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Visa Overstay Issues Causes Confusion


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I think the visa laws are in line with most, if not all, other countries. Some countries enforce them more rigidly than others but if your visa says 3 months then you should leave in 3 months or get an extension. You can't go wrong by following the rules.

Yes for sure last time I got a UK 2 year visa for the Mrs I had to have 10,000 quid on my bank account and she had to go stamp every 3 months.

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the issue here really seems to be with PO's Need to get a big story on its launch with TV, amd alot of people just dont like how it was done, we being the people make this site work, so surley mob rule should stop the link with the shoddy site of PO

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"I left bangkok last week with 6 months overstay and nothing was even said or done, when asking the officials they hadnt arrested anyone or new of a tighter policy change"

Why do you consider its your right to boast about your disrespect for Thailands Visa Policy and overstay 6 months. You set a wonderful example for all of us to follow. I welcome your reply.

If and when immigration really do start tightening the rules, then and only then will i consider following them to a T.

I would like to say ill respect thai law when thai's start respecting it, however that would open up a whole new can of worms!

I consider 20,000 a fair price to pay for the hassle of not having to fly once every 1,3 months to sort my visa out! and well if people dont like that, ,!,,

Thank you for this post, now I fully understand what it`s all about.

If Immigration wishes to continue letting people like you buck the system, well good luck and two fingers up to those that follow the rules and the people that make them.

In the end who are the fools? People like our Mojoman here who's attitude is, Immigration rules, no way, F---k you, or others like myself that respect and abide by the laws of Thailand.

I suppose technically Mojoman is not breaking the law, only taking advantage of the weaknesses in it`s enforcement. These actions inevitably putting everyone under scrutiny that has to be processed under the Immigration system, creating tougher rules, enforcements and stricter controls for all those concerned.

So as Mojoman says; well if people don't like that, meaning in-between the lines, so what, F---k you.

Edited by Beetlejuice
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Im taking advantage of Thailands flexibility with the law! im paying for my crime each time i pay the overstay fine! as it says 2years in prison/and or a maximum 20,000baht fine!

Until they start enforcing the prison sentance i shall carry on. At no point have i said people who obey the law are stupid, i respect people's own choices, if i end up in jail for 2 days its my own fault and i wont do it again!

As the saying goes, "do the crime, do the time." Right now the Time is only a fine!

And if people are stupid enough to copy me then its there own fault.

Good stuff. Honestly. Good for you. Try to ignore the bitters who feel like visawhores and whine about people using the system as it's set out. Poor things probably hate the visa system they live under, but suck it up like a bitch, and spend their own time and money being bitched every three months.

Easier, cheaper, but with some added risk. Good on ya for choosing to do it.

Edited by thomo
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What a load of **** i know a english lad who overstayed 3 years and who left thailand last week.He went to immigration paid his 20 thousand baht and then went to the airport and left,he was not detained and arrived back in thailand yesterday.And thai visa is sending this crap to my email.Editors note my ass.

it's dickheads like him who make these regulations need to be inforced

May be he didn't have a choice!

What if he has family in Thailand but doesn't have 400k on a bank account?

I thought it was 800,000 Baht.

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All you need is a marriage certificate and you can extend any visa, even 15 day VE's on Arrival for 60 days. So effectively a 75 days visa on arrival. Extension based on visiting wife or child.

Plus Tourist Visas are free.

People who are struggling and sweating over the funds for marriage visas are fools for not knowing and benefiting from the system.

Edited by thomo
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I think the visa laws are in line with most, if not all, other countries. Some countries enforce them more rigidly than others but if your visa says 3 months then you should leave in 3 months or get an extension. You can't go wrong by following the rules.

Yes for sure last time I got a UK 2 year visa for the Mrs I had to have 10,000 quid on my bank account and she had to go stamp every 3 months.

Can you enlighten me? as to the Type of 2 year UK Visa your Wife had, that required £10,000 in the Bank and also

required a Check In/stamp every 3 months??????

Never heard of it, I shall await your reply!

Edited by MAJIC
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Hopefully I am not taking the title of this article out of context:

[Visa overstay issues causes confusion]

What is so confusing about this law? Step-by-step:

Arrive and receive a stamp with a date on it.

That date arrives.

Pack up and leave.

No issues....

