Thai Immigration Bureau to blacklist all overstayers of more than 90 days

[wilcopops]

It's about time the authorities got tough with 'OVERSTAYERS'. Seriously, there are people out there that think Thai Immigration laws area joke. The whole process of overstay is considered an 'option' by so many. These normally are the sort of people you look at and start to feel itchy. Well good riddance to them, I hope they are all eventually rounded up and blacklisted.

Having said that, there should be a small clause out in place for those that simply miss by error, a few days or so (maybe a maximum of a week or so), as I sympathise with those who've simply made an error or whatever.

Anyway, no doubt there's a few dirt bags with puckering sphincters at the moment, sad to be them

There is an overstay counter at Immigration. You can't blame foreigners for availing themselves of a service that has been set up and provided for them by the immigration authorities. The authorities could have said many years ago that overstays would not be tolerated. They did not. Perhaps they should have consulted you sooner. No doubt you would put them straight!

There should be an 'overstay' process for people with small, very small infractions. Sometimes people make mistakes. People need to take more care with matters of such a serious nature.

In all my years of roaming this globe, I've made no such infraction anywhere. I wouldn't even consider my efforts difficult. Far from it.

Simply, some people are too retarded to follow correct process and go throughout life looking for someone else to blame. These are the folk that should be jammed right back up their mommies clacker!

It seems that it's time for some <deleted> to pay the piper. Overstayers should cop it sweet because if your prepared to commit the crime you should be prepared to do the time. Simple as that really.

n.b.: There should still be a short time of a few days for people that make honest errors.

So you think people should be punished...so long as it's for something you "never do" - that's a fairly safe point of view, don't you think?

[siampolee]

Timwin post # 273

Almost every single long term expat on retirement visa today in Thailand has been a tourist visa runner or 30 day visa exempt runner in the past. This "running" very well suited them back then but today some of them think they are better people now, priviledged, core expats, pillars of community even!

Then they come here in TV to judge those who do exactly the same periodic "running" what they did before their retirement visas! That is so pathetic behaviour.

Now Timwin as you appear to be an expert on visa matters, are you than able or willing too discern via your computer just what my visa status is along with the host of other posters in this thread and their visa status?

Now, perchance you would be so kind as to share your visa status with we in the lower orders who in your opinion engage in ''pathetic behavior.''

Also your valued advice as to how one should obtain the correct class of visa would inded be most welcome..

My apologies if you consider my post ''pathetic'' however I am just following the example that you have set.

Edited July 7, 2014 by siampolee

[neverdie]

There's a certain group of posters on TVF who constantly whine about how 'money' can be used to buy ones way thru sticky situations. They are very critical about this.

..... meanwhile they just pay meagre fines as a way out of cheating the immigration system & they do it constantly.

The words; hypocrites and prat come to mind.

I applauded the authorities for tightening this 'loophole'.

Hopefully this will lead to a mass exodus of low life from Thailand and things are just starting to look better already.

[JLCrab]

Thailand is failing ... and remember that you read it here first.

[neverdie]

Timwin post # 273

Almost every single long term expat on retirement visa today in Thailand has been a tourist visa runner or 30 day visa exempt runner in the past. This "running" very well suited them back then but today some of them think they are better people now, priviledged, core expats, pillars of community even!

Then they come here in TV to judge those who do exactly the same periodic "running" what they did before their retirement visas! That is so pathetic behaviour.

Now Timwin as you appear to be an expert on visa matters, are you than able or willing too discern via your computer just what my visa status is along with the host of other posters in this thread and their visa status?

Now, perchance you would be so kind as to share your visa status with we in the lower orders who in your opinion engage in ''pathetic behavior.''

Also your valued advice as to how one should obtain the correct class of visa would inded be most welcome..

My apologies if you consider my post ''pathetic'' however I am just following the example that you have set.

Seems like a bit of a misnomer really.

Timwin. 5555555

[jacko45k]

Bugger ... that's going to stuff up a lot of the plans of the overstayers.

I hope there are the usual exemptions such as 'Medical' etc.

I don't think people actually plan to overstay. It's just that circumstances tend to overtake them and they get in a mess.

Best of luck to all people in that situation.

Correct, they actually don't plan to overstay!

90 days seems quite tolerant.....but do they realise that they are reducing their potential income from fines!

[neverdie]

Thailand is failing ... and remember that you read it here first.

