2 month overstay. No money and no ticket home

[lemonjelly]

11 minutes ago, overherebc said:

 

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

Well, IDC would be his destination anyway wouldn't it. At least if he does some         " low key"  teaching he might stand a chance of getting the cash together to make it home.

Edited October 12, 2016 by lemonjelly

[BritTim]

6 minutes ago, overherebc said:

 

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

 

Of course, that is true. However, that is a worst case scenario. He might manage to dig himself out of the mess if he is working and earning money (even if not much). If he can raise 800 pounds, he will be able to buy a ticket to the UK and pay the fine. He will probably be blacklisted, but at least avoid the IDC. Surrendering to the authorities in the certain knowledge that you will end up in the IDC does not seem a better option. Your ability to earn money in IDC will be next to zero. You will probably rot there until an NGO takes pity on you and buys you an air tciket. You are talking years, not weeks or months.

[swissie]

25 minutes ago, balo said:

 

Maybe he is an alcoholic or using drugs ?  Maybe his girlfriend took all his money ? 

 

All of the above may apply.
OR:
He was overwhelmed with Hospital bills.
Cheers

[BritTim]

14 minutes ago, Ronuk said:

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

 

It might be fun to try just to see the look of astonishment on the consular official's face. I think I might try "I lost money gambling and cannot pay. Now they are threatening to kill me. Can you please help me with the money to pay them off." Based on some of the stories I have heard about calls to emergency services, the British Embassy may have heard even more ridiculous stories in the past.

[tonray]

I knew a guy in a similar situation. Overstay because his passport was lost. Had no money, went to British embassy to get emergency travel document but they told him he needed to come in with air tickets home first....more days pass and he reaches the 20k fine limit, all this time he is smoking and drinking about 10 to 12 K baht every month (not counting actual food). Has no money to pay overstay and./or buy ticket.....more days pass...he eventually disappears off the radar. I don't know if he got pinched and is in IDC or he got the money from somewhere...but pissing away baht on cigs and booze every night is a problem.

[Deepinthailand]

Firstly as he is your mate can you not help him out with a ticket home????

Long shot is he ex forces if so contact British Legion or SSAFA they will help.

Even longer shot contact a couple of the tree hugger charities. 

[Prbkk]

One way BKK-LHR is 10,500 Baht every day for the next month ( Malaysia via KL). So about GBP 230.  Plus the fine.

[farang95]

honestly this is a big mistake......you can't allow yourself to be in an overstay situation ( except if you did it while the country were under siege with the RED-YELLOW shirt situation ( i was in overstay for 20 days...i paid nothing ...no problem just a warning ..... but this is terrible situation to go all in with no backup ......especially when you know that you are on your own.....how could you risk your life that way? 

Good luck for your friend...the best you can do as a friend is to help him and pay the money he need ...that's your duty...After all you are his friend right? 

[IMA_FARANG]

In most casws the embessy will NOT offer any funds for him to go home.

What they may do is contact any relitives he has that might be willing to pay his way home by loaning him money to get home.

However, they may charge him for the cost of contacting his relatives if there is a cost to contact them.

The embessy is not willing to loan money to nationals and is in fact prohibited from doing that with government funds.

 

 

 

[pattayalover]

would be easier if countries give free money to his citizen.

this is called minimum income without conditions and I m a militant for such law.

it's the only way to avoid poverty and a 3rd world war.

this world has over 150 trillion of debt. how much longer we can stand? 5 years, 10 years? maybe another year. I m not even sure.

[JackThompson]

Anyone running down this road should head to Cambodia before it gets this far.  Quick teaching gigs to be found, and peanuts for a fan-room and decent cheap food, not to mention easy, cheap visas. 

 

But once one is broke, and with a 20K Baht fine racked-up just to get out of Thailand, it's a steep climb.

[zd1]

The only way your friend is going to avoid a stay at the IDC is to have a ticket out of the country and the money to pay the over stay fine, just turn up at the airport and you will be ok.

The IDC in soi suan phlu if it is the same one that I had the pleasure of spending a few weeks at in 1995 is a place that would make the Bangkok Hilton seem like a holiday inn.

Once you are in there you are in there until you have a ticket out of the country when I was there there was no exercise you were in the room with 300 people all day and night and don't start me on the food if you could call it food, I was lucky as I had someone who was bringing me in food and cigarettes without that it would have been far worse. There were people for Burma, Cambodia and a few African countries that had been in there years but I don't think there was a falang in there that long but I don't know.

He could try and get a job and try and save the money but if he gets caught it is straight to the IDC.

The British embassy will be of no use at all back I 1995 they would give you a 500b loan but they will then keep your passport until you pay it back.

