Thai Elite Visa & overstay

[JasonHH]

My situation 

I am on a Thai Elite Visa (5 year) 

Elite Visa valid until Oct 2023

My last entry into Thailand was on the 7th January 2020 by air. Now I had a entry stamp at airport that states stay until 7th January 2021. 
Anyway I went as normal to do my 90 day report on the 16th March 2021 & was extended until 13th June 2021. Today I go to do my next 90 day report & told I was overstay on my Visa. When asked how this is possible, was told I’m over the 7th January when I was at 1 year. So after a number of phone calls to Elite Visa office, was told I’m now overstay & need to leave Thailand for a minimum of 1 year & can re enter after that year & my Elite Visa would continue until expiration or renewal. Thai Elite have told me now my only option is to leave for that 1 year. Asked why no courtesy phone call or email message as a reminder that this was the case that it had to be reapplied each year. But also could give no explanation as to why when I got last 90 day stamp nothing was mentioned to me. Because if that mentioned that at the time I would be under overstay time limit & just renew my yearly. Now the other issue is I have my partner & 18 months old son. Surely there is something that could be done here within Thailand & not basically just get told I have to leave for a minimum of a year. They only have myself that provides for them both here & we live together for many years. 
Not sure what can be done or if anyone else has been in a similar situation.

 

But we will go to Bangkok on Monday from Hua Hin to see the Thai Embassy 

 

Any advice or help on this would be greatly appreciated 

 

 

[jackdd]

You are not the first person who found himself in this situation. You should have read the information on the Thailand Elite website, they clearly state that if you stay longer than a year you need to apply for an extension.

There is nothing you can do. You are on more than 90 days overstay, when you leave you will be banned for one year. If you don't leave by yourself, continue to stay in Thailand and are caught by police you will be banned for 5 years.

Prepare everything for being out of Thailand for a year and leave (You will have to pay a 20k THB fine at the airport when you leave)

 

Edited June 11, 2021 by jackdd

[Jingthing]

OK I'm no expert on Elite matters but I will say this. 

 

You were supposed to get a one year extension by 7 January 2021 because you didn't leave Thailand before then.

 

Also 90 day address reports have nothing to do with extensions 

Edited June 11, 2021 by Jingthing

[Jingthing]

3 minutes ago, jackdd said:

You are not the first person who found himself in this situation. You should have read the information on the Thailand Elite website, they clearly state that if you stay longer than a year you need to apply for an extension.

There is nothing you can do. You are on more than 90 days overstay, when you leave you will be banned for one year. If you don't leave by yourself, continue to stay in Thailand and are caught by police you will be banned for 5 years.

Prepare everything for being out of Thailand for a year and leave.

 

I agree. It's a shame but it happened.

[BritTim]

This is an unfortunate situation. If Immigration had raised the overstay issue in March, it could have been dealt with with only a fine. A handful of well connected agents are allegedly able to finesse the problem, but I understand the costs are now astronomical. I assume you do the 90-day address reports yourself, not using Thailand Elite. If so, there is no way Thailand Elite could be expected to know about your issue. As others have posted, the requirement to request an extension if in Thailand over one year is well documented.

Edited June 11, 2021 by BritTim

[couchpotato]

@JasonHHto see the Thai Embassy 

 

Do you mean Thai immigration.  Thai Embassies are only in other countries!!

 

Personally I think you need to find a well connected agent who can sort it for you.

Yes it will cost, but better than the alternative.   Make inquiries ASAP.

[DrJack54]

17 minutes ago, couchpotato said:

Personally I think you need to find a well connected agent who can sort it for you.

Yes it will cost, but better than the alternative.   Make inquiries ASAP.

I don't think an agent can do much.

@ThaiVisaCentre any ideas?

[couchpotato]

51 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

I don't think an agent can do much.

@ThaiVisaCentre any ideas?

I know he has talked with Elite about the overstay (and their subsequent answer), but I think Elite obviously have people integrated with immigration (otherwise the Elite Visa wouldn't be viable or allowed), so personally I'd go as high up the Elite chain as possible, and see if an arrangement can be made, that is acceptable to everyone. Don't know if it's possible, but I'd sure try.

Edited June 11, 2021 by couchpotato

[Tanoshi]

They should have given you a 7 day extension to leave the Country.

If you stay beyond that date and are arrested, you'll be placed in IDC, prosecuted and receive an automatic 5 year ban.

 

The conditions of an Elite Visa are well explained and you have nobody else to blame but yourself. You stated yourself you received permission of stay only until 7th January 2021. What exactly did you expect to happen after that date.

[asiacurious]

It's an unfortunate situation.  Mistakes happen.  We can all learn from this one even if we aren't in the same position as the OP.  Best thing I can suggest for the future is to use Google Calendar (or the like from MS, Apple...) to put in reminders.

 

For important things, I'll even add multiple reminders (both notifications and emails)....

 

 

Hell, for the most important events I'll even add them as a couple of separate events so I can double up on the reminders.  Or set it to a daily reminder so I get the notification each day until I go in and change it.

