Extending 30 Day Entry

[Expat2B]

I entered Thailand on this trip on the 3rd December and due to unforseen issues had to extend my stay. I thus travelled to Singapore on the 2nd Jan (but found I had inadvertently overstayed by 1 day). This caused no problem and no fee was charged.

Upon my return from Singapore after spending the day and night there, I had a strange experience at Immigration. As my passport was scanned there was a beep, and this happened several times. I was a bit worried because of the previous accidental overstay and the fact that this was the first time I have needed to do a visa run in this way.

I was then asked which flight I arrived on, which seemed to cause some confusion. I should have been flying with Finnair from Singapore but had been rebooked with Swiss due to a cancellation, as a result the times had changed and made my arrival earlier than expected (this is part of my problem which I will come to later). It seemed as though they expected me to be arriving on the later flight though, which makes me slightly paranoid.

Because my flight arrived at 10.30pm rather than midnight as expected I have "lost" a day of my stay. I really need to stay for a further day (due to my onward tickets) and this is my core problem.

Do I try to extend my stay here officially by a few days, or do I take my chances at the airport again? I am reluctant to just take my chances because I am going home to arrange my B visa next month and I do not want any complications. Nor do I really want to deliberately overstay.

If I officially extend my stay again, how do I go about this?

Hope someone can help.

[jackr]

Some have said on this forum that overstaying by a day does not incur a penalty and that it's a hassle for immigration to fill out all the paperwork for just the one day. I have been fined in the past for one day overstay.

Recently had the same problem, albeit by about 8 hours, and as I was applying for an 'O' visa the next day I thought it wise to extend so as not to have that blemish on my new passport. This was also the advice of the immigration officer at Chiang Mai who, it has to be said, initially said that I shouldn't worry about it if I was on my way home until I mentioned the visa application.

To keep yourself above board, 2B, go to immigration and get your 10-day extension to your 30-day stay. It'll cost 1,900 baht but the peace of mind is priceless