First reports of new overstay crackdown

[MJCM]

<snip>

I tends to work away 5 - 6 weeks

Normally stay 35 days, I get an extension when I am back (not a boarder run), not had issue in the past

I have a return ticket

I don't have a copy of my marriage cert...its at home, but I do have my wife and kids Thai passports with me

I can not see why I would be refused this time, but you never know and I am not even sure I will have time to get the visa in Bahrain as my flight time is tight and I will travel direct there from Saudi.

Pain in the <deleted>

Looks good, just don't overstay.

Maybe in the future, just get the Non-O Multiple Entry from an Embassy and (when you have more time then your 35 days) get an extension of stay from Immigration, and then with a Multiple Re-Entry Permit you are "home free".

Good Luck and keep us informed.

[mataleo]

Any info from jomtien immigration?

[TheAceFace]

<snip>

I tends to work away 5 - 6 weeks

Normally stay 35 days, I get an extension when I am back (not a boarder run), not had issue in the past

I have a return ticket

I don't have a copy of my marriage cert...its at home, but I do have my wife and kids Thai passports with me

I can not see why I would be refused this time, but you never know and I am not even sure I will have time to get the visa in Bahrain as my flight time is tight and I will travel direct there from Saudi.

Pain in the <deleted>

Looks good, just don't overstay.

Maybe in the future, just get the Non-O Multiple Entry from an Embassy and (when you have more time then your 35 days) get an extension of stay from Immigration, and then with a Multiple Re-Entry Permit you are "home free".

Good Luck and keep us informed.

Thanks again mate. Was planning on getting the Non-O one sorted. Will look into it if they let me in.

It looks like I will have to go the standard tourist visa on entry again this time as my flight has been changed to go from Doha.

Will keep you informed if I have any issues.

[mataleo]

Do they refuse extend tourist visas for 30 days if u for exaple did it few times before?

[tropo]

I got my retirement extension on Friday in CM. Not a word from anyone about any of this at the time. 90 day report due date in calendar ?

Because it is VERY new.

My wife and I were given these forms to fill out and sign when applying for retirement extension at Jomtien on July 1.

[PaulHamon]

Looking at the document: If I had 10 years overstay and I surrendered myself, I would be barred from entering for life. But if I i got apprehended with 10 years overstay then I would only get a 10 year ban?

That's what it looks like. So if you are over 10y of overstay, better to wait until you get caught

Looks like it's a product of one or only a few officers. A mistake like that should have caught someones eye.

Actually 5 years overstay is the same as getting caught.

[Great nestea]

I got my retirement extension on Friday in CM. Not a word from anyone about any of this at the time. 90 day report due date in calendar ?

may I know if there are also additional requirements for teachers in making their 90 days notification? Thanks for your reply...

[bigsteve]

Hello everybody,

I have a question to which I could not find an answer to in the most recent posts.

I have a friend who has dual citizenship UK / Thai.

My friend entered the country on the UK passport and then got a Thai passport & ID and a one year visa for Thai citizens.

Later my friend was late for a 90 day report and the immigration officer asked to pay a rather high fee (about 30k). As we looked confused (I was there for my own 90day report) the officer said, that it was actually not a problem. Said that my friend could just stay on the Thai passport and it would be fine.

Now my friend has to leave the country and is not sure, what effect the new rule of overstaying will have.

Can my friend be banned from re entering Thailand?

Will my friend be asked to give up one of the citizenships?

What would you do: go to the local immigration or try and solve it at the airport?

Will my friend be fined at all and if, how much would it be?

I mean, my friend was never illegally in the country, right? Or would it be considered that since the entry was on the UK passport?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Hi Mutato.

My other half has just been through a similar situation. She is Thai but also has Swedish citizenship.

As her Thai passport had run out she has been in on extensions with Phuket Town immigration with her Swedish passport. She accidentally overlooked the end date of her extension and went to immigration when she realised about 30 days later. They told her she had to leave the country , pay overstay and then come back in and there was nothing they could do for her. (Not sure if this is policy or just that one officer's viewpoint). As she was 7 months pregnant we left it, unable to fly and I didn't fancy sending her on a death bus to Penang or somewhere similar, we left it and concentrated on the baby. Now, months later, baby born and mother once again able to travel she went to Phuket town Immigration and tried again. Same story.