Sound like some more hyperbol, for this wonderful forum to digest.

[mrtoad]

Timwin?

[iancnx]

window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());

Thinking out loud. If the Ed visa is also successfully tightened up - and it should be - it could leave us with just a core expat population who are here within the law contributing to Thai society living here on the correct visa. The next stage surely would be easier extensions (marriage or retirement) and who knows the ridiculous 90 day report might become a thing of the past. I would gladly pay 10000 up front for a 5 year visa, where perhaps the 90 day report could be replaced with a 365 day one. Just thinking out loud and hoping this is read by the Immigration Minister / Commander.

Not judging you fella, but that avatar?

Isn't prostitution illegal in Thailand?

I can understand your jealous stance concerning my avatar - every man's dream. Lol. The Christmas party was one of the best I ever attended, without a single example of nudity or risqué behaviour, and certainly no prostitution as several have flamed as a suggestion.

Now back to the topic. I am not revelling in other peoples misfortune. I am wondering if the ED visa abuse will stopped, and openly admit that I would welcome that. I do hope the free loading law breaking overstay scumbags are evicted. Those who have made a genuine mistake have time to put things right and get the correct visa sorted for their needs legally.

Edited July 7, 2014 by iancnx

[noendtoit]

I always have this irrational fear that at some point I'll become so feeble, I'll be stuck on my bed shitting myself, unable to go into the office for the marriage extension. Then, one day, there is a rap at the door (in my nightmare only -- Thais don't knock on doors); it's the immigration police. They grab my worn out stinking body and throw it in their van. They quickly draw up a deportation order, blacklist me and dump me off at the US Embassy.

At the US Embassy, they discover that in my feeble condition, I have failed to file my most recent annual FBAR form (which I had faithfully filed for the 20 previous consecutive years). The US Embassy's ICE officers quickly obtain an order to seize all my Thai assets, leaving my wife destitute, arrest me and arrange for my transportation back to the US, where I am eventually lodged in a federal medical detention facility. I think to myself, "Well this place is a hell of a lot better that a cardboard box in Golden Gate Park. I just wish I could get my hands on some cheap wine and life would be good again."

[neverdie]

It's about time the authorities got tough with 'OVERSTAYERS'. Seriously, there are people out there that think Thai Immigration laws area joke. The whole process of overstay is considered an 'option' by so many. These normally are the sort of people you look at and start to feel itchy. Well good riddance to them, I hope they are all eventually rounded up and blacklisted.

Having said that, there should be a small clause out in place for those that simply miss by error, a few days or so (maybe a maximum of a week or so), as I sympathise with those who've simply made an error or whatever.

Anyway, no doubt there's a few dirt bags with puckering sphincters at the moment, sad to be them

There is an overstay counter at Immigration. You can't blame foreigners for availing themselves of a service that has been set up and provided for them by the immigration authorities. The authorities could have said many years ago that overstays would not be tolerated. They did not. Perhaps they should have consulted you sooner. No doubt you would put them straight!

There should be an 'overstay' process for people with small, very small infractions. Sometimes people make mistakes. People need to take more care with matters of such a serious nature.

In all my years of roaming this globe, I've made no such infraction anywhere. I wouldn't even consider my efforts difficult. Far from it.

Simply, some people are too retarded to follow correct process and go throughout life looking for someone else to blame. These are the folk that should be jammed right back up their mommies clacker!

It seems that it's time for some <deleted> to pay the piper. Overstayers should cop it sweet because if your prepared to commit the crime you should be prepared to do the time. Simple as that really.

n.b.: There should still be a short time of a few days for people that make honest errors.

So you think people should be punished...so long as it's for something you "never do" - that's a fairly safe point of view, don't you think?

Nonsense. I am a retired law enforcer and law abiding citizen. Previously I have received a couple of traffic fines for flouting the law, once was a parking fine Andre other time was for riding a bike without a lid. Both times I gladly accepted my medicine and moved on. I felt no need to create a forum thread and carry on about it.

It's not hard to stay on the right side of the law, especially ones as important as immigration.

[jpinx]

The number of posts by people revelling in other's misfortune speaks to the collective (lack of) mental and emotional health of the usual suspects, and the many new ones who seem to have been drawn out of the woodwork by this turn of events. It is frankly disgusting.

