Thai Education visa

[Dylan1994]

Hi I'm from USA and currently in college in USA. I'm on my last semester at community college in which I'll have my associates done in December, then transferring to uni in January in which I'll be a junior. I have interest in moving to thailand when I'm a senior for my last 2 semesters and do 'distance learning' from thailand while doing courses in my USA uni. If I chose to do this, could I get an education visa, or can you only get the education visa if you're enrolled in a thai school, so I'll have to do border runs if I want to stay?

[ubonjoe]

You have to be attending a school here to get a non-ed visa.

You could get a multiple entry tourist visa that would allow unlimited 60 day entries for 6 months from the date of issue. Each 60 day entry can be extended for 30 days at a immigration office for a fee of 1900 baht. You can get almost 9 months of total stay by getting a 60 day entry just before the visa expires and extending it for 30 days.

[Dylan1994]

2 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

You have to be attending a school here to get a non-ed visa.

You could get a multiple entry tourist visa that would allow unlimited 60 day entries for 6 months from the date of issue. Each 60 day entry can be extended for 30 days at a immigration office for a fee of 1900 baht. You can get almost 9 months of total stay by getting a 60 day entry just before the visa expires and extending it for 30 days.

so just making sure, if i got the multi-entry tourist visa, i get the first 60 days and then if i want i can extend it 7 times for a fee of 1900 baht each time to get a total of 9 months? And what if i chose the border running option, do you pay a fee for that?

[ubonjoe]

4 minutes ago, Dylan1994 said:

so just making sure, if i got the multi-entry tourist visa, i get the first 60 days and then if i want i can extend it 7 times for a fee of 1900 baht each time to get a total of 9 months? And what if i chose the border running option, do you pay a fee for that?

After entering the country you would extend that 60 day entry for 30 days and then you would have to leave the country and re-enter to get a new 60 day entry and then another 30 day extension. Then on or before the day your visa expires get another 60 day entry and extend it for 30 days.

[Dylan1994]

On 10/25/2018 at 3:22 AM, ubonjoe said:

After entering the country you would extend that 60 day entry for 30 days and then you would have to leave the country and re-enter to get a new 60 day entry and then another 30 day extension. Then on or before the day your visa expires get another 60 day entry and extend it for 30 days.

everytime you do the border run and re-enter for the new 60 days, do you have to pay for a new tourist visa everytime? could you advise me as to what you'd do in my situation: im looking to live in thailand for 18 months (i want to finish my last 3 semesters in thailand online and it'd take 18months). how would i go about doing this? i just need to know the visa issues as i have thai gf to stay with 

[ubonjoe]

3 minutes ago, Dylan1994 said:

everytime you do the border run and re-enter for the new 60 days, do you have to pay for a new tourist visa everytime?

If you have a multiple entry tourist visa you do not need a new visa every time you enter the country. You would get a new 60 day entry from your visa.

After the multiple entry tourist visa expires you could get single entry tourist visas at a nearby embassy or consulate to stay for the last 9 months. You could get a total stay of 90 days from each single entry tourist visa which would require 3 trips out of the country to apply for a new visa.