Callan/walen Ed Visa

[ohtx2000]

First of all, this is supposed to be a Thai language school. It is not. It is a Thai national standing in front of a bunch of begiinners in a cramped room with no whiteboard reading thai text from a worthless book. The Thai national just reads exactly what is in the book and you answer what is in the book. No improvisation, or extra questions, PLEASE! That only throws an unnecessary wrench into the mix! Learning is not the objective. Getting through 20 pages of text is.

Now about the "one year visa" that is promised and that you pay 29,500 Baht up front for. I was there not even 3 weeks and I was toldW that I would have to pay an additional sum every three months. That would be 1900 baht. When I signed on, my understanding was that

Walen would cover any costs for one year. Who knows what will change next?

Be careful with this option of visa extension. The jury is still out,but I can tell you the learning method sucks and school seems a bit fishy with all the rule changes and extra fees that keep popping up.

[jumnien]

The whole thing had a fishy smell from the start. Anyone else with experience?

[cali4995]

I'm guessing the additional 1,900 baht every 3 months is the

actual cost for the extensions you must reapply for every 90 days.

Yeah, I was interested In this myself but paying more than 90 days

in advance for something we have so little market research on......

The "Walen School" is a major forum advertiser and "Macwalen" is

a regular member so hopefully your concerns can be addressed.

[ovenman]

I'm guessing the additional 1,900 baht every 3 months is the actual cost for the extensions you must reapply for every 90 days.

That sounds about right for the money involved, but I thought the school was supposed to help students obtain a one-year extension?

Edited October 8, 2007 by ovenman

[taxexile]

seeing as walen are advertisers on this forum , perhaps "thaivisa" could find out exactly what the deal is and report on their findings.

i'm certain tv would not tolerate misleading claims from advertisers.

[LivinLOS]

I would make a wild guess that this is changing now that they will no longer issue 1 year ED's for studying Thai language..

Hence (being Thai) whatever they promised about all visa costs for the year being their responsibility, now it came time to pay the 90 day extension they pass the buck and make you pay the 1900 every 90 days.

Sounds like it fits Thai style business practice and the available facts.

[wasabi]

Is it possible to get an ED visa for more than 3 months from any school? I thought the 29,500 was just the cost of the schooling which entitled you to get a 1 year ED visa which must be renewed every 3 months but I never thought this cost implied that the cost of the visa was covered. The school may or may not be good but what was described here was already my understanding of how the ED visa worked so I don't find it misleading unless there is a better option where the visa is included in the cost of tuition. If so can someone tell me a school that offers this?

Maybe to be more clear they could say. There school entitles you to get an ED visa.

Edited October 8, 2007 by wasabi

[simon43]

My experience (and understanding) is that you can only get a 1 year ED visa (or 1 year ED visa extension) if you attend a government university, not a private language school. But I am happy to be corrected on this

Simon

[LivinLOS]

I thought it was that previously you used to get a 1 year ED.. Since people must have flocked to that system they now only give 90 day extensions and you have to keep proving your studying.. Previously it was 1 year and 90 day reporting..

Not having one thats just how I understood it to have happened.

[h5n1]

i never liked this school anyway - it has a bunch of attractive female teachers seems to be the lure instead of academics. what man wants to learn to speak thai like a woman anyway?!!

Edited October 8, 2007 by h5n1

[MacWalen]

First of all, this is supposed to be a Thai language school. It is not. It is a Thai national standing in front of a bunch of begiinners in a cramped room with no whiteboard reading thai text from a worthless book. The Thai national just reads exactly what is in the book and you answer what is in the book. No improvisation, or extra questions, PLEASE! That only throws an unnecessary wrench into the mix! Learning is not the objective. Getting through 20 pages of text is.

Now about the "one year visa" that is promised and that you pay 29,500 Baht up front for. I was there not even 3 weeks and I was toldW that I would have to pay an additional sum every three months. That would be 1900 baht. When I signed on, my understanding was that

Walen would cover any costs for one year. Who knows what will change next?

Be careful with this option of visa extension. The jury is still out,but I can tell you the learning method sucks and school seems a bit fishy with all the rule changes and extra fees that keep popping up.

Dear readers, there is from time to time some unhappy person who will present the Walen school in a negative light for their own reasons. I would like to cover some of the points so the readers of thaivisa.com know the facts which they can check themselves.

Walen is indeed a Thai school. We are using a method which we developed ourselves and most students are happy or even very happy with the method, we are teaching the Tha language much faster and in an enjoyable way. What the gentelman forgot to mention is that that 'bunch of beginers' is reading the text from their Thai book in Thai, without any transliteration whatsoever. It is a scripted method, we teach 700 Thai words in Book 1.

