Phuket-
An Australian man who overstayed his visa has finally returned back to his home after running into financial problems, say Phuket officials.
The Phuket Tourist Police told the Phuket Express that earlier this week they were notified that an intoxicated foreign man was at a public relations counter at the international departures terminal of Phuket International Airport and was having problems leaving Thailand due to being on overstay and experiencing financial difficulties.
He was identified only as a 44 year old Australian man. He had a fight ticket back to his home, However, Phuket Immigration at the airport found that he had overstayed his visa by 22 days . He had to pay 500 baht per day for the overstay, a total of 11,000 Baht, but, He stated that he only had 8,000 Baht left after his wallet was allegedly stolen. He told Immigration he had filed a report to police about the stolen wallet hoping this would give him an exception to fly out, but Immigration officers said this would violate policy.
He was also unable to withdraw money from an international bank account. The Phuket Tourist Police contacted the Australian Consulate to help contact the bank and relatives and the Australian man was advised to wait at a hotel nearby.
With the assistance of the Australian Consulate, luckily, the man was able to raise the funds to pay Immigration and return home, although he would permanently have an overstay stamp in his passport and Immigration information.
The man did not explain to the media why he had overstayed for three weeks.
