Visa - updates and experiences overstaying?

by Carol

Hi All, I hope you can provide me with some information on overstaying on a tourist visa. I post a new message since the last post were rather old.

Does anyone have recent experiences with overstaying and paying the fine when leaving? How long did you overstay, how was it handled and so on?

What would be the response of an officer in a routine check if you had overstayed for let's say a month? What actions would be taken if they encounter you on an expired tourist visa?

How much is the fine nowadays?

Is it indeed true that you cannot do a visa run anymore?

Thanks all!

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Visa - updates and experiences overstaying?

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Feb 15, 2013
 Also interested in knowing
by: JBB

I'm also interested in knowing how others have fared with this. I am a U.S. citizen.
Feb 15, 2013
 Depends on your country of citizenship
by: Anonymous

Everything depends on what country you are from. Bolivia operates on what is called "reciprocity". Supposedly, in matters of immigration, Bolivia will require of you what your country requires of Bolivian citizens. Therefore, people from some countries don't need a visa to enter Bolivia. Others do, such as Americans.

Likewise, people from some countries can leave Bolivia for a few days, cross the border to Peru, Chile, Brazil or Argentina, and upon re-entering Bolivia they are issued a new 90-day visa. Others can approach immigration to extend their visa - extensions are given to some countries and not to others. And so on.

Overstaying your visa is risky business in general. You may encounter no problems at all and simply pay a fine, which is Bs. 20 per day of overstay, as you leave the country. This would be assessed to you at the airport as you are leaving by the immigration officers in the upstairs portion of the airport.

However, during the time you are in Bolivia with an expired visa, you are technically here illegally. So while nothing may come of that, there is always the possibility that something may. For example, Bolivian police officers and military personnel often stop foreigners arbitrarily on the street and demand to see their documents. This is legal in Bolivia. Should this occur, and your documents are expired, you risk deportation.

So it's really up to you to decide whether to take that risk or not. You might want to consider going to the immigration office nearest you (in Bolivia) to ask them if an extension is possible for you. It is not free, but it could be less expensive as the overstay fee, and less risky.

I know of citizens from various countries who have overstayed between just a few days and many months and nothing happened to them. They simply paid their fine on the way out of the country. However, I also know of several people who took this risk and were deported. So it's up to you to decide whether or not you want to leave yourself open to that risk.

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