it might take longer than your one year ban. It would also be very costly.

[ubonjoe]

2 minutes ago, faraday said:

How long did you overstay for ?

Answered in the OP.

5 minutes ago, FreshThaiBrit said:

On my last trip I overstayed, after extending my tourist visa, by a little over 90 days.. I was very close to not getting the ban. 

 

[Crossy]

What's done is done, and I agree with Joe, no point trying to appeal, but for future reference.

 

An emergency travel document can be done in a day or two at the British Embassy, besides it should take significantly less than 3 months to get a new passport.

 

[bkk6060]

Waste of time.

Take a year off.

Lucky you are only 21 hopefully many more years for you in LOS.

[Pib]

Sounds like a lot of excuses.  As already mentioned emergency travel docs could have been obtained in a few days if really trying.  Trying to appeal your ban would be like fighting a windmill.   

[Get Real]

Like above already state, there is no idea to appeal. Just wait one year, due to that you probably not want your passport stealing former, I hope, girlfriend back.
Your reason for appealing is not such a valid one either. You are trying to state that you couldn´t go home because your passport was stolen. The right thing to do, would have been asking for an emergency travel document, which almost for any country can be issued in between 1hour to 3 days.

[scorecard]

20 minutes ago, Get Real said:

Like above already state, there is no idea to appeal. Just wait one year, due to that you probably not want your passport stealing former, I hope, girlfriend back.
Your reason for appealing is not such a valid one either. You are trying to state that you couldn´t go home because your passport was stolen. The right thing to do, would have been asking for an emergency travel document, which almost for any country can be issued in between 1hour to 3 days.

 

Stole twice if I'm reading the OP correctly.

 

If that's true, the second theft would probably be seen as pure negligence on your part therefore no grounds on which to ask for any leniency re the ban. And as mentioned there is no formal process to ask for some leniency in the ban / ban time. 

 

Best option - learn some lessons re security of your passport, check more about alternatives (e.g. emergency travel doc), who to trust, etc...

 

 

Edited May 30, 2018 by scorecard

[BobbyL]

I knew someone in a similar situation who had his passport stolen. He didn't obtain the necessary docs from the British Embassy here and when we went to Chaeng Watthana with his new passport he had over stayed 50 days. They weren't sure whether to make him pay a huge fine or detain him. In the end they took him to the IDC for a few days before he was sent on a flight home. Got a 1 year ban even though he has a business here. He is currently in Phnom Pehn waiting to come back. 

[ubonjoe]

18 minutes ago, BobbyL said:

I knew someone in a similar situation who had his passport stolen. He didn't obtain the necessary docs from the British Embassy here and when we went to Chaeng Watthana with his new passport he had over stayed 50 days.

That was a mistake.

He should of just went to the airport and left. He could of showed the police report for the lost passport, his new passport, paid the 20k baht fine after immigration checked his records to determine his date of entry and etc. 

[ubonjoe]

A inflammatory post and one with a link for a off topic vidio have been removed.

[Get Real]

29 minutes ago, BobbyL said:

I knew someone in a similar situation who had his passport stolen. He didn't obtain the necessary docs from the British Embassy here and when we went to Chaeng Watthana with his new passport he had over stayed 50 days. They weren't sure whether to make him pay a huge fine or detain him. In the end they took him to the IDC for a few days before he was sent on a flight home. Got a 1 year ban even though he has a business here. He is currently in Phnom Pehn waiting to come back. 

Yeah, but this is exactly the wrong way of using the emergency travel documents. Emergency stand for something you need quick for not get an overstay, or at least not more than maximum a few days, which both Chaeng Watthana and airport Immigration not raising any eyebrows over. 

Here you say that he waited until he had a 50 day overstay, before trying to fix his problem. His fault for beeing negligent and respectless against both himself, his company and possible family. He unfortunately got what he deserved according to laid down rules that all people already know. You can´t just wait 50 days illegally, and then think everybody is going to be happy when you want to fix your problem.

