Possible change to overstay fines at Chang Wattana

[Hal65]

Had an interesting run in with my immigration officer today after forgetting and becoming 10 days overstayed on my educational visa. When she saw that I overstayed, little alarm bells went off instantly.

I was calm and cool, and pulled out the exact money that I both read about online and my language school advised me on: 500 baht per day, 5,000 total for the 10 days.

Here's where it gets interesting: she takes the 5,000, puts it on the table in front of me, and says something in Thai. If I were to guess, she was repeating the amount of the fine. Then she took the money, put it in her upper left pocket of her police shirt uniform.

Paperwork took another 30 to 45 minutes across 2 other officers, and when I got my passport back, there was a note stapled to my departure card. Here it is quoted below exactly, in the imperfect English it is written in:

Notice

Alien and whoever stays in the kingdom longer than 90 days shall make notification

Any alien received a temporary stay shall notify place of residence to competent official at immigration division or immigration office in that area at every 90 days.

If an alien, having submitted an application (TM .7) for extension of temporary stay, that alien shall be allowed to use that application as a notification of residence, for the first time in the 90 days period. Alien will however be required to subsequently report every ninety days.

According to immigration act B.E.2522, Section 76, any alien who fails to comply with this notice, shall be punished with a fine not exceeding 5,000 baht and with an additional fire not exceeding 200 baht for each day this passed until the law is complied with.

Date of next notification [my extension date three months away]

Signed [officer signature]

======================

Bold emphasis is mine

Judging by the poor grammar and lack of editing (notice 90 is spelled out once and written in numerals everywhere else) this might be some new military thing done posthaste.

This was at the Chang Wattana office outside of Bangkok, has anyone else seen the same thing?

Did I just pay my officer 3,000 more than I should have (5,000 vs 2,000), and give her a nice "bonus" for the day?

[paz]

Judging by the poor grammar and lack of editing (notice 90 is spelled out once and written in numerals everywhere else) this might be some new military thing done posthaste.

This was at the Chang Wattana office outside of Bangkok, has anyone else seen the same thing?

Did I just pay my officer 3,000 more than I should have (5,000 vs 2,000), and give her a nice "bonus" for the day?

The 90 days reporting requirement has been there forever and is not new. You did not mention if you were applying for an extension, reporting or what, if you got an overstay stamp and receipt, but in lack of these yes, you have been scammed.

[hhgz]

"Did I just pay my officer 3,000 more than I should have"

Yes, and hopefully you've learned how to read a calendar.

[TerryLH]

Your title says 'overstay'. The 5k was correct for ten days overstay.

The notice you mention is about not reporting your address on time. Two different things. Different penalties.

[ubonjoe]

If you were 10 days late applying for your extension of stay you paid the correct fine of 5000 baht and are probably lucky they accepted the application.

The paper they gave you was for 90 day reporting not overstay.

[visarunner]

You should have received a receipt for any overstay or missed 90day report payment.

Being late for the 90day report it's usually a THB2,000.- fine, regardless of what they write on that notice.

In absence of a receipt you should have a red stamp in thai with fine THB2,000.- written on it or a normal blue stamp THB5,000.- in case of overstay.

[darrendsd]

If you were late on your 90 day reporting which sounds likely as you went to Chaeng Wattana the fine would be 2000,

If your Ed Visa had completely expired and you were on a 10 day overstay you would have paid 5000 but you would pay this at a Airport or land crossing not at Chaeng Wattana.

Seems like you gave the Immi Officer a nice Christmas bonus,

We all make mistakes so don't worry about it,

[ubonjoe]

If your Ed Visa had completely expired and you were on a 10 day overstay you would have paid 5000 but you would pay this at a Airport or land crossing not at Chaeng Wattana.

Not exactly correct.

If you have a valid reason for an extension immigration can allow you to pay the overstay fine and apply for an extension of stay at their discretion.

[WhizBang]

I got exactly the same 'Notice' a couple of weeks ago when I did a border run. I was NOT on overstay. I was in fact, 2 days early on my entry expiration.

The immigration officer said nothing to me and had no issues with me (that I am aware of). I got my next 90 day stamp, but the notice was stapled into my passport on top of my departure card.

I read the notice. Didn't understand what it was trying to say, or why I was given it (as I was NOT on overstay). Read it again, still did not make any sense, so I forgot about it.

Curious if anyone knows what this is all about?

PS: I got my notice at Poipet.

PPS: I am on a multi entry non-O. No money involved and I have not changed my address in over 10 years.

[worgeordie]

Why did you not wait until she asked you for the money,

never hand over money unless first asked to and amount,

to anybody.you were trying to be clever and its cost you.

lesson learnt i hope.

regards worgeordie

[brianp0803]

As someone pointed out earlier, overstay and not doing 90 day reporting on time are different and different fines.

it sounds like the fine for overstay was correct and you got lucky and not have to pay for being late with your 90 day report.

[stevenl]

As has been said, the fine for 10 day overstay is 5k, so could be correct, the warning is for not reporting address on time.

BTW, what are you studying? Thai numbers are really easy.

[brianp0803]

Did you get a stamp in your passport with the fine you paid?

maybe be happy she did not test your thai ability.