Italian runs from Thai girlfriend, arrested in Phuket for two year overstay

[marell]

Okay, the guy made some bad decisions and screwed the proverbial pooch. But isn't the system hitting a very small nail with a very large hammer?

[ben2203]

In response to Most Issan Girls are after money....

TBH, I think most people know this too, you should pretend you have less money than you have then the people who are after your money usually will disappear unless ofcourse they find out that you have money again.

Nobody, unless ofcourse you are really wealthy can deal with the constant demands of people trying to get money from you left right and center because they are too bone idle to work

How about telling us which post says that? If you are going to quote someone then don't twist the posters words to make your case.

Maybe you can let everyone know on what basis or market research information you are making your statement about Isaan girls anyway.

Can't be bothered finding the post I responded to but basically it went along the lines of, probably this guy's girlfriend was probably upset because he had runout of money and blah blah blah, my point was if somebody is constantly at you for cash etc, you should just tell them you have none, if it is the case that such people are just after your cash then they will soon disappear.

Anyway, the post about issan girls didn't come from my post I was merely responding to it, from that person's point of view.

About twisting poster's I have no idea what you're banging on about to be honest or why you should take offense to such a suggestion. I think my suggestion is a valid suggestion, should somebody be constantly nagging at you for money then at some point unless of course you are really wealthy you have to Kerb it, usually the types that are nagging for money are typically lazy so.....

[ben2203]

Okay, the guy made some bad decisions and screwed the proverbial pooch. But isn't the system hitting a very small nail with a very large hammer?

Sure, it's probably in the guy's best interests though hey, he was probably in a precarious situation in terms of basically being homeless in thailand, anyway so perhaps this is a wake up call that will do him some good in the long run.

If his wife has any interest in sorting out his predicament then she will find out a way to bail him out, the fact that he has overstayed for two years kind of suggests to me she/he is not particularly interested in a long term relationship because basically she can sponser his visa right? If they are married doesn't he qualify for a marriage visa?

[oops]

I just don't get it. They showed several guys on TV here not to long ago claiming to be foreigners who are homeless. Then they make a big deal about this guy and his overstay.

How is it that these others who are taking food and clothing habitually sleeping on the beach with defining characteristics "screaming I am a foreigner " that they are not arrested?

Like the black American who lives on the beach in Phuket they showed him on TV and yet we still havent seen his arrest.

While I am slightly baffeled wondering how these people have been able to stay here so long without being thrown out, at the end of the day I don't really care. I believe that there isn't one country that has the right to put of a fence or questions or demand us to carry a passport.

We should be able to move freely and live where and how we want, so long as we are not pissing on anyone elses parade.

[ben2203]

In response to Most Issan Girls are after money....

TBH, I think most people know this too, you should pretend you have less money than you have then the people who are after your money usually will disappear unless ofcourse they find out that you have money again.

Nobody, unless ofcourse you are really wealthy can deal with the constant demands of people trying to get money from you left right and center because they are too bone idle to work

Aaah great. How would that explain me being happily married for 14 years. Stick your isaan women only like guys with money up your ass.

I hear women in London and new York love paupers also.

How could you possibly misinterpret that? I said in response to... So I didn't put a quote box in, so in response to... Is insufficient then, ok to explain.

Ok so you are happily married, great, that doesn't mean however there are not people who get themselves into relationships with people with high demands, my suggestion was that if that was to happen to anybody, that person should just say they have less money than they do so as if person with high demands is really only interested in one's money then eventually they will disappear. To basically prevent such problems arising, anyway it's all conjecture really, nobody knows what the story is behind this guy's lack of funds to get a visa

[itsrebel]

Its not strange at all - Phuket Immigration clearly targeting only non Asian foreigners so anyone looking like he was will instantly draw attention to himself.

Yes what about the 1000's of Burmese that are here, do they all have Visas! Remember what TAT says this is Amazing Thailand.

Of course they dont have visas or work permits etc- but this witch hunt is only after the Farang. They have decided that the western foreigner is the root of all Phukets problems.

Not true... I know one of these guys in the photo - these guys are tasked specifically with foreigners. I have another friend in immigration tasked with rounding up other nationalities. Cambodians, Laotians, Burmese are rounded up in the tens and hundreds and transported back to their own neighbouring countries at the expense of the Thai tax payer... I'm told they have usually snuck back into Thailand and are at their job again within a few weeks.

