"you Have Overstayed 272 Days!"

[Rudy47]

Yes it's true. I overstayed 272 days this year. I had read a trip report once that suggested going to Penang for a tourist visa would cost 12,000 bt. I already had my hired bike locked in a contract, a bank account, and a long term condo rental. So I basically decided that if I only stay in Pattaya, I will likely never need to show my passport to anyone and live dangerously.

In the entire time I was in Pattaya, I never had any problems and never gave my visa situation another thought. I simply knew that when the day came to leave Thailand, I would pay 20,000 at the door which is the maximum fine.

But one day I noticed my passport was due to expire in a few months. I rushed to my embassy and bought a new one. Now the problem was I had an old entry stamp in my old passport and this would need to be transfered into my new passport in order to obtain an exit stamp on departure. Uh-oh!

So I had to go all the way to BKK immigration and admit that I had overstayed 9 months. The officer saw I had a departing flight ticket in 2 days and made the transfer. Wow! I was able to walk out of immigration a free man.

At the airport, I was slightly nervous but money #1 and I paid my 20,000 bt fine and boarded my flight.

DON'T OVERSTAY they always caution but if you do the math, you save a lot of money and aggravation but you do have to live on pins and needles. Not worth it to most as I'm sure most will tell you but I did and lived to tell the story. I think I'm the only cocksucker I know who was forced to admit to an immigration officer that I was on overstay. I really expected to be jailed then and there. Horseshoe up the arse I guess.

[warriors]

You played Russian roulet and did not catch the bullet Not worth the risk.

[Boo]

you were a very lucky boy.

I had read a trip report once that suggested going to Penang for a tourist visa would cost 12,000 bt

where did you read this??? I've done the trip to Penang from Samui, boat, bus & 2 night stay waiting for visa to be issued & never spent more than 2k baht on travel & accomodation & once visa issued only needed to go to hat yai, day return trip or overnight stay cost me less than 1.5k baht. Think you must hae read that wrong or else read the account of someone who flew there or satying at 5* resort.

[yorkman]

Fantastic.

You have just added yet another tiny nail in the coffin, by adding to overstay statistics, for those that comply with the law and do not need to look over their shoulder.

I am sure you are very proud of getting one over on the Thai authorities. Forum rules forbid what else I might say

[yorkman]

Ohhh apart from... its in "Show all" emoticons, so must be inside the rules

[teacup]

Ahh… another proud moment of hopping over a twig story.

[stevemiddie]

Yes it's true. I overstayed 272 days this year. I had read a trip report once that suggested going to Penang for a tourist visa would cost 12,000 bt. I already had my hired bike locked in a contract, a bank account, and a long term condo rental. So I basically decided that if I only stay in Pattaya, I will likely never need to show my passport to anyone and live dangerously.

In the entire time I was in Pattaya, I never had any problems and never gave my visa situation another thought. I simply knew that when the day came to leave Thailand, I would pay 20,000 at the door which is the maximum fine.

But one day I noticed my passport was due to expire in a few months. I rushed to my embassy and bought a new one. Now the problem was I had an old entry stamp in my old passport and this would need to be transfered into my new passport in order to obtain an exit stamp on departure. Uh-oh!

So I had to go all the way to BKK immigration and admit that I had overstayed 9 months. The officer saw I had a departing flight ticket in 2 days and made the transfer. Wow! I was able to walk out of immigration a free man.

At the airport, I was slightly nervous but money #1 and I paid my 20,000 bt fine and boarded my flight.

DON'T OVERSTAY they always caution but if you do the math, you save a lot of money and aggravation but you do have to live on pins and needles. Not worth it to most as I'm sure most will tell you but I did and lived to tell the story. I think I'm the only cocksucker I know who was forced to admit to an immigration officer that I was on overstay. I really expected to be jailed then and there. Horseshoe up the arse I guess.

At least you got something right.

[endure]

Ahh… another proud moment of hopping over a twig story.

[JetsetBkk]

Ahh… another proud moment of hopping over a twig story.

Perfect!

They really should beef up the passport checks in Pattaya.

[steves_the_1]

overstay stories are so over rated

[PhilHarries]

272 days? Ppffftttt! A mere beginner, the guy on the other thread about overstays admits to a 365 dayer. Perhaps we could create a pinned thread "Who's done the longest overstay?" but we'd need scanned images of the passport to support the claims.

As for me, I once overstayed one day . Guess that still makes me a virgin .