Life is simple, just do what he says above and "No Problems" I have been in and out of Thailand for over 40 years = never been fined, never been jailed - come in - and leave before the visa expires.:jap:

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What a load of **** i know a english lad who overstayed 3 years and who left thailand last week.He went to immigration paid his 20 thousand baht and then went to the airport and left,he was not detained and arrived back in thailand yesterday.And thai visa is sending this crap to my email.Editors note my ass.

it's dickheads like him who make these regulations need to be inforced

May be he didn't have a choice!

What if he has family in Thailand but doesn't have 400k on a bank account?

that is the most lame brained excuse I have read in a long time, this is like staying married for the kids, even if you don't get along. My advice, apply for a visa in his own country so his family can follow him there.........;)

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What a load of **** i know a english lad who overstayed 3 years and who left thailand last week.He went to immigration paid his 20 thousand baht and then went to the airport and left,he was not detained and arrived back in thailand yesterday...

He did the right thing by clearing his overstay at the local immigration office before going to the airport. It is the advice generally given on ThaiVisa for such situation. The articles in Pattaya One, I understand, are about overstayers who go directly to the airport or a land border.

The general rule, of course, is to take care not to overstay. The law, which has not changed, is clear and allows court sentences for imprisonment, so this risk is always there even if apparently no judge has handed down a prison sentence yet. The immigration department has the authority to arrest, detain, and send to court, and they can change their policies at a whim without the need for a change in the law. The court, not immigration, has the authority to hand down a prison sentence. This legal difference between detention and imprisonment probably makes little or no difference to the foreigner who gets locked up, although detention is reportedly somewhat less uncomfortable than imprisonment.

Talking about "authority" I should also mention that the foreigner who goes to the airport with an overstay and is offered by the immigration officer to be allowed to leave upon payment of the summary overstay fine of 500 Baht per day, maximum 20,000 Baht, has the right to refuse this offer and instead be arrested, detained, and have a court decide on the extent of his punishment. This option is usually exercised by foreigners who do not have the money to pay the fine. In this case, the judge is free to decide on the amount of the fine and the length of imprisonment or both within the limits set by section 81 of the Immgration Act, for example a fine of only 5,000 and no prison term for a long overstay; he is not bound by immigration's enforcement rule of 500 Baht per day for the fine, only by the maximum of 20,000 Baht. Of course, if the foreigner cannot pay even this lower fine he will be sent back to detention, ie be locked up despite the fact that he was not sentenced to prison.

Best explanation I have heard all year, take heed visa overstayers - go to immigration's clear your status before you go to the airport - this advice has been given from the US Embassy for years, Thai's as a general rule will 'forgive & forget" if you make it right beforehand instead of trying to 'play ignorant of the laws' while your trying to catch a plane Chok Dee:jap:B)

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What a load of **** i know a english lad who overstayed 3 years and who left thailand last week.He went to immigration paid his 20 thousand baht and then went to the airport and left,he was not detained and arrived back in thailand yesterday.And thai visa is sending this crap to my email.

This sounds about right to me.

If you have a flight booked and turn up with the correct amount of money and they lock you up for two days it will create more problems.

Firstly the flight will no longer exist as the passenger will now have missed it so a new problem will be created by this course of actions and then a new flight will need to be booked and some people won't be able to afford this even when they had a valid ticked when they turned up in the first place. Buying an immediate departure airline ticket to Europe is going to be very expensive.

It would be ridiculous to go down this route as it creates a lot more problems than it solves.

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What a load of **** i know a english lad who overstayed 3 years and who left thailand last week.He went to immigration paid his 20 thousand baht and then went to the airport and left,he was not detained and arrived back in thailand yesterday.And thai visa is sending this crap to my email.Editors note my ass.

it's dickheads like him who make these regulations need to be inforced

May be he didn't have a choice!

What if he has family in Thailand but doesn't have 400k on a bank account?

I thought it was 800,000 Baht.

400K if you have Thai spouse 800K otherwise

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What a load of **** i know a english lad who overstayed 3 years and who left thailand last week.He went to immigration paid his 20 thousand baht and then went to the airport and left,he was not detained and arrived back in thailand yesterday.And thai visa is sending this crap to my email.Editors note my ass.

it's dickheads like him who make these regulations need to be inforced

May be he didn't have a choice!

What if he has family in Thailand but doesn't have 400k on a bank account?

that is the most lame brained excuse I have read in a long time, this is like staying married for the kids, even if you don't get along. My advice, apply for a visa in his own country so his family can follow him there.........;)

Well excuuuuse me! it seems you are the one who is lame.

