Overstay

[astral]

To my surprise the answer is Yes.

A friend realised he had overstayed, only 5 days.

So yesterday he headed for Aranyapratet and did an in/out, paying the fine without any problems.

Previously I had thought this was only possible at the airport.

Edited September 10, 2004 by astral

[thaiflyer1]

Did he happen to look like a pumped up Peter Schmeichel ? Only asking as i was at Poi Pet on the 8th doing a run with Luxury Visa Runs (Pattaya) and there was a Norweigan/German? on my bus who had 5 days overstay..........seems a bit of a coincidence. .....and yes he got his overstay cleared at the border.

[lopburi3]

It is very common for the one and two day overstay to pay at border but for those with long overstay the much safer path is a departure from airport with a ticket to home country. There is nothing to say that the border country, on seeing your good record in Thailand, says no entry and you have an extended vacation in no mans land (worst case) or you upset officer and face charges in a remote court.

[Gazza]

I had two weeks overstay fees to pay (100b per day) about 10 years ago. I crossed at Pedang Besar and the officials there didn't even ask me why I'd overstayed. Probably get so many overstayers everyday I suppose.

Gazza

[dr_Pat_Pong]

To my surprise the answer is Yes.

I friend realised he had overstayed, only 5 days.

So yesterday he headed for Aranyapratet and did an in/out, paying the fine without any problems.

Previously I had thought this was only possible at the airport.

The long overstayers are much better off going out by air. Some immigration officer's take lengthy overstays as a personal affront.

[thaiflyer1]

Aye what Lop says is true, never take anything for granted........we had 5 on our bus going up to Poi Pet but only 4 returned, they detained a Brit in his 50s on the way back into Thailand....i was behind him in the queue to exit Thailand and he was taken to one side but allowed to leave, dont know what was wrong but they got him on the way back in! We also had a guy on the bus who's passport was due to expire in October (also British) he exited and re-entered with no problems at all.

[sua yai]

In my bad old days, I overstayed on 5 occasions and passed through Ranong with no hassle - mostly 1/2 days over, but once 36. This long overstay did have some justification, but I won't bore you with the details.

Also, on two consequitive occasions through Mae Sai. On the second occasion I was given a polite slap on the wrist and told that main immigration in BKK had sent out advice to all border crossings to get a bit tougher on regular overstayers - I seemed to fit into this category.

That was over a year ago and I've never overstayed again. I agree with a lot of posters on this forum that there really is no justification for overstaying. To reiterate, the 36 day one was, in some ways, justified.

In Ranong last month and noticed signs up informing everyone not to believe people who said that you only needed to pay the fine. You are breaking the law and as Lopburi3 says, if they don't like you, you will definitely not enjoy the consequences.

Beware.

[kenkannif]

I overstayed a few years ago in Samui (28 days) and paid at the Immigration office there, he was a bit moody but okay in the end.

Also last year I had a lady overstay ('cos of a dodgy Visa) to the max and she tried to pay at Imm in Suan Phlua (sp?), they were pretty cool about it but insisted she pay at the airport (exit and return the same day).