Overstay Of 25 Years

[sirchai]

Can I just say.....WOW

25 years is a long fuc_king time of overstay. Sorry, but there's no excuse like your parents passed away a.s.o.

People like you're making it much harder to live here, working, paying tax and trying to be a good father.

What would you think about Thais who'd overstay their Visa back in the UK, when you'd have to pay taxes for them?

You shouldn't be legal here, even when people accepted you. Why don't you let them know what's up......?:jap:

Firstly have you read any of the prior postings here ? It seems not. Just how yet again is this guy making it harder for you to stay here ? He has no bearing on your visa status. ABSOLUTELY NONE!

In the same way a guy not wearing a crash helmet has no effect on the fact that I choose to wear one.

I was having a drink with an immigration officer the other night. He said it was a GOOD thing when Farang overstayed as it meant Thailand got big baht in fines. Having just returned form Penang with a guy that had 3.5 years overstay and found the immigration department had no concerns at all and the consulate then gave the same guy a FREE tourist visa the very next day it seems the only people that are bothered are the so called " Drama queen, outraged Farang "

I've read the postings here and other people's overstay does affect guys who're doing all the paperwork, visa and work permit documentation.

When i came to Thailand, Thais here, ( not a tourist destination) were happy to see foreigners. But because so many of them were/are involved in crimes, being pedophiles, drug dealers and much more ,they started to dislike us.

Your story about having a drink with an Immigration officer is really very funny......but also sad. Who gives a shit, what one guy told you? :jap:

[sirchai]

Not really proud of it, But things happen

Pinball, you have got lots of advice on your post. Some from the "hang em" "bomb em" brigade and some from "admirers". I have already posted but would add a few questions to you.

a. Do you seriously want to leave your family and friends in Thailand (especially when you have no-one in the UK left) for no good reason?

b. If you have a spare 20000 baht plus some court money and some bribe money, don't you think that would be better spent on your children and family?

c. What would happen if you had to leave and live in the UK? Your Thai family would be without you and the Uk is a very forbidding place if you have no money or family and you are British.

Do yourself a favour and forget this nonesense. Carry on the good life with your family and in the village in which you are fully integrated. Wherever you are in the world there can be no finer gravestone engraving than: 'he lived respected and died regretted'.

Finally, your behaviour in no way affects any other Farang in Thailand. Good luck in whatever you decide.

Finally, your behaviour in no way affects any other Farang in Thailand. Good luck in whatever you decide.

OMG. I'm Atheist, but your post is really insane. How do you know how this guy's living here, making his money for his family?

Don't you think it will affect others, when they find out that he's been here without a visa for 25 years??

Are you just a simple guy, or just naive that you don't get it? :jap:

[BlueSmurf]

Good luck. ...I know of a american who has been on overstay for 25 years.He does no one any harm and supports a very sick lady here.I hope he nevet gets caught. You seem a decent guy.Let us know how it works out for you.

[metisdead]

An inflammatory post has been removed from view. You can disagree with someone’s view without name calling.

One troll post removed from view as well.

[Derifo]

Sorry,

but i take that as an absolute insult to me AND all the others in thailand that keep their visa`s up to date and often loss intrest on money we have to bring in and show in our thai bank accounts for visa`s.......SHAME ON YOU SIR

I met a guy about 6 years ago who was already overstayed for 15 years and as wasn't even ready to leave. He told me his story, and I understood why he'd overstayed. I believe we all have our own stories, and shouldn't feel shame over somebody else's no matter what. The only reason you've been moving money back and forth is because you can afford it. What would happen if you found yourself in an otherwise situation?

[Lozman]

As 'Aridion' pointed out Immigration only keep records for 4 years..So...you have only overstayed for 4 and a bit years...or so the non existent records show. But..he provided you with one solution, Another might be to get someone to ask an Immigration 'Person' about your predicament...without names etc. If Tourist and other Police can find solutions for a fee....then...maybe...an Immigration Person might as well. My response however would be to keep the low profile, enjoy your family and live a wonderful time for the rest of your days in Paradise in Thailand....