To the posters who commented about how someone could get into this situation people make mistakes especially when they are young I made mistakes I learned from them didn't make the same mistake again, it doesn't make people bad because they make mistakes we all do it. I will concede though that if you continue to make the same mistakes then you need to take a good long look at yourself because that's clearly stupid.

[moobie]

6 hours ago, robertthebruce said:

 

 

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 don't know how long it's been since you folk have had to deal with the Social Services in the UK but nowadays they do not just give you a place and funds. Firstly, you do not just rock up into the place and get an interview - you will be given an appointment which may be a week or so away and they will text a message to you when this is so. If the guy is in total desperation they may give him the address of a hostel or charity if he is lucky. On commencement of the process he will have to prove he is entitled to any funds or accommodation from the state. This is based on employment over a certain time period prior to claiming, etc. Benefits only begin, if given, from the time of application. And so begins the process of Jobseekers Allowance, constant interviews and the ever present threat of sanction (ie, any monitary benefits removed.)

 

Sorry if that sounds negative but the above is from my experience dealing with the state for JSA last year and I'm a high paying taxpayer regarded as a "Normal Resident" status. In less that 3 months I was Sanctioned once, fortunately I "signed on" as I wanted my pension "stamp" and the money was neither here nor there. If I was on the bones of my arse then I would have been in dire straits indeed.

 

(Incidentally, in one of those almost hidden paragraphs from the recent pension reforms, those of you who have paid less than 10 years worth of contributions into the UK system will not be seeing a State Pension.)

[AlexRich]

4 hours ago, onemorechang said:

 

Yes,  but, some times  you need to be Cruel to be kind.

i don't know how old this guy is ,  but it may not be to late for him

in life.

if the IDC can ultimately  make him a better person down the road,   then IDC will be good for him.

Let it happen.

I always find the,  I have no money or access to money,   a bit of

a BS story with most people. 

 

 

 

 

I've no idea how this guy ended up in this predicament, perhaps it is entirely his own fault, who knows? However, it would only take a war or other such calamity to change all of our lives completely, so none of us know how we might end up, and how we could one day depend on the kindness of strangers. There is no kindness in your comments ... only cruelty. 

[balo]

We had a guy like that in the Norwegian  Thai forum , he had no money , had no relatives to help, had overstayed and needed to get back for health reasons so we ended up collecting donations from members , just a small sum from any member willing to give, and it was enough for him to pay the fines and get a flight home.    

Edited October 12, 2016 by balo

[Living in a cartoon]

OP,  your acquaintance is hitting up anybody who is wiling to listen to his sob story. Go ahead and stump him up if you want. You will find him back in his usual bar stool next day.

 

You can't fix stupid. Just laugh at him next time and tell him to leave you alone.

[khunpa]

10 hours ago, freebyrd said:

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

 

Well, I tried the same 5 years ago, when my Business partners (located outside Thailand) left me absolutely no money at all, after I had put all my personal savings into our joint business on their behalf. I made the mistake of trusting them. because we had worked together for years and had never had problems before. However, I learnt the hard way and lost all my savings and money the day, I found out that they had no intention to pay what they owed me. Looking back on that time it was stupid/risky what I did, but I could never imagine people I (thought I) knew could be like that. (I later learnt to trust no one like that again and especially not in business).

 

My Thai-girlfriend (now wife) literally saved my life during that time, by helping me get over a following depression and also using all her savings and borrowing money to help get me back on my feet and create a new business from scratch. Without her, I would have been in exact same situation as OPs friend.

 

Just to illustrate that you do not need to be a drug addict or something like that, to quickly get into financial trouble anywhere in the world. Hard-working, decent people can also get into trouble pretty quick. All it needs requires is just bad luck and timing. (Being swindled, Serious Illness, Company Bankruptcy, Sudden Job loss, Your Bank goes Bankrupt etc.)

Edited October 12, 2016 by khunpa

[bbi1]

11 hours 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!

Why don't you be a good friend and buy him a ticket home?

 

Guess your friend has no money to pay for internet to post this question himself here either. Give him some moolah and help him out

[tonray]

How about posting some further details so we can either stop convicting or apologizing for him:

 

Age:

 

Circumstances :

 

How did he get into this situation ?

[chrisinth]

7 hours ago, pattayalover said:

would be easier if countries give free money to his citizen.

this is called minimum income without conditions and I m a militant for such law.

it's the only way to avoid poverty and a 3rd world war.

this world has over 150 trillion of debt. how much longer we can stand? 5 years, 10 years? maybe another year. I m not even sure.
 

 

And just how would giving away 'free' money to idlers help get rid of the 150 trillion debt?