Oh..........YES, we do not use any whiteboards!!! We do not find them useful, this is a part of the method. We do expect our students to learn and also to enjoy the method and most students do. Writing on whiteboards slows down learning and takes the rythm out of the lesson.

Regarding our teachers whom he just calles 'Thai nationals', you are welcome to come and meet them personally. They would not be impressed that some unhappy person says that they just read from a 'worthless book'. They correct your tones, pronunciation, help you to develop speed, help you with reading, encourage you to keep going so that you don't stay at a basic level of Thai forever.

Regarding the ED visa, it is a one year visa, it is subject to extensions of 90 days starting from September 07. Students do not have to make any visa runs. Someone who says it is not a one year visa simpy does not understand Thai system, for example one year non-B visa means that you can stay here for a year but have to make a visa run every 90 days. Is that correct? With a one year ED visa obtained through our school students do not have to leave the country at all for one year. This visa can be renewed every year.

Aha.....forgot, the 'cramped rooms'. They are standard 12 student classrooms, about 3.5 by 3.5 meters, so actually not so small. Also remember that we are a low cost school, 29,500 Baht gets you 180 quality lessons. Generally when somebody is in a sad mood they will tend to say anything negative and if for example, the rooms were 3 times the size he would say that the classrooms are too big and they cannot hear the teacher.

What else was the problem....? Oh... yes, presumed missinformation.

We do inform our students that 29,500 Baht is the cost of the lessons only, the government charges are not included in this price and our stucents can testyfy that that is what we tell them, so this is obvioulsy a missunderstanding or the gentelman just tries to discredit us for reasons not known to me.

Those who were made to think that our school is 'fishy' should come and visit us, and see for themselves. Another one; 'the method sucks', perhaps the gentelman can develop a better method himself becasue we believe this method is very effective and we do encourage students to come for a free demonstration before they decide to enroll. In the future this will become a prefered way of learning Thai, this is my belief.

The new fees and rules do not keep poping up as you were trying to made others believe. The only change was 90 day extensions from September, and these extensions will be given for the duration of the course. I would like to ensure all readers that we do honest business and do not mislead anyone. All mature people know that it is impossible to please everyone 100%.

[bkkguy1970]

First of all, this is supposed to be a Thai language school. It is not. It is a Thai national standing in front of a bunch of begiinners in a cramped room with no whiteboard reading thai text from a worthless book. The Thai national just reads exactly what is in the book and you answer what is in the book. No improvisation, or extra questions, PLEASE! That only throws an unnecessary wrench into the mix! Learning is not the objective. Getting through 20 pages of text is.

Callen has been using the method for years to teach English and claim it is very effective, they are now implementing Thai courses based on the method

yes the book is not very flashy and some of the teachers are new and inexperienced and if you are used to traditional language classes it is easy to dismiss the course as a con with comments like this and my initial comments were similar. Many people expecting traditional language classes fight the method and are disappointed, but I have seen some students make remarkable progress in just a few weeks!

I think the school could prevent a lot of this type of bad publicity by better explaining the method at the start of the course or during signup

Now about the "one year visa" that is promised and that you pay 29,500 Baht up front for. I was there not even 3 weeks and I was toldW that I would have to pay an additional sum every three months. That would be 1900 baht. When I signed on, my understanding was that Walen would cover any costs for one year. Who knows what will change next?

from reading the Waylen web site and conversations with the staff it was clear to me that the 29,500 was for the course and the school would provide the necessary documents for me to obtain an ED visa at the consulate in Penang and then the documents for me to extend my stay for the length of the course (12 months) at Immigration in Bangkok. I never had the impression that Waylen would pay the visa fees or the extension of stay fees, and as I understand it the information I was given was correct at the time it was given.

since then there appears to have been a change in policy on extensions at Immigration in Bangkok and extensions are currently only for 3 months each time thus incurring extra costs for the student but this is beyond Waylen's control and is not Waylen's responsibility to fix

Be careful with this option of visa extension. The jury is still out,but I can tell you the learning method sucks and school seems a bit fishy with all the rule changes and extra fees that keep popping up.[/color][/size][/font]

anyone that reads thaivisa regularly knows that visa and extension rules and policies are constantly changing and it is difficult to make long term decisions but I don't think you are being fair to Waylen with comments like that

bkkguy

[cali4995]

Naaahhh...... the learning method sucks Seriously, so although we never

got a straight answer to the question it would appear the additional 1,900 baht is in

fact the extension fee which needs to be re-applied for every 90 days. This is a

change from the yearly extension which got phased-out SEP 2007. I wonder if

that applies to university students as well or only those going to private Thai

language schools as this has been receiving more notoriety? Classroom dynamics

are important, I guess a sample lesson or talking with some current students would

see if this was the kind of instruction you were looking for. Fair enough.

