Immigration police to tighten visa overstaying from March 20

[rooster59]

Immigration police to tighten visa overstaying from March 20



BANGKOK: Beginning March 20, the immigration police will tighten check on foreigners overstaying their visas in Thailand under the military junta's order announced in November last year.

Under the order, overstaying in the country for up to five years could face entry ban of up to 10 years in case of prior reporting overstaying to immigration police.

However, failing to report overstaying and is caught by immigration police, 10 years ban will be imposed even the foreigner overstaying for just a year.

The new rules and regulations on overstaying announced by the National Council for Peace and Order on November 27, 2015 will become effective March 20.

The announcement is aimed at certain group of people who enter the country illegally, working illegally, and stopping transnational criminals.

According to Immigration Bureau commissioner Pol Lt Natthorn Prohsunthorn at the meeting with business operators who employ foreigners to work in their premises, overstayed foreigners are required to report to immigration police before March 20.

Those failing to report will face longer entry ban than those who report, he said.

He urged all business operators to give information on foreigners working or living in their premises for sake of peace and order, and also for national securiry reason so as to enable effective control and monitoring.

But he said the tougher law enforcement was intended to tackle foreigners entering the country illegally, working without work permits, and transnational criminals, while those entering legally and work legally won’t be affected.

He said beginning March 20, foreigners reporting overstaying their permitted visas for 90 days to immigration police will be banned from entry for one year.

Overstaying for one year faces three years ban, while overstaying for three years faces five years ban, and overstaying for five years faces 10 year ban.

But for those failing to report overstaying and are caught, they face five year ban for less than a year of overstaying, and 10 year ban for over a year overstaying.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/content/154829

-- Thai PBS 2016-03-12

[sunnyjim5]

Another notice to the miscreants.!

The amnesty period is rapidly coming to a close.

Will those affected take action to regularise their situation ?

[terryp]

I did my 90 day report last week and the office is normally very quiet ..this time thousands of old applications papers on all the desks (really very high piles of paperwork) ..... ALL WERE BEING INSPECTED by immigration staff...something is coming and i dont think its this on 20 March

[rkidlad]

I wonder if immigration etc will actively go out and check passports for overstay etc.

Interesting times ahead maybe.

[Bluespunk]

"He urged all business operators to give information on foreigners working or living in their premises for sake of peace and order, and also for national securiry reason so as to enable effective control and monitoring."

Big brother is watching you

[Bluespunk]

Another notice to the miscreants.!

The amnesty period is rapidly coming to a close.

Will those affected take action to regularise their situation ?

How do transnational criminals do that exactly? Edited March 12, 2016 by Bluespunk

[overherebc]

I did my 90 day report last week and the office is normally very quiet ..this time thousands of old applications papers on all the desks (really very high piles of paperwork) ..... ALL WERE BEING INSPECTED by immigration staff...something is coming and i dont think its this on 20 March

Massive clean out of piles of old outdated paperwork

[Lupatria]

Good guys in, bad guys out.

I wish this wouldn't apply to "farrangs" only.

[ozyjon]

How many posts will we see '' help i've overstayed, i didn't know ''

i'm not even in the country and i know

[ramrod711]

Anyone remember this guy, how long would he be banned for?

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/436506-ukrainian-man-held-hostage-by-thai-employer-for-14-years/

[Caspersfriend]

"Good guys in - Bad guys out"

Once again we are being reminded That Thai Immigration is coming down hard on those who break the rules; even though sometimes that may be because the rules aren't that clear or uniformly applied, I am happy to hear that efforts are being made to get some of those bad guys out. Trouble is that this won't impact on the real 'bad guys' as they will no doubt have ways to remain here doing their bad guy stuff.

No doubt when this process has been announced as being successful, 'us' good guys will have it on easy street.

[onni4me]

I wager that this new crack down on visa overstayers is going to last no more than 6 months. By that time the officials are fed up dragging elderly(?) guys to the slammer with no money or means to pay the penalties and a ticket home where they have nothing. They will find out that these 'international criminals' are not-so-well-off-guys that simply can't afford paying the fees of visa business.

