“Good guys in, bad guys out”, says Thailand Immigration chief

[OMGImInPattaya]

People can come across hard times in any country in the world. I wonder how they would react if the arrested someone who was married to a Thai had lost his job or was scammed by a BAD BOY and was struggling to support their 2 kids?

Split up the family and leave the kids with no father for say 10 years until they allow him back in?

Sad state of affairs really that a harmless guy down on his luck can get the same treatment as these scammers out to rob good people.

I agree, sure weed out the riff raff, but please provide some better solution(s) for the people married to a Thai (with kids) living in Thailand

We are not terrorists or crooks.

People is such a situation have broken a serious law and are by definition "riff-raff."

[Gringogazzer]

I overstayed by one day once. That must of been the day I went out robbing & pilfering, as we do...

[Whyamiandwhatamidoinghere]

Why would anyone want to overstay in Thailand?

[F4UCorsair]

So an over stay of less than 90 days does not get you banned?

Not banned in case you "surrender to the authorities" but to be "crystal clear" they would have had to explain what happens if you're a couple days over and stopped on the way to the airport.

Surely the only intelligent, and safe, thing to do is observe the rules TO THE LETTER!!

One would think that if there are going to be exceptions for 'soft' overstayers, it would be spelt out?

[gemguy]

Not making excuses by any means ...but think about it.

For 40 years now the official Thai Government policy is to attract as many tourists and foreigners as possible, and their money, in the form of tourist dollars and business investment dollars in Thailand while making it very easy to come and go as they please.

So, there should be no surprise that a percent of those people came and decided to stay for a long period of time living under very lax enforcement of the Thai immigration laws and mainly because all the Thai government administrations in the past allowed this current situation to develop that way....mainly because of corruption.

No one was worried for the last 40 years and neither were the Thais ...until now ....and now immigration concerns and matters are being touted as the most serious of problems and has to be dealt with ....and in a somewhat vindictive way.

I predict the new regulations will soon be corrupted while the officials in charge will be making money off this but with a new angle and new twist to the whole affair.

Cheers

[howbri]

By the looks of it, this clears up any ambiguity of whether people overstaying less than 90 days would be prosecuted--as long as said people turn themselves in. Still wondering what would happen to someone who overstays a week and happens to get caught.

...unless of course you have bribe money!

[Will the Greek]

Can any one help me on my Visa, I have a non O m visa that expires on the 2nd Feb, I am leaving on the 10th of feb.

on my last entry Immigration stamped my passport for 90 days and states the 21st of March, so which applies Visa or 90 day stamp by immigration>

Thanks

[howbri]

The answer is simple get a visa or a visa exemption. Good for them coming down on this now maybe the rest of us who play by the rules wont have as hard a time of it

What about asylum seekers who cannot return to their country and to whom the visas are outrageously expensive and unaffordable?

[F4UCorsair]

Meanwhile.....Cambodia begs: "Please ramp up the abuse of Thailand's farangs, so we can have the overflow." Perhaps the most dense, obtuse immigration in the developing world. Someone PLEASE explain to them that you DO NOT grow an economy by abusing your cash cows.

You'd have to be joking. Overstayers are cash cows???

I'd guess that most overstayers are at the lower end of the economic spectrum, so tossing them out will hardly cripple, or stop growing, the economy.

[Maestro]

Removed some off-topic and incomprehensible posts.

[jspill]

Meanwhile.....Cambodia begs: "Please ramp up the abuse of Thailand's farangs, so we can have the overflow." Perhaps the most dense, obtuse immigration in the developing world. Someone PLEASE explain to them that you DO NOT grow an economy by abusing your cash cows.

BP headline this week 'foreign investment has plunged 78%'.

[cloudhopper]

Can any one help me on my Visa, I have a non O m visa that expires on the 2nd Feb, I am leaving on the 10th of feb.

on my last entry Immigration stamped my passport for 90 days and states the 21st of March, so which applies Visa or 90 day stamp by immigration>

Thanks

You are OK.

