Thai Immigration Overstay and a Last-Minute Flight

I had an interesting experience with Thai immigration when I left after exceeding my 30-day Visa-free period by one day.

I knew I wanted to spend at least 30 days in Thailand, then possibly extend and stay a few extra weeks.

I have traveled to Thailand before on a one-way ticket then purchased my onward leg once in Thailand.

I never found arriving on a one-way ticket a problem from the Thai perspective; however, it caused an irritation at the European departure point where I was questioned by non-Thai airline checking staff about my onward intentions.

Figuring Out Which Flight Tickets Are The Best

I was using a ticket to get to Bangkok, which was the return leg of a Bangkok-Frankfurt return ticket.

But by using the leg back to Bangkok, it would appear in Europe that I was going one way to Bangkok.

This time around, to avoid that possible irritation on leaving Europe, I purchased a ticket from Bangkok to Australia.

As it turned out, there was no issue at checking.

Changing Tickets To Stay In Thailand

I purchased my onward ticket out of Thailand to Australia for a 30-day stay in Thailand.

However, on arrival and looking at the entry stamp, I realized the date chosen put me on at 31 days.

I thought it is not a problem since all Thai Airways tickets are fully changeable, and I intended to change it and stay an extra 2 weeks.

During my stay, I went online to change my ticket from Bangkok to Australia before going to immigration to pay for an extra extension.

But I found it was not possible to change it as Thai Airways classified it as a special fare which couldn’t be rearranged.

It was a case of use it or lose it.

Trying To Extend Thai Visa While On Overstay

So now I was in the situation that I had a ticket leaving Bangkok at 6:30 p.m. the day after my 30-day Visa-free stay expired.

I went to immigration in Phuket to apply and pay for an extension costing a few thousand baht simply to do the right thing and not overstay by a few hours.

Thankfully, I Did Not Have To Pay Overstay Fine

Phuket immigration told me not to worry, just go to the airport and pay a 500 baht fine, as it was not worth paying the higher extension fee, and they assured me it would have no negative consequences for me.

Sure enough, on my departure day, at the immigration check, I was politely asked to follow the officer to a booth right down the end of the line.

The officer in the other booth took my passport while his colleague explained the situation.

The second officer inspected all the entry-exit stamps.

I had a 500 baht note out in front of him and said, “I have to pay you 500 baht as I overstayed a day to catch my flight.”

I intended to apply for an extension, but my airline ticket cannot be modified, so I can’t change it to go a day earlier, and I can’t extend to stay in Thailand.

The officer smiled and said, “Mister, you do not worry about it; you never overstayed before.”

He put a stamp with some Thai writing in the passport, initialed it, and there was a number one written in it.