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William

Leaving from our lovely new airport on Sunday I saw a sign at immigration which basically said that overstay fines now start at Baht 1,000 and are Baht 500 for every day thereafter (up to the maximum, which I think is Baht 20k).

I had not realised till then that the minimum overstay fine was Baht 1,000 (thought it was Baht 500).

As it happens, overstay has never been an issue with me, but might be worth thinking about if this is something that is likely to affect you.

ChiangMai noon

strange that they haven't increased the 20,000 maximum.

spliff

Yeah...they've had signs up advertising the rate increase for awile now in Nong Kai.

lom

Yes, because a single day of overstay is not fined in airports (but are at other immigration offices, where it will be 500 baht).
So the first day is free but if you have more than 1 day of overstay, you pay for the first day as well.
Therefore, if fined, the first fine will be 1000 baht and cover 2 days.

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No panic please! And last out is a loser.

Butterfly

and even if you check in before midnight, they will include the next day, just because you are still in the airport

Thetyim

Maybe that it what the one day grace is about at the airport

lom

Your check-in is irrelevant. It is when you pass immigration that counts

Butterfly

check-in at the customs, not the airline

Dean

I usually take Northwest Airlines, which is supposed to arrive between 23:30 and midnight. There have been several occasions that I have gone through imigration around 12:20-12:30 and they still stamp my passport with the previous day's date. It would have made me one day late on my last 60 day visit. However, my first visa run was to Burma from C.M. on 22 Sept. That trip was canceled when the border was closed after the coup. I left for Phuket on 23 Sept. for a week there and then a week in Pattaya. On 23 Sept., (the last day on my 30 day visa) I visited Phuket immigration and got a 10 day extention for 1,900, plus 190 for two photos. I cut my stay in Pattaya short so I could take the train to C.M. and get on a bus to Burma on the last day of my extended visa. Of course, the train was 2 hours late and the 9:15 bus was full, so I went the next day and paid the 500 baht fine. I will be taking NWA twice in the next 7 months and will see if the immigration officials are as lazy at the new airport and not change their stamps at midnight.

Deaner

I once had to pay a 42 day overstay as my employer said they'd take care of everything and didn't. I went to the Aran border and they told me to go back to Bkk and get it sorted there. I had to argue until the head policeman came out to let me pay the fine there.

A friend of mine had a 3 year overstay once and only paid the 20,000B upon leaving the country. She came back w/o any problems.

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NickA

I think it's the max you can take out of most Thai ATM machines in one day

klongmaster

think you'll find the max on ATM is now 40,000 although you normally need to take it in two 20k lots...