I have spent the last couple of hours browsing the site for overstay questions. I realize I am fully responsible for getting myself in trouble. I am US citizen, 51 yo, in BKK for holiday.

Entered Thailand in November, my visa is stamped for 30 days, exit on Dec 22, 2016. I just mistakenly thought the standard was a 60 day stay and now I am looking for best options. I can get a ticket to Vietnam and spend a couple of weeks there but was hoping to come back to Thailand. My flight from Bangkok back to the states is Feb 15.

I imagine I have two options, go to immigration here in BKK or book a flight out as soon as possible.

If the easiest thing to do is book a flight now for tomorrow, go to airport, pay the 500b/day fine for 13 days and fly back after Jan 15 so the next 30 visa will hold, that's what I will do.

Is there a chance they might ban me from Thailand for the overstay? Would love to come back but it's not necessary.

Yes, I am a dumbass. No reason to overstay except I was not paying attention. Surprised they did not make me aware at airport that I would be out of compliance with my exit ticket 3 months later but in the end it was my responsibility.

Thanks for any advice you can give me.

You got a 30 day visa exempt entry. Only a tourist visa from a embassy or consulate allows a 60 day entry.

Your best option is to pay the overstay fine at an airport on departure from the country.

You could return on the same day to get another 30 day visa exempt entry and then a 30 day extension of your entry at immigration for a fee of 1900 baht.

But since you plan on staying longer than 30 more days it might be best to go to a nearby embassy or consulate to get a single entry tourist visa. They are free at this time.

There is no ban from entering until you have more than 90 days of overstay unless you are caught with one before you leave.

you can also do a quick border to Cambodia, pay the fine, get 30days visa exempt and do a 30day extension to cover you for the rest of your stay.

 

We are assuming that you really did enter without a visa and received a visa exempt entry. It could be possible that we are making an erroneous assumption. If you acquired a tourist visa from a consulate before traveling to Thailand, you only received 30 days due to an error by the immigration official on entry. (This is not a particularly rare occurrence.) In that case, you can easily have the error corrected and will not have to pay an overstay fine.

Would he be able to go to immigration office and get a 30 day extension on his current visa and pay the overstay fine and then be legal on his extension ?

10 minutes ago, sanemax said:

Would he be able to go to immigration office and get a 30 day extension on his current visa and pay the overstay fine and then be legal on his extension ?

With the length of overstay he has now it is unlikely they would do the extension. It can be risky going to immigration with more than a few days of overstay. Three or 4 days of overstay would be the most I would suggest trying immigration.

Thanks for all the advice.

Your assumption is correct. I did not get a tourist visa ahead of time. What I have on my passport I got at the airport. It says W.30 - 23Nov2016 until 22Dec. 2016.

Certainly if it were very straight forward, it would be easier to go to the immigration office but since I am out of compliance, it sounds like I might risk the dreaded detention center and paying a lawyer to get me out by doing so.