[sbk]

I believe it is across the board as far as an ED visa goes.

[simon43]

Quick comment - After the change in policy for ED visas last month, I applied at Suan Phu for a 1 year extension to my ED visa and received this without any problem. But I am studying at Chulalongkorn University and the immigration officer explicitely confirmed to my question that they only provide 1 year ED extensions to Chula students! (Don't ask me why....)

Simon

[PeaceBlondie]

If I recall, my friend who studies full time at Payap Univ. in Chiang Mai got a one year ED visa before Sept 2007, but when it expires, he may be on 90 day renewals. I think the company here has answered the OP very well.

Come to think of it, that same friend is now on his fourth "Thai language course" and still hasn't learned much Thai yet. The monthly CMai magazine once compared about 6 Thai language providers and it seemed that most of the teachers and courses provided low quality instruction. I don't think it would take much innovation to improve on the traditional methods.

[madjbs]

The new rules only effect extensions of stay to learn Thai language. That doesnt include university students who are taking degree courses in other fields.

Simon, dont know why immigration told you that but people have been getting extensions while attending other unis for years.

[LivinLOS]

But it sounds more hi-so if you can claim only Chula gets them..

[applesple]

Oh, Not only Chula, the Other University or international school also can extend for 1 year Visa. it's up to the school for how long they have to study per year. In my work, we are agree the last year Student to extend only 9 months Visa.

In my Opinion, you have Non-Ed but extend every 3 months just like your course.

But i saw at someone say, it's One-year Visa then i quiet don't understand also why they need 1,900baht every 90days. Or it's cost for notify residence.

[simon43]

But it sounds more hi-so if you can claim only Chula gets them

[\quote]

Exactly - I'm picking up on this Thainess thing pretty well arn't I? :)

Simon

[LivinLOS]

But it sounds more hi-so if you can claim only Chula gets them

Exactly - I'm picking up on this Thainess thing pretty well arn't I? :)

Simon

Nearly there

I would suggest hiring some Burmese and treating them really crapilly !! After all the resort creds are there !!!

(in case anyone takes anything I say too seriously.. joke.. But with the required dash of Thai truth)..

[juicyas]

Hi

I am currently a student at Thai Walen and would like to voice my opinion, which varies considerably from that of the original poster.

Thai Walen now has a school on the 3rd floor, everything is brand new. There are 2 room sizes, ones for larger classes (Max 12 students) and ones for smaller classes (Usually 6 students). The seats are no leather sofas but at least you leave the class without any backpain - So, they will suffice.

My teacher is great, very helpful, good at explaining and very insistant that we speak Thai as much as we can (Correcting your pronounciation until perfected). Every student gets to answer questions as the teacher cycles through the class, so you cannot be lazy.

There is no transliteration (Karaoke Thai) in the book, from Page 1 of Book 1 it is all in Thai script. Granted in Book 1 they do seperate the words instead of being a long line of words which will confuse newer stduents (Book 2 removes the spaces between words so you will read exactly as a Thai reads). People may think it is too difficult to learn but you will be very suprised. Many students after only one month can following the questions and read (Or recognise) the words. It is an excellent way to teach and force the best out of you.

Some might not prefer this method, but personally I like it. The book might not be perfect, nor the teacher or method but I visited 4 Thai schools before choosing this one. It has the most charisma, the most personal touch to it and I always leave with a smile.

With regards to the visa, you are still entitled to a 1 year visa, just in 3 month increments, a change that was made by the THAI GOVERMENT not so long ago. So, you still DON'T have to leave the country for 1 year, the only problem being you pay an extra ฿1,900 every 3 months instead of just once, costing you an extra ฿3,800 per year. Not really a big deal.

Juicyas

//Edit: Lest someone be confused, in this post for "visa", read "extension of stay". - Maestro

Edited October 9, 2007 by Maestro

[cali4995]

1,900 baht X 3 extensions for 1 year = 5,700 baht in addition to the 29,500 baht enrollment fee.

No, it's not a big deal, but everyone would appreciate the facts, minimum bullsh_t.

[wasabi]

1,900 baht X 3 extensions for 1 year = 5,700 baht in addition to the 29,500 baht enrollment fee.

No, it's not a big deal, but everyone would appreciate the facts, minimum bullsh_t.

I haven't been to Walen so I can't comment on their teaching but I think everyone is being too harsh about being misleading about the Visa and fees. I don't expect them to write on their ad 1 year visa in 3 month intervals extended at 1900 a pop. How do people suggest they phrase it? I wouldn't say their ad is misleading because it is true you can get a 1 year ED visa by going to their school. Maybe they could add ability to obtain a 1 year visa.

