Tomorrow I intend to go back home. I have 8 years overstay from my previous passport. I will use a new one made at the embassy in Bangkok but without any stamp in it. Should I get a lawyer to deal with the immigration ? I hope the fine will not exceed 20,000 Baht?

I don't think a lawyer would be of much help.

You will need to show both passports on departure from the country unless you lost or had your passport stolen. If lost or stolen you will need a police report and a letter from the embassy stating that you lost it and etc.

The fine will not be more than 20k baht. You will though more than likely be banned from entering the country for 10 years under the new overstay rules that came into effect on the 20th of this month.

Thank you for the information

I lost my previous passport and I did get a new one from my Embassy but I do not have the police report with me. I gave it to the Embassy 8 years ago.I did not even get a letter from them. Should I ask one or it should be ok without it if I tell the immigration the number of my old passport?

I lost my previous passport and I did get a new one from my Embassy but I do not have the police report with me. I gave it to the Embassy 8 years ago.I did not even get a letter from them. Should I ask one or it should be ok without it if I tell the immigration the number of my old passport?

You will need proof that the passport you used to enter the country with was lost or stolen. You might not even be allowed to check in for your flight without it.

You should try to do a new police report. Not sure your embassy would be much help since it has been so many years since you lost it.

Op best of luck hope everything will be ok for you

They should have a record of my police report I made 8 years ago. I gave it to the Embassy in order to get a new passeport.

They should have a record of my police report I made 8 years ago. I gave it to the Embassy in order to get a new passeport.

You will have to get something from the police to prove you made the report or get a new one. Immigration will not be able to access that info.

8 years is a "l........o..........n........g" time for anyone to keep a record of such a thing.

And where you say "They should have..." if you mean your embassy I bet they don't have a copy...probably got rid of it after they issued you your new passport....that police report copy was just to satisfy them at the time you had met the requirements to get a new passport.

And if you mean "They should have..." as in the police I know Thailand govt agencies/businesses seem to want a copy of everything, but even they don't actually keep the copies that long...probably a few years max....otherwise all of Thailand would be covered 10 meters deep in copies.

One last question. My Embassy told me to go to Suan Phlu and there the Immigration will fined me and I will then pay my ticket. Which way is better ? Airport or Suan Phlu?

Dress like you are going to a job interview. Maybe even tell up front you have 8 year overstay and lost your passport. It seems it is up to the officials in each case what they do. If they consider you a nuisance or somehow danger to Thailand then they most likely will give you the ban. You could get the ten year ban in worst case.

One last question. My Embassy told me to go to Suan Phlu and there the Immigration will fined me and I will then pay my ticket. Which way is better ? Airport or Suan Phlu?

It seems they are telling you to go the immigration detention center which is the only thing at Suan Plu. You would be locked up until you made a court appearance which could result in lower fine and then be put back in detention until you bought a ticket and then taken to the airport for deportation.

That does not seem to be good advice from your embassy.

One last question. My Embassy told me to go to Suan Phlu and there the Immigration will fined me and I will then pay my ticket. Which way is better ? Airport or Suan Phlu?

Suan Plu will jail you, send you to court and then deport you. Stay away from any Immigration office.

airport is better.

Re the police report, do you remember when you did it at the police station? When I did such, back in 2006, they wrote the details down in their log book then gave me a version of it on a separate piece of paper. You could probably get another copy of the report from the police.

Mac

I wouldn't go to the police asking for a copy of any report or for anything else. As soon as they know your problem they will lock you up. The best thing to do is get a ticket home and go to the airport and be nice. The guys there have no real interest in detaining you and you will probably get away with a 20k fine and a ban which is about the best you can hope for. Have your embassy's phone number handy as well just in case. Good luck.

• If you surrender at Suan Phlu you'll be arrested, detained and deported.
• If you go to a police station with an 8 year overstay there is a high chance you'll be handed over to immigration, arrested, detained and deported.
• Going to the airport without proof of your lost passport will prevent you from immediately leaving. If the airline won't check you in you'll need to surrender at the airport immigration office. What will happen if you surrender at the airport office or passport control is anyones guess. At the very least you'll be detained at the airport for as long s it takes immigration to sort out the problem. Worst case is you'll get arrested and sent through the court/deportation process.

