Tourist Visa Extension - Caught Out By Public Holiday Today

[PJ33]

Hi everyone

A friend of a friend is here in Phuket on a 3-entry tourist visa which he got in the UK before coming. He is currently on his first 60-day entry. He knew he needed to extend by a further 30-days before 31st Dec (today) but he did not know until last night that immigration was closed today - and he had planned to go today.

So his first entry 60-day visa expires today. He can't extend it until Monday. He already has a flight booked from Phuket to Bangkok on Saturday, to meet with some visiting relatives and his only ID for the flight is his passport and his visa will have expired by then.

So clearly the lessons for him are: don't leave things to the last minute and ensure you are familiar with public holidays. But we want to try and give him some advice to make the best of this situation, so we have a few questions:

1). Will the authorities be looking at his visa expiry date if he uses it for ID on the flight to BKK....? Or would he be better going up to BKK on the bus....?

2). He'll be in Bangkok on Monday, so will he still be able to extend his first entry tourist visa for a further 30 days...? Or will they make him do a visa run to activate his 2nd entry..?

3). What fines will he face when he goes to immigration on Monday...?

4). Is there anything else he needs to know that we have not thought about....?

Thank you in anticipation.

[bkkvictor]

No problem

They will not check his visa to Bangkok and will have to pay a couple of days overstay when he does his extended

[elviajero]

1. As it's an internal flight he doesn't need to go through immigration and the airline will only be interested in the photo ID.
2. Yes he can apply for an extension on Monday without penalty, but he will need to give a Bangkok address.
3. None

[ubonjoe]

1. They will only look at the passport photo page for identification purposes. So on problem.

2/3 He will not have a problem getting the extension on Monday since immigration was closed on the date his permit to stay ended. No overstay fine if he goes on Monday but after that he will pay 500 baht for everyday.

4. He will need an address for Bangkok to put on the application form.

[Singerman]

If he extends the visa at the earliest opportunity he will not pay any overstay. If the extension is not applied for until Tuesday/Wednesday a fine of 500 Bht/day will likely be imposed.

Visas are not checked when using an internal flight.

[PJ33]

Hi everyone

Thank you very much for all the replies. That's pretty clear and everything answered :-)

Thank you for helping!!

Happy New Year!!