[quandow]

The word "pedantic" comes to mind. The immigration officials are generally bound by the rules and will usually err to the side of caution. I had a friend who broke his back and when it came time do do the perfunctory visa run, they showed NO mercy. He even had a Thai doctor write a letter saying this guy should NOT be moved. Immigration gave him a 7-day grace period but he still wound up having to do the visa run in extreme agony.

 

Like others have written, suck it up, save up for a year and come back a man wealthy in wallet and wisdom.

[smotherb]

5 hours ago, scorecard said:

 

Stole twice if I'm reading the OP correctly.

 

If that's true, the second theft would probably be seen as pure negligence on your part therefore no grounds on which to ask for any leniency re the ban. And as mentioned there is no formal process to ask for some leniency in the ban / ban time. 

 

Best option - learn some lessons re security of your passport, check more about alternatives (e.g. emergency travel doc), who to trust, etc...

 

 

I can see gigging the young man for not using the temporary travel document option; however, a second lost passport being negligence seems a bit extreme. If I read it correctly; after the first passport went missing, he was still ignorant of the fact his gf had stolen it. And, he may indeed have thought he lost it. When she steals it a second time, he finds-out. Where is the negligence; unless he just leaves his passport lying about? What if she simply knew where he kept it?

[Russell17au]

The second passport was stored in "your" safe. Who knew it was in the safe? How did they get it out of the safe? You must have told them or shown them when you put it in the safe. Did you also give them the key or the combination of the safe so that they could open it? Definitely stupidity and negligence by you in giving someone else easy access to your safe.

Serve you time and learn from it, do not trust anyone with anything like your passport

[MaeJoMTB]

8 hours ago, FreshThaiBrit said:

Where can I appeal this? Will it be worth appealing? 

Why not just try another place, Philippines and Vietnam are good, some like Cambodia.

You have the whole of South America in easy reach.

 

What's so special about Thailand?

 

PS Never let 'visitors' see your room safe code.

[WHYWHY]

Agree take the year your young 

And please stop trusting people 2 passports 

[bkk6060]

39 minutes ago, Russell17au said:

The second passport was stored in "your" safe. Who knew it was in the safe? How did they get it out of the safe? You must have told them or shown them when you put it in the safe. Did you also give them the key or the combination of the safe so that they could open it? Definitely stupidity and negligence by you in giving someone else easy access to your safe.

Serve you time and learn from it, do not trust anyone with anything like your passport

Something strange about the whole passport story I think.

Whatever.....

[MaeJoMTB]

8 minutes ago, bkk6060 said:

Something strange about the whole passport story I think.

Whatever.....

Nah, 'gfs' often nick foreigner passports to 'punish/blackmail/extort'.

They also cut or rip VISA pages out, that's always a laugh when you get to immigration and you didn't notice.

The 'naughty' girls all share the same tricks of their trade.

This guy is young and believes 'she loved him'. 555.

Edited May 30, 2018 by MaeJoMTB

[observer90210]

Hope you dumped the gf thief !

 

And of course, no point either in filing a complaint against her. Naturally you also duly notified the thefts to the required authorities locally and abroad.

[poanoi]

i use the travel suitcase or my belt for visa card/passport/money,

its a code less to remember,

and there's no reason to tell anyone what code travel suitcase has

[richard_smith237]

36 minutes ago, bkk6060 said:

Something strange about the whole passport story I think.

Whatever.....

 

There's always something strange about these stories which ultimately end up as some convoluted series of excuses as to why someone failed in their responsibility to ensure they were in the country illegally....

 

In this example the Op chose holidaying with his family instead of dealing with the issue, figuring, the Thai laws are flexible... most people seem to get caught out in their expectation that the legacy of flexible enforcement of the regulations will also be applied to them. 

[richard_smith237]

31 minutes ago, observer90210 said:

Hope you dumped the gf thief !

 

And of course, no point either in filing a complaint against her. Naturally you also duly notified the thefts to the required authorities locally and abroad.

Indeed - did you file a Police report against the GF ?...  to the British Embassy ?

 

If I am not mistaken, if you lost or had your passport stolen you need a police report to apply for a replacement (this may have changed and may no longer be so). 

