Someone I know is currently on just over 2 months overstay. He has no money and no ticket home. What are his options? Can his embassy help? His parents appear unable and/or unwilling to help. Will he have to go to jail or IDC? I have read other threads on this topic but there is a lot of conflicting info. If he hands himself in now will he avoid blacklisting? Any info greatly appreciated

If he turns himself in he would not be blacklisted since he is still under 90 days of overstay.

If would be sent to the immigration detention center, appear in court and would then have his fine reduced to 2 or 3k baht. He would be detained until his fine was paid off either by himself or at 200 baht for each day of detention. Then if had a ticket home he would be deported and sent home.

Some embassies will offer assistance. Some will even loan the money for the fine and ticket.

Recognize that, while what @ubonjoe indicates is possible, it is pretty unpleasant. It is also probably not a cheaper option. Although you can effectively avoid the fine, the flight ticket you must end up buying will usually be a full price ticket on a national flag carrier. This costs much more than a budget airline. There are also a few miscellaneous costs involved with the deportation process. Anyone who has seen the IDC will also tell you to do everything possible to avoid being incarcerated there. Finally, while not being automatically blacklisted for the overstay, a blacklisting is still possible any time you are arrested and imprisoned in Thailand.

 

Revealing your friend's nationality, age, how long he has been living in Thailand, and other circumstances might point at possible approaches, but Thailand is a bad place to be stranded with no money.

I know a guy in similar circumstances. he did manage to find cheap rate teaching work in Bangkok, is living in the cheapest digs he could find and lives on 2 packs of mama and an apple a day.

hes slowly getting his return fare and full overstay fine together.

Im not condoning working illegally but as someone pointed out, its worth doing all you can to avoid a stay at IDC.

36 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

If he turns himself in he would not be blacklisted since he is still under 90 days of overstay.

His only chance to escape with minor hassle.

Buy a ticket to home country and rush to the airport.

 

Whether his embassy will give him a loan for the ticket?

As already written: nationality?

 

Home country: as he seems flat broke it does not make sense to suggest buying a cheap one-way to a neighboring country (stumbling into another mess).

 

He is British. Currently he has no money whatsoever so buying a ticket home is not an option. I dont really think trying to get a job would be a good idea as he would end up overstaying more than 90 days. If he turns up at UK embassy, are they likely to turn him over to the authorities? Or would he be best simply handing himself over to immigration? 2k fine means maybe 10 days in jail, not too bad considering the pickle he is in. But is the embassy likely to fly him home after that? Sorry if i sound clueless, any more info appreciated!

6 minutes ago, pjrob said:

He is British. Currently he has no money whatsoever so buying a ticket home is not an option. I dont really think trying to get a job would be a good idea as he would end up overstaying more than 90 days. If he turns up at UK embassy, are they likely to turn him over to the authorities? Or would he be best simply handing himself over to immigration. 2k fine means maybe 10 days in jail, not too bad considering the pickle he is in. But is the embassy likely to fly him home after that. Sorry if i sound clueless, any more info appreciated!

 

I honestly doubt if the BE would lend him the money. They seem to work on the lines of 'if you break the law in Thailand' they don't/won't get involved.

Has he no friends here ?

How/why does anyone let themselves get into a situation like this?

The second question is what's he going to do once he gets off the plane in England with no money

17 minutes ago, freebyrd said:

How/why does anyone let themselves get into a situation like this?

 

Fanny......

 

9 minutes ago, Rob13 said:

The second question is what's he going to do once he gets off the plane in England with no money

 

 

At at least he is back in the UK and once he gets to his home town, the Social will help out like they do for most folks, 

 

its a fact....

I think with no money in UK he is much better than with no money in Thailand.

 

My Question would be how comes, that he not have an air ticket?

- He was in Thailand with a visa and not enough money or somehow spend too much?

- He was in Thai as touri, and not flew back on the designated date of his return flight?

 

I am always thinking how people let it come that far...

16 minutes ago, robertthebruce said:

 

Fanny......

 

 

Many a true word is spoken in jest.

22 minutes ago, HampiK said:

I think with no money in UK he is much better than with no money in Thailand.

 

My Question would be how comes, that he not have an air ticket?

- He was in Thailand with a visa and not enough money or somehow spend too much?

- He was in Thai as touri, and not flew back on the designated date of his return flight?

 

I am always thinking how people let it come that far...

 

Arrived with no visa, a cheap throw away ticket to somewhere, threw the ticket away and after 4 weeks discovered that 'Asia on a dollar day' was printed 30 years ago.

After reading this I would not be overly enthusiastic that the UK embassy would help:

https://www.gov.uk/government/world/organisations/british-embassy-bangkok

 

Quote

 

What the embassy cannot do for you

..

pay any bills or give you money (in very exceptional circumstances we may lend you some money from public funds, which you’ll have to pay back)

 

Very exceptional circumstances.

 

Are there any private organizations that  might help British expats?

 

They need to tighten up on the visa rules and screen people properly to ensure they have enough funds to remain.

5 minutes ago, Ronuk said:

They need to tighten up on the visa rules and screen people properly to ensure they have enough funds to remain.

Does not matter...I have known guys who drained their home accounts of a million baht in 2 months after meeting a girl and their new best friend 'Hiso Life'  There is no test for responsibility.

6 minutes ago, Ronuk said:

They need to tighten up on the visa rules and screen people properly to ensure they have enough funds to remain.

 

You'd still get people running amok. Rich folks loaded with cash make bad decisions too. 

4 minutes ago, Ronuk said:

They need to tighten up on the visa rules and screen people properly to ensure they have enough funds to remain.

 

Unfortunately you are correct. Sad to say.

My wife and self do a fair bit of travelling and I'm sure you know how much paperwork is involved.