That's what I think.

BTW, waiting these holier-than-thou people, when I came here first time a decade and a half ago, I needed just to fill an application and got a Non-O next day. So, to all that say one needs to jump all the hola-hoops, it used to be more simple and much easier. What has changed? Not much except the level of nonsense. Those were the times.

Edited March 12, 2016 by onni4me

[ukrules]

I wonder if immigration etc will actively go out and check passports for overstay etc.

Interesting times ahead maybe.

From March 20th onwards I expect the police to be out and about on every street corner harassing foreigners for their passports at every turn.

Papers please !

[Maestro]

But [immigration Bureau commissioner Pol Lt Natthorn Prohsunthorn] said the tougher law enforcement was intended to tackle foreigners entering the country illegally, working without work permits, and transnational criminals, while those entering legally and work legally won’t be affected.

I guess that the Commissioner spoke in Thai and unless there has been an error in translation it would seem that the Commissioner said that this new, tougher law enforcement will not be applied to foreigners who overstay after having entered Thailand legally. I doubt, though, that this is how it will work out. Time will tell.

[ukrules]

I wonder if immigration etc will actively go out and check passports for overstay etc.

Interesting times ahead maybe.

From March 20th onwards I expect the police to be out and about on every street corner harassing foreigners for their passports at every turn.

Papers please !

Can we look forward to your report(s) of the harassment you are expecting to suffer on street corners ?

It won't affect me due to where I live, so no, you won't need to read my reports.

After March 20th I suspect there will be a lot of reports from plenty of foreigners complaining about this kind of thing.

They've already been raiding bars / nightclubs popular with foreigners in different provinces around the country. The fact that this has been happening in different provinces suggests it's some kind of national initiative, not a local one.

[lkv]

They were harassing me for passport a few weeks ago so I would be more than happy to report my next experience starting March 20th.

Can't wait!

[tolsti]

Good guys in, bad guys out.

I wish this wouldn't apply to "farrangs" only.

I have no idea what "farrangs" are ------------which planet do they come from?.

The overstay "rules" apply to all unless you can point to an official document/announcement/press release etc that definitively says the "rules" only apply to a specific ethnic group you refer to as "farrangs"

Maybe a similar planet to those who call all foreigners 'ALIENS'.

Pleased to assist with improving your vocabulary and understanding of English

Alien

ˈAdjective

Belonging to a foreign country.

"an alien culture"

synonyms: foreign, overseas, non-native, external, distant, remote

Best explanation from Yahoo answers.:

Best Answer: Alien is the opposite of native. An alien is anyone or anything (animal or plant) which is located where it doesn't belong or in a place other than its native habitat. For example, Mexicans in the USA (with or without papers) are aliens according to the white man's law, although American Indians from Mexico are the true native Americans, and white people in North America are the actual aliens. Neil Armstrong was an alien when he was on the moon. When Columbus landed in the West Indies, he found natives, not aliens; he was the alien.

In the original "Alien" movie, the creature hatched from a pod which had drifted thru space (probably for thousands of years) before settling on an asteroid. So it was as much of an alien to that asteroid as the humans who became paracitized by it. For them to call it Alien is like the pot calling the kettle black.

The search for extraterrestrial life is actually a search for natives, not aliens—unless we discover space travelers from another star system in our Solar system. If we discover life on Io which evolved on Io, that will be extraterrestrial native life.

Superb!.... Have you sent this to Hilary or Donald ?

[Wilsonandson]

"He urged all business operators to give information on foreigners working or living in their premises for sake of peace and order, and also for national securiry reason so as to enable effective control and monitoring."

Big brother is watching you

For sake of peace and order or for sake of the National Council of Peace and Order?

[MyFriend You]

I wonder if immigration etc will actively go out and check passports for overstay etc.

Interesting times ahead maybe.

From March 20th onwards I expect the police to be out and about on every street corner harassing foreigners for their passports at every turn.

Papers please !