At the airport, due to fly out to Kuala Lumpur and back, airport immigration came up with some weird deal. It involved her paying the maximum 20,000 baht fine, not flying out, leaving her passport with the officers there ( very worrying) , the passport being expunged of any overstay and returned to her in a meeting arranged by phone days later. There is no evidence of overstay in the passport and she has a slip inside giving her permission to stay until September 2014.

What it means for your friend I think is that he will be on overstay with the British passport, not on a 'one year visa for Thai citizens'. He will not be blacklisted but he will have to pay the standard fine of 500 baht per day up to the max 20k dependent on how long he has gone over.

No one will care that he has two different passports/ citizenships, even though he should theoretically at 18 years old decide to either keep the Thai or other nationality and give up the other one.

Sometimes immigration rules bring about some unusual situations. I find it bizarre/ frustrating/ ridiculous that I just ended up paying 20k overstay for a Thai, however she had overstayed so it was valid. However, no receipt and nothing written / stamped in the passport so we all know where the money went.

Anyway, best of luck to your friend. He'll just need cash at the airport and all should be fine :-)

[Mario2008]

There is no rule in Thai law that states that one must choose between nationalities if one has dual nationality.

The only rule there is says that one can choose between nationalities at age 20.

Permissions to stay are stamped in the passport, not put on piece of paper.

[samran]

$400/year no further BS involved cambodian visa is becoming more and more attractive by the day

Basically Cambodia dropping its pants to get long term tourists who are looking to drop their pants...

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

[samran]

Hello everybody,

I have a question to which I could not find an answer to in the most recent posts.

I have a friend who has dual citizenship UK / Thai.

My friend entered the country on the UK passport and then got a Thai passport & ID and a one year visa for Thai citizens.

Later my friend was late for a 90 day report and the immigration officer asked to pay a rather high fee (about 30k). As we looked confused (I was there for my own 90day report) the officer said, that it was actually not a problem. Said that my friend could just stay on the Thai passport and it would be fine.

Now my friend has to leave the country and is not sure, what effect the new rule of overstaying will have.

Can my friend be banned from re entering Thailand?

Will my friend be asked to give up one of the citizenships?

What would you do: go to the local immigration or try and solve it at the airport?

Will my friend be fined at all and if, how much would it be?

I mean, my friend was never illegally in the country, right? Or would it be considered that since the entry was on the UK passport?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Hi Mutato.

My other half has just been through a similar situation. She is Thai but also has Swedish citizenship.

As her Thai passport had run out she has been in on extensions with Phuket Town immigration with her Swedish passport. She accidentally overlooked the end date of her extension and went to immigration when she realised about 30 days later. They told her she had to leave the country , pay overstay and then come back in and there was nothing they could do for her. (Not sure if this is policy or just that one officer's viewpoint). As she was 7 months pregnant we left it, unable to fly and I didn't fancy sending her on a death bus to Penang or somewhere similar, we left it and concentrated on the baby. Now, months later, baby born and mother once again able to travel she went to Phuket town Immigration and tried again. Same story.

At the airport, due to fly out to Kuala Lumpur and back, airport immigration came up with some weird deal. It involved her paying the maximum 20,000 baht fine, not flying out, leaving her passport with the officers there ( very worrying) , the passport being expunged of any overstay and returned to her in a meeting arranged by phone days later. There is no evidence of overstay in the passport and she has a slip inside giving her permission to stay until September 2014.

What it means for your friend I think is that he will be on overstay with the British passport, not on a 'one year visa for Thai citizens'. He will not be blacklisted but he will have to pay the standard fine of 500 baht per day up to the max 20k dependent on how long he has gone over.

No one will care that he has two different passports/ citizenships, even though he should theoretically at 18 years old decide to either keep the Thai or other nationality and give up the other one.

