How one too many passport stamps landed this Aussie traveller in a roach-infested Thai jail cell - and the new rule that could see the same thing happen to YOU

Daily Mail​

4 days ago

An Australian traveller has revealed how he was thrown in a cockroach-infested Thai jail cell awaiting deportation after officials said he'd visited the country too often.
The backpacker, known only as Benjamin, said he was locked up and accused of violating visa conditions despite having a hotel booked and funds to support his trip.
He has been criss-crossing Asia for months but said Thai officials thought he was trying to dodge visa rules after noticing he had multiple entry stamps in his passport.
They suspected he was hiring a local for illicit 'visa runs', crossing the border to renew his short-term holiday visa on his behalf, and let him stay there indefinitely.
He was thrown in jail without any right of appeal and he's warned others could face the same fate after a rule change means tourists must now have an onward journey booked.
'I was denied entry and accused of doing visa runs, but I've never actually done one,' he said.
Posting a video under his Instagram handle @benjamins_onfire, he added: 'Before I go on, please understand I love Thailand and Thai people. This is not slander.
'I am just documenting my experience because that's what I do, and so others know the rules have changed since May.'
'They looked at my passport and saw too many stamps. I have been coming in and out a lot, and I don't deny that.
'A month here, a month there, travelling the world, but I've never crossed the border and come straight back in.
'They made a decision. No appeals, just detention.'
Despite having a clean record, prepaid accommodation, and no history of overstaying his visa, he said the decision was swift and irreversible.
'Didn't matter that I had money, hotel booked, clean record, never overstayed,' he said.
'Once they decide, it's final. I didn't have a return flight, but I never have. Rules have changed now, and I accept that.
'I'm just spreading the message and letting other travellers know things have changed.'
According to the Thailand immigration website, proof of onward travel is now required if flying into Thailand, but even a bus ticket across the border is enough.
Benjamin said he was fined 1,070 baht, which is around $50, thrown into a detention centre packed with other foreigners and had his passport confiscated.
'They locked me in a detention centre packed with people and dormitory prison beds,' he said from inside his packed cell, as he filmed his cellmates asleep on bunks.
'No drinking, no smoking. Had to shower with roaches.'
He said along with the crackdown on Thailand's return flight rules, deportees are usually sent back to their most recent port of departure.
'It's mandatory they send you back to the country you flew in from,' he said.
'And in most cases, that country will then force you to book a flight home. You go where they tell you.'
However, Benjamin, who had arrived from Vietnam, managed to circumvent that rule, thanks to a last-minute intervention by the next destination on his behalf.
'I got lucky, a friend got on the phone with Vietnamese immigration and they saw I'd been to Korea before so she provided her address and they let me fly to Korea.'
But he warned the experience is becoming increasingly common and urges other travellers not to make the same mistake.
'Hundreds of people are going through this every day. It's been happening since May,' he said.