Sooner or later the Thai immigration are gonna wake up to the loss of revenue incurred by that limit of 20,000 and increase it to something worthy of a deterrent. Let's hope they do that and not make visas any more tough to obtain.

[mrtoad]

Amazing how people are so proud of breaking the immigration laws, all for saving a couple of thousand Baht . I suspect that they have different views of "immigrants" flouting immigration laws in their own country.

[Crossy]

Sooner or later the Thai immigration are gonna wake up to the loss of revenue incurred by that limit of 20,000 and increase it to something worthy of a deterrent. Let's hope they do that and not make visas any more tough to obtain.

Simply removing the cap (NOT increasing it) should have the desired effect! Possibly coupled with PNG status for those over a certain limit.

There is NO excuse for overstaying, period. OK maybe a serious medical emergency, but there are solutions for this event.

Edited December 28, 2007 by Crossy

[mrtoad]

Sooner or later the Thai immigration are gonna wake up to the loss of revenue incurred by that limit of 20,000 and increase it to something worthy of a deterrent. Let's hope they do that and not make visas any more tough to obtain.

Simply removing the cap (NOT increasing it) should have the desired effect! Possibly coupled with PNG status for those over a certain limit.

There is NO excuse for overstaying, period. OK maybe a serious medical emergency, but there are solutions for this event.

Yeah, I think you are 100% correct on this. I'm sure when they eventually decide to do what you suggest, there will be massive outrage on the forum, but there really is no excuse for an overstay.

[torrenova]

Though I can admit to an overstay many moons ago, it was my own lazy fault, even though I had been ill and had to change my flight, waiting quite a long time for an available seat. I paid my money and that was that. I was stupid but also a little naive.

With more knowledge, I would never overstay here. Once I missed a visa run (again, years ago) and I went to the immigration for a 7 day extension, telling them of my predicament. They took my Bt1900 and I remained within the law.

I think most old timers have heard stories of multiple year overstays and there must be many more out there but I think that if the penalties were more lidely publicised then people would think more carefully about it. Ask a newbie about overstay and if they have heard about it, likely they think it is just a mandatory fine of Bt500 per day (some still think Bt200). They do not know about the IDC.

[Crossy]

Sooner or later the Thai immigration are gonna wake up to the loss of revenue incurred by that limit of 20,000 and increase it to something worthy of a deterrent. Let's hope they do that and not make visas any more tough to obtain.

Simply removing the cap (NOT increasing it) should have the desired effect! Possibly coupled with PNG status for those over a certain limit.

There is NO excuse for overstaying, period. OK maybe a serious medical emergency, but there are solutions for this event.

Yeah, I think you are 100% correct on this. I'm sure when they eventually decide to do what you suggest, there will be massive outrage on the forum, but there really is no excuse for an overstay.

Actually, it may not be that simple An unlimited fine would discourage people from coming clean, maybe fine up to 180,000 (1 year @ 500 Baht), above that limited PNG status, say twice as long as the overstay.

[Patsycat]

My best is seven days. Was coming home, business class and they took me into a small office - i was worried, the BIB said he was very sad, i started sweating. Then he laughed and said that he was sad cos he was not outside with his water bazooka and then escorted me to the "posh" lounge. I think i paid 1000 per day, but cant really remember - got on plane and fell asleep. They even offered me champagne and the works and i just passed out till we arrived in Schipol - total waste of money. I do remember when i changed my ticket on Samui the travel agent said no problem about the overstay "just pay at Airport". Luckily i still had a bit of cash on me.

[Samuian]

It's not worth even considering it - can go badly wrong - Thai Prison are no Holiday homes!

[micksterbs]

It's not worth even considering it - can go badly wrong - Thai Prison are no Holiday homes!

I never did read that book about the Bangkok Hilton. Is it any good?

[JetsetBkk]

Perhaps we could create a pinned thread "Who's done the longest overstay?"

15 years? http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?s=...t&p=1367821

[tijnebijn]

It's not worth even considering it - can go badly wrong - Thai Prison are no Holiday homes!

I never did read that book about the Bangkok Hilton. Is it any good?

That is for people with serious crimes , not for overstaying .....

[bendix]

No excuse at all for overstaying. I'd remove the cap and - more importantly - beef up security checks in those areas most likely to attract overstaying scum: Pattaya, Phuket and Sukhumvit.

Selfish pricks all of them, with complete disregard for either the law or the impact their attitude has on immigration laws for the rest of us.

