Overstay Reentry

[benden25]

I recently overstayed 89 days, I went to the airport paid my 20,000 baht fine and was sent on my way with nothing other than the standard overstay stamp. I have been away from Thailand for 4 months, will I have any issues getting back into the country either on a tourist visa or visa exemption (US Citizen). I never had an overstay before this other than a one day.

Before I get the usual "holier than thou" posts about me being the worst person in the world for overstaying: I experienced a very serious problem with my bank account and it took nearly three months to get all my money back. It was the worst few months of my life always worrying when I would walk by a cop. My GF and her family helped me out as much as they could. I know I broke the law, I paid my punishment. If your just going to post the usual juvenile rubbish, skip this post. Just looking for useful info.

[wayned]

You shouldn't have any problem of either getting a visa, recommended, or doing a visa exempt entry.

[chilliman]

An overstay stamp in your passport is not a good thing

[jacko45k]

Perhaps your experiences (wrt the bank account) would be useful to the TV members, and explaining how it prevented you extending your visa or remaining legal in Thailand while resolving the problems.

We are not all juvenile, and many appreciate useful information and hearing of personal experiences.

The 'punishments' you have perhaps heard of regarding overstay and being blocked from returning to Thailand have yet to be approved.

Edited April 6, 2015 by jacko45k

[benden25]

Perhaps your experiences (wrt the bank account) would be useful to the TV members, and explaining how it prevented you extending your visa or remaining legal in Thailand while resolving the problems.

We are not all juvenile, and many appreciate useful information and hearing of personal experiences.

The 'punishments' you have perhaps heard of regarding overstay and being blocked from returning to Thailand have yet to be approved.

I went to an ATM one night took out 2000 baht, woke up the next morning and my bank account was cleaned out. The ATM had a scanner on it that steals your numbers, turns out there was dozens of victims. Normally my bank refunds the money within 2 weeks but since it was overseas and the transaction looked like it happened at the same time as I went to the ATM it took a lot longer with the bank saying I took it out myself. Believe it or not filing a police report was huge for me. My Visa was about a week from expiring and I was planning to go to extend it 30 days within the days following this. Two problems arose from this, one my bank froze both of my accounts, my checking which I use for travel money and my savings where my paychecks go every 2 weeks. It would have taken a month for my job to change the direct deposit and I had no other bank account to use. As I tried to gather money just to survive on the overstay fees kept adding up. I was staying with my GF and her family who don't have much money to begin with so it kind of just spiraled out of control from there. Eventually the investigation finished and they refunded all my money at which point I bought a plane ticket, paid fine and left the country.

It's definitely not a situation I would ever want to repeat as I got to Thailand a few times a year but I accept responsibility for breaking the Thai law and gladly paid my fine.

[IMA_FARANG]

Yes it is very possible to have the money that is being sent to you in Thailand suddenly stopped if your U.S. bank makes a decision that they will no longer do monthly transfers to a "foreign account". That's what happened in October 2014.... my U.S. bank suddenly decided they could no longer do "out of country" funds transfers. I know because that is what happened to me...they claimed "new U.S. banking regulations" made it impossible to do a monthly funds transfer to my Thai address. I was then having my Social Security pension direct deposit every month to their bank.

It is not fun when you are living and supporting a Thai family on a monthly pension income when your U.S. bank just pulls the rug out from under you like that.... no advance warning or explanation was ever given except a vague "new U.S. tax laws make it impossible do a monthly transfer of funds from your account to your Thai bank account in Thailand.

It took me 6 months of scrambling to get my pension sent to Thailand directly ..... and the U.S. Social Security in the U.S was NOT helpful. It was the Social Security office in Manila, that saved my butt..... the U;S Social Security offices are useless..

I managed to do it .....fortunately I did not have to do an overstay..... but I had to do a lot of scrambling around to get money to keep me here in Thailand.

So, I know how it feels when something like that happens to you also.

[ToddinChonburi]

Yes I think you may have a problem, THE RED STAMP !!!!! gives immigration an open door to mess with you. I think I would lose the passport and get a new one then apply for proper visa in your home country. Then you will know for sure if you are in the system. Good luck !!

[Mario2008]

Flame post removed.

OP asks for information, not for comments on his overstay itself.

Returning with the overstay is no problem.

[BritTim]

Perhaps your experiences (wrt the bank account) would be useful to the TV members, and explaining how it prevented you extending your visa or remaining legal in Thailand while resolving the problems.

We are not all juvenile, and many appreciate useful information and hearing of personal experiences.

The 'punishments' you have perhaps heard of regarding overstay and being blocked from returning to Thailand have yet to be approved.

