Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing overstay in Thailand. For those who are unaware, if you surpass the expiration of your underlying Visa or your Visa exemption status or visa-on-arrival when coming to Thailand, you are in overstay; you are no longer in lawful status. Lawful status in Thailand in a Non-Immigrant Visa or a tourism context has an expiration date. Staying over that expiration date physically present in Thailand results in what we call overstay which can result in fines; it can result in detention; it can also result in deportation and even Blacklisting and an inability to return to Thailand depending on the duration of the underlying overstay. 

I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, that is pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Thailand on the way to becoming a visa-free zone for foreign holiday makers. Just a note on the title. It is not going to be Visa free in Thailand but for a number of the major markets in tourism that generally travel to Thailand, pretty much all the major markets that Thailand usually hosts here in Thailand are pretty much Visa free. Russia and China have just been added to that list. The West, the United States, the Anglosphere, Europe all of that has for the most part primarily always had some form of Visa-free entry into Thailand. Now China and Russia at least temporarily through this upcoming high season have been added to that list. There is even some discussion of possibly adding India to that list as well. So a number of foreign visitors here in Thailand are going to have the luxury of not needing to worry about getting a Visa before arrival. That said, again quoting directly from this article, Pattaya Mail, that is pattayamail.com - Thailand on the way to becoming a visa-free zone for foreign holiday makers, quote: "That is reflected in the growing number of lengthy Visa overstayers who have been picked up by Thai Immigration Agents even without anyone notifying the authorities." Yeah this is a big deal. We have discussed this in other videos. Thai Immigration Systems have improved tremendously, especially through COVID. It is really almost a different Immigration System in terms of implementation, administration and enforcement than it was going into COVID. And what am I talking about here? It is digitized; the entire database is now digitized. On top of that it's possible to cross reference now different databases: for example the address reporting database with the main database that shows whether or not someone is in overstay so that, "Oh my gosh, Thai immigration now knows you are in overstay and they know your address.” And, they have been known to and we have reported on it especially down in Phuket, but I have heard about it in other areas as well where Thai Immigration actually makes spot checks to those addresses and where they find the person on overstay, they arrest, detain and deport them and in some cases they Blacklist them. Because if you are arrested in Thailand, not if you are ascertained at a checkpoint leaving but you are actually in Thailand and you are apprehended here in the Kingdom in overstay, that is an automatic five-year Blacklist as we have discussed in other videos. 

So the consequences for this can be really dire if you are looking to make a long-term change, thereby living in Thailand, you're looking to live in Thailand long term, this could be a dire consequence if you are found in overstay and arrested and a five-year ban is imposed. So you want to avoid that, so you want to avoid overstay. And you need to understand there was a time in Thailand where overstay, "okay a couple of days. Who knows? I'll get on a plane, I'll leave!"  They are much more serious about it now. They are undertaking enforcement protocols; they are conducting spot checks; they are going to people's houses, if they are on overstay and they are detaining them if they are found and deporting them. So bear that in mind, be careful and always make sure that you keep up your Visa status here in the Kingdom of Thailand.