63-year-old American arrested in Phang Nga for 745 days of overstay, hadn’t left his house in two years

[Stargeezr]

Someone is kidding, if you can afford to stay over 2 years, you could afford an extension. Seriously.

[still kicking]

13 hours ago, Gottfrid said:

What a nut head! Staying home for 2 years without leaving home. What a great life he had fixed for himself. Fantastic way to retire! He should have a gold medal, and after be deported. ???? Good on him, that he also admitted working as a farmer in Thailand. Maybe they can add little bit of charges on him. Not the sharpest knife in the box.

Another nonsense post of you 

[IAMHERE]

during the time period that almost EveryOne received a Covid extension by showing up at immigration?

[Gottfrid]

3 hours ago, still kicking said:

Another nonsense post of you 

I assume you think it´s okay to overstay 745 days, that a person lock or confine himself to home for the last 2 years as well as working illegally in a country. No go find an excuse for him as well. Pretty sure you have one in store.

[Gottfrid]

16 hours ago, Phnom Penh Trader said:

It must have been a relief for this poor guy to eventually get caught?

Yeah, sure it was. Looks to me like he went to Thailand to get caught. First working illegally, and after that overstaying his visa. I guess we all have something that rocks our boat.

[hotchilli]

18 hours ago, webfact said:

Mr. Drannan told Royal Thai Immigration that he knew his visa had expired so he did not leave the house for more than two years out of fear of being caught.

Idiot....

[Venom]

16 hours ago, sqwakvfr said:

If it was so serious then why would anyone impose a 2 year horse arrest sentence on themselves.  It it was indeed serious then one would have freed themselves earlier and dealt with the overstay situation to avoid a long period of being banned.  Being deported is inevitable but banishment could have been minimized if one wants to return to the Land of Smiles anytime in the near future.  

Who's horse? 

[kingstonkid]

9 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

He was skint, the OP explained it.

That's my point he wasn't skint.  He was eligible for social security and that would have given him the money he needed.

He might have been able to get by on the pension.

[thailand49]

Sad sounds like the wife finally had enough and called. 

[JimGant]

9 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Are you saying that those illegal immigrant Thais in LA are ignored compassionately when the authorities discover that they're chronic visa overstayers?

No, I'm saying there's no active dragnet in the US for overstayers; keep your nose clean, and you're probably home free.

 

But, in this case, Thailand had an active dragnet:

Quote

Colonel Phakkapong told the Phuket Express that the arrest followed officers patrolling to crack down on overstaying foreigners as part of a December 1^st to December 10^th, 2022 campaign.

Apparently, this dragnet was to roll up everything they came upon, including elderly white farangs with no criminal records. Historically, Thai dragnets have concentrated on criminal overstaying elements, with Africans often of interest.

 

The US has never targeted certain groups for random checks on overstay. It has, recently, identified which groups are more likely to overstay, and has then attempted to pass laws tightening up on visa requirements for these populations. However, this effort under Trump, ended with the Democrats, who are more emotional than pragmatic.

[johnarth]

17 hours ago, Muhendis said:

Ah yes. You're right, but on the other hand it doesn't indicate they don't own it either.

that is an okay answer for you money people

[sqwakvfr]

2 hours ago, Venom said:

Who's horse? 

House.  Auto correct.

[Liverpool Lou]

3 hours ago, kingstonkid said:

12 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

He was skint, the OP explained it.

That's my point he wasn't skint. 

Your point was wrong, he was skint, he told the police that was the reason for his overstay. 

 

Your speculation about what income he could have had is just that, irrelevant, uninformed speculation.  He was skint.

[brianthainess]

20 hours ago, Muhendis said:

Ah yes. You're right, but on the other hand it doesn't indicate they don't own it either.

The land was 30 ria NEARBY. 

[brianthainess]

''Sawatdee Mrs ? haven't seen hubby around long time,is he OK ?''  

"Him not have visa so stay home'' Oops.

[kingstonkid]

30 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Your point was wrong, he was skint, he told the police that was the reason for his overstay. 

 

Your speculation about what income he could have had is just that, irrelevant, uninformed speculation.  He was skint.

Agreed he had no money.  My point was that there was assistance.  He just for some reason didn't know about it or how to get it.

 

No matter why it is a shame that he fell through the cracks

[Liverpool Lou]

13 minutes ago, kingstonkid said:

Agreed he had no money.  My point was that there was assistance.  He just for some reason didn't know about it or how to get it.

My point was how could you know that he was eligible for assistance?!

[bangon04]

22 hours ago, ezzra said:

Thailand is not a forgiving regime when it comes to over stayers, it's like you have committed the cardinal sin by god forbid, overstaying... 

at least the filthy falang was polite enough to wear a mask in the garden

[JimGant]

32 minutes ago, bangon04 said:

at least the filthy falang was polite enough to wear a mask in the garden

That was to thwart face recognition by the Imm Police

https://thethaiger.com/hot-news/visa/overstay-crackdown-uses-facial-recognition-tech

[kingstonkid]

1 hour ago, Liverpool Lou said:

My point was how could you know that he was eligible for assistance?!

