90 Day Visa After Arriving At Airport

[luthien]

This happened to a 50+ year old friend. She's Southeast Asian, arrived in Thailand by plane, and was surprised to get a 90 day visa instead of 30 days. She only intends to stay a month, no plan to work and all that.

She didn't question why. Does this happen? And why? Will she have any problems exiting?

These are her concerns. I just wanna get your opinions, too. I know thaivisa forum people are such veterans at visa issues

[lopburi3]

Is she holding normal or official passport? Did she have a visa? The only normal passport getting 90 days would be Republic of Korea but they are not southeast. At any rate there will be no problem if leaving within the normal visa or visa exempt entry allowance.

[luthien]

Is she holding normal or official passport? Did she have a visa? The only normal passport getting 90 days would be Republic of Korea but they are not southeast. At any rate there will be no problem if leaving within the normal visa or visa exempt entry allowance.

normal passport. with southeast asians, tourist visas are only applied and received upon arrival in thailand. she was expecting 30 days but she was given 90. we have no idea why. we tried looking for info about why this will happen but there seems to be none online.

she changed her plans of leaving after 30 days and will be leaving a few weeks before 90. she's just afraid there might be a catch or something. hope there isn't! thank you!

[lopburi3]

There is no such 30 day visa available at airport - tourist visas are applied for and obtained from Consulates except for a few countries allowed VOA for 15 days - 30 days is normal visa exempt entry for most countries but a few countries have different allowed stays up to 90 days. But there is nothing different being from SE Asia other that it being a bilateral agreement in some cases. If country is only allowed a 30 day visa exempt entry and they stay longer it will be overstay regardless of the arrival stamp (mistakes happen and it is the traveler who is responsible for knowing and meeting requirements).

[Crossy]

she changed her plans of leaving after 30 days and will be leaving a few weeks before 90. she's just afraid there might be a catch or something. hope there isn't! thank you!

The catch will be a fine of 500 Baht per day over 30 if she isn't actually entitled to the 90 day stamp.

What nationality is she?

[Lite Beer]

If a mistake was made it is up to her to get it changed.

If she stays over 30 days she will be fined 500 Baht a day if it is noticed when leaving.

As said knowing her nationality will help.

[geoffphuket]

If a mistake was made it is up to her to get it changed.

If she stays over 30 days she will be fined 500 Baht a day if it is noticed when leaving.

As said knowing her nationality will help.

The officers at the airport haven't the time to check properly. No doubt they'll see her 'permitted to stay' date is still valid and let her pass through. The only issue I could see is if the immigration computer system throws up an 'overstay' warning, but does it have this ability?

[luthien]

If a mistake was made it is up to her to get it changed.

If she stays over 30 days she will be fined 500 Baht a day if it is noticed when leaving.

As said knowing her nationality will help.

she's filipino. as i said, southeast asian. i think there's a rule that applies to all southeast asians that they get 30 days visa upon arrival via plane and 15 days if via land transport.

it was her 1st time to come here, was initially planning for a month's stay, then she was surprised to see 90 days placed in her passport. nothing special happened during the immigration check after she landed. the immigration person didnt even speak to her. you know, the usual at suvarnabhumi.

that is why a few days later, i found myself confused when i saw her passport. we checked for possible reasons online but found none.

should she have gone back to the immigration officer at the airport and had it "corrected"? she arrived sometime in mid-july and the visa stamp clearly indicated her stay is valid until mid-oct (90 days). now she's halfway through the 90 days and plan to go out of thailand 2 months after arriving. she just hopes it doesnt cause her trouble with immigration.

[luthien]

If a mistake was made it is up to her to get it changed.

If she stays over 30 days she will be fined 500 Baht a day if it is noticed when leaving.

As said knowing her nationality will help.

what qualifies as a mistake? the visa stamp clearly indicated she arrived mid-july, given 90 days and needs to exit by mid-oct. should she have questioned that stamp with the immigration officer at the airport?

[Crossy]

should she have questioned that stamp with the immigration officer at the airport?

YES. It is your responsibility to check that you have been allowed the correct entry.

