Second Overstay On Non-Imm Ed Visa

[MK9]

Hello all,

a good friend of me is studying here in Thailand and has a 1 year Non-Immigrant ED (education) visa.

He overstayed on this visa now for about 3 weeks and he needs to extend it.

On his prior visa he overstayed for 1 day, paid his fine and it was no problem to get an 1 year extension.

Will he have any problem getting his extension this time, or does he only have to pay his fine again (500 Bt per day) and get another visa?

He does have all of his other papers (from school, etc.) in order and he has no criminal record or anything.

Thanks a lot.

[Mario2008]

3 weeks is a bit long. It will be up to the officer to decide if they will give him an extension or send him packing to get a new Ed-visa. If he studies at a university he should have a better chance than when studying at a language school or such.

[MK9]

3 weeks is a bit long. It will be up to the officer to decide if they will give him an extension or send him packing to get a new Ed-visa. If he studies at a university he should have a better chance than when studying at a language school or such.

Alright, thanks for your reply!

He is studying at a university and has been a student there for about 3 years now.

What exactly do you mean with "send him packing to get a new ED-visa"? You mean send him back to his home country and apply for a new ED-visa over there or will he be able to do that here in Thailand?

Is it possible that they'll arrest him on the spot at the immigration office?

Thanks again!

[Mario2008]

Send him packing means he must leave the country and get a new ED-visa, which can be doen in a neighbouring country. Technically they can arest him and keep him in locked up till he has payed the fine and has a ticket out of the country. That is however not very likely.

A university student has a good chance of just paying the overstay and getting the extension. But there are no guarentees.

[BWPattaya]

Why is he 3 weeks overdue? I hope he has a good excuse.

[MK9]

Why is he 3 weeks overdue? I hope he has a good excuse.

Well he told me he just completely forgot, so no real excuse there.. He's just been stupid.

Any ideas as what would be the best thing for him to do when he's at immigration? Tell the staff immediately that he overstayed his visa, and tell them he has the money to pay the fine? He has to go to the Bangkok Immigration office, if that makes any difference.

He's a young guy, dresses well, I know he will be very polite and appologetic over there. All small things that might help him a bit hopefully.

Edited August 7, 2010 by MK9

[pontious]

Buy him a calendar, fridge magnet, show him how to activate mobile phone, computer alarms.

[moe666]

Send him packing makes all faranges look bad.

[Tod Daniels]

Send him packing makes all faranges look bad.

OMG, what incredibly insightful "wordz-'o-wisdom" (NOT !!). ..

Being enrolled in a 'real university' as opposed to a private school does seem to carry more weight with the officials out at Changwattana. Having sat there all too many hours and watched people file thru, I can say; the foreigners I've seen with documentation from Chula, Thammasat, Mahidol, and even the open-u Ramkhamhaeng are subject to much less scrutiny than private schools what ever subject they're teaching (thai language, engrish, underwater basket weaving, etc).

I do wholeheartedly agree with other posters in saying 3 frickin' weeks is pushing the envelope quite a bit . Especially if as you say he secures a YEARLY extension of stay each time he re-applies. I would imagine, if he doesn't leave the glorious "Land 'O Thais" regularly, he still has reason to open his passport at least every 3 months when he goes and does his 90 day reporting for not leaving. Any excuse he may give could fall on deaf ears depending on how pissy they want to be with him .

Immigrations is totally within their rights in charging him the over stay of 500 baht per day (so 3 weeks is 10,500 baht and counting), compelling him to purchase a '7 day emergency extension of stay', as well as telling him to go get another Non-Immigrant Type-ED Visa at a neighboring country's thai embassy or consulate. Just as they are within their rights to charge him the overstay fee, and then issue his next yearly extension. It's their call and they DO have the latitude to interpret how they will enforce their rules on this. ..

If he is indeed enrolled in a 'real uni', I'd see if he couldn't take someone from their visa department with him to facilitate the sorting out of his problem. It'd be well worth what ever he'd hafta pay them, just to see if it could be resolved in-country.

Anyway, once this person does resolve it, do post back here and let us know.

[THAILIBAN]

another "a good friend of mine" - topic.....

always those "good friend of mine" or "neighbor of mine" - topics do cover something negative or embarrassing that happened to the "good friend of mine".

well, let's say how it is in 99% of the case: " a good friend of mine " = "this happened to ME, MYSELF AND I, but I am too embarrassed / ashamed to admit it "

[Colabamumbai]

Criminal record has never been a question in getting an Educational Visa.

[Colabamumbai]

another "a good friend of mine" - topic.....

always those "good friend of mine" or "neighbor of mine" - topics do cover something negative or embarrassing that happened to the "good friend of mine".

well, let's say how it is in 99% of the case: " a good friend of mine " = "this happened to ME, MYSELF AND I, but I am too embarrassed / ashamed to admit it "

Would tend to agree with you as there are too many "a good friend of mine" stories here.

[Colabamumbai]

We live in Thailand by the good graces of Immigration. How anyone could forget that their 90 day address reporting is due or the fact that their visa expires on a certain day is very hard to believe, while living in Thailand these 2 dates are the most important dates in your life, more important than your birthday and your anniversary. If you cannot purchase a calendar and mark the appropriate dates a month before and the month they actually come due, then you can always write them on a piece of paper or many if necessary and post them in your residence where you will be constantly reminded. Do foreigners living here think that they can purposely avoid 90 day reporting or visa runs, or is it that the price for the penalty is not high enough????

[rubik101]

First thing I do when I get back from the immigration office is to print the renewal date on an A4 sheet and magnet it to the fridge door. In fact, I normally print the date about a week before it's due, just to be sure. If you overstay, or your 'friend' has overstayed, get to the office as soon as possible, apologise and be ready to pay the fine. I was told it was a fixed amount of 2000 baht.

Now to exlain why I do that: I once overshot, the 1st time, by a whole month, due to misreading the slip of paper stuck in my passport. After much grovelling and apologies, 1000 baht was slipped under her computer keyboard and a new visa issued. I won't tell you where for fear it might be stopped but it wasn't Bangkok or Pattaya!

Edited August 9, 2010 by rubik101

[Mario2008]

First thing I do when I get back from the immigration office is to print the renewal date on an A4 sheet and magnet it to the fridge door. In fact, I normally print the date about a week before it's due, just to be sure. If you overstay, or your 'friend' has overstayed, get to the office as soon as possible, apologise and be ready to pay the fine. I was told it was a fixed amount of 2000 baht.

Now to exlain why I do that: I once overshot, the 1st time, by a whole month, due to misreading the slip of paper stuck in my passport. After much grovelling and apologies, 1000 baht was slipped under her computer keyboard and a new visa issued. I won't tell you where for fear it might be stopped but it wasn't Bangkok or Pattaya!

The overstay fine is 500 baht a day with a maximum of 20,000 baht. There is no fixed amount.

You are probably mistaken with the fine for late reporting of your stay in the country for 90 days. The normal fine for that is 2,000 baht, but they can ask for 5,000 baht and on occasion do. Especially when someone makes trouble.

The 90 day report is not a visa or an extension of stay.