Blacklist if Overstay... Soon

[Oukiva]

Here is what has been announced today on ThaiVisa, of what *could* be rules soon.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/740634-thai-immigration-bureau-to-blacklist-all-overstayers-of-more-than-90-days/

 

* In the case that alien surrenders themselves:

• Overstay more than 90 days > Forbidden from re-entering the kingdom for 1 year.
• Overstay more than 1 year > Forbidden from re-entering the kingdom for 3 years.
• Overstay more than 3 years > Forbidden from re-entering the kingdom for 5 years.
• Overstay more than 5 years > Forbidden from re-entering the kingdom for 10 years.
• Overstay more than 10 years > Forbidden from re-entering the kingdom for life.

* In the case that the alien is being apprehended:

• Overstay more than 90 days but less than 1 year > Forbidden from re-entering the kingdom for 5 years.
• Overstay for more than 1 year > Forbidden from re-entering the kingdom for 10 years

Below is the photo of the "document" source of ThaiVisa's topic,

but be careful: it's not from an official document...

[furryman]

Saw that story and I'm gonna say that despite anything else you can say about TV board, they are pretty good about checking their sources for the news.

 

It is certainly a much harsher stance than previous, but I cannot say it is unreasonable. Unless you get arrested for something or get caught by the cops for one reason or another, you can have 90 days of overstay with no more penalty than now. Nobody overstays more than 90 days by accident.

[QuotaMan]

Surprised this hasn't been posted 10 times in the Barstool section already.

 

A panic type thread if there ever was one.

 

And it should give some pause to those who continue to preach that there's nothing bad about overstaying your visa on a regular basis, that it's 'simple' as paying your fine and over and done with, no repercussions.

 

I take no such chances, and would never advise anyone out there to either.

[Cerberus]

Enforcing laws that already exist and affects no one but illegals and undesirables that elect to flaunt the law, 

[Paddy Od]

Just wish the USA would have the fortitude to enforce its laws like they do in LOS. We have a huge problem here.

[Oukiva]

Hi. From ThaiVisa again: Copy of the new document that you have to sign

already in many Immigration Office when you apply for an Extension of stay.

[furryman]

At least they seem to be making an effort to inform people about the rule change.

[THAJEC]

I do not have problém with these rules and measures and I agree with them.

[Faraway]

These are great news. No pardon for overstayers

[Oukiva]

* In the case that alien surrenders themselves:

• Overstay more than 90 days > Forbidden from re-entering the kingdom for 1 year.
• * In the case that the alien is being apprehended:
• Overstay for less than 1 year > Forbidden from re-entering the kingdom for 5 years.

A small expected changed :

 

* In the case that the alien is being apprehended:

• Overstay more than 90 days but less than 1 year > Forbidden from re-entering the kingdom for 5 years.

http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket-news/Immigration-looks-enforce-life-ban-overstays-within/31105

[Kandinski]

Just wish the USA would have the fortitude to enforce its laws like they do in LOS. We have a huge problem here.

 

Are there many sexpats over staying in the US?

[Paddy Od]

Are there many sexpats over staying in the US?

 

I truly wish that were the problem, but sad to say it's not.  

[Oukiva]

Overstay Ban Rules now official on the Immigration website :

http://bangkok.immigration.go.th/popup_anounce.html

 

Edit: Looks like they need a 60 days period to apply such rule => mid-September ?

[furryman]

Overstay Ban Rules now official on the Immigration website :

http://bangkok.immigration.go.th/popup_anounce.html

They dropped the lifetime ban. Not sure if that is good or not. Up to them.

[furryman]

A small expected changed :

 

* In the case that the alien is being apprehended:

• Overstay more than 90 days but less than 1 year > Forbidden from re-entering the kingdom for 5 years.

http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket-news/Immigration-looks-enforce-life-ban-overstays-within/31105

 

Looks like this change did not make it in. I guess be on your best behavior if you have to overstay for a few days...

[Oukiva]

Looks like this change did not make it in.

I guess be on your best behavior if you have to overstay for a few days...

Yes the change is still there. They put the "overstaying more than 90 days" in the "violator" description below the Warning:

 

"The aliens who violate The Immigration Act, B.E.2522 by overstaying more than 90 days in the Kingdom of Thailand

will be forbidden from re-entering the kingdom for a certain period of time as follow ;"

[furryman]

Yes the change is still there. They put the "overstaying more than 90 days" in the "violator" description below the Warning:

 

"The aliens who violate The Immigration Act, B.E.2522 by overstaying more than 90 days in the Kingdom of Thailand

will be forbidden from re-entering the kingdom for a certain period of time as follow ;"

I think you misunderstood what I wrote. There was word soon after the story broke that those apprehended by the police who were on an overstay of less than 90 days would not have an entry ban placed on them. That did not make it into the final version.

 

According to the latest confirmation, if you have any overstay at all, and you are apprehended by the police, you are facing a 5 year entry ban. Will they be hard asses and give a 5 year ban to a guy caught up in a disco raid with a handful of days of overstay? I don't know, but according to the new rules, they could.

