Sawt Falasteen - Thai police arrest Briton for overstaying visa by 25 years

The 60-year-old, who has not been identified, entered the kingdom in early 2000 on a tourist visa and never left, evading previous police checks by claiming to be in the process of extending his visa.

He was finally caught in the northern province of Chiang Mai on Monday during a crackdown by immigration officials on overstaying foreigners -- more than 9,000 days after arriving on a 30-day visa.

Officers checked during the operation on areas regularly frequented by foreigners and found the Briton, who failed to show his passport.

He admitted during questioning that he came to Thailand on a 30-day tourist visa in 2000 and stayed until he was arrested.

"After checking on his name on our immigration system, he entered Thailand since 2000 and never had any other stamp on our system since then," a senior officer in the operation said.

"It was 9,135 days that he overstayed in Thailand -- it is the record. The longest previous overstay was a Pakistani man with 10 years," he said.

The man -- who will be deported back to Britain -- even managed to renew his passport in 2018, police said, adding that the new document was completely empty of immigration stamps.

Police said the man lived in Bangkok for 13 years, building a life with a Thai woman with whom he had a child.

They moved to Chiang Mai 12 years ago for economic reasons, although police said the man does not have a job and lives on money from his family in Britain.

Police said the man told them he previously avoided arrest by telling authorities he was extending his visa, which only the immigration bureau can check.

G.AbuOdeh--SF-PST