I am curious why Chula still qualifies for the 1 year ED visa without needing to renew it? Given how much more it costs and the extra time commitment needed to study it might be easier for some people to go to a less demanding school and renew the visa periodically.

[cali4995]

I'm not saying it's misleading and I'm actually compassionate the guy is trying

to run an honest business. I also don't know how it should be worded.

Please correct me if I'm wrong but what you're getting is a 90-day non-immigrant

"ED" visa which can be extended in additional subsequent intervals of 90-days.

I can almost understand the OP's initial confusion because perhaps calling it

a 1 year visa isn't entirely accurate. It is a 90-day visa which can be extended.

[LivinLOS]

1,900 baht X 3 extensions for 1 year = 5,700 baht in addition to the 29,500 baht enrollment fee.

No, it's not a big deal, but everyone would appreciate the facts, minimum bullsh_t.

I haven't been to Walen so I can't comment on their teaching but I think everyone is being too harsh about being misleading about the Visa and fees. I don't expect them to write on their ad 1 year visa in 3 month intervals extended at 1900 a pop. How do people suggest they phrase it? I wouldn't say their ad is misleading because it is true you can get a 1 year ED visa by going to their school. Maybe they could add ability to obtain a 1 year visa.

I am curious why Chula still qualifies for the 1 year ED visa without needing to renew it? Given how much more it costs and the extra time commitment needed to study it might be easier for some people to go to a less demanding school and renew the visa periodically.

Maybe Chula does and maybe it doesnt (the rule seems to be no language classes) Simons course above is not a language course but a Thai studies IIRC.. Actually sounded very interesting..

[juicyas]

It is a 90-day visa which can be extended.

To a maximum of 1 year without leaving the country. So, the visa is valid totally for 1 year.

I have many friends who go to university here and they have to renew every 6-9 months (And pay ฿1,900). Only will they get a 12 month extension if their GPA is over 3.9.

[MacWalen]

1,900 baht X 3 extensions for 1 year = 5,700 baht in addition to the 29,500 baht enrollment fee.

No, it's not a big deal, but everyone would appreciate the facts, minimum bullsh_t.

The extra cost per year is indeed 3,800 baht and not 5,700 as you say. Previously students also had to pay 1,900 Baht to extend their stay to a full year! So on arrival they were getting 90 days and then with one extension for 1,900 Baht they were able to extend it to a full year, sometimes even a little longer. Now when you arrive with the ED visa you still get 90 days on arrviival, then you extend it once like before for 1,900 Baht and it takes you to 6 months, and you need two more extensions for the full year, so it is only 3,800 Baht extra, is that correct??? No need to confuse people. If this is too expensive having also 180 lessons of Thai, then perhaps visa runs are a better option for some.

[Maestro]

It is a 90-day visa which can be extended.

To a maximum of 1 year without leaving the country. So, the visa is valid totally for 1 year.

The confusion about the “one-year visa” is partly due to the fact that different people use this term to mean different things.

Mostly, “one-year visa” is used to mean a multiple-entry non-immigrant visa, obtained from a Thai consulate, valid for an unlimited number of entries into Thailand for one year from the date of issue of the visa. With each entry, the visa holder receives an entry stamp giving permission to stay for 90 days.

Some people use “one-year visa” to mean an annual extension of stay, obtained from an immigration office.

A person enrolled in a Thai language school would get a single-entry non-Ed visa from a consulate, travel to Thailand, on entry get permission to stay for 90 days, and under the new policy of the Immigration Bureau apply for 90-day extensions of stay for as long as he remains enrolled in the school and has a confirmation letter from the school to prove it.

It is correct, therefore, to say that a student who enrols, ie pays the school fee, for one year can remain in Thailand for one year without having to leave the country, provided he makes timely applications for extension of stay. I wouldn’t call this a one-year visa, but seeing that most people refer to their permission to stay as a visa I see no harm in a Thai-language school’s doing the same.

--

Maestro

[Maestro]

I have read the original post in this topic once more and have looked at the school’s website. Under the link “Student Visa”, the first paragraphs read as follows:

Student Visa

Students who enroll at our school in a one year course are eligible to apply for a one year non-immigrant ED visa. With this visa you do not have to leave Thailand every now and then but can stay here continually for one year. So you can enjoy studying Thai and at the same time not worry about making any visa runs.

How much does it cost?

Fee 29,500 Baht

If I want to be brutally honest I have to admit that I can understand how a reader of the above can be led to believe that the quoted fee of 29,500 Baht is for a “one year non-immigrant ED visa” and that with this “visa”, ie with the money he pays for it, he will “not have to leave Thailand every now and then but can stay here continually for one year”.

From explanations given in this thread by a representative of the school it has become clear that this not what the school intends to say, and the school may want to consider rewriting the web page in question.

--

Maestro