NON-R visa purpose change

[nvrmorrv]

Hello, everyone

 

I've got a non-r visa as a Buddhist monk and 1-year extension to it. Now I'm disrobed because I want to check other Buddhist traditions in Thailand (like Forest Tradition) and then ordain there again, if possible.  My 1-year non-R visa will be valid next 6 months and I'm going to spend this time looking for a new place to stay. So the initial purpose, in fact, remains the same - dhamma studies.

 

But, I've just visited immigration and they told me that my visa is no longer valid because It's been granted to me as a monk and I'm no longer a monk. I can't use it because the purpose changed. So I must cancel it and get a new visa (TV or exempt visa), or if I'm caught they will prosecute me for overstaying and bun me from entering the country. They told me I might even get in prison????

 

I'm my first time in Thailand so I'm not really mature in visa things so I need your help. I would like to avoid losing my current visa, if not necessary because it means that next year I will spend doing border/visa runs until a new temple accepts me. And I'm not even sure they will allow me to get 45 days visa because I'm already almost a year in the country.

 

So my questions are

1) How real is this possibility to be prosecuted? Since the fact that my non-r visa has been granted to me as a monk is not specified in my passport, and, in fact, I'm still going to study dhamma. On this website I've encountered many times where people were suggested to get non-ed visa as an option to stay longer - it seems the same case for me.

 

2) What are the real consequences if I'm caught?

 

3) What are the consequences if I don't cancel my current non-r visa? In the immigration, they told me that even, if I do a border run and get 45 days visa I will be not able to extend it or apply for a new visa until I cancel my non-r visa. I dont really understand this, my current visa is single entry and border run seems enough to cancel it.

 

4) If I'm loosing my current visa do you see any other otpions for me?

 

 

[BritTim]

1) & 2) If you are caught on overstay, you are liable to be arrested, incarcerated in an Immigration Detention Centre, fined, and deported to your home country as soon as you can pay the costs involved. You will also be blacklisted from returning to Thailand for five years. If you can keep a low profile, you have a good chance of escaping this fate, but will still need to leave the country (paying a fine of up to 20,000 baht on departure) with less than 90 days of overstay to avoid blacklisting from Thailand.

3) & 4) You need a letter from the temple that accepted you as a monk that states the date on which you were defrocked. Based on this, Immigration will cancel your extension of stay based on being a monk. Do this without delay as the clock is running. You then do a border bounce for a visa exempt entry. If the overstay is short, you will be able to pay the overstay fine of 500 baht per day at a land crossing, and return at many crossing points without difficulty (currently receiving a 45-day permission to stay which can be extended for 30 days at immigration). Once you are accepted by another temple, the process you must follow is basically the same as for your application to your first temple.

 

If you leave by air, without cancelling your existing extension, you can probably avoid the overstay fine. However, as Immigration warned you, applying for future visas and extensions is liable to be complicated.

Edited January 28, 2023 by BritTim

[nvrmorrv]

Thank you, BritTim

[FriendlyFarang]

7 hours ago, nvrmorrv said:

I've got a non-r visa as a Buddhist monk and 1-year extension to it. Now I'm disrobed because I want to check other Buddhist traditions in Thailand (like Forest Tradition) and then ordain there again, if possible.  My 1-year non-R visa will be valid next 6 months and I'm going to spend this time looking for a new place to stay.

Your extension became invalid when you got disrobed. When you applied for your extension you signed a paper which informed you about this.

So technically you are on overstay now and would be banned from Thailand if caught.

If you just exit Thailand immigration at departure won’t be aware of this though.