Hello,

i am about to clear my 2 years overstay

questions:

my flight back to Germany departs at 05:55 in the morning from suvarnabhumi-BKK

will there be someone to take/accept my 20.000 baht that early in the morning around 05:00 am ???

how long this procedure will take ???

anything else i should know/do/say?

thank u so much

and...is it possible to sleep in the airport the night before the 5:55am flight ??

will they let me do that ??

thanks

op

Yes there will be people around to take your money.

When an acquaintance of mine cleared his recently at a similar time, at the 'pay desk' they kept him hanging around for almost two hours saying things like 'if he could wait so long before leaving, another half hour won't hurt' so I'd allow yourself as much time as possible to deal with clearing immigration.

Anything else you should know?

It could be a shame you weren't ten or so days earlier in clearing your mess as now you may face a 3 year ban on returning. At the moment any bans seem arbitrary and down to the individual officer. There is a chance that as you are close to the deadline given by the authorities (20th March 2016) they may let it slip but then again they may not so if you were/are planning to return soonish, I'd ask for some clarification.

Don't get arrested before you get to the airport.....

Immigration works 24 hours a day. There will always be somebody to clear your overstay.

Are you aware the rules changed on the 20th of this month and that their a good chance you will banned from entering the country for 3 years.

• Yes there will be someone to deal with your overstay. It shouldn't take more than 20 mins.

I assume you are aware of the new overstay rules and that you may be banned from the country for 3 years.

"They" will be very willing to to accept your money at 5am and will also be very happy to issue the 1- 5 year (depending on the exact length of overstay) BAN from re-entering Thailand.

Is it 100% clear yet whether he'll be banned? I thought another poster reported not receiving a ban, when he met the criteria for one, and we speculated it was because he'd left <90 days after March 20th.

Is it 100% clear yet whether he'll be banned? I thought another poster reported not receiving a ban, when he met the criteria for one, and we speculated it was because he'd left <90 days after March 20th.

Not clear yet but we can only hope so.

and...is it possible to sleep in the airport the night before the 5:55am flight ??

will they let me do that ??

thanks

op

Please come back and let us know how it went. Good luck.

Is it 100% clear yet whether he'll be banned? I thought another poster reported not receiving a ban, when he met the criteria for one, and we speculated it was because he'd left <90 days after March 20th.

At the moment there have been a few reports of people clearing and doing a 'turnaround' via airports post 20th March 2016 with few problems but most seem to have been over-stays of less than 90 days which doesn't seem to carry a ban if the person 'submits' themselves to immigration.

OP do a search of the forum and see for yourself.

and...is it possible to sleep in the airport the night before the 5:55am flight ??

will they let me do that ??

thanks

op

Please come back and let us know how it went. Good luck.

ok... i'll do that... cool...thx

and...is it possible to sleep in the airport the night before the 5:55am flight ??

will they let me do that ??

thanks

op

No problem to hang out in the airport waiting for your flight. Not sure you will get much sleep though.

Lets say he does get banned. Can't he just get a new passport and enter right away again?

After all, when you get a new passport you also get a new passport number and surely Thai immigration don't ban you based on your name.

Lets say he does get banned. Can't he just get a new passport and enter right away again?

After all, when you get a new passport you also get a new passport number and surely Thai immigration don't ban you based on your name.

Getting a new passport does not erase the records in immigration's database. They can and will do a name and date of birth search the first time a person enters the country with a new passport or one that does not have a history of previous entries in the database.

All aliases are also added to a german passport as far as I remember.

Lets say he does get banned. Can't he just get a new passport and enter right away again?

After all, when you get a new passport you also get a new passport number and surely Thai immigration don't ban you based on your name.

Getting a new passport does not erase the records in immigration's database. They can and will do a name and date of birth search the first time a person enters the country with a new passport or one that does not have a history of previous entries in the database.

Two John Smiths could easily be born on the same day and year. Bit harsh to ban them all, because one overstay.

Lets say he does get banned. Can't he just get a new passport and enter right away again?

After all, when you get a new passport you also get a new passport number and surely Thai immigration don't ban you based on your name.

Getting a new passport does not erase the records in immigration's database. They can and will do a name and date of birth search the first time a person enters the country with a new passport or one that does not have a history of previous entries in the database.

Two John Smiths could easily be born on the same day and year. Bit harsh to ban them all, because one overstay.

Ever notice that little camera you stand in front of while you go through immigration at the airport?

Yes, they use face recognition technology now .

The other "John Smiths" should not have a problem with you trying to slip through.

Lets say he does get banned. Can't he just get a new passport and enter right away again?

After all, when you get a new passport you also get a new passport number and surely Thai immigration don't ban you based on your name.

Getting a new passport does not erase the records in immigration's database. They can and will do a name and date of birth search the first time a person enters the country with a new passport or one that does not have a history of previous entries in the database.

Two John Smiths could easily be born on the same day and year. Bit harsh to ban them all, because one overstay.

Have you forgotten about the photos taken on entry which are stored on the database alongside passport detail ?

Is it 100% clear yet whether he'll be banned? I thought another poster reported not receiving a ban, when he met the criteria for one, and we speculated it was because he'd left <90 days after March 20th.

At the moment there have been a few reports of people clearing and doing a 'turnaround' via airports post 20th March 2016 with few problems but most seem to have been over-stays of less than 90 days which doesn't seem to carry a ban if the person 'submits' themselves to immigration.

OP do a search of the forum and see for yourself.