[Lite Beer]

Selfish pricks all of them, with complete disregard for either the law or the impact their attitude has on immigration laws for the rest of us.

No decent person would argue with that.

[track61]

"Sooner or later the Thai immigration are gonna wake up to the loss of revenue incurred by that limit of 20,000 and increase it to something worthy of a deterrent."

Seems to me if "they" were concerned with revenue losses "they" would just charge 20,000 B or thereabouts for a one year visa and be done with it. Then if you over stayed, no penalties, no fines, no negotiation, just throw your arse under the jail for 90 days and PNG it when you get out. It would make most overstayers legal and collect the max penalty to boot. And, I don't think it would reduce the totals now collected from extensions etc. In addition revenue now spent in Penang, Cambodia, etc on visa runs would probably be spent in Kingdom. Just a thought and what seems a simple plan but maybe this would be too accomodating for the powers that be.

[donna]

personally i dont think there is any excuse to overstay. those who do are simply lazy in my opinion.

im from australia and if an illegal immigrant was caught, im sure they would be taken to the middle of the desert, thrown behind the big fence with all the other illegals, and have the doors locked behind them. not many countries tolerate illegal immigrants, and i dont see why thailand should.

**i dont condone the way australia does this, simply stating a fact.

[Norrad]

I know a guy who overstayed for 360 days. He figured that immigration at the border only checks the day and month. Got on the bus with me to Nong Khai, got stamped out of Thailand without a problem. Went to the embassy and got a new Tourist visa without anyone blinking an eye. Reckons he is going to do it again with the new visa too. Absolute madness if you ask me.

I start getting sweaty when I have to do visa runs but I grin and bear with it. Better to be on a good footing with the law. Makes life easier when doing things here.

[Arkady]

"Sooner or later the Thai immigration are gonna wake up to the loss of revenue incurred by that limit of 20,000 and increase it to something worthy of a deterrent."

Seems to me if "they" were concerned with revenue losses "they" would just charge 20,000 B or thereabouts for a one year visa and be done with it. Then if you over stayed, no penalties, no fines, no negotiation, just throw your arse under the jail for 90 days and PNG it when you get out. It would make most overstayers legal and collect the max penalty to boot. And, I don't think it would reduce the totals now collected from extensions etc. In addition revenue now spent in Penang, Cambodia, etc on visa runs would probably be spent in Kingdom. Just a thought and what seems a simple plan but maybe this would be too accomodating for the powers that be.

Thai laws have to specify the maximum amount of the fine and they haven't worked out how to add wording to make the fines go up with the inflation index yet. That's why you get ridiculous penalties like "punishable by either 10 years in jail or a fine of 250 baht or both". Eventually they will get around to bumping this up to about 100,000 baht, so long-term overstayers should enjoy the cheap rate while they still can. Personally I don't think it's worth the risk. You never know when you might be asked for your passport, a road accident, drunken driving, being mistaken for a Russian mafioso etc. Then you could end up in the disease ridden Immigration clink with all the Burmese and Khmers where it's standing room only and two bowls of gruel a day. It could cost you a lot of money to get out in addition to the 20k fine and you could become persona non grata.

[klikster]

There is NO excuse for overstaying, period.

You may want to run that past some immigration officers who suggest that very practice .. for very brief overstays.

[carmine]

No excuse at all for overstaying. I'd remove the cap and - more importantly - beef up security checks in those areas most likely to attract overstaying scum: Pattaya, Phuket and Sukhumvit.

Selfish pricks all of them, with complete disregard for either the law or the impact their attitude has on immigration laws for the rest of us.

Totally agree. Just makes life potentially more difficult for those of us who chose to act responsibly and abide by the laws. People know the immigration laws when they arrive, and if they don't like it LEAVE

[klikster]

No excuse at all for overstaying. I'd remove the cap and - more importantly - beef up security checks in those areas most likely to attract overstaying scum: Pattaya, Phuket and Sukhumvit.

Selfish pricks all of them, with complete disregard for either the law or the impact their attitude has on immigration laws for the rest of us.

Quite the aloof attitude, Bendix. Actually, when someone overstays, show up at immigration voluntarily, and pays a fine; isn't s/he "regarding/complying with" the law?

Other than the occasional fine/day increase, I seriously doubt that the number of long-term overstayers has any effect on immigration law.

Maybe you should move back to Thailand and organize an "Immigration Police Volunteers Force" who can go out and bust those overstaying scum.