If you do manage to check in there is a high chance you'll miss your flight while immigration sort out the lost passport issue. If it were me I would book a late flight, go to the airport as early as possible and surrender to the airport immigration office. That might give enough time for the lost passport issue to get sorted out. Immigration will detain you until the problem is sorted and until you're able to check in to your flight.

I would spend the extra money on a back up ticket that leaves the next day. Just in case you miss your flight only to find out the next flights are full and or you cant change your existing ticket. Maybe overkill but if you do miss the flight and cant get a seat for a few days they would most likely send you to detention. On the other hand if you have another ticket with a confirmed seat that leaves in a day. Maybe they would just detain you there until the flight....Good luck and let us know how it went.

If they are telling you to go to the Suan Phlu (a main soi connecting to Sathron Road) Immigration Office that office is where the detention center is...plus the Suan Phlu Immigration Office is no longer used for most farangs ever since the Chaing Wattana Immigration Office opened up...Suan Phlu is just for foreigners/laborers from other Southeast Asia/PI/etc., countries I think. Sure sounds like they want to get you to report to the detention center on your own.

A friend left last week on an ETD (emergency travel document), he had lost his passport years back and was on a similar overstay of more than 5yrs. He had no record of arrival but did have a photocopy of his old passport id page. Embassy advised him just to go to airport with the ETD and embassy letter, he did not go get a police report, nor did he go to immigration prior to the airport, we had expected embassy would tell him to do that based on ThaiVisa reading but they didn't and so he didn't...

Airline checked-in him in no problem. Immigration eventually processed him and took 20k

Slightly different circumstances than yourself but close enough that I would just go the airport and hope for the best.. NickJ idea of an extra cheap ticket for next day isn't a bad idea if you're really worried, check-in for international flights generally opens 3hr before though so I think you'll have enough time to sort it if you're near the front of the queue

There appears to be a whole bunch of serial overstayers of late on here.

Why have so many left it until after March 20th to go,and leave themselves open to a lengthy ban,which I think could well be the case for the OP.

There appears to be a whole bunch of serial overstayers of late on here.

Why have so many left it until after March 20th to go,and leave themselves open to a lengthy ban,which I think could well be the case for the OP.

Perhaps they don't want to come back!

Do not under any circumstances go to any Immigration Office, Police Station or similar where you seriously risk being locked up or detained.

Go only to the airport where they will process you, take your money, let you go on your way.

I have personal knowledge of a similar case as casualobserver above (#20) who went straight to the airport with an ETD, where they messed my acquaintance around a bit, kept him waiting, made him sweat a bit, but he got it all sorted (before the 20th March 16 so he should avoid a ban - though this seems ambiguous) easily enough mind you.

There appears to be a whole bunch of serial overstayers of late on here.

Why have so many left it until after March 20th to go,and leave themselves open to a lengthy ban,which I think could well be the case for the OP.

Beggars belief to be honest, unless alzheimers is kicking in

There appears to be a whole bunch of serial overstayers of late on here.

Why have so many left it until after March 20th to go,and leave themselves open to a lengthy ban,which I think could well be the case for the OP.

When we were helping our acquaintance clear his 4/5 year OS earlier in the month, there wasn't a great deal of availability before the 20th at a reasonable price until we eventually got lucky and found him a good priced flight to London on the 16th.

As mentioned above, maybe after stupid amounts of time on an over stay people are tying up their lose ends and saying their goodbyes and have no real desire to go back especially if they are still young and have already precious wasted years bumming around in Thailand.

I wonder how come somebody could overstay for such long years? Thailand isn't a country where one can survive without working and practically there's no job available for a foreigner other than teaching which isn't well paid either. I wonder what keeps people in the country to overstay for so long with hardly any chance for a good career.

Wow! Since the new immigration crackdown a lot of overstayers are coming out of the shadows.

Have to see reports of bans yet. May still be possible to slip through.

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No you do not need a lawyer as it cant get any worse than it is . Just go to the airport with a ticket out and hope for the best and be prepared for the worst.