A check of the 32-year-old’s passport revealed that he had originally entered Thailand with a 30-day visa exempt entry. The check found that he had used the 32 days up and then overstayed by another 106 days.
New regulations on visa overstays came into effect last March. Foreigners arrested with overstays of one year or less face five-year bans. Anything over one year and the ban is doubled to 10 years.
The bans are less severe for people on expired visas who voluntarily turn themselves in. One year overstays result in a one-year ban, up to three years gets a three-year ban and three to five years will get you a five-year ban. Five year overstayers get 10-year bans.
Before 20 March 2016, the penalty for any foreigner overstaying their visas was a maximum fine of THB20,000. If they were caught by Immigration Bureau or police officers they were held at the Immigration Detention Centre until they were deported.
The new regulations were introduced to stop people flouting the system. Immigration officers claimed many people on overstays found it cheaper to just pay THB20,000 when they left and not have the hassle or expense of leaving the country and applying for new visas every few months.
Thailand bans Briton for five years under new visa overstay rules
News in Asia
A Briton arrested in Pattaya for overstaying his visa is looking at a five-year ban from Thailand. Police in the seaside party town quizzed Matthew Joseph Love this week after deciding that he was acting a little oddly.