Thread: Rumours of 30 day Thai visa exempt going to 15 days

Originally Posted by Thetyim

Got a linky please because I have been told the opposite

Originally Posted by jandajoy

Hmm, yes, me too. A link would be good.

You don't get internet links to private conversations.

so what were you told?

was the teller more reliable than thetyim's contact?

Originally Posted by English Noodles

the new government has said it will scrap the 15 day rule and go back to 30 days in the new year.

There is something pointing in that direction, yes.
My tennants who did a visa run the 4th and got until the 17th went to immigration
yesterday, paid for their overstay (there!) and got a 7 days extension for the normal 1900 baht.
Never has it been possible before to pay your overstay in other places than on a border.
Never has it been possible before to get an extension when you already have 5 days overstay.

I would be surprised if they did a volte face on this one since their strategy of weeding out the visa runners evading regularisation of their de facto residences would be greatly undermined.
The 90 day within 6 months restriction was always unwieldy and time consuming to implement and somewhat arbitrary in that it failed to take into account the moneyed element who wished to visit according to whim. To abandon this in favour of a 15 day limit traversing land borders was a natural step and much more focused in targeting those they wish to discourage although the capacity of the visa runner to put up with 24 trips a year with its attendant costs and inconvenience may prove to be somewhat underestimated ......

Originally Posted by lom

Never has it been possible before to pay your overstay in other places than on a border.

I have paid in Soi Suan Phlu

Originally Posted by good2bhappy

I have paid in Soi Suan Phlu

Here it has been very strict , no payment at the local immigration office before.
You pay when you leave the country.

have the stamp in my old passport
15 days 3K

Originally Posted by lom

Never has it been possible before to pay your overstay in other places than on a border. Never has it been possible before to get an extension when you already have 5 days overstay.

This is not correct.
You can pay, for example at Suan Phlu, as g2b says. You can get an extension at the same time, but it should start from the date you should have left, not the day you report.

First hand experience here from several years ago.

^ absolutely!

Originally Posted by spiff

This is not correct. You can pay, for example at Suan Phlu, as g2b says. You can get an extension at the same time, but it should start from the date you should have left, not the day you report.

Has not been possible here before.
I have witnessed tourist with one or two days of overstay beeing told that their
only option now is a border run.
Immigration office here are usually very helpful so they have even told them who to contact for the visa run

Now, my tenants got 5 overstay days for 1000 baht + additional 7 days for 1900 baht. They are stamped in until the 29th.

The new government has given local immigration offices advance info about change of the 15 day rule? Or are they just nice because it's xmas?

Oh, and just to clarify re the Suan Phlu thing:
You cannot pay the fine in advance, only in retrospect and they will ask you to leave the same day if you are not eligible for an extension.
Do not expect any leniency or bending of the rules.

Originally Posted by lom

my tenants got 5 overstay days for 1000 baht

Thats cheap, it should have been B2,500.

Originally Posted by lom

Now, my tenants got 5 overstay days for 1000 baht + additional 7 days for 1900 baht. They are stamped in until the 29th.

Very strange.
Isn't it 500 per day? For the starting day of the extension I suppose interpretations vary.

Yes, 2500 baht of course, my error.

Originally Posted by spiff

they will ask you to leave the same day if you are not eligible for an extension.

The main problem here in the past was that they didn't consider you eligible for an extension if you already were on overstay.

With that possibility (paying overstay at the local immigration office), the visa run companies would never have to worry about transporting overstayers with the risc of beeing stopped on their way to the border.

Originally Posted by ChiangMai noon

so what were you told?

That Phornsiri Manoharn had met with the minister of tourism and sports and this was one of a number of issues that had been addressed and agreed needed changing.

Originally Posted by ChiangMai noon

was the teller more reliable than thetyim's contact?

I don't know who thetyim's contact is, all I can say is I was told by someone within the new administration, this was just mentioned briefly as part of a conversation between a number of well-to-do people over dinner.

load of old women gossipping over the garden wall

Originally Posted by ChiangMai noon

^
sure they will.

this new lot aren't as dumb.

how long will they be in power though?

Until the new elections are held...

Originally Posted by DrAndy

load of old women gossipping over the garden wall

That may well be your idea of a conversation between a number of well-to-do people over dinner but certainly not mine.