And to those comparing the rules and their administration in Thailand to those in the US, UK, etc., the difference is a major one: due process.

In the US, at least, people who are blacklisted will have had their day in court; likewise, deportees will have been heard by competent, if not sympathetic, officers of the court. No individual will be blacklisted by the front line thugs at Customs and Border Patrol...

Other differences are too numerous to mention, but include no reporting once a permission to stay has been granted (green card), etc.

Contrast this with the largely de facto power of the average farang-despising immigration officer to exercise caprice in handing out red stamps in your passport. Consider also that it is largely a crap-shoot as to whether you encounter one of those farang-haters, or one who is merely jealous, or one who didn't get laid the previous evening, etc, etc, etc., or one of the relatively professional and competent ones who try to administer the law fairly.

One suspects that many of the more strident advocates of the "have your ducks in a row, and no harm shall befall thee" myth have their uncomplicated and repeatable routine worked out at one of the more quaint local offices where such professional and farang-friendly officers ply their careers. Chaeng Wattana, and Suan Plu before it, are/were never so predictable. Nor is it predictable as to what your reception, and subsequent treatment will be like if you move to a new city or province.

Having lived in Bangkok for quite a few years, and then moved to Nong Khai, I can attest to the utter bull$hit you may have to abide if you move somewhere, in foolish regard only to the pleasantness of the place, and ignorantly trust that you will deal with a reasonable and professional immigration staff. Fortunately, until about 2011, the price was only to buy a bag of cookies from the chubby immigration lady, and then you were stamped in with a smile...

And it has only gotten worse. The rules used to be subject to a bit of softening at the sight of a purple note; it was a necessarily unwritten rule, but if everyone was on the same page, it was done gracefully, and everyone went home satisfied and relatively happy. Now, knuckleheads insist on bringing their Western anti-graft sensibilities with them, and foreign governments impose theirs from without, engendering even more anti-foreign sentiment among those whose rice bowls have been broken.

So, it's no wonder that Pol Col Somchai doesn't smile much, or exchange pleasantries with Billy-Bob with his iPad and new pickup in the lot as he has to stamp the guy in for another 90 days or one year. The officer can no longer extort enough to show the trappings necessary to actually get to home plate with the young thing of his fancy...

So, it's not really a lack of respect for the "rules", whatever they may ACTUALLY be, it's the lack of consistency, and lack of recourse that make it incomparable to the Western countries so popular in the posts of the schadenfreudists.

Some Jingthing character has been fighting the wishful thinking and outright lunacy of the deniers throughout this thread. One wonders: why does he bother? Anyone who can not parse the clear and obvious meaning of the statement:

"Overstay for less than 1 year > Forbidden from re-entering the kingdom for 5 years."

is not worth arguing with.

Personally, although it was heartbreaking to do so, I have left Thailand, not so much owing to the vagaries of my own ability to stay, but due to outright abuse of my poor Filipino wife, who was subject to untoward comments from immigrations staff, in Nong Khai, and in Bangkok, and even in Vientiane. It was the correct decision, but not a happy one.

In 30+ years, this is the farthest I have seen the pendulum swing, and I don't dare hope to live long enough to see it return to the point where foreigners can retire with any sense of security or fairness. Thailand is failing, and as Thais will do, will blame everyone but themselves until the bottom is hit. We're easy targets these days, and no matter the parachute, the ground is coming up fast...

------------------------------------------

Such bitter bile has it's source somewhere other than a clear view of immigrations rules. The rules for visiting Thailand are clear enough for most of us. and the requirements for long-term stay or residency are there to read in detail. Comparisons are odious at best, and Thailand may well be more strict than it's immediate neighbours, but compare Thailand with countries around Peru or Kenya and the picture is clear that Thailand is, in fact, very easy-going, even with the new rules.

There is no "right" to leave your country, choose a wife from another country and live the rest of your days in a third country with which neither you nor your wife has any connection. Thailand extends a warm welcome to those who visit within the rules , and who maintain a happy and respectful disposition towards their hosts, but you are always a foreigner.

As an aside -- reciprocity of immigration rules is not a "requirement" of any country unless there isa bi-lateral agreement. If reciprocity was across the board, the "holier-than-thou" EU, US and OZ would get the blame for the draconian immigration requirements.