[humbug]

most times when people have overstay issues they just go, on this visa overstayed, what are my options, but with elite 'some' people and i include those posting fake stories, especially on elite, just want to blame elite for an overstay, they are not immigration, so how is it elites fault, but nearly always the fault of overstayers on every other visas

[BKKTRAVELER]

As stated above, in your situation you are at your own fault.

You can try contacting Elite again but I don't see them being able to do anything. They are very helpful and friendly, but won't go beyond the law to help.

My advice, prepare to leave for a year and sort things out. In the meantime, contact any reputable agents and ask if they have a solution. If it can be done, it won't be cheap. But it is probably cheaper than leaving the country and spend 1 year in your home country. 

 

Good luck and I hope anyone reading this thread will be reminded of how important it is to set multiple reminders for your immigration key dates.

[Captain Monday]

This ACTUALLY happened when I was a member a few years ago to one or more others and Thailand Elite sent out many emails about. Nothing they can do . Anybody who checks their arrival stamps after a few years will learn even immigration can make mistakes. How can one be literate enough fill out the application but not get it? Incomprehensible that anyone who reads the enrollment and materials and application but, the essential difference between 5 year multi entry visa and 1 year permission to stay has been lost by some the past and probably will again, Maybe they never did anything but were assisted in application then confused by well meaning "agents".

Edited June 12, 2021 by Captain Monday

[Pedrogaz]

This is one of the many reasons why I would never consider an Elite visa.

[richard_smith237]

3 minutes ago, Pedrogaz said:

This is one of the many reasons why I would never consider an Elite visa.

 

What reason exactly ??? 

 

None of this was Thai Elites fault or responsibility - The op overstayed HIS visa.

 

The Op was very unfortunate that Immigration did not spot his overstay in March and this exacerbated the issue significantly. 

 

We are all responsible for our own visa status. We are responsible for ensuring the stamps in our passport are correct each and every time we enter the country. 

 

Thai Elite are not responsible for reminding its member to renew their visas. 

 

 

The Op is in a very tough spot and I sympathise, but ultimately the overstay is his fault. 

 

That said: The Op has paid for a Visa until 2023 - it would be easy for Immigration to recognise that his overstay is an innocent mistake and he is not one of those trying to cheat the system. 

With discretion a concession could easily be made in this case. 

 

As others have written, perhaps visa agents could help. 

[Jingthing]

The blame game doesn't help at this point. For whatever reason the OP didn't understand the most basic  and important rules governing his visa. It happened. Now what?

[ThaiVisaCentre]

I am not sure if we can do anything, but its worth checking.

Send my team a message, and show a screenshot of this post.

LINE: @ThaiVisaCentre

[Jingthing]

4 minutes ago, ThaiVisaCentre said:

I am not sure if we can do anything, but its worth checking.

Send my team a message, and show a screenshot of this post.

LINE: @ThaiVisaCentre

If you can't help him can you please advise him on how he can most safely exit the country. He mentioned doing something in Bangkok that didn't make any sense. I would think he wants to completely avoid any direct contact with Thai authorities. How much does he need to pay if he makes it to the airport to leave?

[BKKTRAVELER]

15 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

If you can't help him can you please advise him on how he can most safely exit the country. He mentioned doing something in Bangkok that didn't make any sense. I would think he wants to completely avoid any direct contact with Thai authorities. How much does he need to pay if he makes it to the airport to leave?

I think he'd have to pay 20k fine (maximum) and they'll process him and ban him for 1 year. Just my 2 cents...

[ThaiVisaCentre]

17 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

If you can't help him can you please advise him on how he can most safely exit the country. He mentioned doing something in Bangkok that didn't make any sense. I would think he wants to completely avoid any direct contact with Thai authorities. How much does he need to pay if he makes it to the airport to leave?

If we cant help then as mentioned he can easily leave the country by paying the MAX fine of 20,000 THB, and getting blacklisted for overstaying over 90 days (if less then no blacklist).

[Jingthing]

1 minute ago, ThaiVisaCentre said:

If we cant help then as mentioned he can easily leave the country by paying the MAX fine of 20,000 THB, and getting blacklisted for overstaying over 90 days (if less then no blacklist).

OK good but I didn't get the impression that the OP understands the urgency of his situation and the consequences if he is caught before he can leave. Why was immigration when he made his last 90 day report so easy on him?

[ThaiVisaCentre]

Just now, Jingthing said:

OK good but I didn't get the impression that the OP understands the urgency of his situation and the consequences if he is caught before he can leave. Why was immigration when he made his last 90 day report so easy on him?

It's hard to know without any details. It could be that they just didn't notice, and saw elite status.

While this mistake does happen it is quite rare (due to how costly it can be).

[daveAustin]

57 minutes ago, Pedrogaz said:

This is one of the many reasons why I would never consider an Elite visa.

I’ve considered it but wouldn’t get one for the reason of having to still go through extensions (no matter how expedited they may be) and reports. 
 

