Overstay Of 25 Years

[Totster]

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.

innit !

:lol:

totster

[Naam]

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?

you leave Thailand and take your wife and children to your home country. pardon me? you say it is rather difficult to take your family to your home country? wife needs to acquire a rudimentary knowledge of (insert language> and meet a bunch of other requirements? does you home country discriminate your family because they are foreigners?

[JennieRoengmueang]

please get in touch with me i might be able to help you

[Richard4849]

"International standards" for immigration policy?

So you'd like for Thailand to make it as difficult for foreigners to visit as your country makes it for Thais?

Be careful what you wish for...

[TheWhiteFella]

If what you wrote is how you still feel I would

#1. Either get your marriage certificate or get legally married

#2. Get a ticket

#3. Go to airport and pay max fine 20,000

#4. With the marriage certificate you will most likely be able to get a Non-0 visa

#5 as I understand it you wish to remain here but legally therefore you need to consider how you will stay here "Legally"

Good luck

[FlyingSaucer]

what i heard that big overstayers might come into Thai Jail......... and thais say thai Jail is like HELL. even its possible to get killed there "legally"

[mstribling]

Cnxforever- bro. You are trippin'

[KoreaElte]

Cnxforever- bro. You are trippin'

He made some valid points though. Thai Immigration laws are quite restrictive - a bit like Japan. Welcome as a tourist but for everything else we will constantly remind you that you are a foreigner....

Coming from a Western background we are always used to things being PC and fair, promoting equality, etc. Simply not applicable here. We are in SE Asia and in a developing country that takes great pride in never having been colonized.

I hate it, too, but I think if you put yourself into "their" shoes it makes a bit more sense.

[mstribling]

Thai immigration laws are easy. The only problem is the inconsistencies between the various consulates and the occasional whim of an officer.

ALL the information is out there just do your homework. It is reading, not building a pyramid.

I still say he is buggin'

[tim73]

25 years?! What are you, some kind of jungle Rambo, catching snakes for living?! This is so funny

[oldsailor35]

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

Don't be so petty, this man has probably been a greater asset to Thailand than you could ever be. And i am sure that he has a Thai family that any of us would be proud of.

Good luck to him and his love ones, perhaps he can find an influential lawyer at Sunbelt.

[oldsailor35]

If the story is true as stated....

1) How did he keep managing to get passports in Thailand that were totally empty? No entrance/exit stamps of any kind or permission to stay? You would think the people issuing at least 2 new passports would have red-flagged him for at least a chat.

I think the embassy only cares if you're a wanted criminal or not

Hope he still can recite his national anthem, as that might be the only way to prove his origins.

Reading back, i don't think he has any problem with proving his origins as he has always kept a passport.

[oldsailor35]

No lawyer or influential person required. Just go out, pay your 20K, and come back in with an appropriate visa. Immigration won't care if you've overstayed six months, a year, or 25 years.

You obviously do not know what you are talking about!

Please explain where he going to get a new stamp in his new passport?

The airport or border check point will not do it!

When he gets his new passport from the British Embassy they will also give him a letter to immigration explaining his situation and direct him there.

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

BB

I recently left Thailand on an emergency passport, no entry stamp, no problem. Australian Embassy just gave me a letter to show immigration that my original was either lost or stolen. Only big problem would be that i had to have a report number from Samui tourist police where i reported the loss. But i guess that one could 'make up' a story with that.

[Mario2008]

I think the letter included your old passport number, making it easy for immigration to check your online file for a possible overstay. I also suppose you needed a replacement arrival card.

It is not so easy as to just have an emergency passport and be allowed to leave without any questions.

[Basil B]

Pinball, I think that it is brave of you to come onto a public forum like this to tell of your situation. Even though your identity is confidential, it is a step in the right direction to make yourself legal; admittance.

I had a friend who was eight years over stay in Thailand. He was in a similiar situation to you, although he was without a passport as well. He was scared to take the plunge to get legal for a long time, not aware of the consequences of showing up at emigration or his embassy. This is what he did.

1) He reported to his embassy and was given an emergency passport that would last for 2 weeks. He then bought a ticket to his home country.

2) The Embassy instructed him to go to Chaeng Wattana to see if immigration had his entry stamp on their system. Immigration informed him that they only keep records for up to four years. He was instructed to go to report to Immigration Detention Centre at Suan Plu.