[wilcopops]

window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());

Thinking out loud. If the Ed visa is also successfully tightened up - and it should be - it could leave us with just a core expat population who are here within the law contributing to Thai society living here on the correct visa. The next stage surely would be easier extensions (marriage or retirement) and who knows the ridiculous 90 day report might become a thing of the past. I would gladly pay 10000 up front for a 5 year visa, where perhaps the 90 day report could be replaced with a 365 day one. Just thinking out loud and hoping this is read by the Immigration Minister / Commander.

Not judging you fella, but that avatar?

Isn't prostitution illegal in Thailand?

I can understand your jealous stance concerning my avatar - every man's dream. Lol. The Christmas party was one of the best I ever attended, without a single example of nudity or risqué behaviour, and certainly no prostitution as several have flamed as a suggestion.

Now back to the topic. I am not revelling in other peoples misfortune. I am wondering if the ED visa abuse will stopped, and openly admit that I would welcome that. I do hope the free loading law breaking overstay scumbags are evicted. Those who have made a genuine mistake have time to put things right and get the correct visa sorted for their needs legally.

"every man's dream" - like the rest of your comments you seem to be making huge and unbiased assumptions.

[sydneyjed]

I hope the immigration will provide te ticket back home for the over-stayers

A good point as the few I know have got the ar.e hanging out of their pants and can barely muster enough money for a Leo let alone a air ticket home!!

[nottocus]

Thailand is failing ... and remember that you read it here first.

I think it has already failed.

Now...gotta punish those who overstay.....the lawbreakers need an incentive...one way to make sure you get the correct visa would be to do this to those who don't. Would only need to happen a couple of times and problem solved.

Edited July 8, 2014 by nottocus

[iancnx]

"every man's dream" - like the rest of your comments you seem to be making huge and unbiased assumptions.

Profound apologies. I meant every straight hot blooded male who at some point in their life (when single of course) might well have considered such a fantasy. I should have said every lesbian or Bi girls dream as well I guess. When I joined TV I was single!

But we digress, back on topic. I am amazed to find so many people seemingly on the wrong side of the law, who are prepared to come on to TVF to try and justify their impropriety, and flame the law abiding guys who actually do have the correct visa.

Edited July 8, 2014 by iancnx

[noendtoit]

So you think people should be punished...so long as it's for something you "never do" - that's a fairly safe point of view, don't you think?

Nonsense. I am a retired law enforcer and law abiding citizen. Previously I have received a couple of traffic fines for flouting the law, once was a parking fine Andre other time was for riding a bike without a lid. Both times I gladly accepted my medicine and moved on. I felt no need to create a forum thread and carry on about it.

It's not hard to stay on the right side of the law, especially ones as important as immigration.

Wow! A retired law enforcer. You should become a TV moderator; you'd be perfect.

[puchooay]

I haven't read every post on this thread, so if I am repeating then I apologise.

The idea of someone on one day overstay being banned for a year are, in my opinion, just to serious. Even in Thailand one has to read between the lines to get the true story.

Thai immigration know that there are people flouting the laws. They know which laws too. There is now a steady trickle of new laws to stop that. If no on was breaking the law then the moves would not be required.

There are no lower limits on these restrictions. I feel that this is deliberate from the Thai government, but flexible.

Let's say the law said "over on month to one year". How long would the overstayers stay before they made their move? What if it was 2 months to a year or 3 months???

By making the lower limit zero, everyone knows where they stand.

[GoonDizzy]

"every man's dream" - like the rest of your comments you seem to be making huge and unbiased assumptions.

Profound apologies. I meant every straight hot blooded male who at some point in their life (when single of course) might well have considered such a fantasy. I should have said every lesbian or Bi girls dream as well I guess. When I joined TV I was single!

But we digress, back on topic. I am amazed to find so many people seemingly on the wrong side of the law, who are prepared to come on to TVF to try and justify their impropriety, and flame the law abiding guys who actually do have the correct visa.

I have a visa ,dude. Just not sure about staying any longer. Those ladies? Yes, I would. But the only Thai women I've seen go down to their underwear in public have been....

Maybe you've just got really good friends? If so, tell them I've still got all my own teeth.

[ericthai]

Really? A US citizen can jump on a plane anytime they want and come to Thailand, Can a Thai do that for the USA? No...Took allot of work and time to get a visa for my wife to the USA. So tell me where the myth is? I have been able to live and work in Thailand for almost 20 years without any real issues. I get my visa easily every year. Granted I have a good company and good job and I know allot of teachers struggle to get visas, but it's not the teachers fault it the Thai company that hires them. This should stop all of that and make it much better for teachers and other people that are working and having a problem getting the paper work to get a visa.

