Why Were My Friends From Hong Kong Fined for Overstay Despite the Amnesty?

Jun 19, 2020
5 years ago
David ***********
ORIGINAL POSTER
My friends friends from Hong Kong were made to pay 7000 THB in overstay fines at Bangkok international 2 or 3 days ago. I thought there was an amnesty so what's going on there?
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TLDR : Answer Summary
This post discusses the situation of two friends from Hong Kong who were fined for overstay in Thailand despite the presence of an amnesty. Clarifications reveal that the overstay fine was valid as it occurred before the amnesty started, and the confusion arose from the interpretation of a letter from the Chinese embassy.
David ***********
ORIGINAL POSTER
Ok so thanks Tod for solving this mystery via pm. They recieved the letter from the Chinese embassy to say they couldn't travel and was meant to be taken to Phuket immigration to request a 30 day extension but they thought the letter was an extension. Overstay was from before the amnesty started. So it's all legit and above board.
Tod *********
I cannot see any advantage to keeping the thread open until david reports back with the info so I'll close it for now, and open it when he messages me
David ***********
ORIGINAL POSTER
Finding out these details will report back asap
Tod *********
When did they get here, when did their original entry stamp expire?

The way the amnesty works IS if you have an entry stamp that expires AFTER the 26th of March you don't pay when you stamp out of the country up until the 31st of July
David **********
@Tod ********
Hi Y

Tod. Not being argumentative or even dense. What if the entry stamp was until 25 March & was extended 30 days for 1,900?
Tod *********
@David ******
then they would be okay. It's the date the valid stamp expired and if they had a stamp that expired before that BUT had applied for an extension that took them past the 26th they shouldn't have been fined at all
Tod *********
BUT

IF you had an entry stamp that expired before that you pay overstay up until the 26th of March only. To have them charged 7K in overstay they would have had to have had an entry stamp that expired on the 11th of March. (14 days before the amnesty)

When did their actual entry stamp expire?
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