Iraqi held for overstaying visa for 15 years

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Man found in Kanchanaburi guesthouse faces 10-year ban from re-entering country

PUBLISHED : 10 Aug 2023 at 16:05

Iraqi held for overstaying visa for 15 years
An immigration officer checks the passport of Oday Jabbar Khudhair at a guesthouse in Kanchanaburi on Wednesday. The officer found that the Iraqi man had overstayed his visa for almost 15 years. (Photo: Piyarat Chongcharoen)

KANCHANABURI: An Iraqi man has been arrested in this border province for overstaying his visa by almost 15 years.

Immigration police arrested Oday Jabbar Khudhair, 43, at a local guesthouse on Thursday, said Pol Col Korn Somkhanae, chief of the Kanchanaburi immigration office. He did not say what district the guesthouse was located in.

The arrest followed a complaint that a foreign national had been acting suspiciously and might have committed an immigration offence, authorities said. He had reportedly moved from another part of the country to stay in Kanchanaburi.

Pol Col Korn led immigration police officers to the guesthouse where they found Mr Khudhair. A check of his passport showed his visa had expired on Aug 21, 2008.

Mr Khudhair was charged with overstaying his visa by 5,468 days and detained for legal proceedings.

The fine for overstaying a visa is 500 baht per day but the maximum has been set at 20,000 baht.

For more serious cases, an overstayer will be deported and banned from re-entering Thailand for a certain period. Those overstaying for more than 5 years will be banned from entering the country for 10 years.