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I for one don't really give a flying fxck what Pattaya One says, but i make myself aware of the rules/laws in this country, and quite honestly if any farang is on overstay for more than a day or two days, then as far as i am concerned " rear the consequences and don't plead ignorance dummy"

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I think the visa laws are in line with most, if not all, other countries. Some countries enforce them more rigidly than others but if your visa says 3 months then you should leave in 3 months or get an extension. You can't go wrong by following the rules.

Yes for sure last time I got a UK 2 year visa for the Mrs I had to have 10,000 quid on my bank account and she had to go stamp every 3 months.

Can you enlighten me? as to the Type of 2 year UK Visa your Wife had, that required £10,000 in the Bank and also

required a Check In/stamp every 3 months??????

Never heard of it, I shall await your reply!

Sorry was being a bit sarcastic towards previous post.

Sure tourist visas are in line with most countries but this you would also expect for a tourist related county like Thailnad but visas for spouses are not.

The wife did get a two year visa for the UK which cost around 100 quid may be a little more and it only required a copy of the marriage certificate and my Passport.

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I think the visa laws are in line with most, if not all, other countries. Some countries enforce them more rigidly than others but if your visa says 3 months then you should leave in 3 months or get an extension. You can't go wrong by following the rules.

Yes for sure last time I got a UK 2 year visa for the Mrs I had to have 10,000 quid on my bank account and she had to go stamp every 3 months.

Can you enlighten me? as to the Type of 2 year UK Visa your Wife had, that required £10,000 in the Bank and also

required a Check In/stamp every 3 months??????

Never heard of it, I shall await your reply!

Sorry was being a bit sarcastic towards previous post.

Sure tourist visas are in line with most countries but this you would also expect for a tourist related county like Thailnad but visas for spouses are not.

The wife did get a two year visa for the UK which cost around 100 quid may be a little more and it only required a copy of the marriage certificate and my Passport.

Well thanks for your reply,but I am still no wiser.

You forgot to say the type of 2 year Visa,and also confirming her having to check in every 3 months???

Edited by MAJIC
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What is so confusing about this law? Step-by-step:

Arrive and receive a stamp with a date on it.

That date arrives.

Pack up and leave.

No issues....

You are right but overstay also happens to people who simply do not realize it. I know someone who until recently believed the validity of the visa itself means the period permitted to stay. Having a single entry tourist visa with a validity of 90 days which is 30 days longer than the standard permission to stay caused an overstay of more than 20 days before this person found out at the border. The problem is lack of funds to pay the fine, which is not totally strange if you planned to fly back with an already bought plane ticket. Ok it's not wise to not have a financial buffer but putting that aside there was no intention at all to get into trouble with authorities. Now this person managed to run away at the border and got back but the problem remained until enough funds had been arranged. Now the border run is soon to happen with a fine that is now 20.000 baht and I sincerely hope that simply paying the fine is all this person has to do!

You have to admit that the Thai who invented this visa system really was a bit too creative. I mean it took me a long time to figure out - or should I say discover - the difference between the validity of a visa and the permission to stay but only after several holidays here and finally obtaining an education visa. The authorities here just love their stamps and they seem to really enjoy making another one just by inventing some new twisted rule that takes months to figure out - no again discover! Well at least the officer at the immigration office nearby also complained about his collection of stamps so it isn't just falangs who think like me!

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Sounds like alot of back tracking on P1 part. also the fact they have started to criticize there reader base, i will certainly be avoiding there news at all cost not that i have even bothered to read anything bar what was said in tv about the overstay! I left bangkok last week with 6 months overstay and nothing was even said or done, when asking the officials they hadnt arrested anyone or new of a tighter policy change!

Not noted so far I have seen is the following: If you are here on a "retirement" visa and go for regular 90 address check it will not be extended past the visa expiration. This is from my direct experience in Chiang Mai. If this is the case when going to renew visa you also have to renew 90 day.

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UK Foreign Office please tell us who at immigration in Thailand gave YOU this warning?

Or did you get it from Howard Miller?

He IS the Honorary Consul in Pattaya for the UK and IS the Pattaya One boss!

Just name one name with rank and office of this immigration official issuing this Headline worthy news story?????????

Who advised the UK Foreign Office? Just hope it wasn't the same guy who told them that Gen Gordon was OK at Khartoum

or that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction or that Pakistanis assimilate well.

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I have no problem with this - its very simple - have a valid VISA and you dont have a problem - dont blame the Thais at all!! My comment - its a pity we in Britiain cant have blatant harsh laws against illegal immigrants. We have 250,000 in the UK and we soft soap tham and give them money - send them back to Pakistan and wherever else they come from and look atfer ourselves - we dont need to apologise for having an empire 200 years ago - the British working classes never got any benefit from it anyway - political correctness is a way for the rich to control the middle classes in modern times.