 

Ideas like that might get rid of, or at least reduce poverty in some cases. Until people find out how to abuse the system. Certain countries have got this off to pat and have been self reliant on hand outs for decades.

[TEFLKrabi]

11 hours ago, Ronuk said:

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

I'd imagine that when he arrived he had enough funds so not sure that would help. Also, I'd not fancy the queues at Swampy if they had to check everyone on arrival! 

[licka]

If you are his friend?

Why don't you lend him the money to buy a ticket home

[Munchkinboss44]

I overstayed for 15mnths had no money was in contact with the british embassy in bangkok didnt and wouldnt help me, managed to get ticket back and paid 20k at immigration, not easy once overstayed to get away

[1FinickyOne]

you haven't really stated the circumstances - how this person got into this situation. 

 

Running out of money, well, I guess anyone could have an unforeseen problem, getting robbed, whatever, in which case I would expect a sympathetic response from friends and relatives...

 

The fact that there is an overstay, it tends to lead to the conclusion that this person was acting irresponsibly and could care less about the laws and their consequences... sounds like maybe alcohol could have been involved. And nobody really wants to pick up the tab for another's bad behaviour and will-fully careless actions, including their own government... 

 

Wish your friend good luck - and hopefully they get out of htis and learn a lesson and pay back anyone who might be kind enough to bail them out....  

 

 

[Kerryd]

Over the years the story seems to be the same almost every time.

 

"Ran out of money" = spent like a drunken sailor until the bank was empty and credit cards maxed.

"No ticket home" = cashed it in when the money ran out.

"Lost passport" = sold on the black market

"No friends/family will help" = already tapped them out too many times.

 

Little wonder why so many expats are reluctant to associate with other expats. Invariably it doesn't take long to run into another "hard luck" case that "just needs a small loan" to get back on his feet. 

And like so many of those stories, it often doesn't take long to find out that the "loan" ended up being spent on another few nights of drinking and whoring. 

 

It happens so often that the instant I see a "a friend of mine" or "a guy I know" post, my cynicism kicks into hyper mode and my BS radar starts working on overload. TV should make a separate forum for just those kinds of topics. There are far too many scammers these days that have figured out it's easier to live on your money than on theirs and no way to tell which stories are legitimate and which are bull.

 

[ubonjoe]

Several troll and inflammatory posts have already been removed. No further notice will be given when they are removed,

[Ian1980]

28 minutes ago, Munchkinboss44 said:

I overstayed for 15mnths had no money was in contact with the british embassy in bangkok didnt and wouldnt help me, managed to get ticket back and paid 20k at immigration, not easy once overstayed to get away

You overstayed before or after the new regulations?

[johninbkk71]

If he has no plans to come back the blacklist doesn't matter. Get a job, save hard and leave. 

I guess he's still quite young.

We do stupid things, We <deleted> up, We learn, that's life.

[Eneukman]

On 10/7/2016 at 2:57 PM, Suradit69 said:

"Rich guys in Poor guys out"

 

Surely most people saw the writing on the wall and topped their Thai bank accounts up to cover the Baht 800,000 bank balance requirement. You have to laugh at the people who purposely live month to month because they don't think it's safe to keep money in a Thai bank or because they're earning a couple percent more by keeping their money in a bank in Old Blighty or one of the shaky European banks.

 

In any event, I'm pretty sure most of us spend more than Baht 65,000 a month without being labelled "rich."  That's only about GBP 1500 a month or £18,000 a year.  If you can't muster that maybe you should return to the embrace of the nanny state. You could get on the waiting list for a council flat.

 

On 10/7/2016 at 11:29 AM, Lampang2 said:

Completely normal effect of global trade and interchange.

Rich countries get poorer.
Poor countries get richer.

Until equilibrium is reached.

 

14 hours 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!

 

A few years ago, a friend's cousin ended up in the IDC for overstaying his welcome. The British Embassy paid his fare home but retained his passport until such time as he repaid the cost. To the best of my knowledge, this is still unpaid. They wouldn't pay his overstay fine and his family point blank refused to bail him out. I believe a Catholic priest ended up paying his fine so he could get home.

 

Alan

[Fithman]

34 minutes ago, Munchkinboss44 said:

I overstayed for 15mnths had no money was in contact with the british embassy in bangkok didnt and wouldnt help me, managed to get ticket back and paid 20k at immigration, not easy once overstayed to get away

 

You claim the BE would not help ?    I depends on the "help" you were seeking -- if it was money then you are correct they will not assist.

 

What they will do is contact friends relatives and will receive money sent to help with a guarantee of ensuring the money is spent on fines and air tickets not just handed to a miscreant.