18 Months Over Stay In Thailand

[maricelabobo]

Can anyone help me find way to take out my young brother out of the country without putting him into trouble from police? He was overstayed for more than 18months, how much would he have to pay and where he could go to pay his overstay, am afraid if he go straight to airport police might stop him and jail him for his overstay...

[metisdead]

Google search: visa overstay, thailand

you will find many threads there on this topic.

[gotlost]

The only time the police will get involve is if they get him before he gets to the airport. Have valid ticket, passport and check in go to customs/immigration and pay 20,000 baht fine and you are out of hear and invited to return and do it again.

[Mario2008]

Moved to visa section

[Mario2008]

Gotlost gave the right answer. He has to buy a ticket out of the country and take 20,000 for the fine with him when he goes to the airport. makes sure he cheks in early and go straight to immigration next. There they will call him aside and ask him to pay a fine of 20,000 baht. He will also get a stamp in his passport saying he overstayed. Next he will be on his way.

About 10 days ago there was a Dutch person who had a 2 year overstay and wanted to go to the immigration office in BKK with an embassy oficial.to settle it before he went to the airport. Immigration told them he could not pay at the immigration office and to just tke care of things at the airport.

[Mario2008]

1 off topic post about spelling, and a reply to, it has been deleted. Not for everybody on this forum is English the native language.

[ericthai]

How old is your brother? If he is, I believe the age is 12 year olds or under then there is no fee. If he is above this age then all you need to do is leave Thailand and pay the fee of 20,000 baht. You can leave via the airport or land crossing. I would suggest airport as this is less risky have heard of people being stopped on the way to a land crossing and then being detained.

If something does happen and he is picked up by the police then he will be taken to immigration detention and held there until he can pay the fine and has a plane ticket out of Thailand.

[Mario2008]

How old is your brother? If he is, I believe the age is 12 year olds or under then there is no fee.

Under 15 no overstay fine is charged.

[ArthurPewty]

Is it really as easy as that? I have a friend that went to the Immigration dept with a 4 year overstay. They checked his name against a wanted list and sent him on his way.

[torrenova]

Is it really as easy as that? I have a friend that went to the Immigration dept with a 4 year overstay. They checked his name against a wanted list and sent him on his way.

As the law stands it seems to matters not whether you are 40 days or 40 years overstay as the maximum fine is Bt20,000, accrued at the rate of Bt500 per day. The implications of being found out and arrested by the police before getting to the airport seem varied to say the least and no doubt, if incarcerated, there would be people out to profit from the situation. If you can get to the airport, it would seem that you can merely pay the Bt20,000 though there have been comments made previously that officials may want to investigate you further and in presumably in more depth the longer you have been in Thailand.

[ericthai]

Yes, it can be that easy, but it can be more difficult depends on the luck of the draw with the officer. Also let me clarify as the last poster stated "airport", you can also leave via a land crossing. You just need to be leaving it does not necessarily mean you have to leave by air.

You said your friend went to immigration, did he go to a land corssing or airport? or did he go to the immigration office? If he went to the office please provide more information on what the process was, ie he paid and had to leave within 24hrs, was held until he went to the airport etc. Please advise.

[Phatcharanan]

Also let me clarify as the last poster stated "airport", you can also leave via a land crossing. You just need to be leaving it does not necessarily mean you have to leave by air.

You said your friend went to immigration, did he go to a land corssing or airport? or did he go to the immigration office? If he went to the office please provide more information on what the process was, ie he paid and had to leave within 24hrs, was held until he went to the airport etc. Please advise.

Here is some advice for you.

Do NOT attempt a land crossing if you are on a long overstay. Airport only.

It will probably bite you in the ass.

[lopburi3]

Flame removed.

[ericthai]

Also let me clarify as the last poster stated "airport", you can also leave via a land crossing. You just need to be leaving it does not necessarily mean you have to leave by air.

You said your friend went to immigration, did he go to a land corssing or airport? or did he go to the immigration office? If he went to the office please provide more information on what the process was, ie he paid and had to leave within 24hrs, was held until he went to the airport etc. Please advise.

