I would be grateful for some urgent information on a long term overstay. One of our British friends overstay is 9 years he is planning to fly to Singapore on Sunday and return then get a 30 day visa upon re-entry. Has the new ruling for over stayers been approved or implemented yet? He will be flying out on Sunday. Thanks in advance.

The "new ruling" has as yet not been implemented.

Your "friend" would be well advised to obtain a Visa before returning.

With a 9 year overstay marked in the passport he may be judged to be "undesirable" by immigration and legitimately refused a visa exempt entry.

Edited November 5, 201510 yr by oncearugge

• No they haven't been implemented yet.

He should be prepared for questioning on re-entry especially if entering with visa exempt entry.

He would be best advised to get a tourist visa.

I hope the offender is blacklisted, no excuse at all for it

I hope the offender is blacklisted, no excuse at all for it

i hope too; why people can stay 9 year and welcome back

I cleared an 11 year overstay and paid at the airport. Probably he will be grilled a bit on exiting but so long as has the 20k and ticket out he should not be blacklisted, He should go early to allow sufficient time to deal with the matter. If he is on a new passport it will be important to have the passport that he entered upon with the TM6 (arrival) card as this will make it easier for the immigration officers to locate him on their system. I was able to re-enter 4 days later visa exempt but was taken aside and questioned very intently for a long period by the senior i/o on duty and on reflection it would be advisable, as suggested above, that your friend obtains a visa before trying to reenter. Singapore I think is not the best place to get a tourist visa he might find it better flying to Laos and obtaining the visa there and then perhaps reentering via Nong Khai.

Does anyone know, what grief are they ngoing to give him as he exits Thailand ? The maximum fine is 20,000 baht. Now, is it a simple case of paying the 20,000 baht fine, the official signs or stamps whatever paper, and that's it, he can leave.
OR, are they going to start shouting at him in a room where nobody can see, give him a lecture on how bad he has been, and then give him the 20,000 baht fine ?

Does anyone know, what grief are they ngoing to give him as he exits Thailand ? The maximum fine is 20,000 baht. Now, is it a simple case of paying the 20,000 baht fine, the official signs or stamps whatever paper, and that's it, he can leave.

OR, are they going to start shouting at him in a room where nobody can see, give him a lecture on how bad he has been, and then give him the 20,000 baht fine ?

Clearing him to leave may take some time as the IO's will probably wish to check that there are no outstanding arrest warrants etc.

They most certainly will ask what he has been doing and the reason(s) for the overstay.

I was not taken to any room. They dealt with the matter at their desk and while clearly and justifiably they were not happy they were completely professional and indeed nicer than I had anticipated or in fact deserved. He should dress properly and be polite and accept that he is totally in the wrong and apologise and so long as he does not have any other criminal matter against him then after he pays the fine he will be allowed to go on his way and free to return. It seems that the overstay rules are in front of the PM so he is correct to leave asap before they might get implemented. Leaving for me was not the problem and took approx 30 mins to deal with but coming back I was held and questioned for longer as was seeking a visa exempt entry thus the benefit of securing a tourist visa beforehand. By the way despite my extremely long overstay it did not prevent me from obtaining tourist visas and entering back into Thailand numerous times sibce then. Indeed last time I had another 1 day overstay and the only comment aside from being asked to pay the 500 Baht was he said that he saw that I had a very long previous overstay. By surrendering and dealing with it immigration seems to view the matter as fully settled - at least for the time being!

I hope the offender is blacklisted, no excuse at all for it

I have to agree with you. I live here by the rules and so should others.

Many thanks for the positive and helpful replies I will pass them on negative comments well maybe we should not judge unless we know all of the facts but thanks for taking the trouble to write a reply albeit judge mental

I love the casual sentence .....overstayed for NINE YEARS, wants to fly to Singapore and come back on VISA EXEMPT.

