Permission To Stay Till 20 Sep, Flight At 1:50AM On 21 Sep

[sosisbesar]

I know this has been asked here before, but I haven’t been able to find a query that matches my situation.
The stamp in my passport says that I have permission to stay in Thailand until Friday 20 September. However, I can find a cheap return flight that leaves on Saturday 21 September at 1:50 am.
As check-in opens 3 hours before departure, I think I can use this ticket without getting the dreaded red stamp, as long as I clear Immigration/Emmigration before Friday 12 o’clock midnight .
Is this reasoning correct?

PS: I know that there won’t be a fine if I don't succeed in clearing Immigration before midnight, but I prefer just not to get the stamp.

[ubonjoe]

No problem. Overstay of less than 24 hours is free and is small blue stamp that states this.

[OJAS]

No problem. Overstay of less than 24 hours is free and is small blue stamp that states this.

And you shouldn't even get that provided you clear Immigration before the bewitching midnight hour.

[sosisbesar]

No problem. Overstay of less than 24 hours is free and is small blue stamp that states this.

My issue is not with the overstay being free or not. I've had these 'small blue stamps,' as you so endearingly call them, in the past (without any consequences, for that matter), but since I've been living here on consecutive Non Imm O visas, I've decided to keep a very low profile and operate strictly within the law.

[mahjongguy]

"...as long as I clear Immigration/Emmigration before Friday 12 o’clock midnight ."

From all that has been posted here in the past, and even though it might not seem logical, it doesn't matter when you go through Immigration. It's your flight departure time (date) that counts. That's why they don't charge for the first day.

[OJAS]

"...as long as I clear Immigration/Emmigration before Friday 12 o’clock midnight ."

From all that has been posted here in the past, and even though it might not seem logical, it doesn't matter when you go through Immigration. It's your flight departure time (date) that counts. That's why they don't charge for the first day.

Not my experience exactly 7 years ago to the day before I moved out here, when I was stamped out at BKK Immigration on 1/7/2006 for an international flight which departed around 01:00 on 2/7/2006 (although I was nowhere near overstaying). And, although the flight number was entered in manuscript by the IO in my passport, there is nothing to indicate that it actually took off on 2/7/2006!

[sosisbesar]

From all that has been posted here in the past, and even though it might not seem logical, it doesn't matter when you go through Immigration. It's your flight departure time (date) that counts.

Yes, that does sound quite illogical. International airport actually serve as border crossing points regardless of how far they are from the actual physical border. After you’ve cleared Immigration you have in fact passed the frontier so you can, for example, make duty-free purchases.

That's why they don't charge for the first day.

That was not the explanation given to me when I was fined B500 at the Friendship Bridge in Nong Khai a few years ago for overstaying one day.

When I remarked that I’d read on the Internet that 1 day overstay didn’t carry a fine, the Immigration Officer explained to me that the reason one-day was waived at airports was to pre-include any flight delays.

[lopburi3]

You are still subject to Thai law on either side of immigration desk. Try stealing something from duty free if you do not believe it.

The airport allows 24 hours before fines imposed - not land crossings where it is not a factor of a flight delay.

[sosisbesar]

@Lopburi

Does your answer imply that the departure time of the plane is the crucial point in deciding whether someone is on overstay?

[mahjongguy]

There's a myth that airport transit zones are a sort of no-man's land, or never-never land. It makes for interesting movie plots but it's not true at all.

Transit zones are a convenience for the airport, the airlines, immigration, and the passengers. They provide many practical benefits, but they have no special legal status except as defined by the country in which they are located.

[Dork]

There's a myth that airport transit zones are a sort of no-man's land, or never-never land. It makes for interesting movie plots but it's not true at all.

Transit zones are a convenience for the airport, the airlines, immigration, and the passengers. They provide many practical benefits, but they have no special legal status except as defined by the country in which they are located.