I feel the days of just jumping on a plane and flying to Thailand for a month and expecting visa free entry may be numbered.

2 minutes ago, tonray said:

Does not matter...I have known guys who drained their home accounts of a million baht in 2 months after meeting a girl and their new best friend 'Hiso Life'  There is no test for responsibility.

I don't disagree but how many do we see here that don't even have the money to buy travel insurance and then it's Thailand's fault when there is no money to treat them? The rules are far to lapse. Retirees are needing to prove income and show money in the bank when others are continuing to get extension after extension by paying 1900baht. It needs looking at.

1 hour ago, pjrob said:

He is British. Currently he has no money whatsoever so buying a ticket home is not an option. I dont really think trying to get a job would be a good idea as he would end up overstaying more than 90 days. If he turns up at UK embassy, are they likely to turn him over to the authorities? Or would he be best simply handing himself over to immigration? 2k fine means maybe 10 days in jail, not too bad considering the pickle he is in. But is the embassy likely to fly him home after that? Sorry if i sound clueless, any more info appreciated!

 

The British Embassy can help put pressure on family and friends to help out. That is it. Other than contacting people to explain that he is in trouble, and offer to be an escrow service to ensure money goes for the intended purpose, they will do absolutely nothing.

 

In my experience, there is always a back story to situations like this. I can well understand someone having a ball in the Wild East, and telling themselves they can return to the real world later. This is especially true if he is suffering from a mental illness. What is unusual is no one being willing to help when reality sets in and he is in a mentally fit state. The main reason this occurs is because family and friends have tried to help previously, and the money was wasted with him not getting himself sorted out. They do not want to throw further money at a problem that does not seem to get fixed. If that is the case, the British Embassy escrow might make them amenable to extending assistance.

7 minutes ago, Rob13 said:

 

You'd still get people running amok. Rich folks loaded with cash make bad decisions too. 

I agree but at least they had the money to start with. We all know someone that once had it and lost it but you cannot get away from the fact that there are people arriving here that have very little money to start with.

I'm a Brit and I remember reading on the British Embassy website that they may loan money to British nationals in certain cases. If I ever found myself destitute in Thailand, I'd try going there. They can't give free cash, but they can provide a loan. I'm unsure about the overstay issue, however. The embassy can't help with that. Thailand's a really bad place to wind up broke. 

1 minute ago, jadee said:

I'm a Brit and I remember reading on the British Embassy website that they may loan money to British nationals in certain cases. If I ever found myself destitute in Thailand, I'd try going there. They can't give free cash, but they can provide a loan. I'm unsure about the overstay issue, however. The embassy can't help with that. Thailand's a really bad place to wind up broke. 

 

30 years ago, the British Embassy would help out in very rare cases. Today, being one of the hundreds of destitute Brits here in Thailand  on overstay any hope for any kind of loan is delusional.

5 minutes ago, BritTim said:

 

30 years ago, the British Embassy would help out in very rare cases. Today, being one of the hundreds of destitute Brits here in Thailand  on overstay any hope for any kind of loan is delusional.

Yes, my apologies, I just checked out the embassy website , you're right, it does say 

What the embassy cannot do for you

Although we try to help British nationals in a wide range of situations, we cannot:

pay any bills or give you money (in very exceptional circumstances we may lend you some money from public funds, which you’ll have to pay back)

So yes, it sounds like they won't give a loan but I don't know exactly 'exceptional circumstances' would include if being stranded in Thailand isn't one of them! Maybe you're right, if there truly are 'hundreds of destitute Brits', then I agree the circumstance aren't exceptional = no loan.  

 

In that case, I don't know, could the OP start a crowdfunding thing for his friend? My only other idea is for the guy to get a job teaching or something and save for a ticket that way.  

4 minutes ago, jadee said:

Yes, my apologies, I just checked out the embassy website , you're right, it does say 

What the embassy cannot do for you

Although we try to help British nationals in a wide range of situations, we cannot:

pay any bills or give you money (in very exceptional circumstances we may lend you some money from public funds, which you’ll have to pay back)

So yes, it sounds like they won't give a loan but I don't know exactly 'exceptional circumstances' would include if being stranded in Thailand isn't one of them! Maybe you're right, if there truly are 'hundreds of destitute Brits', then I agree the circumstance aren't exceptional = no loan.  

 

In that case, I don't know, could the OP start a crowdfunding thing for his friend? My only other idea is for the guy to get a job teaching or something and save for a ticket that way.  

 

If you were shipwrecked, ended up in Thailand with no money, and had no family or friends willing to help, there would be a chance the British Embassy might loan you money to return home. Anything short of that, forget it.

If he hands himself in or gets caught, he'll remain in IDC until he can find: A) the money for whatever fine he incurs and  the cash for  a direct flight back to  Blighty.... just that. 

If he's presentable and well spoken, teaching English to the locals could be a way forward.

21 minutes ago, BritTim said:

 

If you were shipwrecked, ended up in Thailand with no money, and had no family or friends willing to help, there would be a chance the British Embassy might loan you money to return home. Anything short of that, forget it.

I suppose putting in for a grant for a new Truck is right out of the question then? ?

6 minutes ago, lemonjelly said:

If he hands himself in or gets caught, he'll remain in IDC until he can find: A) the money for whatever fine he incurs and  the cash for  a direct flight back to  Blighty.... just that. 

If he's presentable and well spoken, teaching English to the locals could be a way forward.

 

Fair enough but this is Thailand. Getting caught teaching on overstay and no WP is a one way ticket to IDC.

If your friend has no money,wheres he living, what's he doing for food,

looks like he only has two choices,go to British Embassy,and if they 

are not having a garden party, they may help,choice 2 ,starve to death.

so you better tell him to get his arse in gear and do something.

regards worgeordie