That's a new twist in thinking the less than 90 days started from 20 March 16. My understanding the new rules went into effect 20 March and if your overstay exceeded 90 days then you were banned for X-time. Ex: You were suppose to leave by 20 Oct 15, but didn't leave until say 30 Mar 16, a 5 month 10 day overstay...you are banned for 1 year. In the case of the OP's 2 year overstay it would result in a 3 year ban.

Is it 100% clear yet whether he'll be banned? I thought another poster reported not receiving a ban, when he met the criteria for one, and we speculated it was because he'd left <90 days after March 20th.

No it's not but only due to lack of reports to confirm either way. The only report so far was from eddybangkok about one of his mates that was apparently not banned. Until there are more reports the jury is still out.

I am pretty sure that anyone not getting banned would be quick to report it so IMO either no one has risked it yet or everyone is getting banned.

Lets say he does get banned. Can't he just get a new passport and enter right away again?

After all, when you get a new passport you also get a new passport number and surely Thai immigration don't ban you based on your name.

Not much point in leaving and paying the overstay!

If he did manage to enter with a new passport he would be in the country illegally. Passports don't get banned, people do. And if he were caught he could be imprisoned, fined again, deported or all three.

and...is it possible to sleep in the airport the night before the 5:55am flight ??

will they let me do that ??

thanks

op

No problem to hang out in the airport waiting for your flight. Not sure you will get much sleep though.

There are a lot of cheap places to stay in the vicinity (i.e. within say 5-8 km) of the airport. Check on agoda or booking.com

Is it 100% clear yet whether he'll be banned? I thought another poster reported not receiving a ban, when he met the criteria for one, and we speculated it was because he'd left <90 days after March 20th.

At the moment there have been a few reports of people clearing and doing a 'turnaround' via airports post 20th March 2016 with few problems but most seem to have been over-stays of less than 90 days which doesn't seem to carry a ban if the person 'submits' themselves to immigration.

OP do a search of the forum and see for yourself.

That's a new twist in thinking the less than 90 days started from 20 March 16. My understanding the new rules went into effect 20 March and if your overstay exceeded 90 days then you were banned for X-time. Ex: You were suppose to leave by 20 Oct 15, but didn't leave until say 30 Mar 16, a 5 month 10 day overstay...you are banned for 1 year. In the case of the OP's 2 year overstay it would result in a 3 year ban.

That is my understanding as well. The embassy I visited while visiting my sisters in Vietnam were checking passports for overstay violation stamps and then checking the date of the exit against that flyer with the penalties (regardless of whether there was a "banned stamp").... They are not going to be checking a date - then doing a calculation when the flyer states that the new rules go into effect on March 20th.... it does not say that there is any grandfathering or proration based on March 20th, that was what the advanced notice was for.

Lets say he does get banned. Can't he just get a new passport and enter right away again?

After all, when you get a new passport you also get a new passport number and surely Thai immigration don't ban you based on your name.

Getting a new passport does not erase the records in immigration's database. They can and will do a name and date of birth search the first time a person enters the country with a new passport or one that does not have a history of previous entries in the database.

Two John Smiths could easily be born on the same day and year. Bit harsh to ban them all, because one overstay.

in holland your old passport number is in the new one

Go up to the observation deck, relatively peaceful, you can sleep there. Hard, hard floor, we know someone that spent two nights up there.

Just asking:

do they still not do serious biometrics/fingerprinting?

They talk about it for so long now.

If you do this in other countries they will not let you go without doing a full record incl. fingerprints and picture.

Of course they have your picture.

Whether they do automatic face recognition, I guess not.

The very majority of countries issue biometric passports only.

Times of name change and new passport are coming to an end.

Why on earth do people like this, push the panic button far too late... The wood work just recently is crawling with them.. Is it really so difficult to obey the laws of the country you are in.

Lets say he does get banned. Can't he just get a new passport and enter right away again?

After all, when you get a new passport you also get a new passport number and surely Thai immigration don't ban you based on your name.

Getting a new passport does not erase the records in immigration's database. They can and will do a name and date of birth search the first time a person enters the country with a new passport or one that does not have a history of previous entries in the database.

Two John Smiths could easily be born on the same day and year. Bit harsh to ban them all, because one overstay.

Ever notice that little camera you stand in front of while you go through immigration at the airport?

Yes, they use face recognition technology now .

The other "John Smiths" should not have a problem with you trying to slip through.

All farangs look the same, especially to a blurred low quality web camera they use at the airport. Also John Smith get older all the time, but dye his hair and grow a beard just to impress the tirac.

And NO, they don't use farce recognition technology yet.

Lets say he does get banned. Can't he just get a new passport and enter right away again?

After all, when you get a new passport you also get a new passport number and surely Thai immigration don't ban you based on your name.

Getting a new passport does not erase the records in immigration's database. They can and will do a name and date of birth search the first time a person enters the country with a new passport or one that does not have a history of previous entries in the database.

Two John Smiths could easily be born on the same day and year. Bit harsh to ban them all, because one overstay.

in holland your old passport number is in the new one

If you ain't Dutch you ain't much, still there is a world of different passport numbers outside the dike.

Lets say he does get banned. Can't he just get a new passport and enter right away again?

After all, when you get a new passport you also get a new passport number and surely Thai immigration don't ban you based on your name.

Not much point in leaving and paying the overstay!

If he did manage to enter with a new passport he would be in the country illegally. Passports don't get banned, people do. And if he were caught he could be imprisoned, fined again, deported or all three.

John Smith the funny guy from Soi 6 in Pattaya who rented a studio above the ladyboy bar was banned, but new John Smith is living a happy and relaxed life in Patong beach without a worry in his life.