Here is some advice for you.

Do NOT attempt a land crossing if you are on a long overstay. Airport only.

It will probably bite you in the ass.

Why?? I don't understand why you say this, can you give us more information?

I know several people that have overstayed by several months and did a boarder crossing with no problems at all.

Actually the one guy they were joking around with him and was like his new best friend, I was with him when this happened just because he was worried and if something happened somebody would know and be able to get a plane ticket pay fine etc quickly, but none of this was an issue. They asked him if he needed a receipt he said no and man were they happy, Im sure that the 20K never made it up that channel. By the way he was 9 months over stay, this was in 2006.

[lopburi3]

Travel to border areas is much more likely to result in a police document check than travel to the airport. Does not happen often but such a check could result in arrest/detention/court/deportation and take a few days.

[ericthai]

Lopburi, yes understood that, going to the boarder is more of a risk getting stopped on the way to the boarder. Maybe I miss understood "Phatcharanan" as it appears he is suggesting problems at the boarder, however this was my interpretation and I could be wrong as he didn't really elaborate.

[PTYstefan]

Depending on the Age it varies, if you have less then 6 Months overstay, then there should be no problem in Paying the overstay. But anything over that you will be asked what the reason is of having overstay. Also as i have heard that you also have to give your reason in a Court hearing (more money and also a Lawyer should be needed.)

Also when having to many of the overstay stamps in the Passport, the Thai Embassies can Refuse you to apply for an visa ( They will just tell you to get a new Passport and come again.

***Better to follow the rules, and making everything right. Rather than going through the trouble at the end. Remember you are in a foreign Country.*****

[DegenFarang]

He should be able to go to the airport and pay a 20,000 baht fine on the way out of the country with no problems. I've known people who have done this for up to six months but never heard of 18 months. Please report back if he tries this and the result.

Short of doing the above I don't think there is any method that would result in anything other than jail+deportation

[DegenFarang]

Also let me clarify as the last poster stated "airport", you can also leave via a land crossing. You just need to be leaving it does not necessarily mean you have to leave by air.

You said your friend went to immigration, did he go to a land corssing or airport? or did he go to the immigration office? If he went to the office please provide more information on what the process was, ie he paid and had to leave within 24hrs, was held until he went to the airport etc. Please advise.

Here is some advice for you.

Do NOT attempt a land crossing if you are on a long overstay. Airport only.

It will probably bite you in the ass.

Why?? I don't understand why you say this, can you give us more information?

I know several people that have overstayed by several months and did a boarder crossing with no problems at all.

Actually the one guy they were joking around with him and was like his new best friend, I was with him when this happened just because he was worried and if something happened somebody would know and be able to get a plane ticket pay fine etc quickly, but none of this was an issue. They asked him if he needed a receipt he said no and man were they happy, Im sure that the 20K never made it up that channel. By the way he was 9 months over stay, this was in 2006.

Most people do land crossings on border run tour busses and the police occasionally stop those busses and check everybody's passports. Police rarely stop taxi's on the way to the airport so mathematically speaking, your risk is lower going to the airport.

[DegenFarang]

if you have less then 6 Months overstay, then there should be no problem in Paying the overstay. But anything over that you will be asked what the reason is of having overstay

Where did you get your information? I specifically asked about this last time I paid an overstay fine at the airport, upon reading the maximum penalty was 20,000 baht. I said 'what if I overstay for 10 years? i just pay 20,000 baht? no police? no problems?' 'yes, just pay 20,000 baht'.

[Mario2008]

He should be able to go to the airport and pay a 20,000 baht fine on the way out of the country with no problems. I've known people who have done this for up to six months but never heard of 18 months. Please report back if he tries this and the result.

Short of doing the above I don't think there is any method that would result in anything other than jail+deportation

See post number 5 in this thread. This man was on a 2 year overstay and couldn't pay at immigration and was told to just go to the airport.

