Badbanker

Recently there has been a change in deportation policy, to strictly enforce all deportees be returned to their country of origin.

It is tipped that this came about, because a British national whose Thai visa was cancelled at the request of HM Prison Service, and was being returned to prison in the UK, jumped ship at a transit stop and returned to Cambodia.  His action has really hurt a lot of people!

Shortly after this event, all people who are deported have had their passports handed by immigration to the Captain of the aircraft, who gives you and the passport to law enforcement officials at any transit stops, who ensure the passport and passenger is given to the captain of the ongoing aircraft, who then hands you and your passport to the Immigration authorities in the deportee's country of origin.

As can be imagined, many countries of origin do not take kindly to this sort of thing happening and detain deportees further so they can establish the nature of the offense of the deportee.  Many Middle Eastern and African countries further detain people in these circumstances for 1-5 days and often money must be paid to get you out.

Previously the return to country of origin was winked at and it was possible to be deported to a country for which the deportee had no right of refusal.  British nationals to Hong Kong for instance!  That has now seriously changed.

This is the first major change I have seen in the deportation system for some years.  Immigration is starting to look at other ways to discourage people from overstaying their visas that, aside from potential involvement in illicit activity, are a burden on Thai society at large.

Don't abuse the privilege we have in this country and overstay!  Get legal soon people, because Blacklisting is also being discussed!

Recently I seem to spend a lot of time helping people sort out their difficult overstay problems and at the suggestion of a couple of embassies, have decided to slowly write it up one at a time on Thai Visa to assist people in similar situations.

I was recently contacted and asked to assist a Western European national with a 7 month and 13 day overstay.

In the insuing period since his arrival the person had lost or misplaced his passport but had fortunately kept his TM arrival card in a separate place.  He did not, for various reasons have the money to get a new passport or clear the overstay at a border checkpoint and then get back into Thailand.  He also had personal health problems relating to his heart and had to be reassured on a number of occasions during this process that it was going to work out OK.

He was also paranoid after reading much misinformation some of which was on Thaivisa.com!
The day of getting the overstay problem sorted out we left the hotel at about 10 am but really should have left earlier at say 9am.  On arrival at Immigration Chaeng Wattana, we initially collected a form to transfer the stamp into the new passport.  After all the requisite photcopying and photos and form filling we collected a Que number and sat and waited for about 30 mins.  

We were called in and the officer on seeing the paperwork was very strident and asked why he had overstayed?  As she has seen my face on many occasions and I explained that he was not in a position to clear the overstay until now. She then launched into a tirade at me in Thai about this action being breaking the law and I am really tired of people flaunting Thai law for their own personal benefit.  She said soon we will put news laws in place that will reward long overstayers with black listing for a period of time.

She asked curtly if he had the 20,000 baht for the overstay and we did. Even though he was leaving the country at 9 pm that same evening she also wanted 1,900 baht for a 7 day visa extension.

Having the mangled TM card in his possesion was a boon as it had his original 14 day entry stamp on it. After checking on the computer she found his entry but he had been registered in the computer system for 30 days entry not 14 and this mistake had to be changed through the central computer system before we could proceed.  This took till about 1:30 pm.

The section of Immigration we went to has 2 online systems.  One is the Immigration Computer System and the Other is a Police System.  These systems allows them to check if there are any outstanding warrants for your arrest.  If a warrant is found you will be escorted from Immigration to the Police station from which the warrant was issued even if it is in Hat Yat or Chiang Mai

In the insuing period of time there was one very contentious case involving someone that it was alleged has sold their passport and was now returning a second or third time to get a stamp in their new passport in several months.  This caused all the officers and their bosses to freak out and it stopped all processing.  At about 2:30 with the entry stamp in the passport and the computer corrected we joined another Que to get the overstay and 7 day extension paid.

After about 30 mins the officer called me and the man and said we are too busy!  Here is your money  back!  Go to the airport and pay for things there.  She gave us back the money and newly stamped passport and we left.

So back to the hotel to settle the bill and into a taxi and go to the airport.  Get a boarding card and  go through immigration.  The immigration officer sees our mans new temporary passport and the stamps from Chaeng Wattana and then ushers him to "The Desk".

"The Desk" is a very busy place!  It can be clearly seen from outside of the immigration area as it is at the corner before you go to the security check.  It is common at times for as many as 6 people to be standing in line waiting to pay overstay charges.

Some very small and minor questions and pay the 20,000 baht and then go to the plane.  Easy process!   
  
Problem has been that rumors and surmisings on various forums have caused many people to be scared of clearing overstays for fear of getting locked up, if they present themselves at immigration with an overstay.

Most of the problems I have come up against in this process is a lack of understanding on both sides.  This is coupled with a communication/language barrier which can at times be an explosive mixture.

Never and I mean never getting indignant, loud, threatening or demanding!  It will not achieve anything.

If you have overstayed there is a law for this.  Fortunately this law is being interpreted very leniently at the moment.  My contacts are telling me it may not be for much longer!

Get your visa overstay sorted out soon people so you can live in peace.

BB