Its a cycle. In many of the cases involving illegal immigrants and labourers there are no Thai's to do the job - without these illegal labourers the businesses would fail, the situation could become worse for both tourists, local Thai's and those illegals looking for work.

The result is a balancing act and not an Anti-Farang witch hunt as some would like to believe... This is what my Thai friends in immigration tell me. As such I'm often sympathetic.

A solution could be to make it more easy to legalise the labourers etc... Opening up the labor office for 1 month a year only to see half your work force disappear once they become legal is not an ideal solution...

But, just because the 100's and 100's of illegals from neighbouring countries don't make the news while one Western Foreigner does reach the news 'We' read does not mean there is any imbalance against Westerners... Far from it... the Guy in the Op was here illegally for 2 years.

It does make the news, if you know where to look.

And please don't put the illegal migrant from Burma in the same basket as a falang overstaying. The ones from Burma are possibly facing persecution at home, or may be even more. And the people from neighboring countries are here to work which is difficult for them to find in their own countries, these falangs are here for something completely different.

[sydneyjed]

http://www.thaivisa.com

Ok. What about the sentence/fine?

Obviously, if he is sentenced, he does the time, but what if he is fined, and obviously can't pay it. Does one day in gaol equal 100 baht, or similar?

Does "time" decrease the fine until it's zero?

No it would have to be opposite in Thailand I think gaol would be a user pays system

From what I understand, there is no official sentence involved. They just keep you there till you have paid your fine. But they will not help you in any way. That is what I read on a law firm's website just now. It is up to you to get in touch with someone outside who will help you pay the fine and for your ticket. I guess if you have no friends or anyone else to help you, you can always call your embassy - they are pretty much duty bound to get you out and send you home.

They wont pay for air tickets though. If embassies paid for everyone that spent all their money in foreign countries it would be setting a standard. People would be more carefree

I think they have to. If the person can't pay for his ticket and knows no one who can, the embassy has to. At the end of the day, they are responsible and liable for their citizens in a foreign country. They obviously get the money back when the person reaches home.

I am actually certain its the opposite. They will tell you to ring home and get the money

This isn't the first and obviously won't be the last overstayer highlighted on here and other news links(see below)...You have raised quite a few valid points over the question of what eventually happens to these people though..Some are just chancers who blatantly flaunt the law for whatever personal gains it serves...as for others however it is not always black and white as some people may think due to mental illness,alcoholism and sheer bad luck which place people in a situation of desperation,vunerability and helplessness.Who can remember the German beggar who hung out in the door ways up around Soi 10/20 sukhumvit and the well documented story by Andrew Drummond here on thaivisa about the British citizen who was befriended and visited every day in Pattaya jail by the wonderfully kind English woman from a local charity(after she read the story on here)..Maybe I'm just a big softy at heart but I always try to show compassion whenever I see any unfortunate individual in a bad situation... you never know one day it could be you!

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/424245-briton-found-naked-tied-to-the-bars-of-a-cell-in-pattaya-police-station/page-1

[ben2203]

Its not strange at all - Phuket Immigration clearly targeting only non Asian foreigners so anyone looking like he was will instantly draw attention to himself.

Yes what about the 1000's of Burmese that are here, do they all have Visas! Remember what TAT says this is Amazing Thailand.

No they don't have visas, Neither do they have money to pay off fines. So they are not so interesting to arrest.

They do get busted, I know people who have had to pay 20,000 then 4,000 per month for Burmese workers, so usually it's businesses that have to fork out for them, otherwise they get sent back to Burma or Myanmar as it is.

I read some police caught a Burmese girl and her boyfriend, then basically forced the girl to have sex with them for a day or so until she escaped or what not, also something about Burmese fishermen being beaten and murdered for not complying with orders or such. There was some suggestion in the article that some policemen were involved but who knows?

So this guy will get a fine, if he can't pay it then he will get a deportation order, it's not the end of the world really, some countries are really strict in enforcing the rules as in a black listing an individual for overstay, unless you really upset the wrong person it's doubtful that you will get put on the blacklist for an overstay even if it is a lengthy one.

The majority of thai people are sympathetic if somebody has real troubles and will accomadate them as much as they can, 100 per cent I think that if this guy pays the overstay fine and gets his visa sorted then he will be allowed to stay in thailand without any issues. If he does it frequently though then....

Edited September 26, 2013 by ben2203

[ben2203]

Of course they could pay Thais a salary sufficient to get them to do the job....