[PTYstefan]

if you have less then 6 Months overstay, then there should be no problem in Paying the overstay. But anything over that you will be asked what the reason is of having overstay

Where did you get your information? I specifically asked about this last time I paid an overstay fine at the airport, upon reading the maximum penalty was 20,000 baht. I said 'what if I overstay for 10 years? i just pay 20,000 baht? no police? no problems?' 'yes, just pay 20,000 baht'.

I have got this Information from the Immigration it self. But for sure if you are possible to get an overstay of 10 years. Then you might as well get on the List of never return to Thailand....

[ericthai]

He should be able to go to the airport and pay a 20,000 baht fine on the way out of the country with no problems. I've known people who have done this for up to six months but never heard of 18 months. Please report back if he tries this and the result.

Short of doing the above I don't think there is any method that would result in anything other than jail+deportation

There is no rule that under 6 months is ok and over this is a problem. I stated in a previous post here that I had friend with 9 month overstay and when to a boarder crossing and that was no problem. I have heard of other guys that have had several years overstay and all they had to do was pay the fine when they left the country. So can you please advise where you are getting your information that anything over 6 months is a more serious offence.

[lopburi3]

Indeed there was a short term policy of anyone with more than six months overstay being detained and sent to Immigration Hqs for questioning/background check before being allowed to exit at the airport. This was more than a year ago during low season and seems to have only lasted a few weeks. But it did happen to some.

[Badbanker]

I took an out of luck man to Suan Plu Immigration Detention Center last week for a one month overstay and after he presented his passport, and documents were filled out for the court appearance next day, the Police then sat down behind a computer and did an arrest warrant check/Passport stop check on him.

The officer doing this is an officer that I have worked with before and so when he did this he described this as SOP!

Now if you exit at Nakon Nowhere and for some reason the computer is not working or they are not on line, I suspect that they may just detain you till they can verify you are not wanted, or a hold has not been put on your passport. There are a number of foreigners in Thailand that have a stop on their exiting.

BB

[ericthai]

Yes, If you go to immigration it's more than likely you are going to have to appear in court, but if you are leaving Thailand then typically there is no issue.

Like I said I had a friend 9 months over stay leaving via a boarder crossing and he had no issues. Actually we went via train to Penang where he was going there to get a non-im B visa. He paid the fine at the boarder and then he submitted all the paperwork and got the visa. I was expecting them to tell him no, but was surprised when they gave it to him.

[Jimbo]

I went to Loas via the friendship bridge last week and my friend was 13 month overstay. We walked into the office at the border and he paid the 20.000 THB. The officer did some paperwork and did not say anything to my friend. I did ask the immigration officer if it happened often that people paid a fine for long overstay at his office and he told me that he has at least a few on a daily basis. He told us that there is no problem whatsoever as long as you have money for the fine. The whole process took around 5 minutes.

By the way, there was no special stamp put into his passport. They only put an exit stamp into it. No red stamp or whatever.

[DegenFarang]

Now if you exit at Nakon Nowhere and for some reason the computer is not working or they are not on line, I suspect that they may just detain you till they can verify you are not wanted, or a hold has not been put on your passport. There are a number of foreigners in Thailand that have a stop on their exiting.

You have a hard time reading? If you exit at the airport or a border crossing they don't detain you or run any kind of check on you - you just pay your fine and you are on your way.

[hervelon]

How old is your brother? If he is, I believe the age is 12 year olds or under then there is no fee.

Under 15 no overstay fine is charged.

correct under 15 no overstay fine

this happen to my 14yr old son this summer

[samuitone]

Lopburi, yes understood that, going to the boarder is more of a risk getting stopped on the way to the boarder. Maybe I miss understood "Phatcharanan" as it appears he is suggesting problems at the boarder, however this was my interpretation and I could be wrong as he didn't really elaborate.

Most people who leave by border plan to return in the very near future. Friend had 2 year overstay four years ago. Departed at Sadao (Songkhla province in the south). Application for new visa was turned down flatly due to the lengthy overstay. He went across the road to the British embassy to buy new (cleaner looking) passport. Four days later the visa was granted by the SAME officer who refused him before.

So, YES. You can get out at a border crossing, but getting back into Thailand within a few days may be a nightmare.