 

 

PS. I see what you are saying, but it is a bit ambiguous as in the first list it clearly says more than 90 days. but in the second list it does not explicitly say more than 90 days. I would still be really, really careful not to have a run in with the BIB if i was on even a few days of overstay.

[Oukiva]

According to the latest confirmation, if you have any overstay at all, and you are apprehended by the police, you are facing a 5 year entry ban. Will they be hard asses and give a 5 year ban to a guy caught up in a disco raid with a handful of days of overstay? I don't know, but according to the new rules, they could.

I certainly don't qualify to tell you that your understanding of English language may be wrong, but...

 

Everybody seems to agree that on this document every penalty is about "The aliens // overstaying more than 90 days", even penalties when "apprehended" who concern "*that* alien".

[ModBellerophon]

I got a bit of a surprise yesterday when at the Jomtien office for the extension of my one year non-immigrant visa.  Got to first hand witness a farang couple in their 50's getting carted off with all the Cambodians and Burmese folks that get shipped to Bangkok for processing and a trip out of the country.  Handcuffed to Cambodians and sitting in the flat bed of a truck for the drive....definitely not the police experience you'd get in Canada or other Western countries. 

 

That said, to an extent it was good to see them treated like everyone else as the criminals they were.  Too often farangs demand and end up getting some form of special treatment and it's silly when you think of it. You see threads upon threads of folks complaining about corruption in Thailand (when it's not conventient) and then threads upon threads of folks complaining about getting treated just like everyone else when they're here. 

[furryman]

Interesting. Do you know for sure if they were being detained for an overstay, or might it have been for something else?

[ModBellerophon]

Definitely an overstay, wife and a friend of hers who works at the office (and foruitously is the one who has to approve all my paperwork to go to Bangkok).  Apparently they'd been in Thailand more than two years without any form of Visa.  Semi-retired couple. 

 

If you can't afford the few steps it takes to be here legally I don't know what the eff they were doing here to pay the bills.

[The Sly Fox]

None of this effects me in any way, never overstayed once in 30 plus years of going in and out LOS. I seen people all the time of this and many other forums talking about including deliberate overstay in their travel plans. Always seemed very dumb to me. Anyway, seems like those days are finally over for good.

[tonyacat]

The Nation today: Heavy new penalties await visa overstays

With effective from Aug 29

 

AUTHORITIES will bar visitors who overstay their visas from returning to Thailand for between one year and a whole decade. The longer the overstay period, the longer will be the re-entry ban.

Starting from August 29, the ban will be imposed on any foreigner found to have overstayed his or her visa or visa-exemption period.

 

The Immigration Bureau decided to mete out such tough punishment after the current penalty, a maximum fine of Bt20,000, had apparently failed to serve as a sufficient deterrent.

 

Last year, a total of 70,715 foreigners were charged with overstaying their visas. Between January and June this year, the number of visa overstayers reached 30,359.

 

"We have asked the Interior Ministry to approve harsher punishment," Immigration Division spokesman Colonel Worawat Amornwiwat said.

 

He said foreigners who turn themselves in would be barred from re-entering Thailand for one year if their overstay time exceeds 90 days. The ban will be valid for three years if their overstay period is more than one year. Those overstaying for more than three years will be barred from coming back to Thailand for five full years. In the event an overstay exceeds five years, their re-entry to Thailand will be prohibited for the next 10 years.

 

"And if they do not turn themselves in, the ban will be longer. |For example, overstaying for less than one year will result in a five-year ban if [the overstayer] is arrested," Worawat said.

 

He added that starting from August 29, foreigners who failed to produce their passports would be fined up to Bt20,000 and jailed for up to two years.

 

Worawat insisted that the tougher punishments were necessary because many visa overstayers were found to have flouted Thai laws in various aspects - such as buying Thai-national identification cards.

 

A Chinese woman arrested on charges of overstaying said she had come to Thailand to make a living, not to commit any crime.

 

"Here in Thailand, it's possible to start a small business or stall with as little as Bt3,000," she said. "That would not be possible back in my homeland."

[ModBellerophon]

I went to Jomtien immigration again today and saw three older foreign gentlemen getting carted off in the truck, though I was solo without the wife so don't know what the ultimate reason was.  In years of going to immigration I'd never seen foreigners getting carted off, but now two times in a row so it's either a complete coincidence or they really are cracking down already and this is becoming a more common occurence.

 

Saw one of them get brought in by a police officer with his bags and everything, then about 45 minutes later (long wait today) a couple more were brought out from the back and loaded up also. 

[THAJEC]

None of this effects me in any way, never overstayed once in 30 plus years of going in and out LOS. I seen people all the time of this and many other forums talking about including deliberate overstay in their travel plans. Always seemed very dumb to me. Anyway, seems like those days are finally over for good.

Absolutely   When the person complies with the immigration laws, it should not have any problem. I was quite surprised how many gamblers will allow you to circumvent these rules and what they would in their own country have never tried it, so try to practice in Thailand.

Everyone is the architect of his own fortune and good luck for those adventurers.