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You "Follow the rules!" types must really hate Thai people, since most of them break the law whenever they can.

The fact is the they know the rules themselves are baloney-sandwich and making proclamations like "do the crime do the time!" and "just follow the law!" amounts to nothing more than an idiotic chanting - which is why no-one is listening to you.

Besides this appears to be just another poorly conceived proclamation by a government BigHat and this Pattaya One guy is tried to make a story out of it to sell his rag. Maybe he has more free time now that consular services like passports are processed in Hong Kong.

There's also the issue that Thailand needs a longer stay tourist visa. The US tourist visa is 10 year multiple entry, 6 months per entry and costs about 3,500 baht. The US doesn't even stamp you out of the country or fine you if you depart having overstayed let alone throw you in jail for a couple days.

If you law-mongers are still hel_l bent on making sure everyone in Thailand is following the laws only you hold so dear, go tell the red-shirts on Rachadamnoen rd they can't gather as a group larger than five, scream at the cops for driving on the sidewalk, shout at the food stands for settings up on a Monday, scold the mom and pop Thai shops for selling beer between 2 and 5 P.M, call up and berate school principles for employing foreign teachers without work permits, go wave your finger at every brothel in every city in the country, or just <deleted> and consider why of all of things happen and no-one cares.

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^^^^

But George, with respect, this is not an over-stayer being detained for simply overstaying a considerable time, she has been detained because she couldn't pay the fine for over staying.

It does however serve as a timely reminder that immigration offenders can be, and often are, detained.

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^^^^

But George, with respect, this is not an over-stayer being detained for simply overstaying a considerable time, she has been detained because she couldn't pay the fine for over staying.

It does however serve as a timely reminder that immigration offenders can be, and often are, detained.

Correct.

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I often wonder why Thailand wants long stay foreigners in the country,in the near future I think it will fall in line with most others and force them to leave for a limited amount of time.

Thailand is a big boy now ,does not need the income from them.A foreigner buying a house down a company route in Thailand maybe heading for problems,...got a business? need a business visa ,that will cost 6 times as much, trading as a business a minimum tax bill is attached to it. happening now in other countries nearby

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^^^^

So you are saying that foreigners with a Thai family should leave the country for the regularly for a period of time, what does that achieve? what other countries have this requirement? I can only speak for the UK and they don't require it.

Or are you saying that people who wish to retire in Thailand and maybe contribute to the economy should leave regularly? again what would this achieve? other countries are in fact fact encouraging people to retire in their country, The Philippines for example.

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^^^^

So you are saying that foreigners with a Thai family should leave the country for the regularly for a period of time, what does that achieve? what other countries have this requirement? I can only speak for the UK and they don't require it.

Or are you saying that people who wish to retire in Thailand and maybe contribute to the economy should leave regularly? again what would this achieve? other countries are in fact fact encouraging people to retire in their country, The Philippines for example.

I think you will find the PH tweaking immigation rules ,just like Malaya are doing,Goa thousands of Brits forced out recently,lost their houses too,six months in ,two months out,about to change to 3 in 2 out . Turkey has just made long termers leave as well.

If you a foreigner you will be forced out.They make the rules,all part of national pride

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^^^^

But George, with respect, this is not an over-stayer being detained for simply overstaying a considerable time, she has been detained because she couldn't pay the fine for over staying.

It does however serve as a timely reminder that immigration offenders can be, and often are, detained.

Correct.

But Dean Mancuso’s case, also referred to in that article IS for a long time. We don’t know how long the woman’s was.

I have just re-read the Pattaya One story.

They say:

“The only overstaying foreigners who can spend up to the maximum of two years inside the Immigration Detention Centre (IDC) in Bangkok are those who simply don’t have the money to pay the fine and purchase an air ticket in order to leave. They are arrested, spend a night or two behind bars, face court, are fined and then sent to the IDC.”

So this poor backpacker and Mr Mancuso both exemplify this.

Then:

“Equally, at no point did Pattaya One ever claim there had been a change in the law or the penalties had become harsher.”

So what the story seems to be saying is that enforcement has changed, and they quote two unnamed Pattaya cases, and we have the two Phuket ones.

Is most people’s issue with this that enforcement hasn’t changed? If so, have people been banged up for this for years?

If so,I can’ t understand what all the fuss is about, either way.

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