Education visa rule change, Vientiane

[UKJASE]

Hi guys, I went to Vientiane Thai consulate today for my education visa. The officer pointed out that my current (and first) education visa was issued on 24 uh October 2017, and so I couldn't apply for another one until 24 th this month. I pointed out that my current 90 day stamp expires on 19 th, but he says that doesn't matter. Either get tourist visa or come back 24 th..... Quite a big rule change it seems that will likely catch lots of people out 

[ubonjoe]

It seems somebody is misreading or misunderstanding their own announcement that says per calendar year (January 1st to December 31st).

 

Source: http://vientiane.thaiembassy.org/en/news/announce/detail.php?ID=621

[UKJASE]

I called my school though Joe and they called up their contact at the consulate and they said that it was the correct decision and that the rule had changed.....  Do you think I am able to appeal tomorrow when I go to collect my tourist visa? 

[ubonjoe]

I guess you could try.

It is their own translation that I posted so I would not think it is different from the Thai version. Perhaps show them the announcement.

[UKJASE]

They return my passport in the afternoon. Do you think I should go in the morning and try to catch them before they issue my tourist visa? I don't suppose you know the appeal process do you? It is quite chaotic down there ????

[ubonjoe]

Going in the morning would be best. It may not be as busy tomorrow since I would guess the visa run vans were there today due to the holiday yesterday.

I don't think the have a appeal process.

Has your school seen the announcement? Maybe they could check the Thai version to see what they think.

[UKJASE]

Thanks so much Joe. I have forwarded your link to the school so they can check out the Thai version. Will go along to consulate tomorrow and try to speak with the same officer I spoke with today. Will post back with results 

[UKJASE]

I went along to embassy and pleaded my case to a young lady who spoke great English but they weren't having it. So just tourist visa for me. What would anyone recommend my fellow students do if they foresee such a situation arising for them? Maybe cancel visa for the remaining few days at local immigration office first then fly to Laos that same day? I suppose I could have left Thailand on 19 th and hung out for five days, but that is a bit of a drag 

[ubonjoe]

13 minutes ago, UKJASE said:

I went along to embassy and pleaded my case to a young lady who spoke great English but they weren't having it. So just tourist visa for me. What would anyone recommend my fellow students do if they foresee such a situation arising for them? Maybe cancel visa for the remaining few days at local immigration office first then fly to Laos that same day? I suppose I could have left Thailand on 19 th and hung out for five days, but that is a bit of a drag 

I am certain everybody's visa expired long ago. Canceling the extension of stay issued by immigration they are on would not help since it becomes invalid on the date they leave the country.

The problem is that they are saying that the last non-ed visa was issued less than a year ago which is not what their announcement states. Many other people are going to have a problem unless they do what their announcement states which is a calendar year (Jan 1 to Dec 31st)

The problem is that the police order states that the longest total stay on a the 90 day entry from a non-ed visa and 90 day extensions of stay is one year. In most cases it will be will be less than one year. I suspect that is what happened to you.

When did the extension of stay you had end?

I think the school needs to talk to the embassy about the problem.

[UKJASE]

You are right Joe.  Of course, the visa expired after three months.......  it's just i met a guy in the queue at the embassy and he was on an ed visa, and he said that to get around the problem he had gone to his local immigration office and had his visa cancelled for the following day, so it gave him time to leave thailand......  something along those lines......

 

my extension of stay ended the 19th october.....  so there would have been a 5 day overstay if i had waited for the 365 days to pass, as the consulate wanted.  

Could i have gone to my local immigration and got another extension of stay that would have taken me from 19th to the 24th, or do they only give three extensions per visa?

Thanks as always Joe

 

[ubonjoe]

24 minutes ago, UKJASE said:

Could i have gone to my local immigration and got another extension of stay that would have taken me from 19th to the 24th, or do they only give three extensions per visa?

You could of applied for an extension, paid the 1900 baht fee and then be granted 7 days to leave the country after it was denied.

[UKJASE]

20 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

You could of applied for an extension, paid the 1900 baht fee and then be granted 7 days to leave the country after it was denied.

that's good advice joe - i will share this info with the school