Sometimes immigration rules bring about some unusual situations. I find it bizarre/ frustrating/ ridiculous that I just ended up paying 20k overstay for a Thai, however she had overstayed so it was valid. However, no receipt and nothing written / stamped in the passport so we all know where the money went.

Anyway, best of luck to your friend. He'll just need cash at the airport and all should be fine :-)

Your other half entered on a foreign passport and is thus subject to Thai immigration rules. For future reference it is possible to enter Thailand on a expired Thai passport like I have and get it renewed when you are in town. Take 3 days and application is simple.

As Mario said, there is no rule for having to choose at 18. The only thing there is in law is that those born with dual nationality owing to having been born to a foreign parent has the option to renounce their Thai citizenship for one year post their 20th birthday. However if they don't there is no penalty.

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

[bigsteve]

Hello everybody,

I have a question to which I could not find an answer to in the most recent posts.

I have a friend who has dual citizenship UK / Thai.

My friend entered the country on the UK passport and then got a Thai passport & ID and a one year visa for Thai citizens.

Later my friend was late for a 90 day report and the immigration officer asked to pay a rather high fee (about 30k). As we looked confused (I was there for my own 90day report) the officer said, that it was actually not a problem. Said that my friend could just stay on the Thai passport and it would be fine.

Now my friend has to leave the country and is not sure, what effect the new rule of overstaying will have.

Can my friend be banned from re entering Thailand?

Will my friend be asked to give up one of the citizenships?

What would you do: go to the local immigration or try and solve it at the airport?

Will my friend be fined at all and if, how much would it be?

I mean, my friend was never illegally in the country, right? Or would it be considered that since the entry was on the UK passport?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Hi Mutato.

My other half has just been through a similar situation. She is Thai but also has Swedish citizenship.

As her Thai passport had run out she has been in on extensions with Phuket Town immigration with her Swedish passport. She accidentally overlooked the end date of her extension and went to immigration when she realised about 30 days later. They told her she had to leave the country , pay overstay and then come back in and there was nothing they could do for her. (Not sure if this is policy or just that one officer's viewpoint). As she was 7 months pregnant we left it, unable to fly and I didn't fancy sending her on a death bus to Penang or somewhere similar, we left it and concentrated on the baby. Now, months later, baby born and mother once again able to travel she went to Phuket town Immigration and tried again. Same story.

At the airport, due to fly out to Kuala Lumpur and back, airport immigration came up with some weird deal. It involved her paying the maximum 20,000 baht fine, not flying out, leaving her passport with the officers there ( very worrying) , the passport being expunged of any overstay and returned to her in a meeting arranged by phone days later. There is no evidence of overstay in the passport and she has a slip inside giving her permission to stay until September 2014.

What it means for your friend I think is that he will be on overstay with the British passport, not on a 'one year visa for Thai citizens'. He will not be blacklisted but he will have to pay the standard fine of 500 baht per day up to the max 20k dependent on how long he has gone over.

No one will care that he has two different passports/ citizenships, even though he should theoretically at 18 years old decide to either keep the Thai or other nationality and give up the other one.

Sometimes immigration rules bring about some unusual situations. I find it bizarre/ frustrating/ ridiculous that I just ended up paying 20k overstay for a Thai, however she had overstayed so it was valid. However, no receipt and nothing written / stamped in the passport so we all know where the money went.

Anyway, best of luck to your friend. He'll just need cash at the airport and all should be fine :-)

Your other half entered on a foreign passport and is thus subject to Thai immigration rules. For future reference it is possible to enter Thailand on a expired Thai passport like I have and get it renewed when you are in town. Take 3 days and application is simple.

As Mario said, there is no rule for having to choose at 18. The only thing there is in law is that those born with dual nationality owing to having been born to a foreign parent has the option to renounce their Thai citizenship for one year post their 20th birthday. However if they don't there is no penalty.

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

Thank you for putting me right on that :-)

Sent from my GT-N7105 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[bigsteve]

There is no rule in Thai law that states that one must choose between nationalities if one has dual nationality.

