3 years overstay. Go direct to airport or to Immigration first ?

[bluebird729]

44 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

Dont get arrested by the police before you get to the airport

I think with 3 years of overstaying, its obvious to the person already.

[hotchilli]

I would go straight to the airport, book your ticket online and do online check-in at the airport if available.

Hope the immigration officers just do the paperwork, pay the fine and let you out of the country.

[ChipButty]

20 minutes ago, bluebird729 said:

I think with 3 years of overstaying, its obvious to the person already.

You would think so, but I have some clowns get arrested by the police

[Kenchamp]

Heard from someone that some middle eastern airlines are now requiring some sort of medical guarantee to do with covid before allowing people on flights that touch down in the middle east. 

 

Can anyone else verify this?

[ubonjoe]

19 minutes ago, Kenchamp said:

Can anyone else verify this?

Pick a country on this map to find out their requirements. https://www.iatatravelcentre.com/international-travel-document-news/1580226297.htm

You will see that many of them are dark blue which nobody can enter other than citizens or residents.

[jomtienisgood]

21 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

Seven year ago is before the new rules came into effect in March of 2016. No ban before then.

I was thinking exactly the same.

[tomazbodner]

Can't speak from personal experience, as I was never on overstay but... I've seen several people while dealing with Immigration in Bangkok who were simply told to go to airport to sort it out. Hence a trip there just adds unnecessary risk, since if you are stopped for whatever reason before you reach immigration desk at the airport, the rules are very different. You'd lose your plane ticket, spend time in jail until you can pay for another one, get longer blacklist period, and you'd still need to pay for your detention, food, etc. Don't go there.

Get a ticket asap on a flight that is unlikely to be cancelled. So book from airline direct, not some discounted online agency. Keep your head low and don't upset anyone who could call the cops to check you out and avoid any places where you could be asked for a passport. Note in any kind of accident, even you are a passenger, you could be asked for it.

On the day of your flight get to airport early and have 20k cash in hand for the fine. If you can, take airport link train instead of taxi (if you're in Bangkok), especially if flight is late evening to avoid any road checks.

Don't forget mask, hand sanitiser, and whatever you need back at home to enter. Note there are green, yellow and red lists there, so you might be subject to quarantine depending on which country you transfer through, but Thailand from what I can tell is yellow so if from EU, you should even avoid quarantine on arrival.

Good luck.

[scoupeo]

Wishing them the best...

Really, these people who can be on overstay so long time are amazing.

[ericthai]

On 7/30/2020 at 2:04 AM, bluebird729 said:

7 years overstay has a 10 year ban.

and you said he was back in Thailand in a week ?

 

I can only assume that this was NOT in Bangkok; because the immigration office in Bangkok is very 'by the book' and has many steps process (involving many people).

possibly one might be able to try bribing officials at bkk immigration but I cant imagine it would go well.. and probably end up in getting arrested.

 

Perhaps in a small remote regional immigration office (like the one at Nong Khai), then i can imagine you have a chance of success.

 

I'm guessing your friend was in a small regional office.

 

PS:  I assume you are talking about an actual immigration office in a town or city,  and not an immigration booth or office at the actual border.

 

 

 

actually years ago immigration was lax on overstays and even suggested to just overstay if it was only a few days. You could overstay years pay the fine on the way out and come right back in.  Immigration cracked down on this about 5 years ago or so to implement bans. 

[impulse]

7 hours ago, scoupeo said:

Wishing them the best...

Really, these people who can be on overstay so long time are amazing.

 

Before 2016, it was an economic decision for a lot of guys.  Is it cheaper to do border bounces every month, or is it cheaper to pay 20,000 baht fine every few years when you really needed to leave Thailand for a while?  Before 2016, you could clear a 3 year overstay at the airport, fly out and fly back in time for dinner.

 

Implementing the overstay bans changed all that.  Along with eliminating repeated border bounces.

 

Edited July 31, 2020 by impulse

[bluebird729]

16 hours ago, scoupeo said:

Wishing them the best...

