Most immigration work in Thailand is routine: an extension of stay, a work permit, a change of visa category. It becomes legal work when something goes wrong. An application is refused, permission to stay is revoked, a stay runs over, or someone is detained or ordered to leave. Both kinds start from the same facts: your passport, your current permission to stay and the date it ends.

Tell us the deadline first. If an immigration officer has handed you a written order in the last two days, say so in the first line of the form below. Some of the appeals described on this page must be filed within 48 hours.

Match your situation to the work

Your situation	The first questions
Extending your stay on retirement or marriage	Do the financial evidence and the dates meet the category, and is the application in before your current stamp expires? See the retirement extension and marriage visa guides.
Starting work for a Thai employer	Is the Non-B in place, and does the employer meet the capital and Thai staff ratio that Immigration applies to the extension? See the Non-B guide.
Staying long term	Which route do your facts already meet: the LTR visa, Thailand Privilege, permanent residence or citizenship?
You have overstayed	For how long, and will you leave voluntarily or were you found inside the country? That decides the fine and any ban on re-entry.
You were refused entry, or your permission to stay was revoked	Which section does the order rely on, and when did you learn of it? The appeal window may already be running.
You are detained or facing removal	Where are you held, what order was made, and who can arrange your travel? See the deportation guide.

Refused or revoked: the 48-hour appeals

Two decisions under the Immigration Act B.E. 2522 (1979) carry an appeal inside the Act, and both must be filed within 48 hours.

Refused entry: the appeal to the Minister (section 22)

If an immigration officer finds that you fall within one of the exclusions in section 12, you are ordered in writing to leave. You may appeal to the Minister within 48 hours of learning of the order. Once the appeal is filed you are not removed until the Minister decides, and if the Minister makes no order within seven days of the appeal, you are treated as not excluded. The Minister’s order is final. There is no appeal at all where the exclusion is under section 12(1), no valid passport or no visa where one is required, or section 12(10), a person the Minister has barred under section 16.

Permission to stay revoked: the appeal to the Immigration Commission (section 36)

Where the Director-General revokes your permission to stay, you may appeal to the Immigration Commission within 48 hours of learning of the order, and the Commission’s decision is final. If the written order cannot be delivered to you, it may be posted at the address you gave immigration, and 48 hours later you are treated as knowing of it. The appeal period can therefore start before you have seen the order. Our overstay and blacklist guide covers revocation in more detail.

The Act’s fee schedule puts each appeal at 2,000 baht per person, and both sections leave the fee actually payable to ministerial regulation. Money is rarely the obstacle. The obstacle is preparing a reasoned appeal in Thai inside 48 hours. A decision the Act calls final can still be taken to the Administrative Court, which has its own time limits.

Overstay: the statute and the settlement

Staying without permission, or after permission has ended or been revoked, is an offence under section 81, punishable by up to two years’ imprisonment or a fine of up to 20,000 baht, or both. Section 84 allows the offence to be settled by a fine instead of a prosecution, and paying it ends the case. That settlement is the figure most people know: 500 baht a day, capped at 20,000 baht, usually paid at the airport on departure. Evading an order made under the Act is a separate offence under section 82, with a fine of up to 5,000 baht, and up to two years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to 20,000 baht where the order was an order to leave the Kingdom. Any ban on re-entry is a separate question again, covered in the overstay and blacklist guide.

Detention and removal

A foreigner in Thailand without valid permission may be removed under section 54. While removal is pending, immigration may let you stay at a set address and report on set dates, with security, or detain you for as long as it considers necessary, and the Act puts the cost of detention on you. Holding someone for inquiry is limited by section 20 to 48 hours, which may be extended to seven days with the reasons recorded; beyond that immigration needs a court order, granted for no more than 12 days at a time.

Fees

Routine immigration work is quoted at a fixed fee. Government fees are separate and charged at cost.

Appeals, overstay cases, detention and removal depend on the facts, so they start with a one-hour consultation for 2,000 THB, either by video call or through the form below. Every published fee is on our pricing page.

Start here

Describe your situation in the form below. If you only want to understand where you stand, our immigration guides cover each visa category in detail.