A Portuguese woman was arrested at a restaurant in Phuket yesterday, October 13, after immigration officers found that she had overstayed her permission to remain in Thailand by 1,807 days.
Immigration officers went to the restaurant in Ko Kaeo subdistrict, Mueang Phuket district, at about 1.30pm as part of checks on foreign nationals suspected of immigration offences.
They found the woman taking a cooking lesson inside the restaurant and asked to see her identification documents.
She was unable to produce her original passport and instead showed officers a photograph of it stored on her mobile phone.
Officers then entered her details into the Immigration Bureau’s biometric system to confirm her identity, nationality and passport information.
The checks identified her as a Portuguese national who entered Thailand through Suvarnabhumi Airport on March 20, 2020, under a 30-day visa exemption.
She later received permission from Phuket Immigration to extend her stay but did not apply for another extension after that permission expired.
Immigration officials said she had remained in Thailand beyond her permitted stay for 1,807 days, or nearly five years.
She was formally charged with remaining in Thailand after her permission to stay had expired and was informed of her legal rights.
Officers then took her into custody and transferred her to investigators for further proceedings, while immigration officials began the process of arranging her deportation from Thailand.
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The story Portuguese woman caught overstaying nearly 5 years in Phuket as seen on Thaiger News.