Really, these people who can be on overstay so long time are amazing.

yes exactly.

(as far as I know...   the person in question overstayed a month or two... and then did some maths.   It was going to cost them 20,000 to pay for the few months overstay.

Plus the impending Lao (Vientiane) Visa-Run..  (2 wasted days), plus a cost of maybe 5,000.   

the person in question realized it was a whole lot easier and cheaper to just overstay.. (and pay 20,000 when going back to their home country).

I know the person well..   and they have been doing normal tourist visa-runs for 12 years. But their money situation was low and it seemed mathematically cheaper for them to overstay 3 years.. (as supposed to visa runs every 3 or 6 months).

I can vouch that (as a UK resident in Thailand), I have never been asked for my passport once in 10 years.

My friend is from Sweden and they said they have never been asked for passport by pol;ice either in 12 years.

She carries a Euro-Driving License, and police are happy with this.

They hang out in the night life and all the places where police patrol the streets; so I think the chances of getting asked for a passport (as supposed to a driving license) are tiny.

i'm sure they will be able to leave thailand fine.
But I want to re-assure my friend about which is the best way to leave thailand.

it seems that going direct to the airport many hours in advance is the best way to go  ????

[bluebird729]

8 hours ago, impulse said:

 

Before 2016, it was an economic decision for a lot of guys.  Is it cheaper to do border bounces every month, or is it cheaper to pay 20,000 baht fine every few years when you really needed to leave Thailand for a while?  Before 2016, you could clear a 3 year overstay at the airport, fly out and fly back in time for dinner.

 

Implementing the overstay bans changed all that.  Along with eliminating repeated border bounces.

 

That is the EXACT reason my friend ended up overstaying 3 years.

it was by far economically cheaper than 3 years worth of border runs to vientiane. (from bkk).

 

I am a friend of this person and I am now back in my own country,, and i used to do the border runs for about 10 years.

My friend is still in bkk.. and they will go to sweden in the next month or so.

 

You mentioned that they eliminated repeated border runs.

What do you mean exactly?

I recall that after about 4 to 6 border runs, I would get a new passport and start afresh.

It was funny because the thai embassy staff (in Vientiane) told me to do this!  Lol

is this still the same?  or have they even cracked down on this too ?

if so, how ?

[tomazbodner]

4 hours ago, bluebird729 said:

yes exactly.

(as far as I know...   the person in question overstayed a month or two... and then did some maths.   It was going to cost them 20,000 to pay for the few months overstay.

Plus the impending Lao (Vientiane) Visa-Run..  (2 wasted days), plus a cost of maybe 5,000.   

the person in question realized it was a whole lot easier and cheaper to just overstay.. (and pay 20,000 when going back to their home country).

I know the person well..   and they have been doing normal tourist visa-runs for 12 years. But their money situation was low and it seemed mathematically cheaper for them to overstay 3 years.. (as supposed to visa runs every 3 or 6 months).

I can vouch that (as a UK resident in Thailand), I have never been asked for my passport once in 10 years.

My friend is from Sweden and they said they have never been asked for passport by pol;ice either in 12 years.

She carries a Euro-Driving License, and police are happy with this.

They hang out in the night life and all the places where police patrol the streets; so I think the chances of getting asked for a passport (as supposed to a driving license) are tiny.

i'm sure they will be able to leave thailand fine.
But I want to re-assure my friend about which is the best way to leave thailand.

it seems that going direct to the airport many hours in advance is the best way to go  ????

I agree with being asked for passport. I was asked once in 25 years, on the back of motorbike taxi without a helmet on a deserted road next to Makkasan Airport Link station. The copper wanted to see my wallet and passport. I don't know what made him not charge me for driving without a helmet but he surely asked a lot of questions about where I live, where I work, where I was going, etc. It wasn't a pleasant experience but was OK in the end.

 

Hence the point was that although small, the risk is there when there's an accident for instance. As such, if someone is on overstay, it's better to keep head low and avoid situations where passport could be asked for, as that would be a game-changer for the plan to leave the country.

