“The individual was taken to the investigation officer at Chiang Mai City Police Station for legal proceedings and awaiting deportation back to the country of origin,” a post on the Chiang Mai Immigration Facebook page said.
Thai police said it was a “record” visa overstay, smashing the previous record of a Pakistani man who overstayed his visa by 10 years, according to AFP news agency.
They moved to Chiang Mai 12 years ago for economic reasons, but the man does not have a job and lives off money from his family in Britain, police said.
The man, who is now 60 years old, arrived in Thailand on a short-term tourist visa on 9 January 2000, before evading Thai authorities for the following 25 years.
During his first 13 years in Bangkok, the man built a life with a Thai woman with whom he has a child, police said.