I don't call it harassment, I call it enforcing the LAW - irregardless of what that Police Chief said about Tourists not needing to carry their passports, mine (an expired one)is definately in my buttoned back pocket...............I hope they bag 20/30 a week for the rest of the year.

[juice777]

I wonder if immigration etc will actively go out and check passports for overstay etc.

Interesting times ahead maybe.

From March 20th onwards I expect the police to be out and about on every street corner harassing foreigners for their passports at every turn.

Papers please !

I don't call it harassment, I call it enforcing the LAW - irregardless of what that Police Chief said about Tourists not needing to carry their passports, mine (an expired one)is definately in my buttoned back pocket...............I hope they bag 20/30 a week for the rest of the year.

sorry but have I missed something? But whats the point of carrying a out of date passport on you

[juice777]

So what happens if you overstay for one or 2 days now?

[juice777]

But for those failing to report overstaying and are caught, they face five year ban for less than a year of overstaying, and 10 year ban for over a year overstaying.

That bit makes it sound like if you get caught overstaying for 1 day you will get banned for 5 years

Is that right?

--

Edited March 12, 2016 by juice777

[sunnyjim5]

So what happens if you overstay for one or 2 days now?

Why try to blow this into something it is not ?

1-2 day overstays will be dealt with by levying a fine of 500/Bht/day.

Nothing will change !

[juice777]

So what happens if you overstay for one or 2 days now?

Why try to blow this into something it is not ?

1-2 day overstays will be dealt with by levying a fine of 500/Bht/day.

Nothing will change !

I wasn't trying 2 blow it in to anything I was asking a question

Sorry about that

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

[jspill]

So what happens if you overstay for one or 2 days now?

Why try to blow this into something it is not ?

1-2 day overstays will be dealt with by levying a fine of 500/Bht/day.

Nothing will change !

Clearly he means if caught on overstay.

We don't know yet but it seems that yes, the new rules allow for blacklisting even for 1 day of overstay. But as moderators on here said in other threads - it would probably be decided on a case by case basis and/or go before a judge.

Call my cynical though, I think it'll just lead to more 'tea money' payments to be let off the hook and told to go the airport.

Edited March 12, 2016 by jspill

[The manic]

I remember years ago on Southampton Row/Haymarket in London there used to be a sign saying: 'Alien Registration Office'.

[Time Traveller]

I did my 90 day report last week and the office is normally very quiet ..this time thousands of old applications papers on all the desks (really very high piles of paperwork) ..... ALL WERE BEING INSPECTED by immigration staff...something is coming and i dont think its this on 20 March

90 day report has nothing to do with visas or extension of stay. You can still do 90 day report when you are on overstay and the overstay would not be picked up

[SoFarAndNear]

I am still curious. If you just overstayed for 1 day and get picked up by a Police Patrol then you will get banned for 5 years?

This new change is in my opinion just another tool to extort more money... I am pretty sure most over stayers are just a few days or weeks longer in the country and these will be now easy targets for corrupt officers..

Immigration never published statistics about how many over-stayers are really here. I did read something about 800.000 but nothing about nationalities or overstay periods....

[sunnyjim5]

I did my 90 day report last week and the office is normally very quiet ..this time thousands of old applications papers on all the desks (really very high piles of paperwork) ..... ALL WERE BEING INSPECTED by immigration staff...something is coming and i dont think its this on 20 March

90 day report has nothing to do with visas or extension of stay. You can still do 90 day report when you are on overstay and the overstay would not be picked up

Wrong !

I will leave it to others to explain !

[Bobotie]

I am still curious. If you just overstayed for 1 day and get picked up by a Police Patrol then you will get banned for 5 years?

This new change is in my opinion just another tool to extort more money... I am pretty sure most over stayers are just a few days or weeks longer in the country and these will be now easy targets for corrupt officers..

Immigration never published statistics about how many over-stayers are really here. I did read something about 800.000 but nothing about nationalities or overstay periods....

Or of course the military is trying to get away from the corruption and trying to instil proper law and order like it or not overstayers are breaking immigration laws