3) He informed his embassy that he had to go to IDC. They informed him not to go there until the day his flight was leaving as he would be kept in the Detention Centre until his date of departure.

4) The Embassy informed the IDC officials (contacts that they had) about my friends situation. This helped to make sure that he would be passed through the system quickly and that he would be able to board the plane that he had a ticket for.

5) On the day that he was due to leave (flight departing suvarnabhumi at 5pm) he was taken to IDC accompanied by an Embassy official at 9am. He was questioned by an Immigration official about why he was in Thailand and when he arrived at 10am. His finger prints were taken. He had to stay in the Immigration office until 1pm, then he was taken to court along with other over stayers in a similiar situation. The Immigration policeman let him sit up front in the pick up, the other overstayers had to sit in the back of the pick-up. I guess they treated the farang better. At 3pm he arrived back at IDC and was instructed to wait until an Immigration policeman called him to go. He had to wait in the yard of The IDC compound where the other Over stayers were detained. At 5pm he was called to go. On arriving at the airport he asked if he was blacklisted. He was told by the copper that he wasn't.

6) The immigration copper stayed with him until he entered the departures area for his flight. He boarded the flight, and was astonished when he asked for a cold beer with his meal to be informed "You cannot drink alcohol on this flight sir". Obviously Immigration informed them about this for some reason.

7) He arrived home.

Having just read through 6 pages I find probably this post to be the best bit of advice.

I do not condone the action of the OP but feel sorry for a fellow Brit and wish him well in sorting his problem out.

I would be wary of dealing with lawyers unless you have too, I feel the profession to be poorly regulated and even some are unqualified, possibly the OP could end up inaccurate advice or paying for advice he can get at the Embassy for free, possibly best thing would be phone the British Embassy, ask if you can remain anonymous and explain you situation and hopefully they can help as detailed above.

I feel as much as people knock the Thai Immigration they are only doing their job which is no different to the UKBA which is to remove people who overstay, do not pay tax or are a drain on public funds.

I do not think 25 years is going to break any record, that is probably will be an American who went AWL during the Vietnam conflict.

Edited January 31, 2011 by Basil B

[wolf5370]

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:

So you think "they don't like us" because so many of "them" (us?) were/are involved in ...etc - or do you not perhaps think that the media portrays us as such, that politicians scapegoat us as such, that perhaps xenophobia and pointing the finger at the misfits is a great way to divert attention away from all the crap that the Thais are actually doing/allowing to be done from the top to the bottom.

I think few decisions are made politically (at least publically) that have real substance or rationale behind them here . I don't think for a second that because of some over stayers (a small percentage of the visiters here each year - tiny in fact) that a decision would be made to tighten requirements (indeed that would more likely make the situation worse!) for the rest of us. If they wanted to clamp down, they would order police to do spot checks followed by incarceration and/or deportation; yet never it seems have many long timers here been asked to show a passport/visa etc by a police officer - a small fine is all that is required (max 20k) for quite lengthy overstays and even then most often you can some straight back (and pay again for the next overstay). The only reason to tighten restrictions is for political mileage - we are sold as the bogey man so when the going gets tough, blame the farang for everything from stealing land and jobs up to burning down shopping malls - then use laws along with media to show how much they care and how they will protect Thailand/Thai jobs/Thai democracy/Thai women/Thai land/etc from us evil doers.

The average Thai on the street is a political mushroom - kept in the dark and fed sh!t

Edited January 31, 2011 by wolf5370

[aridion]

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.

Wrong. In the OP's case, he does not have an entry stamp or a last visa stamp. That is a matter for Immigration at Suan Plu. They will not accept the 20,000 baht without a stamped passport.

I must say that BadBankers information is very accurate. Although I don't think that you actually need a lawyer. Your Embassy should be enough to help you through this process.

[aridion]

No lawyer or influential person required. Just go out, pay your 20K, and come back in with an appropriate visa. Immigration won't care if you've overstayed six months, a year, or 25 years.

You obviously do not know what you are talking about!

Please explain where he going to get a new stamp in his new passport?

The airport or border check point will not do it!

When he gets his new passport from the British Embassy they will also give him a letter to immigration explaining his situation and direct him there.

