Hi Thaivisa, I hope you guys are ready for a big 'un...

So I'm in a slightly unusual situation. I came to Thailand to work as an intern for a company. I am from the USA. i was told I'd be issued a student visa. The company, which I will call "Crazy Travel Company", informed me shortly before arrival that I could not get a student visa because I hadn't been to my university in over a year, so instead they promised me "they'd work something out using special connections". Like everything they said, this was a sham. For a UK based company, I figured I could trust them. Pretty big mistake.

Trusting their word. I figured they'd help me get a proper work permit of some type, considering it was more like a "job" than an "internship" as they were paying me a salary. After my 30 day visa exemption was up, the boss's wife managed to get a 30 day exemption on it stamped by an immigration office. First up, I have no idea what this was. It just says person is permitted to stay until date specified (30 days), and "Chonburi Immigration Office". This was clearly some type of underground shenagigans--I'll post exactly what these visa stamps say in a moment.

Around October 30th my visa was expiring again--but this time I really did it--I broke my leg during a freak accident on the job. The boss's wife got my passport stamped again at the government hospital for another 10 days--some type of exemption extension while I was recovering.

I came back to my apartment and had my girlfriend take care of me throughout November. Meanwhile, the boss's crazy wife hanged on to my passport and stamped me with some type of two week extension. I have no idea what kind of stamp this was, but it was the same as before, and it expired on Nov. 22nd.

By November 25th I quit Crazy Travel Company. Realizing I did not have a proper work permit, I had no interest in putting my neck on the line by working under the table. In addition they promised me health insurance but never provided it, and left me without money by delaying my salary for 3 weeks. Just a totally crazy company, but I digress.

The boss's wife still had my passport, and was supposed to renew it after the 22nd. Instead I was left as an overstay with no passport, and no visa. Needless to say, I had to stay under the radar. Because of my broken leg, I couldn't do much anyway. Every day she postponed giving it back to me. What was really happening is she knew she had to pay my overstay fees, and she was trying to haggle her 'inside connections' to avoid these fees, while every day accumulating longer and longer overstay fees (brilliant strategy eh).

By Dec 13th (today) I finally get my passport back, and a very unhappy boss's wife had to fork over to me the entire overstay fees (about 11,000 baht) for me to pay at the border. There was no visa. I met her at a visa travel office to send me across the border to Cambodia tomorrow. They basically told me if I want to stay in Thailand now I have to keep border running.

I'll try to summarize:

- Therefore, I am here without a normal tourist visa. I've been here almost 3 months now, 1 month from visa exemption at airport, 1 1/2 months from Crazy Travel Company's shenagigans at the immigration office, and the rest here as an overstay.

- I have to rely on visa exemptions if I want to stay. I really need to stay here. I want my leg to become mostly better before I go back, so I wanna know if it's possible to remain here for the next 3 months or so.

- I don't mind having to hit the border every 2 weeks, but my big question is how many times can I get it stamped? I read a lot of conflicting reports, some people say you can do it continually--including the visa tour company, but others say after a few too many visa exemptions you get red-stamped. Others say if your time exceeds 90 days in 6 months you get in trouble, and others say that's no longer the case.

- Is there still a 6 month limit on staying in Thailand? I realize Crazy Travel Company booked me to leave approx 6 months and 5 days after I arrived. Would this be a problem or do I need to change my flight to be under 6 months?

- Is there any way to still get a proper visa or do I have to rely on these blasted exemptions?

- Crazy Travel Company tried to get me a medical visa from the hospital, but failed, have no idea why and they refused to explain it to me. Any ideas?

- Finally, what the heck was the company stamping on my passport? I'll tell you exactly what the stamp says:

"Chonburi Immigration Office - application of stay is permitted up to _____, Applicant must leave the kingdom by the date specified herein offenders will be prosecuted. Sign _______ (Immigration Officer)"

I don't know if these are exemptions or what or if they're going to arouse suspicion. Welll I go to Cambodia tomorrow so we will see:)

Thanks for taking on this hard case. I realize this was a lot to digest but it's a pretty weird / complex situation...

Thanks again for replies--

Pay your overstay. 500 baht a day from the last day you were permitted to stay.

Visit a consulate and get a tourist visa.

Laos would be better for a visa than Cambodia. In Laos you just need to stay overnight. Apply for the visa one morning, pick it up the next afternoon.

Since you have time on your hands because of the injury, I suggest you read through the pinned topics at the top of this forum and learn about the different types of visas available.

Terry

The 90 days in six months rule was changed a number of years ago.

Edited December 13, 201213 yr by TerryLH

Under any circumstances I would stop working for this company.

You are working illegally and obviously they have no clue on how to handle your paperwork.

