Phuket Immigration discovers 186 visa overstayers in just 7 days

In a single week, 186 foreigners in Phuket, southern Thailand, were found to have overstayed their visas, Phuket Immigration reported this morning.

From April 28 – May 4, 2023, 120 police officers inspected the documents of 216 foreign targets on the island under orders from Phuket governor Narong Wunsiew, Chief of Phuket Police Pol. Maj. Gen. Sermpan Sirikong, and Chief of Phuket Immigration Pol. Col. Thanet Sukchai.

Of the 186 found to have overstayed their visas, 182 paid their respective fines while five foreigners were arrested, according to Phuket Immigration statistics, reports NaewNa.

According to a Phuket Immigration infographic, police arrested one Egyptian national, one Danish national, one Burmese national, and one Chinese national.

Of the 182 foreigners who surrendered, 41 were from Russia, 16 were from Kazakhstan, 15 were from the USA, 15 were from China, 10 were from the UK, and 85 were from elsewhere in the world.

Aside from overstaying, Phuket Immigration officers arrested a Burmese national and a French national for evading the immigration authorities.

Four Thais were also arrested by immigration police, one for a traffic violation and three more under arrest warrants, according to Phuket Immigration.

Phuket Immigration also reported that between April 1 to April 30, 2023, a total of 304,485 tourists arrived on the island and 370,807 reported the address of their accommodation to immigration as required.

Top nationalities visiting Phuket in April 2023…

1. Russia (63,476)
2. China (46,697)
3. India (24,897)
4. Australia (23,307)
5. England (17,552)

While 182 foreigners paid fines for overstaying in the kingdom in Phuket in April, Phuket Immigration reported that no foreigners received red or yellow cards last month.

Phuket Immigration launched the yellow and red card scheme in March to combat the problem of wayward foreigners on the island. The system sees law-breaking foreign tourists deported from the kingdom after two offences.

Any tourist who commits an offence will receive a yellow card as an official warning. If they offend again, they will receive a red card, which sends them packing and banned from Thailand.