Portuguese Woman Arrested in Phuket After 1,807 Days of Overstay

A Portuguese woman was arrested at a restaurant in Phuket on October 13 after immigration officers discovered that she had remained in Thailand for 1,807 days beyond her permitted stay — nearly five years.

The operation took place at around 1.30pm at a restaurant in Ko Kaeo, in Mueang Phuket district. Immigration officers were conducting checks on foreign nationals suspected of violating immigration regulations when they encountered the woman taking a cooking lesson.

When asked to present her identification documents, she was unable to provide her original passport and instead showed officers a photograph of the document on her mobile phone.

Officers entered her details into the Immigration Bureau’s biometric system to verify her identity, nationality and passport information.

The checks established that she was a Portuguese national who had entered Thailand through Suvarnabhumi Airport on March 20, 2020, using a 30-day visa exemption. She subsequently received an extension of stay from Phuket Immigration but did not apply for a further extension after that permission expired.

According to immigration officials, the woman had overstayed by 1,807 days. She was charged with staying in Thailand after her permission to remain in the country had expired and was informed of her legal rights.

She was then taken into custody and transferred to investigators for further legal proceedings. Immigration officials also began arrangements for her deportation from Thailand.