Extension of stay with pending Private Criminal Prosecution

[timewilltell]

I am 57 in a few hours. Have been in Thailand on a non-B visa for about 12 years with family visa extensions of stay for the last 5 years including last year issued in April 2014.

I was victim of a huge fraud in Phuket and sued most of those involved in civil and criminal cases.

One of the money lenders sued me back in a private criminal prosecution for perjury and malicious prosecution with his claim stating I knew about the fraudulent cancellation of my 30 year lease and his purchase of my house at 20% of its value.

His case papers were sent to an old condo address and were returned duly noted by the condo juristic person. I did not find out about the case until the case had been accepted whereupon the lawyer notified the court of my new address which he well knew months earlier and omitted to tell the court.

As a result in January 2014 I had to pay bail and my passport confiscated. I made the extension in March 2014 on the basis of taking care of my then 3 kids. No problem

Today I went to do the extension fir this year in Nonthaburi and after initially accepting it, they voided it on the basis of some new regulation which apparently says if you have a criminal case in progress then you cannot apply for any visa except a case visa which requires papers from the court and must be resubmitted every 90 days. They returned my passport.

As the case against me depends on my criminal case against the guy I am suing which has been suspended after two years because the person who carried out the fraud admitted the fact and gave evidence I knew nothing about it, they were sentenced to 1 year for that offence. The court decided to require me to reissue the case which I did and the case therefore set back another year for hearing date because of the backlog. So my criminal case will not be heard until the end of the year and likely into next year and if appealed may well be another three years until finished. So the criminal case AGAINST me cannot start until then and may thus last fir 6 years if there are appeals.

The point is I was exiled with my family because of threats on our lives and now live in Bangkok. So travel every 90 days to Phuket - Bangkok - Phuket to get the papers and again to return the passport every 90 days us going to be very expensive. On top of that I may still have to do 90 days reporting runs as well which I did last year as well because the periods do not match up.

Does anyone know if the new rules apply to criminal cases brought privately as opposed to publicly, that effectively stop you getting yearly extensions under family, business or retirement rules or whether perhaps these rules apply only to public prosecutor prosecutions which gave at least had some evidence collected by police.

If not then under the new rules foreigners will be easy targets for ruthless criminally minded people just by issuing spurious claims. If you are charged out of province the cost will escalate rapidly.

[nzexpat]

Seems you have some complex issues which are probably best answered by your lawyer.

[ubonjoe]

You can apply for the 90 day extensions under this clause of police order 327/2557.

"2.26 In the case of litigation or court proceedings:

Each permission shall be granted for no more than 90 days.

(1) There must be evidence confirming that the applicant is involved in a litigation or court proceedings as accuser, injured person, accused, plaintiff, defendant, or witness.

(2) The applicant does not behave in such a way that indicating his intention to stay longer."

I am not sure though they can deny another type of extension because of being evolved in court case. The 90 day extension is meant for those that have no other choice for extensions.

[ubonjoe]

Off topic and unhelpful posts have been removed. The topic is about getting his extensions of stay and nothing more.

[BlackJack]

yes this issue and many others has opened up a whole new line of intimidation

these fraudsters are many and I know that their favourite trick is to counter sue as it is in your case and or to have you up on bogus defamation or liable cases

once they tie you to criminal or civil cases then this is what can happen regarding your extension of stay

everyone out there listen up

people bag lawyers all the time and try to save a few baht by sorting it out themselves only to wind up in a deeper hole

I feel for you being here so long and then suffering with this issue but this is now above your head and you need to sort this sooner rather than later

[dietergerhard]

Not clear they seized your passport when given bail but later in your story you had it again ?

[Soutpeel]

Does anyone know if the new rules apply to criminal cases brought privately as opposed to publicly, that effectively stop you getting yearly extensions under family, business or retirement rules or whether perhaps these rules apply only to public prosecutor prosecutions which gave at least had some evidence collected by police.

honestly as much as there is lot of knowledge on these forums, one suspects this is a job for a decent lawyer to solve...