A friend of mine flies out of BKK airport at 00:20. He obviously has to go through immigration well before midnight.

Do his last 20 min. before departure count as a overstay for him?

As he will be on his last day, or maybe even stretching out his 1 "free" overstay day of his 15 days Visa exempt entry? He is well aware that 1 day overstay will be not punished, but would prefer to stay another day in Penang, rather than paying 1.000 Baht for just 20 min. of staying in the kingdom.

Would some kind soul care to give me the right answer please?

0020 on the 13th is departing on the 13th. So if allowed stay until the 12th it would be overstay. If they do not want the overstay stamp have them remain in Penang a couple of days as it is really quite pleasant there (or even get a tourist visa while there and then not have to worry about leaving soon?).

You say he is well aware of one day overstay not being punished (not fined at airport if only one day) but then say 1,000 baht for 20 minutes when the daily fine is 500 baht so not sure what you are talking about unless he intends to overstay one day anyhow and is trying to stretch it to two?

Before I moved to Thailand I always went on flights rights after midnight.

Checked though immigration before midnight and never got overstay.

0020 on the 13th is departing on the 13th. So if allowed stay until the 12th it would be overstay. If they do not want the overstay stamp have them remain in Penang a couple of days as it is really quite pleasant there (or even get a tourist visa while there and then not have to worry about leaving soon?).

You say he is well aware of one day overstay not being punished (not fined at airport if only one day) but then say 1,000 baht for 20 minutes when the daily fine is 500 baht so not sure what you are talking about unless he intends to overstay one day anyhow and is trying to stretch it to two?

Thank's Lopburi 3 !

About the 1.000 Baht, it is as you suspected, he might overstay on day. But if the 20 min. are a (free) day overstaying, he would not overstay the day before, because that would set him back for a full grey one.

Thanks again for your quick help.

Warm greetings from Chiang Mai Leo

Before I moved to Thailand I always went on flights rights after midnight.

Checked though immigration before midnight and never got overstay.

Hi PoorSucker!

Thanks for your respond. I would have thought so too, but I guess this was in the good old days. Now Imm will/might check boarding cards. I suppose there is a lot of money to make with probably hundreds of cases a day.

As stated my friend does want to pay 1.000 for 20 min., which I think he is right in, especially because he has an easy alternative.

0020 on the 13th is departing on the 13th. So if allowed stay until the 12th it would be overstay.

Sorry Lopburi3 that is not correct. A person officially leaves a country when their passport is stamped, not when their flight leaves. Once you enter the departure/transit area of an international airport you are no longer in that country FOR IMMIGRATION PURPOSES. This enables passengers with connecting flights to pass through the airport without going through immigration.

I agree, it's the time and date when stamped and not the flight time - airside of any airport is considered no mans land.

Try telling that to someone arrested airside. It is still Thailand and the OP intendeds to overstay more than 24 hours. Suspect Immigration will not be slow to charge an extra day if his flight is after midnight.

Try telling that to someone arrested airside. It is still Thailand and the OP intendeds to overstay more than 24 hours. Suspect Immigration will not be slow to charge an extra day if his flight is after midnight.

I thought the OP said the flight was at 00:20 so that would be 20 minutes overstay not 24hrs, boarding for the flight will take place before midnight (not on overstay), would they seriously board the aircraft and remove him, I think not.

Edited August 13, 201114 yr by Spoonman

Try telling that to someone arrested airside. It is still Thailand and the OP intendeds to overstay more than 24 hours. Suspect Immigration will not be slow to charge an extra day if his flight is after midnight.

If his flight leaves at 00:20 then he has to physically be on the airplane at least 40 minutes before that, when he is on the plane he cannot be removed because of overstay as he has passed through Immigration.

You can be physically arrested airside, if there is a warrant for your arrest,

Edited August 13, 201114 yr by beano2274

Try telling that to someone arrested airside. It is still Thailand and the OP intendeds to overstay more than 24 hours. Suspect Immigration will not be slow to charge an extra day if his flight is after midnight.

I thought the OP said the flight was at 00:20 so that would be 20 minutes overstay not 24hrs, boarding for the flight will take place before midnight (not on overstay), would they seriously board the aircraft and remove him, I think not.

He was not clear but said 1,000 baht and post 4 made it clear he was talking about two day overstay rather than leaving next day at 0020.

If as the OP stated, and Lopburi sees it that way, the friend has 2 days overstay, then he needs to pay before leaving, this will be noticed at Immigration, so no chance of dodging it.

Try telling that to someone arrested airside. It is still Thailand and the OP intendeds to overstay more than 24 hours. Suspect Immigration will not be slow to charge an extra day if his flight is after midnight.

I thought the OP said the flight was at 00:20 so that would be 20 minutes overstay not 24hrs, boarding for the flight will take place before midnight (not on overstay), would they seriously board the aircraft and remove him, I think not.

He was not clear but said 1,000 baht and post 4 made it clear he was talking about two day overstay rather than leaving next day at 0020.

I read it as if he is going to be charged for an overstay he would prefer to stay the whole day rather than the 20 minutes due to the cost, if money is the issue I would have thought the cost of changing flights would not be attractive.

I said:

unless he intends to overstay one day anyhow and is trying to stretch it to two?

He said:

About the 1.000 Baht, it is as you suspected, he might overstay on day. But if the 20 min. are a (free) day overstaying, he would not overstay the day before

So he appeared to be asking if my permitted to stay is 14th and my flight is on 16th at 0020 is that allowed in the one day overstay no fine process. My view is that Immigration would view it as abuse and fine for a two day overstay. That one day is provided to allow for early morning departures where a person may or may not be processed on last allowed day. To extend it to a second day is asking a bit much.

Hmmm. I wonder if Immigration is solely guided by the departure date on the boarding pass? The departure card doesn't even have a block for the departure date - just the flight number. The simplest method for Immigration would be to look at the date and time on the clock staring him in the face....

Which leads me to this question: If your flight arrives at 2330, but you don't go thru Immigration until 0030, are you stamped in on the date applicable to 0030?