I went to an ATM one night took out 2000 baht, woke up the next morning and my bank account was cleaned out. The ATM had a scanner on it that steals your numbers, turns out there was dozens of victims. Normally my bank refunds the money within 2 weeks but since it was overseas and the transaction looked like it happened at the same time as I went to the ATM it took a lot longer with the bank saying I took it out myself. Believe it or not filing a police report was huge for me. My Visa was about a week from expiring and I was planning to go to extend it 30 days within the days following this. Two problems arose from this, one my bank froze both of my accounts, my checking which I use for travel money and my savings where my paychecks go every 2 weeks. It would have taken a month for my job to change the direct deposit and I had no other bank account to use. As I tried to gather money just to survive on the overstay fees kept adding up. I was staying with my GF and her family who don't have much money to begin with so it kind of just spiraled out of control from there. Eventually the investigation finished and they refunded all my money at which point I bought a plane ticket, paid fine and left the country.

It's definitely not a situation I would ever want to repeat as I got to Thailand a few times a year but I accept responsibility for breaking the Thai law and gladly paid my fine.

You have my sympathy for the situation you encountered. It is predictable that some members here cannot empathize with someone suddenly stuck with bank accounts frozen, no working credit cards and 67 baht in ones pocket. Their view is that you should go to immigration with no money and sort things out. Given their complete lack of imagination, they cannot understand why immigration would refuse to give you an extension without being given 1,900 baht.

Entering now is very unlikely to be a problem. However, stay squeaky clean from now on. The prior long overstay could be used against you if an ambiguous situation arose in the future.

[ubonjoe]

Yes I think you may have a problem, THE RED STAMP !!!!! gives immigration an open door to mess with you. I think I would lose the passport and get a new one then apply for proper visa in your home country. Then you will know for sure if you are in the system. Good luck !!

I have never seen a red overstay stamp. All of them I have seen are small blue stamps in Thai.

If you have a red one please post a scan of it.

Changing passports does no good because a new passport is linked to your previous history in immigration's database.

[jacko45k]

Perhaps your experiences (wrt the bank account) would be useful to the TV members, and explaining how it prevented you extending your visa or remaining legal in Thailand while resolving the problems.

We are not all juvenile, and many appreciate useful information and hearing of personal experiences.

The 'punishments' you have perhaps heard of regarding overstay and being blocked from returning to Thailand have yet to be approved.

I went to an ATM one night took out 2000 baht, woke up the next morning and my bank account was cleaned out. The ATM had a scanner on it that steals your numbers, turns out there was dozens of victims. Normally my bank refunds the money within 2 weeks but since it was overseas and the transaction looked like it happened at the same time as I went to the ATM it took a lot longer with the bank saying I took it out myself. Believe it or not filing a police report was huge for me. My Visa was about a week from expiring and I was planning to go to extend it 30 days within the days following this. Two problems arose from this, one my bank froze both of my accounts, my checking which I use for travel money and my savings where my paychecks go every 2 weeks. It would have taken a month for my job to change the direct deposit and I had no other bank account to use. As I tried to gather money just to survive on the overstay fees kept adding up. I was staying with my GF and her family who don't have much money to begin with so it kind of just spiraled out of control from there. Eventually the investigation finished and they refunded all my money at which point I bought a plane ticket, paid fine and left the country.

It's definitely not a situation I would ever want to repeat as I got to Thailand a few times a year but I accept responsibility for breaking the Thai law and gladly paid my fine.

Good feedback and thanks for posting it.

Yes stuck without access to money would be a problem....

Not sure of your visa type, or perhaps you had a visa exempt, but couldn't it have been extended for just 1900 baht?

Lessons to learn (for all), have a backup source of funds I guess.

Maybe put withdrawal limits on your accounts.

Glad it all got sorted.

[jackanapes]

don't worry about overstay pal theres a lot of people in pattaya on overstay some have never seen immigration for years just pay the fine you shouldn't have any problems getting a visa .

[Eaglekott]

Regarding getting your Card Skimmed,

Always have two accounts one with cards connected to it and one where you save your money.

Then keep your card account almost empty all the time, and use an Bank app or internet to move 20k or what ever you want to take out, transfers is instant. I do them when I'm by the ATM I'm going to take out money from.

I never have more than a few 1000 baht on my card account.

[Nbarch]

Hi benden25, thanks for your post, it does demonstrate the need for a contingency plan.

I was saved, when my cards were pickpocketed, by having a pre-paid ATM card, always kept separately (in a sock), which I could also top-up over the internet.

I also always have a return air ticket, just in case.

Good luck on your return to the LOS, the new passport suggestions, seems to be a good idea.

[benden25]

Hi benden25, thanks for your post, it does demonstrate the need for a contingency plan.

I was saved, when my cards were pickpocketed, by having a pre-paid ATM card, always kept separately (in a sock), which I could also top-up over the internet.

I also always have a return air ticket, just in case.

Good luck on your return to the LOS, the new passport suggestions, seems to be a good idea.