Not according to President Putin's recent statement regarding the status of Ed Snowden.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/06/25/snowden-russia-china/2454757/

[ubonjoe]

No problem. Overstay of less than 24 hours is free and is small blue stamp that states this.

My issue is not with the overstay being free or not. I've had these 'small blue stamps,' as you so endearingly call them, in the past (without any consequences, for that matter), but since I've been living here on consecutive Non Imm O visas, I've decided to keep a very low profile and operate strictly within the law.

They are small and are blue and can easily get lost among a bunch of entry and exit stamps.

I have never had the option of passing immigration before midnight to dodge the stamp. Most of my flights were early morning.

Even regular short overstays are not a problem.

I have had a few several years ago and have never been questioned about them after getting several visas and extensions of stay.

[sosisbesar]

Not according to President Putin's recent statement regarding the status of Ed Snowden.

Well, I guess Mehran Karimi Nasseri, Feng Zhenghu, Zahra Kamalfar and Edward Snowden must have been fictional characters in novels set in the never-never lands of respectively Charles de Gaulle Airport, Narita International Airport, and Sheremetyevo Airport.

[mahjongguy]

If Putin leaves Snowden to his fate at Sheremetyevo, that's Putin's choice. If it was of benefit for him to arrest Snowden and hand him over to the Americans then he would do so.

In other words, transit zones can be as convenient politically as they are functionally.

[amrishtony]

No worries, just as you said. Clear the immigration before midnight. Anyways 24hrs over stay in alright.

[RubbaJohnny]

You cannot claim asylum in UK transit nor Pars CDG as the Iranian in the famous film discovered they are different in some respects,also you could contact your embassy if framed for theft ata downtown store but not when in the clutches of Gollum

[sosisbesar]

I've found the evidence I was looking for. I'm posting my findings so that people in the same situation will be able to find it when they need it.

Ignore scaremongers and hypotheticals!

I've happened to actually meet somebody who's regularly used the same 01:50 flight that I'll be taking. He's checked for me in his passport and it showed that every single time he was stamped out on the actual day that he was going through Immigration and NOT the day of the flight.

[Mario2008]

I've found the evidence I was looking for. I'm posting my findings so that people in the same situation will be able to find it when they need it.

Ignore scaremongers and hypotheticals!

I've happened to actually meet somebody who's regularly used the same 01:50 flight that I'll be taking. He's checked for me in his passport and it showed that every single time he was stamped out on the actual day that he was going through Immigration and NOT the day of the flight.

Of course not, stamping passengers out on the date of their flight requires that they check every pasengers ticket and use the corresponding stamps. That is not economical, as it leads to longer lines and more mistakes.

Immigration doesn't want long lines, efficiency tels them to stamp you out on the date you pass immigration.

[sosisbesar]

I agree whole-heartedly with every single word you wrote. As I posted earlier in this thread, I thought the suggestion that passengers were stamped out on the date of their flights was quite illogical and impractical.

However, as that assertion was made, I made the last post to put this issue beyond any doubt once and for all.

[Maestro]

I remember reading only one post by a member who passed through passport control before midnight on the last day of his permission to stay for a flight leaving after midnight. His departure stamp correctly showed the date he passed through immigration but he got the one-day overstay stamp in his passport, without having to pay a fine, only one day of overstay being free.

I have no idea whether this procedure is the rule.

[Maestro]

...although the flight number was entered in manuscript by the IO in my passport, there is nothing to indicate that it actually took off on 2/7/2006!

The immigration officer probably copies the flight number from the departure card and if you forget to write it there he may draw your attention to it. He also has your boarding pass in front of him and if it was issued at check-in it shows the boarding date and time. (The electronic boarding pass you can print out on your computer for some flights up to 23 hours before scheduled flight time usually shows both boarding time and flight time but I believe in Bangkok this is usually substituted at the check-in counter with the old-style boarding pass)

[sosisbesar]

I remember that post too, but I couldn't find it back.

However, it did raise doubts and that was the reason why I opened this topic.