[Pacificperson]

To the OP. I would tend to agree with those who have said your decision should depend upon your ability to stay legal once you return. I would guess that this would be difficult for you. You said that you had trouble paying for your passport renewals. I would guess that you have managed to support yourself and your family, but that you have not been able to build-up the reserves that would be required to stay legal once you return. You will have much more attention paid to you upon returning.

Most likely you would not be given a work permit, so will your current family income source be able to continue to support you and yours once you have come under the microscope as a 25 year over-stayer? If your are married, can you put together the 400K Baht for the annual renewal? If you cannot answer these types of questions positively, then getting legal once will not do you much good. By doing the right thing, you will have drawn the attention of the authorities, and you will have to toe the line for the remainder of your stay in Thailand.

I wish you the best whatever you do.

[Totster]

Please do not mislead the forum. I do this for a living!

Also please understand even though I do not charge, many people that I help, offer me money to pay for my time. Frankly I spent a huge amount of time and personal money helping people paying court fines and getting cleared of overstay

So.. Strictly speaking, you don't do this for a living.. please do not mislead the forum..

Totster

Edited January 30, 2011 by Totster

[Richard4849]

He COULD have been a Thai citizen twice over by now if he'd respected the rules of the land. I haven't been here as long as he has, and I'm a Thai citizen. I'm not even married to a Thai. So give us a break and please don't attempt to justify the guy's situation by blaming "xenophobic" Thai immigration laws.

[softgeorge]

You could be facing imprisonment or at least 20,000 baht fine

[kimamey]

I can see why someone has done everything correctly would be a bit annoyed with someone who hasn't bothered but it seems like the OP is genuine and well behaved. I would think things were very different in Thailand 25 years ago and probably not so strict. One problem I can see is that technology has changed in that time as well and will continue to do so. With integrated computerisation of many government and other organisations turning up on one can lead to another even if it something legitimate. For instance at the moment from what I know if you speed on the road or a cop thinks he can get away with it you will pay him and nothing is recorded. In the UK and many other countries speeding is provable either cameras by the roadside or in a police car so the police can't rob you ut it does mean it's recorded and checked against registration, MOT test and insurance. If that happens in Thailand he could have problems. Many other things could happen as well such as illness or injury where a hospital might check or maybe a crime against him which involves the police.

He needs to work out how much worse it will be to be found out than to be honest. Not an easy decision but maybe a lawyer approached by someone else on his behalf. Just make sure it doesn't end up incriminating them as well.

Good luck you seem an honest guy.

[transam]

Didn't l read that those like the OP will be locked up. Think l would just carry on as you are.

[travelmann]

Can I just say.....WOW

25 years is a long fuc_king time of overstay. Sorry, but there's no excuse like your parents passed away a.s.o.

People like you're making it much harder to live here, working, paying tax and trying to be a good father.

What would you think about Thais who'd overstay their Visa back in the UK, when you'd have to pay taxes for them?

You shouldn't be legal here, even when people accepted you. Why don't you let them know what's up......?:jap:

Unlike a lot of Uk immigrants he isnt bleeding money off the Thai state.............I suspect?

[transam]

Can I just say.....WOW

25 years is a long fuc_king time of overstay. Sorry, but there's no excuse like your parents passed away a.s.o.

People like you're making it much harder to live here, working, paying tax and trying to be a good father.

What would you think about Thais who'd overstay their Visa back in the UK, when you'd have to pay taxes for them?

You shouldn't be legal here, even when people accepted you. Why don't you let them know what's up......?:jap:

Unlike a lot of Uk immigrants he isnt bleeding money off the Thai state.............I suspect?

You are correct, but '' we '' are often called racist for saying that.

[Badbanker]

Please do not mislead the forum. I do this for a living!