 

[FatVern]

2 hours ago, smotherb said:

I can see gigging the young man for not using the temporary travel document option; however, a second lost passport being negligence seems a bit extreme. If I read it correctly; after the first passport went missing, he was still ignorant of the fact his gf had stolen it. And, he may indeed have thought he lost it. When she steals it a second time, he finds-out. Where is the negligence; unless he just leaves his passport lying about? What if she simply knew where he kept it?

My son lost his US passport and when went to get another, they made him fill out additional forms that attest to what happened. If you claim stolen you must provide a police report and they do warn you that future negligence may preclude you from obtaining another. I don’t know how they would treat another loss so soon but based on the forms we had to do, it would worry me if it were mine. 

[observer90210]

58 minutes ago, WHYWHY said:

Agree take the year your young 

And please stop trusting people 2 passports 

All these passport theft issues do get a bit scary, and what  when one is required to leave the passport say with immigration or other local authorities for a few days ???????

[bkk6060]

5 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

There's always something strange about these stories which ultimately end up as some convoluted series of excuses as to why someone failed in their responsibility to ensure they were in the country illegally....

 

In this example the Op chose holidaying with his family instead of dealing with the issue, figuring, the Thai laws are flexible... most people seem to get caught out in their expectation that the legacy of flexible enforcement of the regulations will also be applied to them. 

It is definitely a conundrum of confusion, ignorance, incertitude and disarray for me.

Make a copy, secure it......when you are alone.

 

[bkk6060]

7 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

Indeed - did you file a Police report against the GF ?...  to the British Embassy ?

 

If I am not mistaken, if you lost or had your passport stolen you need a police report to apply for a replacement (this may have changed and may no longer be so). 

 

For the USA.  I was actually at the Bangkok embassy this morning.

A couple of dudes claimed they lost their passport. 

No police report required.

What they give you the same day is a new emergency passport with 5 pages.

You then have one year to get a full replacement which can contain the 52 pages.

 

Strange that so many claim to lose their passport.

Seems stupid sorry.

To me it is the most important document in my life and I always safely secure it or keep it on my person.

[richard_smith237]

2 minutes ago, bkk6060 said:

For the USA.  I was actually at the Bangkok embassy this morning.

A couple of dudes claimed they lost their passport. 

No police report required.

What they give you the same day is a new emergency passport with 5 pages.

You then have one year to get a full replacement which can contain the 52 pages.

 

Strange that so many claim to lose their passport.

Seems stupid sorry.

To me it is the most important document in my life and I always safely secure it or keep it on my person.

In fairness to the Op, he did mention that the Passport was stollen from his safe, which is where mine is. 

Unfortunately it seems his thieving girlfriend had access to his safe. My Wife [non-theiving] has access to our safe. 

 

His crucial error appears not in his flawed trust in his girlfriend, but in his lack of commitment to handling the situation immediately and legally. He was not in a 'catch-22' situation until he delayed and went on holiday, thus showing disregard for the law. He's now facing a 1 year ban because of this and wishes to 'back-pedal'...

 

IF he has police reports, embassy documentation that can show he overstayed because his passports were stollen (twice - or lost once and stollen once), the Op may have some form of resource if his appeal is viewed favorably. Realistically, if the Op was organized to have sufficient documentation for an appeal he wouldn't be in this mess. 

 

 

Regarding the point on Travel documents: It is my undertanding that the British Embassy do no issue anything such an an Emergency Passport, however, they do issue an 'Emergency Travel Document' which in the event of extenuation circumstances such as a lost or stollen passport permits the holder one way travel to their home nation. 

[cacahootie]

I was at the US consulate in CM a couple of months ago and overheard a gentleman trying to get his 6th replacement passport in 3 years.  The individual behind the counter had the misfortune of telling him all he could get was an emergency travel document to go back to the USA, and he could apply for a new one from home.  So it appears that for the US at least, you have to be kind of a numpty to get cut off.  Of course, having to return to the USA for a passport (which I suppose could also be denied) when you've got a life in Thailand could be a major hassle.  One of those things about living overseas that complicates our lives.