Have a look at that visa your wife has. You should notice it has a validity of 10 years. Six months per entry - extensions six months. Also, even if she overstayed - even for 20 years - she would not be deported unless convicted of a felony.

She wouldn't need to do that however, since as the spouse of a US citizen she can apply for a green card during any of her visits to the US. There is no language requirement. She would not need to be on nonimmigrant work visas after 20 years, unlike you living in Thailand.

Even if she doesn't, even if she overstayed, she can own anything a US citizen can. Property in her own name, etc.

ICE is right now in the process of reuniting illegal immigrants with their families, mostly in California at taxpayer expense, even if those relatives are themselves illegal immigrants. This in contrast to the Rohingya which are towed out to sea and left to die.

In every single regard, with the sole exception that Thailand is not on the Visa waiver program, US Immigration is more lenient than their Thai counterparts.

Edit: I assumed your wife has a tourist visa.

You really believe the US is more lenient? Then really you know nothing. Have you ever seen the lines outside of US embassies? Not just in Thailand, but all over Asia, MiddleEast Africa, etc. There are lines everyday with 70-80% of those people not getting visa. My friend used to work at a US Embassy, here in Thailand it's between 70-80% that are denied, Africa is even higher. I personally know several people in Thailand and Vietnam that have tired to get visas to the USA and were denied, even though they paid almost $200 to apply for that visa. As I said before at the same time any US citizen can come to Thailand anytime they want. You can work in Thailand it's not an issue, I have worked in Thailand for almost 20 years, never an issue. It is so easy to get a visa for Thailand and most have the visa exempt. People have a hard time just trying to get a tourist visa for the USA.

[NancyL]

I know of at least a dozen others with tales similar to what PhilW told in post #123 -- only the men I know are much, much older and in situations where they've lost all contact with anyone in their home countries. There really is no one and no where for them to go if they were to return to their home countries. Plus, they have no way to finance a return trip, let alone an overstay fine. They spend their small pensions every month barely getting by. In many cases, their Thai family is caring for them and they are unable to travel.

How did they get on overstay? Well, in some cases it was as some have speculated. Dementia or a hospital stay and they simply lost track of keeping up with visa maintenance. Some were playing games in trying to stay here long-term with tourist visas because they lacked financial means to qualify for retirement/marriage visas and the rigors of travel got to be too much as they aged. Some because Thai partners cleaned out their 800,000 baht retirement visa account. Some because they became ill and were in-and-out of hospitals (as PhilW described) but Immigration wouldn't grant a medical extension and insisted they should go out of the country and pay the 20,000 baht fine.

That's right. Here in Chiang Mai Immigration they usually tell these guys -- just wait until you leave the country and pay the fine then. Wait until you can get the money together. They haven't tried to compromise or work with them. Some of these guys have been "waiting" for years. Now this happens.

Is IDC prepared to care for elderly men with multiple health problems?

Total rubbish.

Firstly, I have also lost contact with everyone back in my home country mostly through my own choice, plus I would never expect any of my family or close friends to have to care for me if I become a loser due to my own negligence for not planning properly, spending on stuff or living it up on a lifestyle I cannot afford and living by chance.

When I decided to permanently live in Thailand I came with adequate savings and funds plus continued to pay into a private and state pension scheme and planned my finances to support me and my family here for the remainder of my life. I estimated exactly how much I would need taking into consideration, a home, a vehicle, childrens education, an emergency fund, inflation and the bank interest rates and exchange rates going down. I estimated I could live on an income of 35 baht = £1 and the US dollar equivalents and if I obtain any amounts higher than I considered that as a bonus.

You say that these elderly people are struggling to make ends meet on their meagre pensions, have no means to afford a flight home and don`t even have 20000 baht saved if in the event they had to pay an overstay fine and some were living here doing visa runs in order to avoid the imposed Immigration Department visa requirements or/and they became involved with the wrong crowds or women and had their funds misused, abused or stolen. And you truly expect the Thais or anyone else to have sympathy for these people? Are you seriously suggesting that these elderly people who plonked themselves in Thailand on shoestring budgets or just enough to survive on at the time without any future resources, living on a hope and a prayer that things will work out or have misused their funds should now become the responsibility and problem of the Thai health and social services or on the charity of others?

