Overstaying your Visa

[arsenal]

If you overstay your visa, for whatever reason then go straight to the airport and pay the 500 baht fine there. The Thai Tourist Authority website proudly boasts that Amnesty International has condemmed the conditions in which illegal immigrants are held and the way they are treated.

If you overstay your visa, for whatever reason then go straight to the airport and pay the 500 baht fine there. The Thai Tourist Authority website proudly boasts that Amnesty International has condemmed the conditions in which illegal immigrants are held and the way they are treated.


Even though this subject is now being delt with on another post, I cant understand what your trying to say, do you mean if you go to pay over stay, your be arrested even though you pay 500 baht a day or what?

[pong]

what can or may happen is this:
IF police happens to halt you and ask for papers (and they have any right to do so-no assumed break of law would be needed) then IF they find you are in overstay, I think they have to put you in jail and check everything about you.
Better checkt he usual forum for this-thaivisa.
Some years ago (I assume that it was to clamp down on those visarunners=people who stay very long time on back to back tourist visa) such a van was halted on either the Pattaya_Camb or Phuket- MYanmar/Burma boat Ranong run. Then several of the pax were found to be in overstay and were hence arrested. There have been no or at least no screaming out (and TV does that on the slightest of inducements) similar happenings ever since, so after all my conclusion is that it was a well-aimed hit at a fraudelent operation anyway.
BTW; if you leave at Swampy airport (and possibly all airports- NOT overland) the 1st day is waived-though there is no right on this. Many people have flights out at f.e. 0.30 or 2.20 and check in before 24.00 day before (possible last day of permitted stay) and they get this. The actual day of departure counts.

THIS ENTIRE post was copied word for word and without a link or credit to the original author from the Stickman website. This is the link: http://www.stickmanweekly.com/ThailandV ... rstay.html (http://www.stickmanweekly.com/ThailandVisa/ThailandOverstay.html)


Some border points are under instruction from the main Immigration HQ in Bangkok that anyone exiting the country with an overstay of 40 days or more is to be arrested and sent to Bangkok for questioning, It seems to be a bit of a lottery but some people have been arrested, it would seem its up to the discretion of the officer in charge on the day, at which point they will be processed and placed in the Immigration Detention Centre before they are able to make their way out of the country тАУ and while based in the IDC, as it is known, they will actually need assistance from a friend, family or embassy staff to arrange tickets etc.
It has to be said that the IDC is supposed to be hell on earth, something which really should be avoided. Many have been broken in days there. One friend spent 4 days there and insists they are absolutely the worst 4 days of his life.

I am of the opinion that there really is no excuse for overstaying. The only plausible excuse I can imagine is if one should fall sick in Thailand and be physically unable to leave. That is the only time it is acceptable.

What needs to be understood is that if you are in Thailand on an expired visa, you are illegal. It will be hard to do many things. For example, when you check into a hotel you are required to provide your passport (although often they will accept other forms of ID such as a drivers licence or other local Thailand ID). Should you be involved in any altercation, traffic accident or be approached by police or any authorities, you may be asked to provide your passport and simply not having it on your person can create a problem. If you wish to avail yourself of a new phone line, high speed internet, cable TV or even apply for a job, all of these may require the vendor viewing and even making a photocopy of pages from your passport. Even some simple banking transactions such as sending money abroad or receiving a money transfer through a service such as Western Union require you to show your passport тАУ and if you are on overstay, you have a problem. Western Union branches, for example, were instructed a few years back to retain any passport which had an expired visa and call the police immediately!

If you are picked up in the country anywhere, at any time, on an expired visa, you will be arrested and taken to the Immigration departmentтАЩs detention centre in Bangkok.
It should be noted that overstaying is a serious offence. In some of ThailandтАЩs neighbouring countries the mandatory punishment is 14 days jail and in many Western countries, overstaying your visa may see you subject to a ban from returning to that country for a period of 5 years! Please donтАЩt think that the 20,000 baht maximum fine is a friendly invitation to overstay as long as you wish, like some sort of convenient, long-term visa solution. It isnтАЩt. ItтАЩs a serious crime. DonтАЩt forget that!

The law is not new and as you can see from the date of enactment it has been on the statue book for some thirty-one years.

So why all the debate on Thai visa overstay at the moment?
People who overstayed in Thailand would now be subject to jail time(as provided in the 1979 Immigration Act). The apparent crackdown coming about because of a change in command at the department.

Now taking place is in some cases, Overstays of less than 21 days will not be subject to detention but that those over 42 days are most likely to be arrested and detained. It calls the area between 21 and 42 days a grey area, which I guess in Thailand probably means its down to the individual immigration office/officer dealing with the case

It is also interesting to note that the British Embassy in Bangkok yesterday reissued its travel advice that deals with Thailand visa and covers the thorny issue of overstay.

[arsenal]

Mothersruin

I posted a separate thread because people like you (with your constant squabbles) hijack other posts so that when someone answers the actual point their post is so far down that it's impossible to find. New people come to this board regularly and might want to know about this issue. Whether they want to know if you do or do not understand "why" I cannot say. Perhaps you can ask them.

As I understand it, if you are at the airport with a ticket out and go and pay the 500 Baht per day fine for overstaying your visa you will not be arrested.

Mothersruin


As I understand it, if you are at the airport with a ticket out and go and pay the 500 Baht per day fine for overstaying your visa you will not be arrested.

arsenal,

That is my understanding of the law too.