The only rule there is says that one can choose between nationalities at age 20.

Permissions to stay are stamped in the passport, not put on piece of paper.

Thanks for putting me right

Sent from my GT-N7105 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Mutato]

Hello everybody,

I have a question to which I could not find an answer to in the most recent posts.

I have a friend who has dual citizenship UK / Thai.

My friend entered the country on the UK passport and then got a Thai passport & ID and a one year visa for Thai citizens.

Later my friend was late for a 90 day report and the immigration officer asked to pay a rather high fee (about 30k). As we looked confused (I was there for my own 90day report) the officer said, that it was actually not a problem. Said that my friend could just stay on the Thai passport and it would be fine.

Now my friend has to leave the country and is not sure, what effect the new rule of overstaying will have.

Can my friend be banned from re entering Thailand?

Will my friend be asked to give up one of the citizenships?

What would you do: go to the local immigration or try and solve it at the airport?

Will my friend be fined at all and if, how much would it be?

I mean, my friend was never illegally in the country, right? Or would it be considered that since the entry was on the UK passport?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Hi Mutato.

My other half has just been through a similar situation. She is Thai but also has Swedish citizenship.

As her Thai passport had run out she has been in on extensions with Phuket Town immigration with her Swedish passport. She accidentally overlooked the end date of her extension and went to immigration when she realised about 30 days later. They told her she had to leave the country , pay overstay and then come back in and there was nothing they could do for her. (Not sure if this is policy or just that one officer's viewpoint). As she was 7 months pregnant we left it, unable to fly and I didn't fancy sending her on a death bus to Penang or somewhere similar, we left it and concentrated on the baby. Now, months later, baby born and mother once again able to travel she went to Phuket town Immigration and tried again. Same story.

At the airport, due to fly out to Kuala Lumpur and back, airport immigration came up with some weird deal. It involved her paying the maximum 20,000 baht fine, not flying out, leaving her passport with the officers there ( very worrying) , the passport being expunged of any overstay and returned to her in a meeting arranged by phone days later. There is no evidence of overstay in the passport and she has a slip inside giving her permission to stay until September 2014.

What it means for your friend I think is that he will be on overstay with the British passport, not on a 'one year visa for Thai citizens'. He will not be blacklisted but he will have to pay the standard fine of 500 baht per day up to the max 20k dependent on how long he has gone over.

No one will care that he has two different passports/ citizenships, even though he should theoretically at 18 years old decide to either keep the Thai or other nationality and give up the other one.

Sometimes immigration rules bring about some unusual situations. I find it bizarre/ frustrating/ ridiculous that I just ended up paying 20k overstay for a Thai, however she had overstayed so it was valid. However, no receipt and nothing written / stamped in the passport so we all know where the money went.

Anyway, best of luck to your friend. He'll just need cash at the airport and all should be fine :-)

Your other half entered on a foreign passport and is thus subject to Thai immigration rules. For future reference it is possible to enter Thailand on a expired Thai passport like I have and get it renewed when you are in town. Take 3 days and application is simple.

As Mario said, there is no rule for having to choose at 18. The only thing there is in law is that those born with dual nationality owing to having been born to a foreign parent has the option to renounce their Thai citizenship for one year post their 20th birthday. However if they don't there is no penalty.

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

Thanks for all your comments and advice, guys.

My friend did also some research like asking other friends to call immigration hotline 1178 and or speak to immigration officer they know personally. But as unfortunately there is no clear course of action visible. There is even more confusion than before.

So my question is: Considering my friends situation would you rather:

a) go to the local immigration and try to solve the matter there, or

buy a ticket out the country and try to solve the matter at the airport immigration?

From all the posts I have read so far, option b seems the better plan or am I not seeing something here?

Also I don't understand how a citizen of both Thailand and another country can be blacklisted...

Sorry if I just misread or misunderstood some of your comments. Not like I want to wast your time on purpose.

Again, thanks for your advice in advance.

