1 day overstay - definite fine?

[mintberrycrunch]

Hi all

My tourist visa extension expires on Wednesday, but I've booked my flight for Thursday (all flights before this were stupid expensive). Even if I get the 500 baht fine, it will still turn out cheaper this way. 

 

Anyway, what are the chances of getting this fine? What if I go to the airport late on Wednesday, say 11pm? My flight is at 8am on Thursday, so I would have to be there by 6am ish anyway...

 

Finally, is a one day overstay a big deal? Like, will they put a big red mark in my passport?

 

By the way, I am doing a same day return to/from Kuala Lumpur... Am I pushing my luck?? Just need to get a final 30days before i leave for good. I do have a ticket out of Thailand back to Europe in case they want to see it.

 

Thanks guys! ?

[ubonjoe]

You will not be fined 500 baht if you are leaving from either airport in Bangkok for an overstay of less than 24 hours. Other airports may be different.

A one day overstay is not considered to be a big deal since it can just be an error that causes them.

Whether you have have a problem on entry depends upon how many visa exempt entries you have done and the airport you are flying into.

[mintberrycrunch]

Thanks Joe :)

Wow that would be awesome if I didn't have to pay the fine! 

I am flying from/to Don Mueng ... I have a couple of tourist visas and just one visa exempt. I just hope my same day in/out doesn't look too dodgy... I just didn't feel like staying the night in KL. I do have a full day to go explore though.

[ubonjoe]

With your history you should not have a problem on re-entry.

[IMA_FARANG]

sWhen specifically is your leaving date.

The date you leave  will expire at midnight on that date.

if you are willing to take the discomfort you may be able to go through immigration and actually stay in the deparure area for some hours without payong an overstay by going through the immigration check out before midnight on the day you are supposed to leave.

There are small kiosks with snacks you can buy and toilets you can use before you depart.

I do not reccomend this but it may be possible to spend half a day or so in the departure area waiting for your flight to leave.

In my younger days I have spent long delays between flights sleeping in departure areas around the world, mainly to avoid getting a hotel room  for less tahn a 12 hour wait beween flights.

i do not do that now, as at my age I can't do that anymore.

But if you are young and willing to take the discomfort you might consider the possibity.

Also, no a one day overstay, if they charge it, will merely be a note in your pasport, and really mean nothing later.

They won't notice it on your next return.

 

 

Edited October 29, 2016 by IMA_FARANG
added a comment to the end

[LongTimeLurker]

A few weeks ago I left from Swampy 1 day late with no fine but had to visit the overstay counter and the officer wrote something when stamping me out. On previous occasion the officer at the desk had stamped me out with no visit to the overstay desk.

 

Regarding getting to the airport early, you may not be able to check in for your flight so won't be able to proceed to immigration anyway.

[anthony0339]

I'm sorry but with the climate the way it is now, you will be 100% dinged with a 1 day overstay at the airport or a land border. It is not a big deal unless you are caught inside Thailand on an overstay. 500 Baht fine and a stamp inside your passport. Really, there is no excuse for this and you should have booked your flight home well in advance. 

Edited October 29, 2016 by anthony0339

[sanemax]

5 hours ago, IMA_FARANG said:

 

if you are willing to take the discomfort you may be able to go through immigration and actually stay in the deparure area for some hours without payong an overstay by going through the immigration check out before midnight on the day you are supposed to leave.

 

 

 

 

   Dont you have to check in first before you go through immigration ?

And check ins dont open until a few hours before the flight

 

[ubonjoe]

2 hours ago, LongTimeLurker said:

A few weeks ago I left from Swampy 1 day late with no fine but had to visit the overstay counter and the officer wrote something when stamping me out. On previous occasion the officer at the desk had stamped me out with no visit to the overstay desk.

 

Regarding getting to the airport early, you may not be able to check in for your flight so won't be able to proceed to immigration anyway.

 

6 minutes ago, anthony0339 said:

I'm sorry but with the climate the way it is now, you will be 100% dinged with a 1 day overstay at the airport or a land border. It is not a big deal unless you are caught inside Thailand on an overstay. 500 Baht fine and a stamp inside your passport. Really, there is no excuse for this and you should have booked your flight home well in advance. 

I assume you did not read the post just before yours before posting incorrect info about airports.

There has never been a waiver of the fine for a one day overstay at a border crossing.

[anthony0339]

3 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

 

I assume you did not read the post just before yours before posting incorrect info about airports.

There has never been a waiver of the fine for a one day overstay at a border crossing.

Who said land borders would waive the fine? Not me.

[ubonjoe]

1 minute ago, anthony0339 said:

Who said land borders would waive the fine? Not me.

What you wrote in the first line of your post certainly implied it.

14 minutes ago, anthony0339 said:

I'm sorry but with the climate the way it is now, you will be 100% dinged with a 1 day overstay at the airport or a land border

 

[anthony0339]

8 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

What you wrote in the first line of your post certainly implied it.