This is part of the problem why the Thai authorities have begun to strictly enforce the visa regulars for the fact that the authorities do not want to be lumbered with the burden of these people or be left with picking up the tab for their health bills. These infirm or semi infirm foreign geriatrics of little wealth should be the burden of their home countries and not Thailand. The outcome due to these elderly incompetents staying in Thailand without adequate funds to cover their health care will probably amount to all of us being imposed to purchase health insurance each year as another visa requirement and this is my main reason why I resent these people because sooner or later their incompetence will affect me and others like me living in Thailand for the long term.

I have given strict instructions to all my family and close friends that if I fall seriously infirm, then to place me into a care home here as I have no intentions of becoming a burden to anyone and having to depend on the good will and charity of others to survive. And this is something I have planned for and proud of that fact.

Those considering moving here should learn to understand that Thailand is not a last grazing ground of charitable status for those Westerners of little wealth who want to escape their mundane lives back in the home countries. If they have made no provisions for future financial support and a rainy day for their old age and to see them through for the remainder of their lives, then they should not move to Thailand, otherwise whatever they decide they do so at their own risk and discretion and should not expect any authority or people to support them.

If an elderly Westerner staying in Thailand on retirement does fulfil the imposed terms and conditions of the Immigration Department then for health reasons becomes too frail to personally visit Immigration, a third party with consent may visit and apply for a visa extension on the applicants behalf. I know this as fact. An 87-year-old English friend is already doing this, his carer acting on his behalf. Immigration is not without some compassion as you describe, providing that the applicant meets all the requirements, it`s that simple.

As harsh as this may sound, this is the reality, there are no ifs, buts or maybes about it and the laws of Thailand must be abided with no exceptions.

Beetlejuice, I agree with everything you've said -- except the part about my post being "total rubbish". Mine was just a statement of fact. An explanation of the current reality for some people. Yours an also a description of your reality and an explanation of what people should do to avoid becoming a burden to the Thai people. I agree, it's what people should do when they plan to retire here.

Maybe I didn't word my post appropriately. I wanted to highlight that these men are here and have been for some time. What will happen with this crackdown? Is IDC prepared to handle the care of elderly men with multiple medical problems? Men who in many cases have someone tending to their needs 24/7. Men who are unable to leave their bed, perhaps suffering from a terminal or debilitating condition? Men who have dementia and need someone to take care of their most basic human need? And are the embassies prepared to do the kind of social work needed to try to find placements for these men in their home countries should the funds somehow be available to repatriate them?

In the future, it will be good to know that Thailand's Immigration policies will be rigidly enforced and no new cases like this will develop. But what of those here now?

[AnotherOneAmerican]

Im not sure why someone would bother trying to overstay anyway. In ANY country in the world it's illegal and courting disaster. I actually hope that all these recent shakedowns will help rid the country of some of the scurvy bilge that is found clinging to the vestiges of their sorry lives in this beautiful land.

Nope, in the USA if you overstay, eventually you get citizenship.

They have amnesty every few years.

Also to point out Junta can't make laws or immigration policy.

Unless they stay forever.

Edited July 8, 2014 by AnotherOneAmerican

[neverdie]

So you think people should be punished...so long as it's for something you "never do" - that's a fairly safe point of view, don't you think?

Nonsense. I am a retired law enforcer and law abiding citizen. Previously I have received a couple of traffic fines for flouting the law, once was a parking fine Andre other time was for riding a bike without a lid. Both times I gladly accepted my medicine and moved on. I felt no need to create a forum thread and carry on about it.

It's not hard to stay on the right side of the law, especially ones as important as immigration.

Wow! A retired law enforcer. You should become a TV moderator; you'd be perfect.

Whilst I can understand why you might be excited sharing a forum space with someone of my standing, superior mentality and good looks perhaps you can save your 'wows' as I only expect you to bow as I pass by.

Having said that, I would prefer if you attempted to engage the riffraff on the forum and build some skill before attempting to arouse me with this sort of message as you clearly lack imagination with this attempt.

FYI, I have no desire to moderate anything, Ive done more than my fair share of dealing with a.holes and douchebags.

