Australian woman who overstayed Thai visa by 100 days to be sent home

Front cover of an Australian passport that is sitting on a timber table.

An Australian woman who had overstayed her Thai visa by more than three months will be deported by Thai authorities this week.

Claire Johnson, who had owned a plastic surgery tourism company in Thailand up until 2017, was due to arrive home last week, however, told her friend Juliet Potter on Monday she was in an immigration detention centre in Bangkok.

Johnson also asked Potter to “help” her.

Johnson’s business called Cosmetic Holidays International which voluntarily shut down in May of 2017, “a medical tourism agency that offers cosmetic packages in Phuket”.

Despite being closed for almost two years, Johnson is still advertising the business through her social media channels.

While visitors who overstay their visas in Thailand are usually only penalised with a small fine, Thailand’s immigration chief, Surachate Hakparn, said that Johnson had been both fined and arrested, and would soon be deported.

“About Claire Johnson, today, my Immigration [Department] will send her to Australia. She leaves tonight,” he said.

“She was arrested by Immigration police because she was an overstay[er] by almost 111 days.

“But now she is finished in Thailand, I will send her back to her home. She will fly by Qantas Airlines.”

Addressing the situation, The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it was “providing consular assistance to an Australian woman detained in Thailand in accordance with the Consular Services Charter”.

Latest News

  • Destinations
  • News

APT Launches 2025 Asia Adventures

APT has launched its Asia Adventures for 2025, including new luxury holidays in India, Sri Lanka and Japan. Five new tours lead guests to the highlights of India, including a seven-night cruise along the rarely travelled Lower Ganges aboard the Ganges Voyager. Further south, Sri Lanka’s greatest destinations are revealed on a new 15-day Land […]

  • Cruise
  • Luxury
  • News

Seabourn announces Western Kimberley Traditional Owners as Godparents of Seabourn Pursuit

Seabourn has named Western Kimberley Traditional Owners, the Wunambal Gaambera, as Godparents of the ultra-luxury purpose-built Seabourn Pursuit. It is the first cruise line to appoint Traditional Owners as godparents of a ship. Seabourn Pursuit embarks on its inaugural season in the Kimberley region this June. The naming ceremony will take place on Seabourn Pursuit’s […]

  • Luxury

Malolo Island Resort opens brand new Spa

Fiji’s Malolo Island has added another string to its bow – opening its $1.3 million day spa on Thursday, 18th April 2024. (Lead Image: matriarch Rosie Whitton with spa staff) Located at the edge of the resort’s luscious patch of tropical rainforest, the new “Leilani’s Spa” adds another level of elevated experiences to Malolo’s already […]