A Laos girl I know in Pattaya has overstayed her tourist visa by over a month and has told me she is returning to Laos this week to get a new one. She has also been "working". If this was a farang I understand that the fine would be 500 baht a day, up to 20,000 baht, just for the overstay. Although the girl I know has been working, I doubt very much she has this kind of cash.

What is likely to happen to her? If she can't pay will the authorities take what they can and let her go or are the penalties likely to be more severe? She seems very blase about it and is also confident that she'll get a new Tourist visa (her third in a year) very easily.

(Visa/immigration answers only please - no judging!)

Fine is the same and they can put her in the immigration penn till she pays up, or go before judge to be sentenced. Beleive she can than go to jail an get a 200 baht reduction for each day spend behind bars.

If she just pays the fine she can get a new visa without a problem. I would strongly advice her against working without a work permit, that is much more serious.

I beliefe too, was Mario says is the law.

Bur normaly nothing will happend to "workers" like her and it looks like, she know this very well.

If she likes to go home, she can go easy over the border without passing a thai. border checkpoint. If catched in Thailand, the emloyer normaly has his connections for accidents like this.

I hope this is no judging! I know from years ago, that this overstay was a much used "scam" to open the pokets of careing forigners.

Just had a call from the girl who is now safely back home in Laos. She only had to pay 2,500 baht to get out of Thailand which seems cheap as she'd overstayed by at least a month, and she seems confident she'll get a new visa and be back in Pattaya within 2 weeks. As Somrak said, I think she knows the setup well and surely Immigration at the border must realise she's an unlikely "tourist".