[Bellacissa]

I always have this irrational fear that at some point I'll become so feeble, I'll be stuck on my bed shitting myself, unable to go into the office for the marriage extension. Then, one day, there is a rap at the door (in my nightmare only -- Thais don't knock on doors); it's the immigration police. They grab my worn out stinking body and throw it in their van. They quickly draw up a deportation order, blacklist me and dump me off at the US Embassy.

At the US Embassy, they discover that in my feeble condition, I have failed to file my most recent annual FBAR form (which I had faithfully filed for the 20 previous consecutive years). The US Embassy's ICE officers quickly obtain an order to seize all my Thai assets, leaving my wife destitute, arrest me and arrange for my transportation back to the US, where I am eventually lodged in a federal medical detention facility. I think to myself, "Well this place is a hell of a lot better that a cardboard box in Golden Gate Park. I just wish I could get my hands on some cheap wine and life would be good again."

You've given this some serious thought. May you never become quite this feeble. I'd hate to read about you here on TV one day.

[neverdie]

After re-reading whats written below, I just cant see what the fuss is about.

1. If you overstay one or two days by mistake or whatever and take yourself to the airport and present yourself to the necessary authority, you pay the fine and nothing happens. providing your overstay is less than 90 days.

END OF STORY.

Anything else beyond that is absolute tosh. Bad luck. Please return back to your home country, where no doubt you have other 'law' related issues waiting for you. Good Riddance.

As for the bit about being stopped whilst on the way to the airport......most people would present themselves with a passport, valid plane ticket, luggage and it wouldnt be an issue. More tosh abundant on the forum about this.

Please read below, seems more than fair to me. Again I applaud the people responsible for the implementation and enforcement of this policy. JOB WELL DONE!

In the case that alien surrenders themselves:

Overstay more than 90 days > Forbidden from re-entering the kingdom for 1 year.

Overstay more than 1 year > Forbidden from re-entering the kingdom for 3 years.

Overstay more than 3 years > Forbidden from re-entering the kingdom for 5 years.

Overstay more than 5 years > Forbidden from re-entering the kingdom for 10 years.

Overstay more than 10 years > Forbidden from re-entering the kingdom for life.

In the case that the alien is being apprehended:

Overstay for less than 1 year > Forbidden from re-entering the kingdom for 5 years.

Overstay for more than 1 year > Forbidden from re-entering the kingdom for 10 years

[chrisinth]

I think a lot of people on this thread, the ones who have surmised that one day's overstay will lead to a 5 year blacklist are over reacting to a document which still needs clarification.

The chances of that happening would be where the 'visitor' would be in an overstay situation and stopped by police or immigration before they could clear themselves.

Very similar to how it is now, for someone on an overstay they either report and clear the overstay easily or they are unfortunate enough to be apprehended and thrown in IDC. Only difference now is that the stakes have been raised.

It is great that the heads-up has been given by TV, but lets wait until it has been made official and the guidelines to the new policy shown before bringing more doom & gloom to quite a serious move on immigration's part with this proposed change.

Just Sayin'............................

Edited July 8, 2014 by chrisinth

[gmac]

Im not sure why someone would bother trying to overstay anyway. In ANY country in the world it's illegal and courting disaster. I actually hope that all these recent shakedowns will help rid the country of some of the scurvy bilge that is found clinging to the vestiges of their sorry lives in this beautiful land.

its illegal bla bla bla,,, perhaps if countries around the world stopped being so anal about foreign visitors of independent means , there might be less friction and a greater spread of culture, understanding of social and work ethics. Why should anyone be shackled to any one country just because they were born there...

stop bleating on about the law and stand up against it for the good of change.

The Thailand elite card not enough cow towing to those of 'independent means'? Or are you one of these blokes for whom bringing in anything over the Thai minimum wage means that the country suddenly owes you something?

I suspect that many of those of 'independent means' seek ways to keep their 'means' to themselves and don't wish to pay out for the elite card.

[alant]

Possibly the best action would be to give a short period for all who have transgressed to put their visa in order without penalty before the rules are implemented. The additional workload could be manages by scrapping the 90 day report freeing staff.

[AGareth2]

good to read there are some law abiding citizens left

[CiaranO]

Possibly the best action would be to give a short period for all who have transgressed to put their visa in order without penalty before the rules are implemented. The additional workload could be manages by scrapping the 90 day report freeing staff.

Rubbish - why should people get away with breaking and abusing the law?