A new passport is a good idea but due to time constraints it just isn't feasible at this time. I had actually signed up for a prepaid Visa Travel card for this upcoming trip, my plan is to only keep a days worth of cash on it any one time.

I usually buy return airfare as well but on this particular trip my plans were to do some traveling all over Asia so I booked one way for that trip.

[jspill]

A TVF poster left after 11 years overstay and was totally fine coming back within 4 days, let alone 4 months - http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/751762-cleared-11-year-overstay/

Surrendering on overstay at the airport is treated as just a minor misdemeanour, as you saw when leaving and paying the fine without issue. Never understood why some posters here consider it on a par with murder.

[ubonjoe]

Some off topic unhelpful posts and a reply to one have been removed.

[warrenv]

I would suggest to you to find another bank to deal with in the U.S. I have my account with Charles Schwab bank. They do refund all ATM fees and I have found their customer service Department t be very helpful with dealing with International banking. Good luck with your overstay.

[phil2407]

I had 81 day overstay courtesy of HMG (UK) taking so long for my new passport - I paid the 20k fine - got a stern look shake of the head and I think a Tut - everything fine - just make sure you not 90 days over and get person on bad day!!

[paz]

I had 81 day overstay courtesy of HMG (UK) taking so long for my new passport - I paid the 20k fine - got a stern look shake of the head and I think a Tut - everything fine - just make sure you not 90 days over and get person on bad day!!

As of today, 89 or 890 days overstay does not make a difference.

[schnazzy]

I went to an ATM one night took out 2000 baht, woke up the next morning and my bank account was cleaned out. The ATM had a scanner on it that steals your numbers, turns out there was dozens of victims. Normally my bank refunds the money within 2 weeks but since it was overseas and the transaction looked like it happened at the same time as I went to the ATM it took a lot longer with the bank saying I took it out myself. Believe it or not filing a police report was huge for me. My Visa was about a week from expiring and I was planning to go to extend it 30 days within the days following this. Two problems arose from this, one my bank froze both of my accounts, my checking which I use for travel money and my savings where my paychecks go every 2 weeks. It would have taken a month for my job to change the direct deposit and I had no other bank account to use. As I tried to gather money just to survive on the overstay fees kept adding up. I was staying with my GF and her family who don't have much money to begin with so it kind of just spiraled out of control from there. Eventually the investigation finished and they refunded all my money at which point I bought a plane ticket, paid fine and left the country.

It's definitely not a situation I would ever want to repeat as I got to Thailand a few times a year but I accept responsibility for breaking the Thai law and gladly paid my fine.

Let me start by saying, stuff happens, I get it. The assumption is that you have a US bank account. Skimmers are seemingly rampant in Thailand's tourist area. Be thankful it wasn't a thai bank account or you may not have gotten any money back. How your bank treats you is based on a few factors including the size of the bank and also how good are you as a customer. I am not a rich person but I once wrote a check for $7k on the wrong account. They cleared the check, called me, moved the money, and even removed the fees. Granted, I had that money in a different account. What am I getting at? There are many consumer protection rules with US banks including when they can fund your account. I believe the rule is they have 120 days. This could have changed.

Since I will probably use a skimmed ATM some day even though I am diligent at reviewing new (to me) ATMs and fully cover my hand with the pin (doing it blindly and moving fingers to simulate more than 4 characters. At some point a majority of the skimmers are not going to use cameras to record the pins but do the pin pad replacement you see happening in the US.

Because of that, here are my general rules for banking/atm/etc.

• Fully cover your hand, put in your pin blindly and pretend to put in more numbers in front, in between and at the end.
• For online purchases only use a credit card. Also it is better for you to use CC for buying plane tickets. Don't use a credit card at malls/merchants in Thailand. (sort of off topic)
• Never use an ATM card in Thailand that is your tied to your "Keep" account (old castle reference of where you keep all of the good stuff). Your direct deposits, auto bill payments etc. Should come out of "account number 1". Most banks, having multiple accounts is free and easy.
• Take money out of ATMs using a logo-less ATM card attached ONLY to another account (account number 2). Logo-less means it doesn't have a Visa or mastercard logo. it is a pure atm card.
• For account 2, never have any money in it. I would just use my phone or laptop to do a transfer whenever I needed it. This account does not have any overdraft protection. If the money isn't there, you can't get any out and it won't pull from Account number 1 (you have to explicitly ask for this).
• Why not buy a roundtrip ticket? Depending on how and who you fly with, you may not have change fees. Even if you did, this is usually cheaper than buying 2x 1 way tickets.

So in my situation, the max someone could get from me via a skim operation is 15k baht. They would have to have my ATM card skimmed, the pin and they'd have to attempt it between the ad-hoc time I decide to put money in that account and me walking over to the ATM. This is usually less than an hour or 2.