[elviajero]

Can any one help me on my Visa, I have a non O m visa that expires on the 2nd Feb, I am leaving on the 10th of feb.

on my last entry Immigration stamped my passport for 90 days and states the 21st of March, so which applies Visa or 90 day stamp by immigration>

Thanks

• You can stay until the 'admitted until' date (March 21st) that is stamped in your passport.
• The 'enter before' date (Feb 2nd) on your visa is the last date that you can enter the country.

Edited January 16, 2016 by elviajero

[Sutty]

Crystal clear. Everyone now knows. No excuses. Let's hope they stick it without fear or favour. This is the perfect, perhaps only, opportunity for those in breach to get legal and stop living in fear of a random stop or a knock on the door.

Not so what is the penalty for overstaying under 90 days!!!!

[aslimversgwm]

Just don't know why The Immigration chief does not welcome tourists on a 6 month visa without having to leave the country every 60 days one way to get tourists back to thailand!!

most real tourists don't need one

Exactly. How can you be a 'tourist' if you're here for >60 days? Rubbish!

You're here for another reason and northing to do with tourism IMHO!

[Will the Greek]

Thanks Cloudhopper.

[OMGImInPattaya]

The answer is simple get a visa or a visa exemption. Good for them coming down on this now maybe the rest of us who play by the rules wont have as hard a time of it

What about asylum seekers who cannot return to their country and to whom the visas are outrageously expensive and unaffordable?

They should be hoofing it to Germany...not Thailand.

[Basil B]

Although I think Thailand every right to get tough on the habitual offenders, I do see one exception that could happen, that is a person who is arrested for over stay of only a few day could be banned for 5 years, that to me is disproportionate.

Also I do not see Thailand banning others who have committed other offences.

[sawadee1947]

for me it is ok with the new regulations.

[UTH001]

Just don't know why The Immigration chief does not welcome tourists on a 6 month visa without having to leave the country every 60 days one way to get tourists back to thailand!!

most real tourists don't need one

Not quite true! A friend from the US is here right now, is staying for more than 30 days, going to Laos next week to get another 30 days. Agree with John Davis, at least a standard three months tourist visa would solve a lot of problems for many tourists (backpackers in particular, possibly?). And I would think for Immigration too? Three months visa plus show a return ticket, easy?

By the way: Does the Thailand Immigration Chief imply that if you are not on overstay, you are automatically a 'good guy'???

[Doc46]

By the looks of it, this clears up any ambiguity of whether people overstaying less than 90 days would be prosecuted--as long as said people turn themselves in. Still wondering what would happen to someone who overstays a week and happens to get caught.

Don' Overstay,,,Check All your paperwork and be Happy

[SouthernMan3]

By the looks of it, this clears up any ambiguity of whether people overstaying less than 90 days would be prosecuted--as long as said people turn themselves in. Still wondering what would happen to someone who overstays a week and happens to get caught.

I was thinking the same thing.

Mind you I'm all in order and have always been.

But, Does this mean that if one were to overstay in Bkk (for example, drunken adventure...)for two days and then get into a bind and the police show up you're out for five years ?

Seems some fine tuning needs to be made.

But all in all, I'm behind it !

[NoshowJones]

a. It seems to be guys with beards, who are the bad "aliens".

b. Grabbing a few hundred farang, living somewhere, no doubt supporting a family or three, will cure all the serious problems Thailand has. Glad to see the local coppers prioritising. Makes me feel warm and welcome.

Yes, facial hair is a sign of evilness, think of all the evil people, Hitler, Amin, Bin Laden, etc,etc, all the hate preachers.

Most of the murderers, rapists and child abusers, I always wondered why Tony Blair doesn't have facial hair.

[swerver]

How about rewards for good guys? How about granting a foreigner who has worked and lived here for more than 10 years, paid taxes, learned the language, invested here, married a Thai, raised a family, etc. in Thailand a citizenship without the need of running through that flimsy and rather questionable process of applying for residency and to then eventually win (and pay 250k for it) the lottery and get citizenship after an undetermined "waiting period"??? Oh wait, that would required logical thinking and empathy for minorities... wrong country... shoite...

I'm with you, "What about rewards for good guys?

I'm not talking about Thai citizenship. I'm talking about a simpler way for people having been in Thailand (without any problems with immigration) being issued a wallet type Identity card with a yearly reporting card to complete date and sign indicating NO CHANGES of record. And if any changes of record to report these changes on a Change of Record Form.