Hope he gets pulled up on way to airport. 9 years for 20k , very clever guy to stay los for about 2k a year. Has more smarts than the law abiding folk. Sooner thaivisa stops withthe understanding line with ooverstayed the better. Also this same question has been posted a zillion times and this fella needs a "friend ".to ask on his behalf. Even more clever than I thought.

Tell your friend to relax, nothing has been signed and if it was, it would take 6 months to be applied.

Tell your friend to relax, nothing has been signed and if it was, it would take 6 months to be applied.

Why would it take 6 months? Sounds like a definitive statement. The proposal hasn't been agreed or the method of it's implementation announced.

I wonder if all the posters stating he should be blacklisted etc would be brave enough to say it to the guys face?

Probably not ........

Where is your so called brit friend. Can he even type a thank you boys to help me in my delusional world . Or get a brit mate to throw out a troll post . For heavens sake

Geezus I would say it to face esp with OP having 11 history post. Give me a break

I hope the offender is blacklisted, no excuse at all for it

i hope too; why people can stay 9 year and welcome back

You >deleted< holier than thou *deleted*

Geezus I would say it to face esp with OP having 11 history post. Give me a break

Sorry I didn't realize how tough you are is judged by how many posts you have made on ThaiVisa

Darren. This exact same post has been covered by so many posts. This is a troll. Open eyes

I wonder if all the posters stating he should be blacklisted etc would be brave enough to say it to the guys face?

Probably not ........

Agree.9 years overstay its crazy and uncalled for,but as long as there is NONE (yet) regulation in Thai immigration that overstay will lead to blacklisting its laughable and tiredsome that the same TV membere cry out "Blacklisted " every time the subject is overstay .

Please let us know the outcome. I overstayed my visa for many years and worried about re-entry too. I may be forced to live in Cambodia(not that that's a huge problem).

Please let us know the outcome. I overstayed my visa for many years and worried about re-entry too. I may be forced to live in Cambodia(not that that's a huge problem).

Nice try but you cannot "overstay" a Visa only the "permission to stay"

Zeirf1 - No need to worry about re-entry as I have re-entered a number of times at both land and air borders without the overstay being mentioned. I have however save the first entry visa exempt re-entered on a tourist visa. Such a concern should not deter anyone from legalising their status and given recent discussion that the overstay rules are in front of the PM now is perhaps a good time to address the matter. At the current time you can easily remedy the issue but if the blacklisting rules do get implemented then it will be difficult to get re-entry depending on what actual bans they might introduce.

Nice try but you cannot "overstay" a Visa only the "permission to stay"

Groan. It's obvious what the guy means. Something can pass into nomenclature and be a perfectly acceptable phrase even if it's not technically correct, e.g. visa on arrival vs visa waiver.

I hope the offender is blacklisted, no excuse at all for it

i hope too; why people can stay 9 year and welcome back

Don't judge without knowing the circumstances, there are genuine reasons believe it or not why people find themselves in this situation. Hes doing the right thing now.

I hope the offender is blacklisted, no excuse at all for it

We may have similar names but I feel differently. He may have dependants.

WOW! and I was worried a longtime ago when I overstayed a couple of months....when I came to the counter with my 20k in pocket, I did not say anything, the officer examined my passport, stamped it and let me pass. Dunno if he made a mistake or just was tired or felt generous or whatever, I just saved 20k!

It cost me a lot lot more than 20,000 baht in immigration fees ,traveling costs and 90 days reporting to stay here legally,I think they should up the charge to an extra 20,000 a year on top ,sorry but it's not fair on the people who abide by the law

WOW! and I was worried a longtime ago when I overstayed a couple of months....when I came to the counter with my 20k in pocket, I did not say anything, the officer examined my passport, stamped it and let me pass. Dunno if he made a mistake or just was tired or felt generous or whatever, I just saved 20k!

Happened to me too as it was the correct month date in my passport, she didn't notice it was a year later though.