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ResourcesVisa & Immigration LawThailand Immigration LawCan I Exit Thailand Without an Entry Stamp in My Passport?

Can I Exit Thailand Without an Entry Stamp in My Passport?

Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are for talking about entry and exit stamps here in the Kingdom.  

Recently, there was a situation where an Immigration Officer was supposedly arrested for allegedly issuing fake entry stamps for individuals that were in the Kingdom. Basically they weren't leaving pursuant to the terms of their status and they were essentially receiving fake exit stamps and re-entry stamps to make it look as if they had left and returned.

I bring this up because I have had people over the years I asked me this question, "What happens if I try to leave and I don't have an entry stamp in my passport?" Well I would say that's a big problem because if one doesn't have an entry stamp in a foreign passport, basically the only people that shouldn't have an entry stamp in their passport are Thais; people who are born or naturalized in Thailand. Barring that, anybody else who is a foreign national in the Kingdom needs to have been admitted through an Immigration checkpoint in order to be considered in lawful status in the Kingdom of Thailand.  This brings up a major issue for some because they asked the question "Well what happens if I don't have that stamp?"  Well Immigration is going to presume that you illegally entered the Kingdom and that can lead to criminal penalties, detention, possible deportation, possible blacklisting to say the least. So those who have this problem, I would strongly advise contacting the legal professional in order to get the situation resolved. We have dealt with some of those things here in the office over the years and Immigration can be reasonable to deal with if one discloses their situation and tries to deal with it through all legal channels. 

But that being said, yeah it's a real problem if you don't have an entry stamp and you are trying to just leave the airport, they are not just going to stamp you out.  As I've explained, the PIBICS and the APPS system, all these new systems where the documentation and the recordation I should say, of an alien's entrance and exit into the Kingdom, that is all in a database now and when Immigration officers are in a processing someone out, basically somebody who's departing the Kingdom, they're going to pull up their history and see how they entered, when they entered;  if for nothing else they want to see if they want to go ahead and assess overstay fines.  So they are going to find out and they're not just going to "Oh, you are at the airport.  We are just going to stamp you out!"  They are going to want to know why you don't have an entry stamp. It is probably going to result in a delay on departure at the very least, possibly an arrest, again possible detention, deportation and blacklisting.  So those who are in that situation, it is a really good idea to contact legal professionals, get some assistance to go ahead and clear up one's situation and get back in lawful status.