[cormanr7]

On 7/31/2020 at 10:21 AM, Kenchamp said:

Heard from someone that some middle eastern airlines are now requiring some sort of medical guarantee to do with covid before allowing people on flights that touch down in the middle east. 

 

Can anyone else verify this?

Yes, be careful, negative COVID-19 test (by PCR) required by Emirates and Ethihad (but I think the former presently does not fly to Bangkok at the moment) and this includes passengers just in transit (as per their websites). Starts August 1st.  

As far as I am aware, Qatar does not have this requirement.

 

 

 

[johnray]

Pay the fine bro.

[impulse]

14 hours ago, bluebird729 said:

You mentioned that they eliminated repeated border runs.

What do you mean exactly?

 

Nowadays, they only allow 2 entries per year by land border.  That really threw a wet blanket over a low budget strategy that thousands of perpetual tourists used to stay in country legally for decades.  And decimated an entire industry that had been built to serve that market segment.

 

Edit: To your comment about getting a new passport, that may work.  But between better computer system and biometric data collection, I think the new passport/fresh start tactic is going the way of dial phones.  And they may not catch it at the Embassy/Consulate, but do you really want to risk getting stopped at immigration upon entry?  Out of curiosity, how long ago was it that the Thai Embassy suggested it?  Because any advice more than a couple of years old is probably no longer valid.

 

 

Edited August 1, 2020 by impulse

[bluebird729]

On 8/1/2020 at 3:01 PM, impulse said:

 

Nowadays, they only allow 2 entries per year by land border.  That really threw a wet blanket over a low budget strategy that thousands of perpetual tourists used to stay in country legally for decades.  And decimated an entire industry that had been built to serve that market segment.

 

Edit: To your comment about getting a new passport, that may work.  But between better computer system and biometric data collection, I think the new passport/fresh start tactic is going the way of dial phones.  And they may not catch it at the Embassy/Consulate, but do you really want to risk getting stopped at immigration upon entry?  Out of curiosity, how long ago was it that the Thai Embassy suggested it?  Because any advice more than a couple of years old is probably no longer valid.

 

 

I have been out of Thailand for just over 3 years already. So it seems I missed the crackdown on continuous border runs... (which I did for just over 10 years).

The woman at the Thai Embassy in Vientiane told me about the passport 6 years ago. (so its probably well and truly out of date).

But, none-the-less, I was getting a new passport every 3 or 4 visa's... and I did this right up until my final departure (3 years ago) without any questions or problems entering thailand.  (perhaps the immigration at Friendship Bridge (Nong Khai) was more lax.. and I have no idea how they would be today if someone did the same.

 

PS:  you said that you are not allowed more than 2 land-border entries per year.

So, this means someone can do 2 land entries and fly for the other ones ?   so it seems its still pretty easy to get around.

[BritTim]

1 hour ago, bluebird729 said:

PS:  you said that you are not allowed more than 2 land-border entries per year.

So, this means someone can do 2 land entries and fly for the other ones ?   so it seems its still pretty easy to get around.

The actual rules were (prior to Covid-19)

• Two visa exempt entries by land per calendar year.
• No fixed limits by air, but in practice all airports imposed some kind of limit to prevent serial visa exempts to live indefinitely in Thailand. How strict they were varied by airport.
• No official limit when entering through a land border with a visa, and some land borders would automatically admit Westerners with a visa. However, consulates everywhere were routinely cracking down on providing tourist visas to those who had already spent a few months in Thailand on tourist entries.
• When entering by air with a tourist visa, some airports imposed no limits. At other airports, they tended to deny entry to tourists with more than 180 days in Thailand over the prior 12 month period.

Summary: unlike in the past, staying indefinitely on tourist entries (whether visa exempt or with tourist visas) was becoming very difficult. Some nationals could still do it with serial multiple entry tourist visas from home country, and careful selection of arrival airports.