What is a case visa? Before we reveal the answer about the case visa (also known as a defendant’s visa), we invite you to read our detailed information page about the case visa on the Thailand Bail website. After reading about what our Thai solicitors can do for you if you are a defendant in a criminal case in Thailand, please read our stories below. Thailand Bail’s Thai and international legal experts know the importance of the case visa. We learned this over the years, seeing other Thai lawyers’ defendants suffer because of a lack of information or wrong information about the case visa. Thailand Bail believes the old saying, “knowledge is power,” because most lawyers in Thailand do not provide full information to their clients. However, our solicitors believe that the more our clients know, the more likely they are to see that we are experts in criminal matters as well as immigration matters as they relate to criminal cases in Thailand. Therefore, please review the stories below, so that you are not taken by surprise when you get arrested, get your bail revoked, cannot get bail, or get deported and blacklisted from Thailand for 15 years or more.

 

Thai Case Visa (Defendant’s Visa) True Story 1: Getting Arrested Again

Thailand Bail was in the Koh Samui Provincial Court a few years ago, working on a theft at night case, when we saw a defendant show up to court without his attorney. He thought that he would just have to come to the court for a short appearance and then go back home to his hotel in Koh Samui. However, this changed quickly when his Thai solicitor did not show up and the court had him detained and sent back to prison. We were curious because this

defendant (an American) was quite upset, and we wanted to see if we could at least send a message back to his family that he needed help. Our Thai lawyers are very interested in helping those, even if it is something small. So, this American defendant asked us to contact his family back in the US, and he was then sent back to the Koh Samui Prison. We were able to get in touch with his family, and we helped get him out of prison, but not before around 10 days had passed. The issue was that his bail had been raised by another 100,000 THB, and he did not have the money with him to pay the additional bail. The point of this story is to be careful when you have any appearance at the court or with the police. If you do not have a Thai case visa, you have the risk of being detained, arrested, or worse.

Thai Case Visa (Defendant’s Visa) True Story 2: Deportation and Blacklisting

Thailand Bail was asked to check up on the blacklist of a defendant who had been deported from Thailand last year. You see, he had a Thai solicitor already, who advised him to take the short-cut and just plead guilty. If you have a criminal case in Thailand, you will have probably heard this advice from many Thai lawyers. Yes, you are eligible for a 50% reduction in your sentence, but no one – except the judge – knows how the sentence will be. However, this still seems to be the best advice that many Thai lawyers provide. In our story, we asked about what happened to the person requesting the blacklist check. He told us that his Thai lawyer

suggested he plead guilty to a drugs case, which he did. He received a sentence in prison, 12 months of which were to be served in a Thai prison. He was locked up in the Bam Bat Klong Prem Prison near Bangkok, and served 10 months of the 12. After this, he was stuck in immigration for weeks before being deported. This person wanted to be able to return to Thailand, but he was not able to, because he had been blacklisted for 25 years.
Another sub-story related to this one is one of a smaller case, where the defendant pleaded guilty and received a suspended sentence. After paying the fine, he was detained by immigration, imprisoned in the Phuket IDC, had to bribe his way (for a large amount of money) to get flown to Bangkok, where he was imprisoned again at the Bangkok IDC. He then had to pay another bribe there to get deported before the long holiday, or he would have to stay there for another 5 days. After spending a large amount of money and living in terrible conditions, he was finally deported and blacklisted.

We have also heard of people whose families were stranded in Thailand, with fathers and husbands unable to be with their families.

As you have seen, it is important to have the Thai lawyers at Thailand Bail look into a case visa for you, so you can stay legal. Having a criminal case in Thailand is stressful enough, but adding complexity to it with a visa issue will make it worse. Contact Thailand Bail today to get more information about getting a case visa and staying out of a Thai prison.

– Thailand Bail