Overstay - did you ask if they blacklisted you? At Swampy where you pay the fine, you can just ask that question. Assuming you just were led to the picnic tables, you should be fine but if you were detained downstairs you might get hassled. I'd get a visa in advance but not that has no guarantee and really the only way to know is to see if you get rejected at the airport.

[benden25]

I ended up getting a tourist visa, I explained my situation to the Thai Consulate and they said as long as I had a valid visa there wouldn't be any reason to deny me entry. I fly out tomorrow so we will see what happens. Thank you everyone who helped out!

[paz]

Overstay - did you ask if they blacklisted you? At Swampy where you pay the fine, you can just ask that question. Assuming you just were led to the picnic tables, you should be fine but if you were detained downstairs you might get hassled.

As of today, there is no blacklisting for overstay.

[tropo]

Perhaps your experiences (wrt the bank account) would be useful to the TV members, and explaining how it prevented you extending your visa or remaining legal in Thailand while resolving the problems.

We are not all juvenile, and many appreciate useful information and hearing of personal experiences.

The 'punishments' you have perhaps heard of regarding overstay and being blocked from returning to Thailand have yet to be approved.

Having no money would certainly make it very difficult to stay legal.

[nickinspring]

WoW, Sorry to hear about your troubles, but your sharing has brought up some very important considerations to take into account. Any other suggestions on how to protect your cash when in Thailand would be greatly appreciated. And, I was wondering if it is possible to get a safe deposit box in a Thai bank to stash some cash (for emergencies), credit cards, and copies of passport and other important papers? It seems that this would be a good precaution to have cash for an emergency.

I thank you all for the suggestions posted so are. I appreciate them.

Thanks,

Nick

[NancyL]

WoW, Sorry to hear about your troubles, but your sharing has brought up some very important considerations to take into account. Any other suggestions on how to protect your cash when in Thailand would be greatly appreciated. And, I was wondering if it is possible to get a safe deposit box in a Thai bank to stash some cash (for emergencies), credit cards, and copies of passport and other important papers? It seems that this would be a good precaution to have cash for an emergency.

I thank you all for the suggestions posted so are. I appreciate them.

Thanks,

Nick

It's difficult for foreigners to get a safe deposit box in a Thai bank, but it's not expensive to buy a home safe. There are other alternatives. The key is to have an alternate source of ready cash -- like an account in a Thai bank, an alternate bank account, a credit card with a good balance, a good friend/family member who will send money Western Union -- whatever. Anyone who lives here should have at least three ways to get their hands on money in a hurry. And yes, keeping some money in a home safe is a one way.

[benden25]

'Update: I arrived in Thailand yesterday with a 60 day TR. Immigration officer never even asked about the overstay, gave me my new stamp and sent me on my way.

Follow up question: All the immigration officers were wearing colorful floral shirts, is this just for Songkran? It did make them a lot more approachable and comfortable than the BIB uniforms.

[jspill]

'Update: I arrived in Thailand yesterday with a 60 day TR. Immigration officer never even asked about the overstay, gave me my new stamp and sent me on my way.

Follow up question: All the immigration officers were wearing colorful floral shirts, is this just for Songkran? It did make them a lot more approachable and comfortable than the BIB uniforms.

Good to hear, welcome back. It always goes down that way, Thailand has no issue with overstayers once they've paid the fine.

Yes those shirts are for Songkran.

[new2here]

WoW, Sorry to hear about your troubles, but your sharing has brought up some very important considerations to take into account. Any other suggestions on how to protect your cash when in Thailand would be greatly appreciated. And, I was wondering if it is possible to get a safe deposit box in a Thai bank to stash some cash (for emergencies), credit cards, and copies of passport and other important papers? It seems that this would be a good precaution to have cash for an emergency.

I thank you all for the suggestions posted so are. I appreciate them.

Thanks,

Nick

It's difficult for foreigners to get a safe deposit box in a Thai bank, but it's not expensive to buy a home safe. There are other alternatives. The key is to have an alternate source of ready cash -- like an account in a Thai bank, an alternate bank account, a credit card with a good balance, a good friend/family member who will send money Western Union -- whatever. Anyone who lives here should have at least three ways to get their hands on money in a hurry. And yes, keeping some money in a home safe is a one way.

My experience is that it isn't hard per se, but more to do with limited supply. I have one with Bangkok Bank, at their main branch. While i have several accounts with them, including a true credit card, I did have to show my work permit again when I signed up for the box and had to pay a refundable key deposit. The annual fee is auto-deducted from my account.

I did have to sign a bank form that acknowledges that I won't store things in the box are illegal - As I remember the list had things like drugs, weapons, explosives, hazardous substances, Thai cash exceeding B50,000.

You can access the box pretty much anytime the branch is open, but you must have your original passport - because that appears to be the "ID card" number they record on the box registry - in your possession to get access.