[samran]

Your friend just departs in the foreign passport. It doesn't sound like they are on overstay so just leave, fly down to KL or Singapore and come straight back entering in on the Thai passport.

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

[paz]

Your other half entered on a foreign passport and is thus subject to Thai immigration rules...

I absolutely disagree with that. It is not just because one enter the country using a foreign passport that he/she renounce any rights under the Immigration act or any other law or regulation of Thailand.

Immigration may think like that, but even if they do, legally it can't be.

By the way, there is only one section (namely 66) of the Thai immigration that deals with infractions committed by a Thai citizen, and has nothing to do with overstay. All the rest deal with 'aliens', and if one has Thai citizenship, is not an alien.

So as I wrote before, if a Thai citizen that has entered on a foreign passport, voluntarily wants to make a gift to the Kingdom, (or some corrupt official as in the experience above), paying and/or leaving and re-entering, I can understand all that, on the other hand, there is absolutely nothing that Immigration can do to him/her under the Immigration act.

[samran]

Your other half entered on a foreign passport and is thus subject to Thai immigration rules...

I absolutely disagree with that. It is not just because one enter the country using a foreign passport that he/she renounce any rights under the Immigration act or any other law or regulation of Thailand.

Immigration may think like that, but even if they do, legally it can't be.

By the way, there is only one section (namely 66) of the Thai immigration that deals with infractions committed by a Thai citizen, and has nothing to do with overstay. All the rest deal with 'aliens', and if one has Thai citizenship, is not an alien.

So as I wrote before, if a Thai citizen that has entered on a foreign passport, voluntarily wants to make a gift to the Kingdom, (or some corrupt official as in the experience above), paying and/or leaving and re-entering, I can understand all that, on the other hand, there is absolutely nothing that Immigration can do to him/her under the Immigration act.

Given there is an actual visa/ one year extension of stay that can be issued in a foreign passport for one who shows evidence of Thai nationality, is this not being subject to immigration rules? Or is the visa somehow meaninless?

Anyway, to the OP, I actually have Thai dual nationality. On bad advice many years ago (given by the Thai embassy in Canberra no less!) I was told to enter on my Australian passport and then have my stamps swapped over to my Thai. Not possible, as I found out after half a day at the old Suan Phlu immigration. You have to leave and re-enter on the Thai. No way around it. They only cancel visas if you have naturalised as a Thai.

Silly but true, which is probably why some countries won't let their own nationals in on foreign passports.

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

[paz]

Given there is an actual visa/ one year extension of stay that can be issued in a foreign passport for one who shows evidence of Thai nationality, is this not being subject to immigration rules? Or is the visa somehow meaninless?

Not at all. You correctly say 'evidence of nationality', that means one is Thai but for whatever reason doesn't have all the paperwork ready to obtain a passport yet. So Thailand helps their own citizens giving them a way to enter the country and stay indefinitely on a foreign passport. Perhaps the idea is that they are allowed to fix all the issue and obtain their Thai documents, and a passport if they want, maybe someone do not even want one.

Other countries (mine is one) do not even do that, their passport must be obtained at the embassy/consulate, period.

On the other had, my country (as many others) doesn't bother even fully checking, or recording passports (in and out) of their own citizens.

Anyway, to the OP, I actually have Thai dual nationality. On bad advice many years ago (given by the Thai embassy in Canberra no less!) I was told to enter on my Australian passport and then have my stamps swapped over to my Thai. Not possible, as I found out after half a day at the old Suan Phlu immigration. You have to leave and re-enter on the Thai. No way around it. They only cancel visas if you have naturalised as a Thai.

And that is, just as you say, the part that is wrong and hard to understand. Perhaps, heaven knows when and by whom, some high power has decided that a Tahi can't possibly have two passports, or if he/she does the only way to clear a passport that has entered, is to have it exit, while collecting all the fees and fines associated with the process.

The only point I'm trying to make is that evidently Immigration thinks in terms of passports, not individuals, and stick to their own procedures and regulations, not in terms of true law. At the end, they are not serving their own citizens. Perhaps a Judge would decide differently.