Long Overstay

[Sceptict11]

He makes his way to an international airport with 20000 bht and a ticket out of the country !

Or he can take his chance at a boarder crossing !

Up to him !

[Mario2008]

Sorry to bring this thread back. But I have a friend on overstay (yes it actually is a friend and not me lol) He's on a 5 month overstay and wants to know how to fix it. There seems to be a lot of back and forth on this issue. I know he has to pay the 20,000 when he leaves at the airport, but can he do it at a border crossing like some said and they want you to have an out going flight. So does the flight have to be back home or can it be to another country like Laos or somewhere else in SE Asian?

He can leave the country at any border. It doesn't have to be an airport, but it is recommended especially in case of a very long overstay. The reason for the airport is a simple one, they will try to let you catch your airplane and don't hold you up to long if not necesarry. At a land border there is no time pressure, also there are les risks of being checked on the way to the border.

A ticket out is needed, not to your homecountry. Only when you are arrested and deported do you need a ticket out to your home country.

[Somchai Mao]

And here's me cacking myself about 5 years ago when I got my dates mixed up and overstayed 2 or 3 days.

[ShinMusashi44]

Sorry to bring this thread back. But I have a friend on overstay (yes it actually is a friend and not me lol) He's on a 5 month overstay and wants to know how to fix it. There seems to be a lot of back and forth on this issue. I know he has to pay the 20,000 when he leaves at the airport, but can he do it at a border crossing like some said and they want you to have an out going flight. So does the flight have to be back home or can it be to another country like Laos or somewhere else in SE Asian?

He can leave the country at any border. It doesn't have to be an airport, but it is recommended especially in case of a very long overstay. The reason for the airport is a simple one, they will try to let you catch your airplane and don't hold you up to long if not necesarry. At a land border there is no time pressure, also there are les risks of being checked on the way to the border.

A ticket out is needed, not to your homecountry. Only when you are arrested and deported do you need a ticket out to your home country.

Ok thanks for the info. He's so far 5 months overstay last he said. Wonder if that will change anything. I'll let him know, thanks again.

[Mario2008]

5 months doesn't change anything.

[rinteln]

There is so much scaremongering on here its just not helpful at all.

This needs to be put into context and looked at by the numbers. I had an overstay once of 2 days. Went to the smaller border crossing in Sa Dao. While I was doing the paperwork and paying the money I asked the policeman how many overstay people he had already had at that time, which was about 14.00. He said I was the 5th that day so far. So this is a small and quiet border crossing which has already had 5 that day and you would imagine at least another 2. So my point here is this is a daily occurrence which you would probably guess has 10's of people everyday going through checkpoints with varied durations of overstay. How often do we here of arrests or detentions ?!!! Maybe 1 every month in the news. Granted there could be more we don't hear about but for sure out of hundreds that go through there cant be anymore than a few arrests a month so this is such a small percentage.

The other point we have to remember about overstay is that overstaying a visa is actually not a burden to the Thai state at all. In fact if for example someone has overtstayed for a year then the 20,000 fine is more to the Thai government than if that person actually got visas for the year. Plus its impossible for an alien to be a burden on the state in any way during their illegal stay. There is no social. If someone is living while here then its all their own money and money going into the Thai system. My point here is that unlike with Western countries there is not actually an undercurrent of politics and burden to the state involved when someone overstays. Its really just the stamp and the paperwork. Now im not saying this make overstaying right but it does take the heat off of the crime when it comes to policy on what the procedures should be.

So when you have a situation where a foreigner arrives at the airport with the 20,000 cash and a ticket out what policeman is going to say no we would rather go through loads of paperwork, use our jail resources, get less money from you in the end and blacklist you so you cant come back and spend more money. No policeman will do that unless you have not got the cash there and then.

Bottom line is more than 90% of the time if you arrive at the airport early, smart and with the cash then by doing so you are offering the police an easy life to get you through and more money than the government would get if they sent you to court. You have to look at the numbers. If we were talking about any other subject with these percentages then there wouldn't even be a debate.

Scaremongering about low chance scenarios is not helpful. Anyone posting on here about overstay already knows they have been a bad boy so why not just give realistic advice based on the numbers.

Edited September 10, 2013 by rinteln

[iceberg]

Hi All,

I started this thread to begin with. I just left Thailand last week with an overstay of 1985 days. Immigration at the airport did not even blink. I paid 20000 baht, got my receipt and left. They didn't even ask me one question. Very polite and nice. To all the guys yapping about how you will go to jail, won't happen. Costs them more to put you in jail, than collect an overstay fine. And that's the truth.

[rinteln]

Hi All,

I started this thread to begin with. I just left Thailand last week with an overstay of 1985 days. Immigration at the airport did not even blink. I paid 20000 baht, got my receipt and left. They didn't even ask me one question. Very polite and nice. To all the guys yapping about how you will go to jail, won't happen. Costs them more to put you in jail, than collect an overstay fine. And that's the truth.

Great news.

Yep exactly what I was saying above in my rant.

[evercurious]

The last post said long overstayer left Thailand recently and simply paid fine at the airport: that goes against what I heard

from a lawyer - who said that now one should go to Immigration office first to pay fine plus THB1900 for a 7 day extension before trying

to leave.......Which is better? Is it safer the latter way? I read that a new law in force since 2012 imposing detention if o/stay

exceeds 42 days.

However, comments here seem to show it is not being enforced very much, or as stated by lawyer, only if person has been 'guilty'

of other things..? Not sure what that means either in specific Thai legal terms - prosecuted offences or just a dispute with a landlord about

a broken window for example!

[ubonjoe]

A warrant for a criminal offences is what he meant. It certainly would not be for a disagreement with a landlord unless they went through the process of getting charges brought against you.

Most that get locked up were caught with an overstay and didn't have the money to pay the fine.

Voluntary payment on departure or at immigration is not going to get you locked up unless you did have a warrant out for you.

[Mario2008]

1 post removed for flaming/US bashing.

[paz]

This was 20 years ago, but an acquaintance of mine had overstayed over a year. He went to the Koh Samui Immigration Office and paid his ฿20,000 and they stamped his passport and gave him 3 days to leave the country. He overstayed that by three days went to Malaysia paid the overstay charge (I believe at that time it was ฿100 or ฿200 a day) went to Penang applied for a new visa and came right back.

Sent from my i-mobile IQ 6 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

20K Bt. must have been nice money (in Thai terms) 20 years ago. We are luckly they updated all the immigration fines but not that.

Edited September 21, 2013 by paz

[paz]

No, he did not have his old passport as he had lost it. No idea why you would jump to such a ridiculous conclusion that I would post BS.

Me neither would dare to think that, just looking at the blue label under you avatar

[JekWan]

I assisted a guy in your position last year, he eventually got help from Thai Visa sponsor Sunbelt Asia. Send then an email and they will make sure all is O.K. for you. Costs about 4,000 baht and they walk you through the whole process.

[email protected]

indeed, tack another 4k on that bill.

"indeed, tack another 4k on that bill."

I just spoke to the guy, it cost him 4,280 baht for the sunbelt service plus 1,000 baht at the airport, total 5,280 baht. The fine of 20,000 baht was, of course, extra.

could you give me your phone number? I have a friend getting this issue.