Philippines are allowed 30 days visa exemption, so she will be looking at a fine on exit, if, as noted, the immigration officer spots the error. I'm not sure what pops up on the computer screen but I strongly suspect a nice big 'overstay' warning will appear.

Fine is 500 Baht per day up to a maximum of 20,000 Baht, if she chooses to run the risk and do nothing she should ensure that she has 20k in cash available when exiting.

Personal experience. I was behind an Australian lady at Poipet border some years back, she had mistakenly been given a 60 day stamp. Her protests fell on deaf ears, fine please!

[lopburi3]

Visa exempt entry is 30 days unless she has a diplomatic or official passport or presents an APEC card. She will have to pay 500 baht per day overstay. She could exit/return for a 15 day visa exempt entry at a border and save 7,500 baht (minus cost of trip/s) in fines or just leave now before it gets higher. Otherwise am sure full overstay will be charged on exit.

[luthien]

oh dear, this is alarming. will this be a different scenario if at the airport? she plans to leave for malaysia before 2nd week of sept.

oh my, why did the immigration folks at the suvarnabhumi airport have to screw up and confuse this lady.

is there a way to amend this? like, go to the immigration office in bangkok and clarify with someone who can probably speak better english than those officers at the airport?

[lopburi3]

Yes that is what should have been done before overstay - but now payment and exit of country will be required as there is no way to change entry period inside Thailand.

[FritsSikkink]

oh dear, this is alarming. will this be a different scenario if at the airport? she plans to leave for malaysia before 2nd week of sept.

oh my, why did the immigration folks at the suvarnabhumi airport have to screw up and confuse this lady.

is there a way to amend this? like, go to the immigration office in bangkok and clarify with someone who can probably speak better english than those officers at the airport?

Why didn't this lady check her passport at the immigration desk? Anyone can make a mistake.

[luthien]

Why didn't this lady check her passport at the immigration desk? Anyone can make a mistake.

As I said, she is unaware of such rules. This is her first visit to Thailand. And she is almost 60 years old. Last time she traveled out of her country was almost 10 years ago and this was her first time to travel alone.

Why the immigration officer gave her the wrong visa stamp when there were like tens of Southeast Asians on the same queue before her is bordering on annoying. Can't they even be reprimanded for such a mistake?

Edited August 27, 2011 by luthien

[saengsureeya]

Christ!! The lady was given a permission of stay of 90 days.

She is planning to stay 30 days.

So if she leaves within this 30 days there should be no problem.

Of course the immigration officer might be puzzled why she got 90 days, but she is actually leaving within the permitted 30 days.

So, don't let's create an elephant out of a mosquito please.

[luthien]

Christ!! The lady was given a permission of stay of 90 days.

She is planning to stay 30 days.

So if she leaves within this 30 days there should be no problem.

Of course the immigration officer might be puzzled why she got 90 days, but she is actually leaving within the permitted 30 days.

So, don't let's create an elephant out of a mosquito please.

Ah. But the problem is she changed her ticket when she saw that she was given 90 days. Now she's been in Thailand for almost 50 days, but will leave in a week.

Will she have to leave now? To limit the possible amount she has to pay for overstay? Or will doing a visa run to the border countries be better than going out through the airport?

You have truly been a great help, forum members. This is why I still query. I cannot thank you enough.

[Crossy]

Quick sums (approximate numbers), in country total of 57 days - 30 days authorised = 27 overstay = 13500 Baht fine.

If she were to do a border run today overstay would be 20 days = 10000 Baht fine plus visa run cost 2100 = 12100 Baht.

Since she is already well into overstay it's probably going to be best just to pay at the airport on the way out with lots of bowing and scraping.

[lopburi3]

Going out through the airport is her best choice as only one more week (was not aware of how long before). It is always best to exit via airport when on overstay as trip to borders can be subject to police check of passports - airport immigration is easier to deal with.

[luthien]

Quick sums (approximate numbers), in country total of 57 days - 30 days authorised = 27 overstay = 13500 Baht fine.

If she were to do a border run today overstay would be 20 days = 10000 Baht fine plus visa run cost 2100 = 12100 Baht.