Yes, ops fault but it sucks, having paid a premium and getting caught out by the system potentially getting locked up and kicked out. 
 

Exhaust all avenues then exit voluntarily—a year really isn’t that long, but five years forced removal is. All the best. 

[ubonjoe]

14 minutes ago, daveAustin said:

I’ve considered it but wouldn’t get one for the reason of having to still go through extensions (no matter how expedited they may be)

No need to do a extension unless you stay in the country for a year without leaving. You get a new one year entry every time you enter the country.

The old Lifetime Elite visa only allowed 90 day entries. Those required getting extensions to stay longer than 90 days.

[ukrules]

20 hours ago, Jingthing said:

You were supposed to get a one year extension by 7 January 2021 because you didn't leave Thailand before then.

 

Also 90 day address reports have nothing to do with extensions 

 

The thing is, they would have noticed this as they check your visa when they do the 90 day report yet they said nothing when he did the March report.

 

They didn't tell him at the time he did the 90 day report, he was only on about a ~60 day overstay then and could have avoided being banned for a year by paying a fine.

 

How many people go and do a 90 day report while on overstay and have no problem on the day? I have a feeling this doesn't really happen.

 

I can only conclude that the immigration officer laughed a little inside knowing that they will be able to throw this person out of the country in a couple of months time when they return for the next 90 day report.

 

There's no way they didn't know this would happen - and allow it to happen.

 

The 90 day report should have been refused due to not having a current valid extension - then there would be no problem here.

 

This is a failure of the immigration system and I suspect it was quite deliberate on the part of the officer involved.

 

 

The golden question here is :

 

How and why did they issue a fresh 90 day report for someone who was already on a 2 month overstay?

 

This question needs an answer.

Edited June 12, 2021 by ukrules

[Jingthing]

32 minutes ago, ukrules said:

 

The thing is, they would have noticed this as they check your visa when they do the 90 day report yet they said nothing when he did the March report.

 

They didn't tell him at the time he did the 90 day report, he was only on about a ~60 day overstay then and could have avoided being banned for a year by paying a fine.

 

How many people go and do a 90 day report while on overstay and have no problem on the day? I have a feeling this doesn't really happen.

 

I can only conclude that the immigration officer laughed a little inside knowing that they will be able to throw this person out of the country in a couple of months time when they return for the next 90 day report.

 

There's no way they didn't know this would happen - and allow it to happen.

 

The 90 day report should have been refused due to not having a current valid extension - then there would be no problem here.

 

This is a failure of the immigration system and I suspect it was quite deliberate on the part of the officer involved.

 

 

The golden question here is :

 

How and why did they issue a fresh 90 day report for someone who was already on a 2 month overstay?

 

This question needs an answer.

Well that is a theory.

But another theory is that for some reason the officer taking his 90 day report the first time failed to check his permission to stay or perhaps was as hazy about how Elite visas work as the OP.

You're assuming the most awful motivation and that could of course never be proven.

[jackdd]

54 minutes ago, ukrules said:

How many people go and do a 90 day report while on overstay and have no problem on the day? I have a feeling this doesn't really happen.

A while ago (like 1 or 2 years or so) we had a guy here on Thaivisa with Thailand Elite visa who, if i remember correctly, had Thailand Elite do the 90 day report for him while on overstay, and nobody said anything and the 90 day report got processed. Then on the next 90 day report they noticed it and he was in the same situation as OP now. So it has happened at least twice so far, and probably a few more times because not everybody will open a thread on Thaivisa about it.

[DrJack54]

57 minutes ago, ukrules said:

I can only conclude that the immigration officer laughed a little inside knowing that they will be able to throw this person out of the country in a couple of months time when they return for the next 90 day report.

Are these comments serious. I can only conclude that your joking.

[Jingthing]

Just now, jackdd said:

A while ago (like 1 or 2 years or so) we had a guy here on Thaivisa with Thailand Elite visa who, if i remember correctly, had Thailand Elite do the 90 day report for him while on overstay, and nobody said anything and the 90 day report got processed. Then on the next 90 day report they noticed it and he was in the same situation as OP now. So it has happened at least twice so far, and probably a few more times because not everybody will open a thread on Thaivisa about it.

Yeah people are often shy about going public about being scammed or when they suffer horrible consequences due to their own negligence.

[jackdd]

3 hours ago, Jingthing said:

OK good but I didn't get the impression that the OP understands the urgency of his situation and the consequences if he is caught before he can leave. Why was immigration when he made his last 90 day report so easy on him?

Thai immigration is always quite easy if you show up in the immigration office on overstay, they know that it often happens by mistake.

In theory they could of course arrest the person, but I've never heard of this happening to anybody. It would mean a lot of work for them, and they wouldn't get any benefit from it.

If you show up at an immigration office with an overstay and an extension isn't possible anymore, the standard procedure by immigration is to simply tell the person to leave the country as soon as possible. If you confirm that you will do this and they believe this, then usually that's it, you are free to go.

If you end up in some raid or checkpoint and they notice that you are on overstay it's of course a completely different situation.