Overstay in Thailand: Fines, Entry Bans and What to Do
Overstay means staying in Thailand past the date in your stamp. The fine is 500 baht for every day, up to 20,000 baht. The money is the smaller problem: overstay longer than 90 days, or being caught during a check, closes the border to you for anywhere from one year to ten. The good news is that overstay is easy to avoid. A student visa gives you 6 or 12 months of legal stay, and we watch the dates.
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What overstay costs
| Days over | Fine | Entry ban if you turn yourself in |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 90 days | 500 ฿ a day | None |
| Over 90 days | 20,000 ฿ | 1 year |
| Over 1 year | 20,000 ฿ | 3 years |
| Over 3 years | 20,000 ฿ | 5 years |
| Over 5 years | 20,000 ฿ | 10 years |
Turning yourself in means going to the airport or to immigration on your own, paying the fine and flying out.
If a check finds your overstay
Being stopped in the street, at a hotel or after a road accident is a different set of rules:
- less than a year over: a 5-year entry ban;
- more than a year: 10 years;
- until the flight out, you are held at an immigration detention center and you buy the ticket yourself.
Documents are checked regularly in Phuket: on the roads, in the tourist areas, at hotel check-in. Sitting it out does not work.
One or two days of overstay
The most common case by far: the wrong date in your head, a moved flight, a miscount of visa-free days. At the airport, at a separate window, you pay 500 baht a day on departure and you fly.
The record of the offense stays in the database. The next time you enter visa-free, the officer will see it and ask more questions.
How to count your days
- Visa exemption since 15 September 2026 is 30 days, and the day you arrive counts as the first.
- An extension of the exemption adds 30 days from the end of the previous period.
- A 60-day stamp issued before 15 September runs its full length.
Go by the date in the stamp, not by your own arithmetic. The rules are set out in visa exemption in Thailand.
If your stamp has already expired
- Act today. Every day is another 500 baht, and after 90 days it becomes an entry ban.
- Leaving: pay the fine at the airport on departure.
- Staying: the offense has to be closed first. You cannot be issued a visa while the overstay is running. Write to us and we will tell you the order to do things in.
- A notice that your visa has been revoked gives you a few days to leave, after which overstay starts.
How to never end up on overstay
The people who end up on overstay are the ones living on visa-free stamps and visa runs: a refusal at the border, a canceled flight, a date read wrong. A student visa closes that risk completely:
- 6 or 12 months of legal stay with no trips out;
- the extension every 90 days is already in the price;
- we remind you about every date in advance and prepare the documents;
- no money in the bank and no proof of income required.
The price is from 27,200 ฿ for six months with every extension included - the full breakdown is in how much a student visa costs, and our thai visa in Phuket packages are listed on the homepage.
Summary
Overstay in Thailand costs 500 baht a day up to a maximum of 20,000 baht. Under 90 days, turning yourself in means a fine and nothing more; beyond that it is an entry ban of one to ten years. Being caught during a check means at least 5 years and deportation. The reliable protection is a long-term visa arranged before your stamp runs out.
We have worked since 2013, more than 3,000 people have gone through us and there has not been a single problem case. Send us the date from your stamp on WhatsApp and within 5 minutes we will tell you how many days you have and how to stay legally.