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

BB

I recently left Thailand on an emergency passport, no entry stamp, no problem. Australian Embassy just gave me a letter to show immigration that my original was either lost or stolen. Only big problem would be that i had to have a report number from Samui tourist police where i reported the loss. But i guess that one could 'make up' a story with that.

But I bet that they had your entry stamp on their computer system. That makes all the difference.

[asiawatcher]

I would have to say - just stay! The rubbish we all go thru each year to remain legal is a total pain in the butt. Having said that - it is their country and we should comply - but by that rule - you also have a chance that to leave at any time - if you so wish, you will need a passport with a stamp. I think OP's have all said - just head for the airport or to a lawyer but unless you have a lot of money I would go immigration with two old passports and say you don't have anything further. Given Thailand's ability in paper trails, I bet 25 years ago no computer talked with anything other than a typewriter thus no record. If you have Thai wife, family and speak Thai by now - I presume - then I think your task may be a bit easier than what we all go thru but you will need to evidence the 400k for the spousal support to get PR.

[SICHONSTEVE]

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

get a life

OK, he made a big mistake 'many moons" a go, that's obvious. But it's not entirely his fault as the Thai immigration or UK embassy didn't pick up on it for some reason - assumingly as a consequence of him remaining inside Thailand without venturing out for all these years. Bearing in mind that many of the so-called safeguards (visas) are implemented chiefly to make it easier for them to deport/eject you from the Kingdom of Thailand should you break the law or become a burdon on society if you fall on hard times, then this clearly has not been the case as it seems like he has been the model citizen for all of these years (apart from the fact that for whatever reason he failed to keep his visa updated). He has shown a willingness to come clean, lets at least give him credit for this, whereas he could just continue to lie low and keep his nose clean, and should therefore be congratulated for this admittance of guilt on his part (better late than never) maybe!!

It could be guilt 'eating away at him' as you hear the occasional story of someone having stolen something, shoplifted, or not returned a library book 20 or 30 years a go deciding that their conscience needs to be unburdoned by impulsively sending a letter of apology (or even the accumulated fine in the case of the library book) simply to atone for their past sins. Accepted, this is a little bit more serious than these trivial incidences but the theme behind what he has done is essentialy the same.

I hope that if he does decide to "turn himself in" that he is treated leniently and compassionately as 'those that plead guilty' generally receive a lesser sentence than those that 'deny any wrongdoing' and also, that a severe 'ticking off' and fine results from his misdemeanour, only.

GIVE THIS GUY A SECOND CHANCE!!!!

[Soutpeel]

But it's not entirely his fault as the Thai immigration or UK embassy didn't pick up on it for some reason - assumingly as a consequence of him remaining inside Thailand without venturing out for all these years.

Here we go again.....blame someone else...yes it is his fault, it was his responsibility to ensure he remained legal,..he didnt... he has to bear the consequences of his actions if he gets caught out.

You are making excuses for a grown adult who should have know better, and as such should be accountable for his actions or lack of action in this case

[lopburi3]

Troll and reply without text removed.

[tim armstrong]

Pinball, Like everyone else I'm amazed. I haven't read all the posts, but does this mean that you have never left Thailand in all this time? -I'm not asking the question to get further revelations, but some of my Thai friends tell me that the longer you are here, it becomes much easier to get thai citizenship if you want it. With the help of the right people, maybe that's a route you could enquire about, because I imagine you have done much for your local community in that time. If you can demonstrate that your an asset to the country, you may be lucky.

[yogi100]

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 sound like a lovely piece of work you do. I bet you're the life and soul of any party.

[NanLaew]

I think it's funny that probably a few of those wishing the OP good luck and even some of those suggesting he remain 'undercover' also speak critically of the selective enforcement of UK's questionable immigration laws and the ongoing weakening of that legislation by the civil rights brigade. They don't miss an opportunity to claim this as a major reason they choose to park their <deleted> here in LOS. Still they complain about the 90-day checks, border runs, closer application of the illegibility rules for 1-year visas and their governments unfair position on pension rules. Some are 'rightfully' claiming their UK home heating allowances too.

No names, no pack drill but you know who you are.

Just funny.

[lopburi3]

Several flame/troll posts removed.