Don't worry I still be paying the Bt. 1,900 so immigration is not loosing any money.

As an expat working worldwide I have lived in other countries were they had this system (not after 10-years but after 1-year). I'm not asking Thailand to do it after 1-year but 10-year is a long enough time frame for Thai immigration to learn that the person in question is an acceptable person.

Initially came to Thailand 1950 presently (2016) living in Thailand since 1994 in Retirement, that is 22-years uninterrupted. With that many years I can apply for Thai citizenship but I will not do that because I don't see anything wrong with the citizenship of my country of birth.

[UTH001]

Meanwhile.....Cambodia begs: "Please ramp up the abuse of Thailand's farangs, so we can have the overflow." Perhaps the most dense, obtuse immigration in the developing world. Someone PLEASE explain to them that you DO NOT grow an economy by abusing your cash cows.

Ridiculous comment , the amount of money the overstays contribute to the Thai economy would be so minuscule it would hardly register, definitely not anything like cash cows, overstays only cause problem for legal people. you can not do it in other countries why in Thailand.

No illegal immigrants in say Australia or the US, really? Or in Europe (sorry, in Europe, they are called refugees...)?

[menzies233]

Whilst I totally agree that it is correct to crack down on overstayers, if like me you have to use Chiang Mai immigration services for the yearly extension then I can really understand why some people would rather stay under the radar. The CM immigration has to be the worst in the entire country - The queue online system has been down for about a year with no signs of it being fixed. People are having to go there at 4AM to queue for an appoitment, they have stopped allowing agents to apply.

If they got off their <deleted> and fixed this office up to something a bit better than a 3rd world free for all and actually made it "NORMAL" for people to be able to schedule an appointment, then I bet it would probably encourage people to keep everything in order.

I have seriously considered just simply overstaying simply due to the garbage you need to go through to get an appointment here.

Are there any offices worse than CM in Thailand? I doubt it.

[Emster23]

Bad guys can become good guys with the right amount of cash in the right place. Records of arrests can disappear, previous deportations, criminal gun charges... poof! Gone with a snap of the fingers

[elviajero]

Crystal clear. Everyone now knows. No excuses. Let's hope they stick it without fear or favour. This is the perfect, perhaps only, opportunity for those in breach to get legal and stop living in fear of a random stop or a knock on the door.

Not so what is the penalty for overstaying under 90 days!!!!

• If you surrender it's 500 baht per day up to a maximum of 20k and no ban.
• If arrested the fine and punishment would be handed out by a judge as it is now. The fine is likely to be less than 20k, no prison time and they would be sent for deportation. Immigration would then officially ban the person for 5 years.

As it stands today anyone that has been deported can be excluded from re-entry although it isn't (usually) enforced. Now people know exactly where they stand.

[Thaidream]

I remember going to Bangkok Immigration one time to obtain an extension of stay for 1 day-paid the fee- I did not want to have an overstay stamp in my passport as I have never overstayed. The Immigration officers at the time laughed at me and actually encouraged me to pay the fine at the airport. I did not take their advice. Is it any wonder that people have overstayed as in the past the Immigration officials looked at it very liberally . Overstaying individuals have not caused any type of tightening of Visa regulations for those who have never overstayed. I have had almost every type of Visa Thailand has and been to Immigration numerous times. I have never noticed any difference as a result of someone else overstaying. This is just another reaction by the current regime to what they view as some unknown threat. I personally find it to be overly punitive and worded in a way that makes it too easy for those with money to carry on as usual. It will be those with lower incomes who have money issues that causes them to overstay to be banned. The criminal elements you see today will still be here for years to come- unafraid and unaffected. The so called 'bad guys' have become the poor foreigners who overstay because things happen in life beyond their control.

Edited January 16, 2016 by Thaidream

[Nomyai]

a. It seems to be guys with beards, who are the bad "aliens".

b. Grabbing a few hundred farang, living somewhere, no doubt supporting a family or three, will cure all the serious problems Thailand has. Glad to see the local coppers prioritising. Makes me feel warm and welcome.

Motosai guys in NANA sukhumvit are using the sidewalks. This needs addressing.