Every American pays taxes therefore every American is entitled to some SS or should be.

[JimGant]

13 minutes ago, kingstonkid said:

Every American pays taxes therefore every American is entitled to some SS or should be.

Not if he hasn't worked 40 quarters for SS covered employment. Or, if he's qualified for SSI, that's not payable unless he physically resides in the US.

[SiSePuede419]

On 12/6/2022 at 12:20 PM, webfact said:

He stayed at a house with an unidentified Thai woman, now his wife, before Covid -19.

Maybe his wife didn't want to get involved because she thinks he's an <deleted> just like we do. ????

 

[SiSePuede419]

27 minutes ago, JimGant said:

Every American pays taxes

Not true.

 

Criminals don't like to pay taxes, see also: Donald Trump. ????

[GinBoy2]

3 hours ago, kingstonkid said:

Every American pays taxes therefore every American is entitled to some SS or should be.

Well it depends how much he paid into SS.

 

I think many of the non Americans don't get that we don't have a fixed 'pension'. Our social security payout is dependent on how how much you paid into the system.

 

You guys can argue how fair or not, that is.

 

Now 'if' you want to swan off to Asia in your 40's stop paying into the system, I'm fine with those folks getting less than than someone who works into their 60's paying into the system

[jwest10]

On 12/6/2022 at 4:57 PM, GinBoy2 said:

WelI, wouldn't put money on the Thai family helping out.

 

The only thing he probably could liquidate would be his bank account. The house, land, thats all his 'wifes'

 

The worst part of this is when he gets home. I hope he has some family who will take him in until he gets back on his feet.

 

The US isn't Europe, he won't get put up in a hotel indefinitely, he'll be on his own and without family support it's gonna be pretty bleak

Many people in the same boat and no family left in USA UK and Europe. Oh so sad indeed

[jwest10]

On 12/6/2022 at 5:29 PM, The Fugitive said:

Even sadder is that, especially in UK, single retirees can't afford to continue to live there either if receiving State Pension only. 

Yes The Fugitive

I am not sure if posted on here but definately did on the Overseas Pensioners Worldwide Site on Facebook re the UK
Yes, even though and not sure of people's circumstances and yes you make a good point about the Frozen State pension.
Say one is married for a considerable time but even if British would have to have a minimum income of 19 or 20K Sterling and have a home in the UK and would believe it or not have to pay a surcharge to the NHS for 2 years about 4K  for each year and yes amazing when paid for our pension already.
And very few of us have anywhere near that income or a house and no family and think you have to have ridiculous amounts of saving 70K sterling.
So just about impossible and penalise you for daring to leave the UK in the first place to be with our loved ones and family here.
While we can conform to the financial requirements here ok but on fixed incomes here many of us are struggling and with the pee poor exchange rates and yes impossible to get the Thai wife over and it was very hard to get a visa even 17 years ago.
 

[Liverpool Lou]

9 hours ago, kingstonkid said:

10 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

My point was how could you know that he was eligible for assistance?!

Every American pays taxes therefore every American is entitled to some SS or should be.

As I thought, you don't know, you were just speculating about what you thought he should have been entitled to!

[Robbie2618]

On 12/6/2022 at 10:25 AM, Liverpool Lou said:

You don't have to guess, just read the OP.  He was voluntarily shut-in because he was skint and couldn't afford the visa, nothing to do with "uncontrollable, overwhelming stress, panic attacks or covid".

I would think there is more to it than not being able to afford to renew his visa since he was farming 30 ria of land and he is retired so collecting a monthly SS check. He chose to stay in which is not rational rather than go back to farming. So I'm going with there was underlying issues not just the cost of renewal. So what came first, his financial difficulties or him becoming a shut in? No one is going to come out and say they didn't renew their visa because they didn't want to go outside, there all going to blame it on something else. But doesn't really matter, he went about it the wrong way now is going to be deported and banned and probably permanently separated from his wife.

[Mac Mickmanus]

2 minutes ago, Robbie2618 said:

I would think there is more to it than not being able to afford to renew his visa since he was farming 30 ria of land and he is retired so collecting a monthly SS check. He chose to stay in which is not rational rather than go back to farming. So I'm going with there was underlying issues not just the cost of renewal. So what came first, his financial difficulties or him becoming a shut in? No one is going to come out and say they didn't renew their visa because they didn't want to go outside, there all going to blame it on something else. But doesn't really matter, he went about it the wrong way now is going to be deported and banned and probably permanently separated from his wife.

Could be that he was concerned about contracting Covid and just decided to stay safe at home ?

[Liverpool Lou]

13 hours ago, Robbie2618 said:

On 12/6/2022 at 10:25 PM, Liverpool Lou said:

You don't have to guess, just read the OP.  He was voluntarily shut-in because he was skint and couldn't afford the visa, nothing to do with "uncontrollable, overwhelming stress, panic attacks or covid".

I would think there is more to it than not being able to afford to renew his visa

What you think is uncorroborated, uncalled for speculation when he has specifically stated that he simply didn't have the financials to get the visa.  Who are you to doubt what he said when it makes no difference whatsoever to his situation?