Doing a Visa Run to the Thai-Cambodian border will give you 15days stay in Thailand.

A trip to Laos can get you a Tourist Visa which allow for minimum 60day stay.

There is no way, I repeat, no way, to avoid the overstay payment.

Under any circumstances I would stop working for this company.

You are working illegally and obviously they have no clue on how to handle your paperwork.

Doing a Visa Run to the Thai-Cambodian border will give you 15days stay in Thailand.

A trip to Laos can get you a Tourist Visa which allow for minimum 60day stay.

There is no way, I repeat, no way, to avoid the overstay payment.

Thanks for the help, it's good to know I can still get a tourist visa. I never intend to not pay the overstay fee, the company paid me the overstay charges (the one thing they came through on) and yes as I mentioned in the post I quit the company several weeks ago.

You are lucky that the Co. agreed to pay the overstay for you.

The Crazy Travel Company actually seems to have worked hard to keep you in Thialand. Get a tourist visa in Laos and once you are healed, find a job that can sustain a Non-B visa and work permit.

Several nonsense posts removed.

In order to get a medical extension you need to be under a doctor's care and unable to travel -- that's why Crazy Travel Company failed in their attempts to get you a medical extension of stay -- you do seem to be able to travel. They probably could have done some "doctor shopping" to try to work around this, but that may have been expensive and more problem than it's worth, since you can travel to a neighboring country and get a proper tourist visa.

The Crazy Travel Company actually seems to have worked hard to keep you in Thialand. Get a tourist visa in Laos and once you are healed, find a job that can sustain a Non-B visa and work permit.

I suppose they did try to keep me here, but I don't understand why they didn't first set me up with the proper work permit. There was no deadline for me to come to Thailand and they could have just delayed things a bit so I could get my non immigrant visa etc, etc. I remember I even asked them something about this before I left and they were just empathically telling me "No, we'll handle it on our end". Were they trying to save $$$ or something?

Once immigration police started knocking on the office and checking work permits, I knew it was time to go. Only reason I escaped this is because of my broken leg, so I wasn't in the office when it happened. Close call though. I even remember before this incident another employee had instructed me to avoid windows so locals wouldn't see me come to work and I wouldn't arouse suspicion, while the two supervisors seemed to not give two flying F---'s about the situation.

You are lucky that the Co. agreed to pay the overstay for you.

Yeah I am lucky, but they also knew they'd never stop hearing from my lawyer if they hadn't.

You are lucky that the Co. agreed to pay the overstay for you.

Yeah I am lucky, but they also knew they'd never stop hearing from my lawyer if they hadn't.

You are lucky that the Co. agreed to pay the overstay for you.

Yeah I am lucky, but they also knew they'd never stop hearing from my lawyer if they hadn't.

Your lawyer ? You agree to participate in something illegal ie working without a work permit and you think you will be protected by the Thai Laws ? Basically you haven't got a leg to stand on ( pardon the pun ) if you choose to bring the case to court. Just consider you are lucky.

I understand your situation ... and I'm not criticizing .... but everyone needs to understand this:

YOU and YOU ALONE are responsible for your visa and Work Permit.

The company that employs you will NOT be detained, expelled from the country, or fined for violating the immigration rules.

YOU can be.

Never forget this.

Otherwise, you will be the one who gets in trouble.

The labour department will not care if you have a work permit or not in case of a dispute with an employer. Unjust treatment will cause them to react and even go to court.

The labour department will not care if you have a work permit or not in case of a dispute with an employer. Unjust treatment will cause them to react and even go to court.

I could not even mention the work permit issue and instead discuss issues X, Y, and Z and have a case against these guys maybe without getting in trouble, but this is probably not the place to discuss such things so i'll stop here

The labour department will not care if you have a work permit or not in case of a dispute with an employer. Unjust treatment will cause them to react and even go to court.

Only problem is the employer can tip immigration he is on overstay so he will be deported before he goes to court.

The labour department will not care if you have a work permit or not in case of a dispute with an employer. Unjust treatment will cause them to react and even go to court.

Only problem is the employer can tip immigration he is on overstay so he will be deported before he goes to court.

Being involved a legal process is reason for an extension of stay.

One can always leave and return with a proper visa.

The labour department will not care if you have a work permit or not in case of a dispute with an employer. Unjust treatment will cause them to react and even go to court.

Only problem is the employer can tip immigration he is on overstay so he will be deported before he goes to court.

Being involved a legal process is reason for an extension of stay.

One can always leave and return with a proper visa.

As the employer has good connections at immigration, it is also possible the OP will be blacklisted.

Blacklisting is a process that no individual officer or office can do. That decision is taken at a higher level and one can appeal against it.