Also please understand even though I do not charge, many people that I help, offer me money to pay for my time. Frankly I spent a huge amount of time and personal money helping people paying court fines and getting cleared of overstay

So.. Strictly speaking, you don't do this for a living.. please do not mislead the forum..

Totster

It is a hobby that has become a passion and what I live for(a living)! No I do not and can not make a living from doing this and rely on the business consultancy work I do to pay the bills. I spend 75% of my time doing this and 25% consulting. Fortunately the consulting pays well!

Sorry if through my comment I misled anyone.

The OP wanted an answer to the 25 year question and I have given a clear and succinct answer on 2 occasions in this thread outlining my experience of 20 years and many occasions. Now I am getting hacked at in a technicality again by Totster something he has done in the past to me.

BB

Edited January 30, 2011 by Badbanker

[mxyzptlk]

I hope the OP is OK when he comes clean

Live & let live.... that's what I say.

[Arkady]

To the hang em high brigade.. If this country had less xenophobic naturalization laws anyone with a wife child and 25 years in the country would be a citizen of the country with nothing to fear. Its the lack of clear naturalization processes for all (not only those working) which puts people who genuinely reside here in this position.

Not that I fully believe the OP tho.. Never had to show a passport in 25 years ?? Never registered a marriage ?? Or a vehicle ?? or visited a police station ?? Or or or..

The OP should have easily been able to get PR during the six years he worked legally in Thailand in the early 80s, when it was still quite easy, if he had applied. If he had done that and continued working, he could also have quite easily got Thai citizenship too. The laws governing PR and citizenship are actually very reasonable but it is the implementation of them in a thoroughly non-transparent way that leaves a lot to be desired. Nonetheless, there is no point in blaming allegedly xenophobic laws in the case of some one who never even bothered to apply for PR at a time when it was relatively quick and easy to obtain.

[Totster]

Please do not mislead the forum. I do this for a living!

Also please understand even though I do not charge, many people that I help, offer me money to pay for my time. Frankly I spent a huge amount of time and personal money helping people paying court fines and getting cleared of overstay

So.. Strictly speaking, you don't do this for a living.. please do not mislead the forum..

Totster

It is a hobby that has become a passion and what I live for(a living)! No I do not and can not make a living from doing this and rely on the business consultancy work I do to pay the bills. I spend 75% of my time doing this and 25% consulting. Fortunately the consulting pays well!

Sorry if through my comment I misled anyone.

The OP wanted an answer to the 25 year question and I have given a clear and succinct answer on 2 occasions in this thread outlining my experience of 20 years and many occasions. Now I am getting hacked at in a technicality again by Totster something he has done in the past to me.

BB

I'm sorry you feel you are getting hacked at (again so it seems), however I feel it is important to properly gauge your experience in these matters, seeing as you quite pompously assert that you are a higher authority (some would say self importance, but not me !) in this matter.

To explain.. someone who does this for real in an official capacity (for a living) is able to give professional advice, which can in most parts be relied upon. Now, someone who does this for a hobby is able to give amateur advice which is and should be considered less reliable.

So, you can see that doing something for a living, and doing something as a hobby are different.. and as you berated other posters for misleading (something you like to point out a lot I must add), I felt that to be fair I should point out your mistake in choice of words.

Please don't think that your experience in this matter is not appreciated, any help the OP can get is invaluable.

Totster

[Acharn]

..and moving right along, from my lawyer, live in Houston regarding the question of lawyer-client confidentiality, "Attorney client privilege prevails. There is no duty under US law for anyone to report an undocumented person."

That makes sense to me, which is a little surprising. There are a lot of obscure laws that can trip you up -- I think nowadays spitting on the sidewalk is considered material support for a terrorist organization, which will get you like seven years of hard time. I suspect the Tea Partiers, who care so much about our freedom, will try to make it a felony to fail to report suspicion of possible illegal immigrants. But to make the report you will have to undergo a complete body grope by TSA (Transportation Security Agency).

