Questions?
We reply within 24 hours, free of charge.
A Thailand overstay fine costs THB 500 for every day you stay past your permitted time, capped at THB 20,000 once you reach day 40. You pay it on the way out, at the checkpoint: at the airport you tell the passport officer you have overstayed, and staff take you to a separate counter where the payment is collected. You cannot board your flight until it is paid, so bring enough cash in baht.
In short
- The fine is THB 500 per day, capped at THB 20,000 from day 40.
- You pay before you leave: at the airport counter, or in some cases at an immigration office.
- Bring cash in baht. Official sources do not confirm that cards are accepted.
- Overstay beyond 90 days brings a re-entry ban starting at one year after you leave.
- There is no general amnesty. A few emergency waivers have existed, but none is a rule you can count on.
What an overstay costs
Overstaying is an offence under section 81 of the Immigration Act B.E. 2522, which on paper carries up to two years in prison, a fine of up to THB 20,000, or both. In practice, a traveller who surrenders at the checkpoint on departure rarely sees a courtroom: border officers collect a flat settlement fee of THB 500 for each day past the permitted stay, and the total never exceeds THB 20,000, however much longer you overstayed. That ceiling is reached on day 40.
| Days overstayed | Fine |
|---|---|
| 1 | THB 500 |
| 10 | THB 5,000 |
| 20 | THB 10,000 |
| 40 or more | THB 20,000 (cap) |
The table is our own arithmetic from the THB 500-a-day rate and the THB 20,000 cap; it is not a published schedule. The criminal exposure in section 81 does not disappear — it is what border officers can fall back on if someone refuses to pay, which we cover below.
Paying at the airport: what happens at the counter
The Thai government's own service page sets out the general route on departure: tell the passport officer about the overstay, then go through to the fine counter.
- At passport control, you tell the officer you have overstayed.
- The officer walks you to a separate counter that handles overstay payments.
- There, staff take the payment, issue a receipt, log the case and stamp your passport accordingly.
- You get your passport back together with the receipt.
Refuse to pay, and the case goes to investigation, which can lead to prosecution under section 81. If you simply do not have the money on you, Thai embassies warn travellers that you may be held at the checkpoint until you can produce it. None of this is a reason to panic — it is a reason to plan: work out the fine in advance and carry more cash than you think you need.
Paying at immigration before you leave
If you are filing for an extension of stay, the overstay for those days is usually settled at the immigration office together with the extension application itself — that is how extending your stay in Phuket normally works.
What is less clear is whether an immigration office accepts an overstay payment on its own, with no extension attached, and whether an airport later honours that receipt at departure. We found nothing official on this. Our lawyers can check the current practice for your situation before you make a trip to the office, so you are not left holding a receipt the airport will not recognise.
When overstay leads to an entry ban
Re-entry bans follow Ministry of Interior Notification No. 1/2558, in force since 20 March 2016. The ban is counted from the date you actually left Thailand, and it depends heavily on whether you surrendered yourself or were caught and arrested.
| How the overstay ended | Length of overstay | Entry ban |
|---|---|---|
| Surrendered voluntarily on departure | Up to 90 days | None |
| Surrendered voluntarily on departure | Over 90 days, up to 1 year | 1 year |
| Surrendered voluntarily on departure | Over 1 year, up to 3 years | 3 years |
| Surrendered voluntarily on departure | Over 3 years, up to 5 years | 5 years |
| Surrendered voluntarily on departure | Over 5 years | 10 years |
| Arrested and prosecuted | Up to 1 year | 5 years |
| Arrested and prosecuted | Over 1 year | 10 years |
The gap between the two halves of this table is the whole point: walking up to the counter yourself usually gets you a shorter ban, or none at all, than being found by immigration — except at the far end, where an overstay of more than five years brings a ten-year ban either way. The Tourism Authority of Thailand said in 2016 that the ban does not apply to anyone who left the country before turning 18, but we have not found a more recent confirmation of that rule, so we would not rely on it as a guarantee.
A separate question is a short overstay of a few hours, say a flight that leaves just after midnight. Thai embassies have said in their own guidance that the fine is usually waived in that case, but the decision sits with the officer on duty — it is discretion, not a statutory grace period. We would not plan a trip around the hope that a few hours turn out to be free; assume you will pay for every day.
If you're caught overstaying inside Thailand
Being found overstaying inside the country, rather than at departure, can mean detention and prosecution under section 81. The notification sets harsher ban periods for arrest than for voluntary surrender, as the table above shows. Official sources do not go into detail on how the detention itself works or how accommodation is handled before departure, so we are not going to guess at specifics we cannot confirm.
If you already know you have overstayed, it is better to act before a check finds you, not after. Leaving the country or going to an immigration office on your own terms puts you in control of the timing. Our team can help you work out what to do first in your situation — leave, go to immigration, or something else — depending on how long the overstay has run and what visa you hold.
What to do next
The simplest way to avoid an overstay fine is to extend your stay before it runs out. If you are on a long-stay visa, see extending your stay in Phuket; if you arrived visa-exempt, the rules are in our guide to the 30-day visa exemption. For the wider picture of staying in Thailand longer, see staying in Thailand past 30 days. We covered overstay limits and typical fine amounts separately in visa runs and overstay in Thailand; this guide focuses on the part that article does not — what actually happens at the counter.
If you are already overstaying, message our team on Telegram or WhatsApp. We reply within 24 hours, work out the fine for your dates, assess the risk of an entry ban, and set out the next steps for your situation. We agree the cost of any consultation with you before we start. A related typical situation — a visa exemption extended in Phuket in a single visit — shows how a stay deadline can be handled without ever reaching a fine.