Depending on location of your business, it's not that easy to get Thais to do certain kinds of work, remember Thai voters vote in governments who make policies, Raising daily salaries to 300 baht per day shut a lot of businesses which has made the red party unpopular again. Plus even if you do raise salaries, will your customers pay you more to accommodate the increase?

Ok if you are in issan then it's a lot easier to find thais and very rarely will you find Burmese working there but Bangkok for sure it's quite difficult to find reliable workers.

It really isn't as easy as saying pay more and you will get the right workers, really

[stevenl]

Its not strange at all - Phuket Immigration clearly targeting only non Asian foreigners so anyone looking like he was will instantly draw attention to himself.

No, they're targetting Russians, Chinese and Koreans.

The non-asians that reach TV are just collateral damage

[stevenl]

If I had little money and was on long-term overstay, I wouldn't be heading for Phuket. It seems as if busting foreigners on overstay is top priority there and spot-checking of passports is de rigeur. Not carrying one seems to be a big deal and reason for arrest or further pavement detention. I have never seen this happen here in Chonburi.

So, on reflection, even though I have got lots of money and am not on overstay, I won't be going to Phuket anyway as I would rather not be hassled by the uber-corrupt cops for no reason.

So immigration officers doing their duty are now uber-corrupt cops?

[rotary]

Sounds like Racial Profiling to me as the reason they picked him up. That would be illegal in the USA. ha ha

[belg]

the real criminals drive around in either taxi's, tuk tuk, jet ski's or ... police cars

[RogueLeader]

If I had little money and was on long-term overstay, I wouldn't be heading for Phuket. It seems as if busting foreigners on overstay is top priority there and spot-checking of passports is de rigeur. Not carrying one seems to be a big deal and reason for arrest or further pavement detention. I have never seen this happen here in Chonburi.

So, on reflection, even though I have got lots of money and am not on overstay, I won't be going to Phuket anyway as I would rather not be hassled by the uber-corrupt cops for no reason.

[hawker9000]

His girlfriend probably chucked him out as he has no money, with money most Isarn girls will love you. I do feel sorry for people like him but most Thais don't give a s..t if a foreigner is broke. There again so many of the Thais don't have money but they do seem to take care of each if even to share a room etc. Thailand really needs to do more to help people down on their luck, most of them have given away fortunes to Thai hookers from Isarn so they deserve some respect and some funds allocated back to them in terms of a room and trying to find out what skills they have to get a job, not just being checked out. Sadly though it all comes down to MONEY this is what most countries do if you are caught overstaying.

So nice to read some positive feedback. Truer words are hardly spoken on this site, it's mostly bashing against another who has fallen on their luck, simple as that. For those that think it will never happen to them; wishful thinking in this land of opportunity anything is possible.

When we think we have figured out the system or the gals, they both change up on the angle for which it was before.

"Luck"? No, "luck" is a good or bad day in Vegas. Exhausting your last resource on some girl up in Isaan leaving yourself penniless and with no way home is called "choice". Choices have consequences.

[MacChine]

Its not strange at all - Phuket Immigration clearly targeting only non Asian foreigners so anyone looking like he was will instantly draw attention to himself.

Yes what about the 1000's of Burmese that are here, do they all have Visas! Remember what TAT says this is Amazing Thailand.

Of course they dont have visas or work permits etc- but this witch hunt is only after the Farang. They have decided that the western foreigner is the root of all Phukets problems.

Well in a way it's true. Western foreigners set up info sites and reveal complaints on forums or tell 10 friends about the time they had getting ripped off or conned. Some even demand fairer treatment.

Remember to the Thai it is the reputation that is of importance, not the substance. infuriating point # 63

Edited September 28, 2013 by MacChine

[tiger2]

If I had little money and was on long-term overstay, I wouldn't be heading for Phuket. It seems as if busting foreigners on overstay is top priority there and spot-checking of passports is de rigeur. Not carrying one seems to be a big deal and reason for arrest or further pavement detention. I have never seen this happen here in Chonburi.

So, on reflection, even though I have got lots of money and am not on overstay, I won't be going to Phuket anyway as I would rather not be hassled by the uber-corrupt cops for no reason.

Thank-you for sharing a wealth of information

Actually, old Briggsy should have kept his mouth shut about how filthy rich he is. Now he's made himself a target

[ALFREDO]

Ran away? No money, no honey any more !