A friend's visa has expired in Thailand. How does he get back to the UK?

Upvote:0

Assuming he is British or has the necessary papers to enter the UK (for example EU citizen), and the problem is how to pay for a flight, you can use for example Western Union to send money so he can pay for a flight. That's their business and they have been doing this for years, so you can be quite sure that your money will arrive at the right person.

They might be able to pay for a flight directly, in case you fear that your friend takes the money and disappears. As an alternative, you could try to book a flight for your friend and pay for it, but that may be more difficult. Getting him to the UK without paying for it yourself seems difficult.

Being told "you have to leave within a month or go to jail" I would assume that the Thai government isn't going to stop him.

Upvote:1

How long has your friend overstayed his "visa" and what sort of entry permit did he come in under? If he has only overstayed for a week or two, he should likely be able to show up for his flight home, prepared to pay the overstay fine.

If he has been flying under the radar with an expired visa for a long period of time, he would be best to check with his embassy and perhaps talk to a lawyer about his options. With the current government and rules, there is less forgiveness to overstayers.

Upvote:2

Overstaying in Thailand can have different sanctions depending on how long have someone been overstaying in the country.

Even if you overstay for just one day, legal actions could be taken up against your person. Usually though when you overstay for one day, it doesn’t carry a fine with it. The fine of 500 baht per day of overstay only begins after the second day, so if your stay expired on the 15th of March and you only reported to the immigration by the 20th, your fine will only be 4days of overstay or 2,000 baht.

Violators can pay the fine at the immigration office, or at the airport. The process won’t take 10 minutes, and fines could be even paid in advance too. The fine for overstaying should not exceed 20,000 baht in the max. If you can’t avoid overstaying though, it’s a good thing to voluntarily clear your name by showing yourself up in the immigration. If you do this, you will avoid imprisonment and further implications.

I leave a link to the Thaiembassy where you will find information about the fines and other useful information:

Thai Embassy - Siam Legal

It would be good to contact the British consulate / embassy by phone and ask how to proceed, and then, take the decision on which option is the best.

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