The announcement, posted on the Immigration Bureau website, is in both English and Thai, and details the penalties for overstay as follows:
- Overstay of more than 90 days blacklisted for a year
- Overstay more than one year blacklisted for three years
- Overstay more than three years blacklisted for five years
- Overstay more than five years blacklisted for 10 years
Those are the penalties for people who “surrender” – usually by turning up at an Immigration desk on the way out of Thailand.
In cases where offenders are caught in Thailand without valid permits to stay, the following apply:
- Overstay less than one year blacklisted for five years
- Overstay more than one year blacklisted for 10 years
ThaiVisa reports: “It should also be noted that today’s new rules as detailed above confirm the removal of the proposed lifetime ban for overstaying 10 years or more.
In Phuket, Immigration boss Pol Col Sanchai Chokkayaikit this morning confirmed the news.
“This is a good thing to make people obey the law," he said.
"Up until now, people overstaying in Thailand paid fines of only B500 a day [up to a maximum of B20,000]. That's nothing. This ruling is going to make people more careful about exceeding the limit."
The new rules are not retroactive, he said.
“It's okay if people did wrong in the past, but from the moment the Ministry of Interior approved the paper, the new rules have been in force.”
The announcement on the Immigration website can be found here.
See the original ThaiVisa report and discussion here.