 

Really? Perhaps you need to read a little closer. I said you will be dinged ( this means given the overstay) with the overstay, I never mentioned the fine being waived. Today's climate means, with all the recent turn of events plus all the bombings. Understand? This is also my opinion and an educated one at that. Please don't get offended. Cheers!

Edited October 29, 2016 by anthony0339

[malt25]

To me, & I'd suggest many, "dinged" means, get hit, guilty, cop a fine. Dinged, as in dented, damaged.

An educated opinion, really.

Here's a bit of education for you.

"Urban Dictionary: dinged

www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=dinged

1.  
2.  

Top Definition. dinged. To get rejected, usually from a graduate school. "Man, I got dinged yesterday. The decision letter came in a small and thin envelope.".

[sanemax]

49 minutes ago, anthony0339 said:

Really? Perhaps you need to read a little closer. I said you will be dinged ( this means given the overstay) with the overstay, I never mentioned the fine being waived. Today's climate means, with all the recent turn of events plus all the bombings. Understand? This is also my opinion and an educated one at that. Please don't get offended. Cheers!

 

    It sounded like you were saying that just because of the climate today, he would get fined at a border , implying that previously he wouldnt have gotton a fine at the border 

[wcoast]

Oh lets just cut to the chase... That post by Anthony was useless, false, and fear mongering. There is no such climate at the airport for a single day overstay in this situation.

Sent from my SM-A510F using Tapatalk

[BritTim]

Just my own opinion: with very few prior visa exempt entries, I would feel comfortable going for my first in/out the same day. I would not be too concerned about a one-day overstay, leaving from a Bangkok airport. I am not sure I would feel totally confident about doing both at the same time. Immigration were told at one point to crack down on in/out visa exempts. This was rapidly followed by another instruction that the crackdown should be applied flexibly. Most likely, it will not be an issue, but I just have a niggling concern that immigration might decide it is a time to be strict.

[Deepinthailand]

3 hours ago, anthony0339 said:

I'm sorry but with the climate the way it is now, you will be 100% dinged with a 1 day overstay at the airport or a land border. It is not a big deal unless you are caught inside Thailand on an overstay. 500 Baht fine and a stamp inside your passport. Really, there is no excuse for this and you should have booked your flight home well in advance. 

So you didn't read the op then

[Simons3]

have to be careful how they count.. i had a similar instance at BKK airport last August and got dinged 2 days and sent off to the payment desk. how it happened I think was they appeared to count the day I arrived as one day and the day I left as one day ( IE if you come in on Monday and leave 12 hours later on Tuesday thats 2 days), plus I hit Immigration upon arrival at 12:15 am and  didn't think to check to see if the officer had updated his stamp at midnight so my expiry date was set to one day earlier.  no biggy though just chalk the 1000 baht up to experience :)

[BritTim]

4 minutes ago, Simons3 said:

have to be careful how they count.. i had a similar instance at BKK airport last August and got dinged 2 days and sent off to the payment desk. how it happened I think was they appeared to count the day I arrived as one day and the day I left as one day ( IE if you come in on Monday and leave 12 hours later on Tuesday thats 2 days), plus I hit Immigration upon arrival at 12:15 am and  didn't think to check to see if the officer had updated his stamp at midnight so my expiry date was set to one day earlier.  no biggy though just chalk the 1000 baht up to experience :)

 

I have several times cleared immigration after midnight (once after 1:00 am) on a flight scheduled to arrive before midnight. I think the entry stamp is supposed to reflect the scheduled arrival date (and, for that matter, the scheduled departure date when you leave, so you cannot gain a day by clearing immigration at 11:00 pm for a 6:00 am flight). I think you only get stamped in for the following day if there is a substantial delay of several hours.

[mintberrycrunch]

OP here

Thanks for all the replies guys. My passport clearly says 'permitted to stay until 2 Nov' I.e. Wednesday. My flight is early on 3 Nov. I think I might just chance my luck and turn up on the 3rd. I will report back here and let you guys know if I get fined or not. 

 

By the way, my flight is with air Asia. I'm pretty sure I can check in online now if I want. Then I would get an e-boarding pass on my phone so I think I could clear immigration the night without going near the check in desk (I have no luggage). 

 

Does anyone know if the departures area at the Donald airport is comfortable or not? Specifically, are there adjoining seats without pesky armrests where you can lay out and sleep? Busy or no?

Thanks

[marquis22]

I had a one day overstay 4 weeks ago and had to go to the overstay counter at Swampy and my passport examined for a good 5 minutes. I was expecting a fine but then the woman just handed back my passport without any comment and off I went without a fine. 

[hawker9000]

9 hours ago, sanemax said:

 

   Dont you have to check in first before you go through immigration ?

And check ins dont open until a few hours before the flight

 

Even if he could somehow do it, it's my understanding that their "system" is smart enough to know what day the flight actually departs, and will go by that rather than the time he passes through immigration if it's the day before (i.e., passing through before midnight for a flight after midnight).  Beats me how know though; flight number is on the departure card, but everytime I've included my boarding pass with my passport they push it right back to me without looking at it.

