2 Year Overstay

[Badbanker]

Sadly there are many myths surrounding overstay on this thread and as usual I need to put them right.

Immigration Policy in this matter is clear, but individual officers interpret matters, at different times in different manners, in different ways. Mostly because of the alacrity with which some foreigners break the law and overstay!

At the moment any normal overstay, of any length, can be cleared on your departure, as long as you have your original passport, with an entry stamp in your passport, and the passport has not expired.

If for some reason you have a long overstay and a new passport, you will need to get a stamp from Thai Immigration in it to leave the country. When you go to get a new stamp in your new passport, you will need to tell the immigration office precisely when you arrived or they will need to establish definitively by some means when you did arrive. Your new passport is then stamped and you are told to go to the border or airport and pay the 20,000 fine.

You may leave by boat, road or air and return at will!

If date of entry cannot be established definitively, or there is no record as to when you entered the kingdom, then you may be charged with illegal entry in a Thai court (3-5,000 baht) and the IDC will arrange for you to be deported to a country that has no right of refusal to your entry.

If due to the the whim of the immigration officer or the affront they feel at you having broken the law and (not normal) you are arrested and detained at the IDC and you will go to court and be fined anything from 3,000 to 10,000 baht.

If you do not have the money to pay this court imposed fine you will serve time in a jail and 200 baht per day will be deducted from your court imposed fine. On the completion of this jail detention you will be returned to the IDC and you, your friends or your embassy will arrange for you to be deported to a country that has no right of refusal to your entry.

Please also see my replies to this thread for more info on deportation.

http://www.thaivisa....67031-deported/

All this info is current as of the 9th of May 2011 when I was at Chaeng Wattana immigration office solving a complex case.

BB

Edited May 13, 2011 by Badbanker

[Jimbo]

I helped out a friend 2 months ago who was around 20 months overstay. We did the border crossing at Nong Khai, paid the 20 thousand Thai Baht at the office at the friendship bridge and then we went to the Thai Embassy in Vientiane to get him a double tourist visa. There was absolutely no problem whatsoever along the way. So I don't think that you should worry too much as long as you get this thing sorted out right away.

[featography]

How can it be an overstay if you have been getting regular 90 day stamps, surely this would make you able to stay in the country legally?

If you are in fact on an overstay of 2 years, go to the border near Satun, be very humble and apologetic and pay 20,000 THB get a 2 week stamp and sort everything out after that.

I can answer that question about 90 day stamps. I have been all through what op is going thru. Without wasting time covering the why's that I got into a past 45 day overstay, let me tell you how I succeeded in staying in country without jail or deportation. The wife knows someone that works for immigrants coming into Thailand, and deals with immigration daily. We contacted her, told her my frightening discovery, and showed her the passport. she went with us directly to immigration, talked to a higher up there. Immigration officer was knocked back when she saw one of her officers signed the 90 day paper in passport with an expired visa stamp. they apparently don't always check visa stamp when revising the 90 paper. They said, had I gone to the airport, I would have been arrested, and processed thru the courts. By going to the immigration office, facing them with the mistake I made, they gave me a 30 day stamp, told me to go home and move 400,000 or 800,000 B to my thai account immediately, then come back in 30 days, show I have the money, do the whole paperwork for a 1 yr stay, pay the fine. 60 days later, i returned with 3mos documentation of having money in the bank, fine paid, given a serious warning, that if I let this happen again, I will be sent to home country for 90 days, or worse. Bottom line, find and pay a lawyer that works with immigration, or someone that does this line of work for incoming immigrants, go to immigration with them, and face immigration officers. Worse case scenario, you get sent back to home country, but odds are they will work with you, while scaring the hell out of you. They really dont want to incarcerate honest farang that make stupid mistakes.

[inthepink]

My experience was pretty much the opposite of yours (this was 3 years ago). I went to immigration with a lawyer and they weren't interested. Told me to clear it at the airport when I left. I remember another poster who followed the advice to go to immigration and he ended up with a stamp in his passport to say he had been fined by the court for overstaying etcetera, so I'm glad that didn't happen to me. Maybe it depends on the type of visa that you overstay and what you are doing here.

[mca]

As for the 90 day address reporting that has nothing to do with visa and there is no routine check made other than that you have a receipt for your last report and are making the new report during the time required.

I have to say lop that at Khon Kaen immi every time I've done a 90 day report the officer has always flicked through my passport to see my last "extension of stay" stamp. Maybe a quirk of that particular office or I just look dodgy!

[lopburi3]

Or both?

I suspect it has more to do with it being a smaller office and officers do everything. In large office like Bangkok they only do 90 day reports if assigned that duty so strictly focus on that requirement.

[EvilDrSomkid]

Whatever happened to that guy who is/was on 25 year overstay?

[mca]

Or both?

[mrjohnno]

There is no deportation to your home country with an overstay, leaving is normally enough. Especially when you report yourself at the airport/border.

I meant the punishment if you are arrested for being on an overstay.

IMO you would be banged up until the fine is paid and you have a ticket home. I can see people overstaying more these days since the daily fine is 500 Baht rather than the 250 when I done it. I would not be surprised if the maximum 20,000 Baht fine was vastly increased in the near future.

And so it should be increased, to the level where it really hurts.

I don't think it would be put up to a level where people cannot be reasonably expected to be able to pay it. I'm sure they would rather have the money.

[Badbanker]

Point is no one has to pay an overstay fine!

If you do not have the money to pay you go to jail for the fine and after this you get sent back to the IDC to leave as soon as you have a ticket home.

BB

PS. Did you know that 80% of Western IDC detainees are of UK nationality!

[beano2274]

Point is no one has to pay an overstay fine!

If you do not have the money to pay you go to jail for the fine and after this you get sent back to the IDC to leave as soon as you have a ticket home.

BB

PS. Did you know that 80% of Western IDC detainees are of UK nationality!

Where did you get that information from (80%)? I certainly do not believe that, maybe 80% are Europeans/Americans/Australians, but not

all from the UK.

[DickFarang]

There was a very short period more than a year ago when detention to check background was normal at airport but it only lasted a couple of months from reports here.

As for the 90 day address reporting that has nothing to do with visa and there is no routine check made other than that you have a receipt for your last report and are making the new report during the time required.

When I go to Immigration (in Pattaya-Jomtien) for the 90 days report, they always check the expiration date of my visa extension and they tell me in time when to come for the next visa extension.