Don’t Make this Visa Mistake and Get Yourself Banned from a Country
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Traveling Abroad Soon?
You’ve booked your flight abroad, made sure your passport is good for at least three months AFTER your expected return date and set off for an amazing adventure. However, it’s crucial to remember that one small oversight can significantly complicate your journey.
I have been slow traveling full-time since 2019 when my wife and I sold our home, car and nearly all of our earthly possessions to become full-time digital nomads. So far (knocks on wood), we only had one little glitch at border control after years of overseas travel, more on that later. Since leaving the United States we’ve lived in Bansko, Saranda, Prague, Portimao, Puerto Rico, Brasov, Orhid and now Hua Hin to name a few cities.
We are always careful to research visas and entry and exit requirements before traveling to a new country. In fact as I write this we are planning and researching for our upcoming time in Vietnam. So when I came across this recent article from Fodor’s it reminded me of the importance of understanding visa rules and staying compliant.
Banned From Thailand
The author of the article claims to have faced a six-month ban from Thailand due to accidentally overstaying their visa. That might not seem to be much of a concern if you’re not planning to return to the country. However, if you’re retired and slow traveling or digital nomads like ourselves, burning a country on your exit is not a good idea nor is it a good look.
You don’t want an overstay stamp in your passport as it can lead to more friction when entering another country. This is why you need to diligently track your visa days carefully.
Visa Calculator
We suggest using a visa date calculator to track your days like visa-calculator.com. Just remember that travel days count. That means that the day you arrive and the day you leave are both counted as separate days in the country.
The author claims he overstayed just one day and was nearly jailed for it. However commenters on the article who claim to have traveled extensively in Thailand, suggested that the author may have been embellishing or leaving out crucial information in order to amp up the drama.
Despite any alleged hyperbole by the article’s author it’s a good reminder to not solely rely on the visa’s end date stamped in your passport. Immigration officers can make mistakes, leading to costly fines or bans for you, especially if you become argumentative or disrespectful. Always double-check your dates to keep your travels trouble-free. Alternatively using a visa services company can simplify the process of obtaining the appropriate visa for a fee.
Our Golden Travel Rule
Our golden travel rule is “always be nice to immigration personnel!”. Keep in mind the importance of treating immigration officials with kindness and respect. This can make a significant difference in your travel experience.
Here are a few do’s and don’ts to illustrate this important travel rule:
Don’t
Avoid arguing or displaying frustration; it’s crucial to stay calm and composed, as showing disrespect can lead to unnecessary complications.
- Never argue
- Never get upset or show your frustration
- Never be disrespectful
Do
Instead, focus on being polite—greet them with a smile and maintain patience throughout the process.
- Always be polite
- Always smile
- Always be patient
Digital Nomads, Pay Attention
And if you are a digital nomad, always tell them your stay is for tourism unless you are entering the county on a visa that allows for working in the country (like the DTV: Destination Thailand Visa in this case). Remotely working on a tourist visa can be a bit of a grey area. Even making YouTube videos or writing travel articles like we do is considered “work” in certain countries.
STFU
Which leads to the final and most important rule when dealing with any government official, foreign or domestic: STFU: Shut The Frak Up! (Any Battlestar Galactica fans out there?). Never disclose any more information than necessary.
The Glitch
So now that little glitch I mentioned earlier. We got held up at immigration returning to Corfu, Greece by ferry after spending two months in Albania. We were flying out of Corfu to Sofia, Bulgaria (before Bulgaria entered the Schengen Area in 2024) and only had a few days left of our 90 days in the Schengen Area.
The officer was overwhelmed by the influx of tourists that had just disembarked from a cruise ship that arrived at the same time as our ferry. We were sent aside for about 20 minutes as they processed the cruise ship passengers after already waiting 20 minutes for our turn in line. It was obviously frustrating to wait as we knew we had gained back 10 days of Schengen time during our time in Albania.
It turns out that the immigration officer thought we had used up all of our 90 days of our visa-free travel and wanted to deny us entry back into Greece and thus the Schengen Area. Once we were summoned back to the counter it was all figured out in just a couple of minutes. However she was incessant on reminding us we only had 10 days left, despite our explaining that we were catching a flight in a few hours out of Greece and Schengen.
Being an American and having grown up in a culture of instant gratification, I hate to wait, especially when I know I’m in the right. Luckily, spending so much time in foreign cultures had rubbed off on me and I played it cool and followed our Golden Travel Rules. Needless to say, we caught our flight in time.
The Takeaway
Don’t accidently put yourself in the crosshairs of immigration, even if you are not at fault. Immigration officers are human, just like all of us, they can have bad days too. Perhaps they might just be tired of dealing with annoying and argumentative tourists.
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We are full-time slow travelers and digital nomad content creators. In 2019 we sold everything to begin our full-time travels. Since then we have been documenting our travels around the world both for our YouTube channel and here.
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