Since she is already well into overstay it's probably going to be best just to pay at the airport on the way out with lots of bowing and scraping.

A visa run for her will actually cost a lot less (only 650 baht) than a quickly booked ticket out of Thailand. I think she is highly considering doing a visa run tomorrow, see if they pay her overstay then come back to thailand and leave on her flight by next week. This is to stop the 500 baht from piling up til her flight.

If she doesn't get charged for overstay, at least it will be a useless payment of only 650 baht for a visa run, right?

thank you very much for your answers. really, this forums is a godsend.

will update you all once she has done the run and hopefully without being charged for the wrong of an immigration officer.

[luthien]

Going out through the airport is her best choice as only one more week (was not aware of how long before). It is always best to exit via airport when on overstay as trip to borders can be subject to police check of passports - airport immigration is easier to deal with.

Ah. But won't immigration be easier to deal with if through an agency?

[Crossy]

If she goes to Poipet with say Jack Golf she'll still have to handle Thai immigration personally, the courier cannot pass through the immigration desks.

The stuff on the Cambodian side is dealt with for you whilst you relax in the aircon casino.

[luthien]

If she goes to Poipet with say Jack Golf she'll still have to handle Thai immigration personally, the courier cannot pass through the immigration desks.

The stuff on the Cambodian side is dealt with for you whilst you relax in the aircon casino.

I see. Well, I hope they dont arrest her or anything.

[tailspin]

not sure if this is correct....is there a Thai law on the books allocating personal "responsbility" in the case of an action take or error made by someone else......this is against the principle of law in most countries.....what if you don't know what the correct entry is? what about the case of mentally handicapped adult? are they also responsible if someone else makes a mistake that they did not catch.....

I think there is something fishy with the original post......for instance why did someone planning to stay for 30 days suddenly decide to stay for 90 days, due to a supposed error? Sounds conveniently opportunistic

why not post a copy of the entry stamp here so thatt the resident experts can assess this....also a full case history of the individual, other visas in passport etc would help

should she have questioned that stamp with the immigration officer at the airport?

YES. It is your responsibility to check that you have been allowed the correct entry.

Philippines are allowed 30 days visa exemption, so she will be looking at a fine on exit, if, as noted, the immigration officer spots the error. I'm not sure what pops up on the computer screen but I strongly suspect a nice big 'overstay' warning will appear.

Fine is 500 Baht per day up to a maximum of 20,000 Baht, if she chooses to run the risk and do nothing she should ensure that she has 20k in cash available when exiting.

Personal experience. I was behind an Australian lady at Poipet border some years back, she had mistakenly been given a 60 day stamp. Her protests fell on deaf ears, fine please!

Edited August 27, 2011 by tailspin

[lopburi3]

There is no reason to post any such personal information on this or any web site - please do not suggest it again. Thanks.

[luthien]

not sure if this is correct....is there a Thai law on the books allocating personal "responsbility" in the case of an action take or error made by someone else......this is against the principle of law in most countries.....what if you don't know what the correct entry is? what about the case of mentally handicapped adult? are they also responsible if someone else makes a mistake that they did not catch.....

I think there is something fishy with the original post......for instance why did someone planning to stay for 30 days suddenly decide to stay for 90 days, due to a supposed error? Sounds conveniently opportunistic

why not post a copy of the entry stamp here so thatt the resident experts can assess this....also a full case history of the individual, other visas in passport etc would help

i agree with you that isn't the responsibility of a correct visa stamp on the immigration officer? i hope she won't have to pay an overstay charge just because someone who's supposed to be the thailand's "guard" against possible tourist offenders made a mistake.

as for her initial plan to stay for only 30 days, plane tickets were already booked, as i have said earlier. she noted (obviously) that her visa was valid for 90 days so she changed her return flight date. she took this opportunity to stay longer since she thought the 90 days was a valid visa stamp. she had no prior entry to thailand therefore no experience with thailand immigration. she also had no reason to think the immigration officer made a mistake.

and sorry, i won't post her entry stamp. i've already told the needed info (= what's on the visa stamp). there's nothing more that a picture can give.

i hope it's not gonna be a costly mistake for her