[mstribling]

I have the Bangladeshi guy who sells roti on my soi who came in on a boat 20 years ago.

He's never had a passport. I asked him what he has/would do.

He laughed and said "pay up" as if it was the stupidest question he ever heard.

[khaowong1]

I don't think there is such a law in the US. Lawyer-client confidentiality. There have been threads before suggesting tactics to deal with very long overstays. Not sure 5 years would be different than 25 years, technically speaking.

Your wrong JT.. there is such a law. Although many lawyers ignore it. Lawyers are called - Officers of the Court. And they are required by law to report anything that is considered - breaking the law. Lawyer-Client Confidentiality is only for situations not about breaking the law. That's why most lawyers don't want to hear you tell them if your guilty or not. A guilly statement given to a lawyer does not qualify as Lawyer-Client Confidentiality.

[JUDAS]

Totster. I'll listen to the man with experience any day without splitting hairs over terminology. Badbanker offers his advice based on his years of experience to the OP and you offer advice on his choice of words! Well done.

[kiwijor]

Hi Pinball,

I have a similar story that may help you.

After several yearly trips to Thailand in the 1980's, I decided to move to Thailand from New Zealand in 1991, in those days a Kiwi was given a 3month visa on entry, it was reasonably easy for me to travel from Issan to Hadyai and then on to the border, into and out again from Malaysia, then return home, a few years later, the entry was reduced to just one month at a time, my friends in the local Police station suggested that I forgo the monthly visa runs, due to my extremely limited finances.

So I didnt from that time on have a valid visa I lived in the community for the following 15 or so years, being well known and never hampered at all.

IN 2006, as I was approaching 65, I made plans to return to N.Z. in order to receive my Old age Pension, in early 2007, with the assistance of the local police, I was taken to the provincial court where I was found guilty of overstay and fined 6,000 Baht, at the Immigration Detention Centre in Bangkok, I was treated kindly, then transported the next morning to the Airport where I was allowed to board a Plane that would return me to New Zealand.

During My Time in Thailand, I kept in contact with my Embassy, and the local police, marrying a Thai Lady, building a small house, and developing a Compressed Earth Block making Factory.

My advice would be for you to visit your local Police station, make yourself known to the Local Police Chief, ask him for assistance in transporting you to Bangkok, where you would hand yourself in to The IDC, you will be transported to a Court, fined, returned to the IDC, and then taken to the Airport to be deported back to the Country of your Birth.

Of course you will have needed to have obtained the necessary Ticket with an Airline back to your Country.

I hope this may help you some,

Regards

Kiwijor

[metisdead]

Posts suggesting the OP perform illegal activites have been removed. Other posts that were based on speculation have been removed as well.

[HerveB]

Good comments and I agree with you.

[Totster]

Totster. I'll listen to the man with experience any day without splitting hairs over terminology. Badbanker offers his advice based on his years of experience to the OP and you offer advice on his choice of words! Well done.

Yes, you are quite right of course, the truth is I didn't have anything else to add to what had already been said, and I saw no point in offering my 2bt worth and repeating what other posters may have already advised. And as you can see, I never disagreed or objected to the advice given by anyone in this thread.

Hopefully the OP will have enough information now to make a plan of action to help him get through this as painlessly as possible.

Totster

[HC82]

I've read numerous posts of people with years long overstays, one other poster with a stay of over 20 years, and every single one of them went to the airport and payed the 20,000 Baht fine and left without incident and were free to return.

Had it not been for a sensationalist and completely fictitious article by a garbage tabloid startup in Pattaya everybody would tell you just to go to the airport and pay the fine then come back. Now some are probably telling tall tales of certain jail time but their claims are backed up by no facts or actual cases of people going to jail, just rumors fed by irresponsible ThaiVisa headlines.

I can't guarantee with 100% certainty nothing will happen to you but I'd bet all of my worldly possessions on it without batting an eye. Just get to the airport and you'll be fine.

