They Say I Never Got My Visa, Now I'm On Overstay

[ethckyplyr]

I am a student from the US here doing a research project. I have been leaving the country every 60 days to get my visas. My Passport was stolen in July two days after I got my new visa, I reported it and followed all the rules. I received my new passport and went to the Thai Immigration Office to get my current stamp. When i got there they said they have no record of my last visa stamp, which is close to impossible because I passed the checkpoint both to leave Thailand and enter again. I asked them to check with Laos for my record of arrival and departure there and they will not. What do I do?

[Crossy]

This ^^^ is why it's always wise to make copies of your arrival stamp and TM6 arrival card, but of course that's advice for next time

What are immigration suggesting you do, since it's them who must somehow sort out the stamp issue. In the past they've sat the unfortunate victim in a room with 1000s of TM6 cards and told them to find 'theirs'

Maybe best to pay any overstay they want and go get another visa, write it off to experience.

Others may have better ideas, but you must sort this ASAP as any overstay charge will mount daily.

[ubonjoe]

This has happened before and immigration had to do an investigation to sort it out. They should have a record of your entry at Nong Kai immigration or at least the TM6 entry card you filled out.

You need to go back to immigration and push them to check with Nong Kai.

This is one of the reasons you should always make a copy your passport pages and TM6 every time make new entry.

[ethckyplyr]

This ^^^ is why it's always wise to make copies of your arrival stamp and TM6 arrival card, but of course that's advice for next time

What are immigration suggesting you do, since it's them who must somehow sort out the stamp issue. In the past they've sat the unfortunate victim in a room with 1000s of TM6 cards and told them to find 'theirs'

Maybe best to pay any overstay they want and go get another visa, write it off to experience.

Others may have better ideas, but you must sort this ASAP as any overstay charge will mount daily.

I told them I am here until dec and I do not have extra money to pay any overstay fee (at this point I would already owe the maximum because my last stamp before July was in May). The woman at the immigration office said to just wait until dec and pay the overstay fee then. She says I should ask my embassy for the money. So basically they are already past trying to figure out what happened with the visa stamp. It may have something to do with the change in passport numbers with my new passport (?).

I feel like they are conning me a bit because they say they will check with Laos and to come back the next day and when I come back the woman calls her 'friend' and says he is at the Laos office trying to figure it out right then.

[Crossy]

This ^^^ is very poor advice from an immigration official, should you get caught on overstay you WILL spend some time in the IDC and then be deported, not a pleasant experience.

Go back to immigration (again) and ask to speak to the supervisor, make sure you take a big bag of humble pie and respect. If you have any proof that you entered when you say you did (hotel bill, bus receipt, etc) take it too.

Unfortunately, it seems they have found your previous entry and decided that you're spinning a line regarding the latest entry and trying to avoid the fine

[ethckyplyr]

This ^^^ is very poor advice from an immigration official, should you get caught on overstay you WILL spend some time in the IDC and then be deported, not a pleasant experience.

Go back to immigration (again) and ask to speak to the supervisor, make sure you take a big bag of humble pie and respect. If you have any proof that you entered when you say you did (hotel bill, bus receipt, etc) take it too.

Unfortunately, it seems they have found your previous entry and decided that you're spinning a line regarding the latest entry and trying to avoid the fine

I showed them my bank card statement which shows that I paid for a hotel in Laos and the person I am speaking to is the supervisor of that office. They also pulled the same line for one of my runs to Ban Lam until I showed them the receipt that I kept from then and my visa from that run magically showed up.

Does anyone know if I should involve the US embassy or if they can even help? There doesn't seem to be a set appeal process. Thanks for your help.

[ubonjoe]

Which immigration office are you dealing with. If it's not Bangkok already then it might be worth a trip there.

Edit: I don't know if contacting the embassy would help or not but it might be worth a try. They might have a contact at immigration that could help get things sorted out.

[astral]

I thought all the immigration offices had access to the main computer?

With your old passport number it should be easy to pull up your travel record.

[visarunner]

Sometimes it does happen that a busy bordercrossing like Nong Khai "forget" to key in your data.

It is best that you go back to the bordercheckpoint and sort it out there. Most likely you will spend 1 or 2 days looking for your "TM-card". Once found , the Immigration in Nong Khai will "transfer" the latest data into your new passport . Based on the dates you provided you are not yet on overstay.

The advise of the BKK Lady is very bad.

You might not be allowed to leave Thailand in December as you can not prove that you have entered the country legally.

[thaiphoon]

You might not be allowed to leave Thailand in December as you can not prove that you have entered the country legally.

Actually, the problem is sooner than that. It will be in September when the OPs 60 day permission to stay expires and he then either needs to visit immigration to obtain 30 days extension or exit the country and obtain new visa (or activate second 60 day stay if has double entry TV, as may have seeing as TV came from Laos). Either route is going to give the OP a big headache unless this matter is resolved before then. And the longer it goes on the greater the chance of being stopped by the police and detained.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

The US Embassy won't pay your overstay fine for you.

[Badbanker]

I have the experience of getting a friend deported that was on a large overstay (5 years) but he had a new passport and he knew exactly what date and where he had entered the kingdom.

It didn't matter! Immigration could not find his record of entry and so they said he had entered the country illegally. As he was surrendering for deportation they took him to court and fined him 3,500 baht. 1,500 for overstay and 2,000 for illegal entry. He did not have the money to pay Suan Plu and so spent 60 days in prison at Pathumtani Prison. Not fun!

Western Embassies will generally not pay for your deportation. It depends on your country of origin! After between 60 and 120 days most western embassies will arrange for a loan for you and ask you to pay it back.

Sadly their are a lot of citizens from African and Asian countries at Suan Plu whose embassies will not assist them and so selectively there is a local NGO/foundation that pays for these people to get home.

BB