 

But as UJ pointed out, I think a one-day overstay is usually passed over.

[sanemax]

9 minutes ago, hawker9000 said:

Even if he could somehow do it, it's my understanding that their "system" is smart enough to know what day the flight actually departs, and will go by that rather than the time he passes through immigration if it's the day before (i.e., passing through before midnight for a flight after midnight).  Beats me how know though; flight number is on the departure card, but everytime I've included my boarding pass with my passport they push it right back to me without looking at it.

 

But as UJ pointed out, I think a one-day overstay is usually passed over.

 

   I would be surprised if they had a system like that in place .

But , you would not be able to go through immigration until you had checked in and check ins dont open until a few hours before the departure .

   Unless theres a way of checking in the previous day a long time before departure , online or something

   

[hawker9000]

2 hours ago, sanemax said:

 

   I would be surprised if they had a system like that in place .

But , you would not be able to go through immigration until you had checked in and check ins dont open until a few hours before the departure .

   Unless theres a way of checking in the previous day a long time before departure , online or something

   

You're right of course;  'can't go through immigration before checking-in.  You can't even get on the escalator without a boarding pass.  But can't you still check-in online (which is up to 24 hrs prior usually) and print out your boarding pass if leaving from Suv, or have they stopped that?  'Haven't bothered in trying in a few years, and last couple of times I DID try I WAS able to check-in but 'couldn't get the boarding pass to print out, so 'had to go to the check-in counter anyway.  Some of the bigger airlines, like Cathay Pacific, operate their counters essentially continuously and it is possible to check-in very early (or at least it has been in the past - 'haven't done it recently and things do change). 

[BritTim]

1 hour ago, hawker9000 said:

You're right of course;  'can't go through immigration before checking-in.  You can't even get on the escalator without a boarding pass.  But can't you still check-in online (which is up to 24 hrs prior usually) and print out your boarding pass if leaving from Suv, or have they stopped that?  'Haven't bothered in trying in a few years, and last couple of times I DID try I WAS able to check-in but 'couldn't get the boarding pass to print out, so 'had to go to the check-in counter anyway.  Some of the bigger airlines, like Cathay Pacific, operate their counters essentially continuously and it is possible to check-in very early (or at least it has been in the past - 'haven't done it recently and things do change). 

 

Whether you can print your own boarding pass depends on the airline and where you are going. On Air Asia, you can generally print the boarding pass if going somewhere that does not require verification of visa details.

[mintberrycrunch]

UPDATE***

So I came to the airport tonight @ 23:45 (2nd) for my flight tomorrow morning (3rd). (The 2nd is my last day on my passport). 

 

I checked in online already so had my boarding pass ready. 

 

Went up to passport control but they were all like 'where you going?' they could see on my boarding pass that my flight is at 08:00, so they were like 'come back at 4 o'clock'.   

 

So - coming a day early didn't work. 

 

Let's see now if I get fined later for being 4 hours overstay... 

[mintberrycrunch]

***UPDATE 2***

So I just passed through passport control at 4am for my 8am flight.

 

Passport guy passed me onto another guy, who stamped my passport, handed it back to me and smiled.

 

No questions, no comments, NO FINE!!! :) 

 

The stamp is inconspicuous... Not even in English... So it's not like it's a big black mark against me. 

 

In sum, it appears a 4 hour overstay is not a big deal at least... Although of course I would advise avoiding this scenario if possible, but it looks like a short overstay is no need for panic. 

 

Thanks everyone for your helpful comments!

[Ahab]

On ‎10‎/‎28‎/‎2016 at 11:01 PM, anthony0339 said:

I'm sorry but with the climate the way it is now, you will be 100% dinged with a 1 day overstay at the airport or a land border. It is not a big deal unless you are caught inside Thailand on an overstay. 500 Baht fine and a stamp inside your passport. Really, there is no excuse for this and you should have booked your flight home well in advance. 

Well I guess it was somewhat less than a 100% chance of being fined. Good job to the Global Moderator comment right after the OP.

Edited November 2, 2016 by Ahab

[BritTim]

1 hour ago, mintberrycrunch said:

***UPDATE 2***

So I just passed through passport control at 4am for my 8am flight.

 

Passport guy passed me onto another guy, who stamped my passport, handed it back to me and smiled.

 

No questions, no comments, NO FINE!!! :) 

 

The stamp is inconspicuous... Not even in English... So it's not like it's a big black mark against me. 

 

In sum, it appears a 4 hour overstay is not a big deal at least... Although of course I would advise avoiding this scenario if possible, but it looks like a short overstay is no need for panic. 

 

Thanks everyone for your helpful comments!

 

Always useful to have a report that confirms nothing has changed. Your experience matches that of many, many other people over the years.

 

For the benefit of others reading this thread, understand that the rules are different if you leave via a land border.