Overstay in Thailand : new rules in March

We had already talked about it here : new immigration rules on overstays in Thailand will be applied in two months. The Embassy of France in Bangkok, recalls the measures that will be applied from 20 March 2016.

On March 20, 2016,  new rules on immigration control of foreigners in Thailand will come into force under Royal Decree No 16 of 21 December 2015.

Several overtay situations may occur.

1 – Case of a stranger indicating its situation to the Thai authorities:

The overstay time exceeded more than:
– 90 days, the alien will be denied entry to the Thai territory for 1 year;
– 1 year, the alien will be denied entry to the Thai territory for 3 years;
– 3 years,  the alien will be denied entry to the Thai territory for 5 years;
– 5 years, the alien will be denied entry to the Thai territory for 10 years;

2 – Cases of a foreign arrested by Thai authorities:

The alien living in overstay since:
– Less than 1 year, will be denied entry to the Thai territory for 5 years;
– More than 1 year, will be denied entry to the Thai territory for 10 years;

3 – More details:

In both cases, the deadlines are assessed as follows:
– Overstay residence time begins from the end of validity of the visa
  and
– The length of residence ban, starts on the date of departure from the country.

These rules do not apply to foreigners leaving the country:
– Being under the age of 18;
– Before the entry into application of these new rules.

But do not panic, overstaying in Thailand for only a few days will lead to lighter consequences. It usually results in a 500 baht fine per overstay day but beware prison is also an option even if it is rarely applied. Be sure to be abble to pay the fine otherwise a short stay in prison may become a reality.

In all cases it is better to carefully calculate your stay and even get for a visa extension at the Immigration Office (it costs 1900 THB) to avoid complications. Especially with the will of the current government to be firm on the subject…

Here you have all the information about visas for Thailand.