Hey!

My (American) passport is stamped to exit on 15 February, and the way my travels are going it is looking like I will be taking a bus to Malaysia on 18 February. I was wondering if A-they will put a late exit stamp in my passport and B- will I have issues getting back in on a 15 day re-entry permit a couple of weeks later via the same land border?

Thanks so much for any information!

Lisa

Yes you will get an oversay stamp and have to pay a fine. On return, you will be making a "Visa Exempt" entry, not a re-entry permit entry.

You will get a 1,500 Baht fine plus an Overstay stamp in your passport.

It will not affect your return.

As said a stamp and charge of 500 baht per day. Under current policy once paid there will not be any future effect.

If you are taking the bus from Hat Yai then you will go through the Sadao border control. There is a special overstay office to the left of the immigration queues next to the toilets. Go there first, pay and then queue up. Dont queue up first as they will just send you to the office anyway. The police in there are quite chilled out and it shouldn't take any more than 5 minutes. I had this once and just as everybody says, pay the fine and everything will be ok to return back and get your 15 days.

My only tip though is let the bus company know in advance about the overstay when you are paying for the ticket. Normally on these buses there is the driver and one rep. If the road going up to the Sadao border is busy (which it normally is) then she can go out and walk with you to the office (about 100m) to get a head start before the rest of the bus arrives. Nothing worse than keeping the whole bus waiting. Just a tip

When you overstay, you are in violation of Thai Immigration law, don't treat it lightly. You will pay the fine and you will also sign a form admitting you violated Thai law. Don't be casual about it, try not to overstay. You don't know what might happen at that time or in the future.

Just remember, if you are stopped for any reason by the BIB during your overstay and asked for your passport, you are illegally in Thailand and could be arrested. I would avoid overstay if at all possible.

Edited February 9, 201214 yr by wayned