Hey there,

My girlfriends and I have been in Thailand, Bangkok primarily, for nearly 30 days. We received a stamp for 30 days, my understanding it's the Visa Exemption period, and we depart 3 days from now. We had our plane booked, e-ticket on hand, long before we ever came into the country and we were never asked for proof of forward travel.

The plan was to just get a 7-day extension pay the costs (1900 baht each) and not worry about any legalities. Tomorrow, our Visa Exemption is up.

Should we make our way to the immigration bureau today or tomorrow, or eat the fine (which would be cheaper anyway) and do our best to avoid immigration during those 3 days? I'm laid up sick in bed, hopefully nothing too serious, otherwise I wouldn't be contemplating this. I'm horribly fatigued, horribly sore all over, and one of my girlfriends is also sick, expelling all sorts of things from her body, so going to the immigration bureau will kick our asses.

Advice?

If you are too sick to apply for an extension you will have to pay the overstay fine of 500 Bht/day.

Overstaying by a few days is not really a big deal . When you depart, you just go to the overstay office at immigration, pay the fine, sign your name and get stamped out the Country , quite straight forward

You could of already applied for a 30 day extension of your visa exempt entry.

Unless caught with the overstay before getting to the airport you will have no problem paying the 1500 baht over stay fine on departure from the country.

If you are too sick to apply for an extension you will have to pay the overstay fine of 500 Bht/day.

So 1500 baht each, right? I've read conflicting information where the fines start the second or third day.

I mean, money-wise it doesn't matter too much since the max end would still be 1500-1900 baht each, I already had the 6000 or so set aside for the extension, so not worried about the money.

From what I've been reading here and other places, 3 days should cause any real fuss, but I'm just concerned. I'm usually a pretty law-abiding fellow.

You could of already applied for a 30 day extension of your visa exempt entry.

Unless caught with the overstay before getting to the airport you will have no problem paying the 1500 baht over stay fine on departure from the country.

Yeah, not the most responsible choice on my part. I should've taken care of it sooner, I didn't think it'd be a problem, or that I'd end up sick right before. With everything else we were going to be doing, this was going to be the down-time part of the trip.

The fine is only waived for an overstay of one day. If more than one day you pay for all the days on overstay.

That's fine, as I said it's not a big worry since it's about how much it would've been for the extension (less even). Bad decisions aside, we should be okay departing as usual, maybe allow for a little extra time at the airport to deal with the fines?

So 1500 baht each, right? I've read conflicting information where the fines start the second or third day.

I mean, money-wise it doesn't matter too much since the max end would still be 1500-1900 baht each, I already had the 6000 or so set aside for the extension, so not worried about the money.

From what I've been reading here and other places, 3 days should cause any real fuss, but I'm just concerned. I'm usually a pretty law-abiding fellow.

The fines start from day 1, but if you only have a 1 day overstay fine is waived at the airports. If you overstay 3 days you pay for all three days.

A 3 day overstay is not a problem as long as you make it to the airport. At the airport, when the IO sees you have an overstay, you will be taken to the overstay desk to pay the fine. They will stamp your passport with an overstay stamp to show the 3 day overstay and the amount of fine paid after which you'll be free to leave.

If you get found on an overstay during the 3 days you could be arrested and sent through the deportation process. You may be put before a judge and fined and held at the International Detention Centre until it's time for them to escort you to the airport. Thousands of people get away with it, and the chances of getting caught are slim, so it's your choice whether to get an extension and stay legal or risk the worst case scenario.

Edited February 15, 201610 yr by elviajero

Thank you everybody for your help! Guess I'll take the chance, pay the fine, and hope nothing goes wrong.

If you get found on an overstay during the 3 days you could be arrested and sent through the deportation process. You may be put before a judge and fined and held at the International Detention Centre until it's time for them to escort you to the airport. Thousands of people get away with it, and the chances of getting caught are slim, so it's your choice whether to get an extension and stay legal or risk the worst case scenario.

Although those are the rules, are they put into effect for just a few days overstay?

If you get found on an overstay during the 3 days you could be arrested and sent through the deportation process. You may be put before a judge and fined and held at the International Detention Centre until it's time for them to escort you to the airport. Thousands of people get away with it, and the chances of getting caught are slim, so it's your choice whether to get an extension and stay legal or risk the worst case scenario.

Although those are the rules, are they put into effect for just a few days overstay?

It can be done for a one day overstay if caught. But if a person had the money for the fine, 1900 baht for an extension and a ticket out of the country they might not do it.

If you get found on an overstay during the 3 days you could be arrested and sent through the deportation process. You may be put before a judge and fined and held at the International Detention Centre until it's time for them to escort you to the airport. Thousands of people get away with it, and the chances of getting caught are slim, so it's your choice whether to get an extension and stay legal or risk the worst case scenario.

Although those are the rules, are they put into effect for just a few days overstay?

It can be done for a one day overstay if caught. But if a person had the money for the fine, 1900 baht for an extension and a ticket out of the country they might not do it.

I have been to an immigration office on a one day overstay and they didnt take any action, just asked when me when I intended leaving .

I wondered whether immigration turn a blind eye to just a few days overstay, if you intended leaving soon .

If you got caught on a three day overstay and you told them that you will be leaving the next day would they arrest you or just let you go on your merry way?

If you get found on an overstay during the 3 days you could be arrested and sent through the deportation process. You may be put before a judge and fined and held at the International Detention Centre until it's time for them to escort you to the airport. Thousands of people get away with it, and the chances of getting caught are slim, so it's your choice whether to get an extension and stay legal or risk the worst case scenario.

Although those are the rules, are they put into effect for just a few days overstay?

It can be done for a one day overstay if caught. But if a person had the money for the fine, 1900 baht for an extension and a ticket out of the country they might not do it.

I have been to an immigration office on a one day overstay and they didnt take any action, just asked when me when I intended leaving .

I wondered whether immigration turn a blind eye to just a few days overstay, if you intended leaving soon .

If you got caught on a three day overstay and you told them that you will be leaving the next day would they arrest you or just let you go on your merry way?

An immigration office might do that because they just didn't want to deal with it. They would have to do the 7 days to leave (1900 baht) plus the paperwork for the 500 baht fine

I cannot answer your last question with any certainty that what I wrote would be correct. It all depends upon who you are dealing with and the situation.