Friend Broke Leg And Overstay Tourist Visa

[tomahawk]

An old man from Ireland broke his leg day before he was due to renew visa in Mae Sai. This was on 12/15. He has letter from hospital saying he broke his leg, and he is 76 years old and has no transportation. He asked me to take him to Mae Sai monday and I said okay, but I am wondering can he get extension or exemption from medical certificate or what should he do? Thank you anyone who can help.

[lopburi3]

What visa/entry/extension is he on? He may have been able to obtain an extension for medical reasons but that was a week ago and don't know where he is/was so now may have to pay the overstay at 500 baht per day prior to doing what he originally intended.

[tomahawk]

He was scheduled to go to Mae Sai next day for border crossing before he broke leg.

[wayned]

If you are in CM I would take the letter from the doctor and go to CM immigration to see if he can get an extension for medical reasons.

[Lite Beer]

2.25 In the case of medical

treatment or convalescence or to look after a patient:

Permission will be granted for a period of not more than 90 days at a time.

(1) Confirmation and request has been made by a physician

responsible for the treatment. The Physician must describe the details of treatment and advised that the illness is a barrier for travelling.

He should have done this a week ago. Will probably have to pay the overstay of 500 Baht a day.

Best to get over to Immigration and see what they say before the overstay gets any longer.

[DILLIGAD]

I helped a friend who had a serious heart condition in Sisaket. We got an Imm form completed by a Hospital doctor to confirm he needed regular check-ups, took a few photo's of him in hospital including when he was being examined by said Doc and Sisaket Immigration were most helpful and gave him an extra months stay.

[tomahawk]

Thank you everyone. You have been most helpful. I will take him to CM immigration on Monday.

[NancyL]

The willingness of CM Immigration office to assist will depend on the dates listed on the letters from the hospital and doctor. Often, hospitals/doctors in CM will only write letters confirming that a patient was under their care on certain dates and will list the date of discharge from the hospital as the date the patient stopped being under their care. They have to be specifically told to include language that the patient is unable to travel until XX/XX/XX -- i.e. some future date. Then, CM Immigration will issue a medical extension that expires on that future date.

Without this language about a restriction on travel upon discharge, the assumption by Immigration is that the patient could have traveled to the border and/or traveled to the Immigration office and simply chose not to. I've seen them refuse to accomodate people with retirement extensions because of this -- asking them to pay the overstay and they'll get a 7 day extension to travel to the border, re-enter and start the whole "two-step" process of getting an O visa with a retirement extension from scratch.

But, I've also seen cases where a good visa agent can somehow work around this and get a client a retirement extension even though the client went on overstay because of an illness, even though they lacked a letter from a doctor.

Also, if the patient was in a private hospital, like CM Ram or Rajavej -- they have international customer service reps who can be very helpful in getting the correct documentation organized. Suan Dok, the public hospital, doesn't offer such a service.

I'll send the OP a PM, because I think I know more details about this specific case that could be helpful. But, for general reference -- remember to ask the doctor/hospital to include a restriction about travel until a future date in order to obtain a medical extension valid until that date. Incidentally, 90 days is the maximum time granted for a medical extension, even if the person obviously has a terminal condition and will never be able to travel again.

Edited December 23, 2012 by NancyL

[DiamondKing]

When I was in Hospital I sent my wife to Immigration along with my Passport and a letter from the hospital and they did it right there 1900 baht plus 500 for 1 day overstay

Dk

[NancyL]

When I was in Hospital I sent my wife to Immigration along with my Passport and a letter from the hospital and they did it right there 1900 baht plus 500 for 1 day overstay

Dk

The key difference between your situation and that of the OP's friend is that you were still in hospital when your wife took care of your extension. You didn't wait for over a week after discharge and then try to get the extension.