Edited January 31, 2011 by metisdead
Edited out the dubious part, otherwise, good post!

[Cnxforever]

Sorry,

but i take that as an absolute insult to me AND all the others in thailand that keep their visa`s up to date and often loss intrest on money we have to bring in and show in our thai bank accounts for visa`s.......SHAME ON YOU SIR

You are insulted?, Why should he feel shamed ? From the brief details that has been given ,he has a family which he has been with for 20+ years, So he didn't have a visa ,maybe he could not afford the expense . Given what he has said ,he only has his family here . If I was in his position I would of probably done the same , So what he has not got a visa ,that don't make him a bad person just a guy that has put roots down & probably contributed to his new (30yr +) homeland .

Has to what he should do now , well I would say unless he is really planning on going places just do more of the same . However if he goes the other way I would advice him to just turn up with a ticket pay the fine . If they mark your passport then get a new one.

Good luck to him & I hope it all works out fine for him & his.

As to you feeling insulted , maybe you should consider getting a new life if something like this cuts you so much. I don't feel insulted in any way so there is 1 of all the others that keep their visa's up to day that you are not speaking for .

You have no right to speak for all the others as you put it.

I do agree with you - the immigration laws in Thailand discriminates against foreigners and is nothing but a money maker! If you have a wife and children here but not the funds to "pay off" the authorities - what are you supposed to do?

Live your life separated from your family? See your children grow up from another country?

Even if you have the funds what guaranty do you have that they not just increase the amount several fold like they have done before. It used to be 100.000 Baht in the Bank which was suddenly increased to 800.000! I would love to see all of those defending this rip-off here what they would say if this happens again and you have to keep suddenly 6.4 million Baht interest free in a Thai Bank account or you are told to leave! And make no mistake there are people here who would just love to do that - there was already a call in parliament from some loony who suggested to charge foreigners 300.000 Baht for a work permit!

Thailand's immigration laws are ridiculous!

They should adapt international standards - and not turn immigration into a money making enterprise like everything else they do - greed, greed and nothing but greed! Same laws should apply to foreigners here then the laws applied on Thais immigrating overseas. If you take your Thai wife to your country chances are that in most countries she will have almost the same rights than you have - except for election laws maybe until she is a citizen.

Here it is purely money based - you can be a criminal but if you have the money you can stay here as long as you like - a decent person who makes a living with his family but can not come up with the extra funds required should not be allowed to stay?? Whats wrong with a family staying together and make a living by whatever means they choose? If they can get by with little money it is their problem - who is the government to dictate them how much money they have to make a month just because one partner is a foreigner? They don't seem to care very much how much their own people make a month and if they are able to get by.

Of course it would be a different story if you can not provide for your family and become a burden to society - but as long as you are no burden to anybody it should be your problem on how much you and your family can get by. Now the Thai laws only cover "marriage" and "retirement" what about gay / lesbian people? They are discriminated against even worse - They can not get "married" here (even if they are allowed to do so in many other countries now these partnerships are not recognized in backward countries like Thailand) what if they find their life partner here - like many of my friends have? Are they supposed to wait until retirement to live with their partner and only if they come up with the money in the bank to do so??

Things need to radically change here - but as long as foreigners who live here are not willing to come together and start lobbying for their cause nothing will change - the overwhelming opinion seems to be "there is nothing we can do about it" - I am sure there are ways to change things slowly but steady - but as long as people are taken to the cleaners here and kicked in the bu.. turn around and say "thank you for ripping me off and kicking me in the bu.." nothing will change.

[Jebhead]

25 years overstay - that's the best one i've heard - respect!!!

I'd keep going on the QT too, although your bound to get a giggle at the immigration office, quality....

JH

[Digitalbanana]

25 years overstay - that's the best one i've heard - respect!!!

I'd keep going on the QT too, although your bound to get a giggle at the immigration office, quality....

JH

Ali G, the guys been stuck out in the sticks for over 25 years, he's not going to understand anything you just said.