Overstay And Re-Entry Of Education Visa

[upinsmoke]

On Saturday, I took my first trip out of Thailand in 5 months only to learn at passport control that I'd overstayed my non-resident education visa by 63 days. I paid the 20,000 baht fine. I need to re-enter Thailand on Jan 17 to continue my work at a rural university. As an American citizen, can I enter without a visa and submit the extension form after re-entry? Will my chances for an extension be jeopardized by having over-stayed my visa?

I genuinely hadn't realized that my one-year visa required a 90-day extension. I either overlooked the requirement in my approval letter, or the letter neglected to state the extension req.

[lopburi3]

You also can not work without a work permit so it seems there are more issues involved unless you consider study work. Any work permit would not be valid without a non immigrant visa entry that allows work. No such visa allows more than a 90 day stay but if qualified extensions of stay are available from immigration for longer term stays. You can not extend a visa exempt entry but if you have a valid one year visa it means each entry during the year gets you a new 90 day stay.

[Ginkas]

Not sure what you mean by "90-day extension" or "approval letter".

Presumably you have a multiple entry non-immigrant visa valid for one year.

When you first entered the country you would have had a permission to stay stamp placed in your passport saying

"Admitted xx/xx/xx

Until xx/xx/xx"

The 'until' date would be 90 days following your date of entry.

Did you not look at your passport stamp?

What you should have done is then leave Thailand before the until date, entered another country, then returned to Thailand and received another

stamp permitting you to stay another 90 days.

By carefully selecting your exits and entries you can get 5+ x 90 day stays, for a maximum of almost 15 months.

As stated above, you cannot work without a work permit.

If found out more fines to pay plus, possibly, other sanctions.

[Ginkas]

Ah! Just seen that the title mentions an Education Visa.

If you are studying, then the university could have given you various documents, if you had asked,

which you then take to the immigration office for an extension. No need to leave the country.

If normal, full time, university study you may well have got a one year extension.

No need to leave the country, just report to immigration every 90 days.

If study does not warrant a one year extension you should get a 90 day extension.

This needs to be renewed every 90 days with letters from the university.

No need to leave the country, but you still have to report to immigration every 90 days.

NOTE: The 90 day report is separate from, and additional to, the application for 90 day extensions.

This "one-year visa" has been confusing us.

Given the above, a one year multiple entry non-immigrant visa was not necessary and, indeed,

a waste of time and money. A single entry would have been quite sufficient.

BTW On either of the above extensions you would need to obtain a re-entry permit, from immigration,

if you wished to leave the country but return and retain the extension.

[upinsmoke]

Thanks for the replies so far. As Ginkas says, I have a multiple-entry, non-immigrant visa valid for one year. I'm a graduate student doing research in Thailand and considered to be a student, according to my university here. I don't need a work permit. By "approval letter", I meant the letter from the Thai Consulate that accompanied my visa. The letter is in my apartment in Thailand, so I haven't been able to verify what it states. The expiration year on my passport stamp was not legible. I thought it read Oct 10, 2011, whereas it actually read Oct 10, 2010. In addition, I think they inadvertently stamped me for 60 days, not 90 days, as seems to be standard, i.e., it should have been Nov 10.

Given my situation: 1) I overstayed, 2) I have yet to file a 90-day report or request a 90-day extension, and 3) I am currently outside Thailand to return in 5 days, what should I do at the airport upon re-entry? I cannot request a re-entry permit without completing Point (2) above, right? Can I enter as a tourist and then try to obtain an extension to my visa that is valid for one year? Thanks for your help!

[Mario2008]

Has your visa has expired or just your permission to stay.

The visa is the one that was issued at the consulate, it should read something as "valid till **-***-** or "must be utilized before".

If that date is still in the future, you can just re-enter Thailand and get a 90 day permission to stay. You don't have to do anything for that. Just fill in the visa number on your arrival card.

With paperwork from the university you can extend your stay to 1 year at immigration, in the last 30 days of your permission to stay.

[upinsmoke]

Mario, thanks for the advice. As you said, I had no problem re-entering and receiving a 90-day permission.

[roydopaishi]

Hey all,

Thought I'd share my troubles here with you all in the hope that you guys will share your experience/knowledge regarding overstays in Thailand.

1. I had entered Thailand in Jan, 2011 on a non-immigrant ED VISA and have been doing my 90 day reports regularly through my university's office (American MBA program NOT a Thai language institute).

2. Upgraded to multi re-entry valid until April 2012

3. I was meant to do my last 90 day report on the 1st of March, 2012 but was too caught up with internships/job searching, etc.

As of today, its been more than 200 days since i've reported. Is there any way out of this without being thrown in jail/serving in a detention center/getting banned from revisiting? I've come to terms with cashing out 20,000 baht and the possibility of having to leave the country to India (Im Indian)

Mario2008, Ginkas .. and others... I could use your insights regarding this.

Your help will be greatly appreciated

[lopburi3]

90 day address reports have nothing to do with your stay. Are you on an extension of stay from immigration or not? What is you latest permitted to stay until stamp in your passport. It sounds as if it is April 2012 and you have been overstay since then so a ticket out of country and payment of 20k fine at airport would seem your best option and hope for the best.

[Ginkas]

As with the Original Poster the information you have provided isn't entirely clear.

1. What do you mean by "90 day reports"?

If you had a 90 day extension of stay for your studies (as is usual for, example, language school students) you have to renew this extension every 90 days.

You also have to make a 90 day report of your address (a separate thing from the above).

If you had a 1 year extension of stay (as is usual for full time university studies) you only have to make a 90 day report of your address.

2. A "multi re-entry" what? You can't "upgrade" to a multiple re-entry permit.

If you had an extension of stay to April 2012 this could either have been from a series of 90 day extensions or one annual extension.

You may then have applied for a re-entry permit (especially if the latter) to enable you to exit and re-enter Thailand and retain your extension.

3. If your extension was until April 2012 that is when you should have applied for another extension.

1st March doesn't make much sense unless the 90 day address reports had slipped back, as they do if you report your address early each time.

As said, 90 day address reports and extensions of stay are two separate things.

If you can clarify the details of what you actually had it will be possible to give you a better answer.

Lopburi3, in particular, can supply very precise and relevant advice.