Update: I pressed Elite again on my likelihood of getting the approval letter before the end of Amnesty. They say based on their experience they're confident it should arrive by the end of this month, so I'm going to put aside the Agent lead for now.

On 8/1/2020 at 6:41 PM, darrendsd said:

A friend of mine has just received a Volunteer Visa - no WP needed

 

Cost was 42k for 15 months

 

Medical visas available for 17k for 90 days

Medical Visa? Where can I get it? Which option is better volunteer or medical visa?

 

Until now I only have the option of the volunteer visa 25.000 bahts for 3 months. It would count after 26th of september, so I would have visa until the last days of december.

 

I ask some schools, because I would study thai, and the answers were like those:

 

1. Unless something has changed within the last week or so that I am unaware of, it's not possible to apply for an ED visa within Thailand.

 

2. We don't provide an education visa program for the time being.

 

3. Thank you for your email, you can change inside Thailand to a student visa in Pattaya and then study in BKK. The cost to change in Pattaya for 6 months is 36000b. This is 18000b for the documents for the office, and 13000b for immigration to change inside, and then 5000b for 1 expansion for 90 days. 

 

So, I will not pay 36.000 bahts for 3 months (until september I have the tourist visa). I'm asking some other schools. For the time I'm interested, to pay 25k volunteer visa and to study thai seems the better option until now.

1 hour ago, jonga80 said:

Medical Visa? Where can I get it? Which option is better volunteer or medical visa?

 

Until now I only have the option of the volunteer visa 25.000 bahts for 3 months. It would count after 26th of september, so I would have visa until the last days of december.

 

I ask some schools, because I would study thai, and the answers were like those:

 

1. Unless something has changed within the last week or so that I am unaware of, it's not possible to apply for an ED visa within Thailand.

 

2. We don't provide an education visa program for the time being.

 

3. Thank you for your email, you can change inside Thailand to a student visa in Pattaya and then study in BKK. The cost to change in Pattaya for 6 months is 36000b. This is 18000b for the documents for the office, and 13000b for immigration to change inside, and then 5000b for 1 expansion for 90 days. 

 

So, I will not pay 36.000 bahts for 3 months (until september I have the tourist visa). I'm asking some other schools. For the time I'm interested, to pay 25k volunteer visa and to study thai seems the better option until now.

While I was looking into the school option, I found a similar offer with one school but they proposed 2 extensions, so 44K = 9 months.

Edited August 4, 20205 yr by Seik
grammar

How is it possible to get Elite Visa for 65K ? I thought they were minimum 500K for 5 years.

If anyone know or can direct me to an agent greatly appreciated.

 

7 minutes ago, beachtime said:

How is it possible to get Elite Visa for 65K ? I thought they were minimum 500K for 5 years.

If anyone know or can direct me to an agent greatly appreciated.

My apologies if anything I said wasn't clear. The 65K is for the solution offered by this particular agent (volunteer visa), completely unrelated to the Elite visa, which indeed is 500K for 5 years.

9 minutes ago, beachtime said:

How is it possible to get Elite Visa for 65K ?

You cannot get one for that price. Perhaps a misunderstanding.

ok thanks.

it looks like there are a lot of new volunteer visa applicants.

Is there a risk of them not being approved or have they all been granted?

1 hour ago, beachtime said:

ok thanks.

it looks like there are a lot of new volunteer visa applicants.

Is there a risk of them not being approved or have they all been granted?

That's what I'd like to know too, I can't find any return of experience on the service or a similar one recently.

Has anyone gotten an ED visa for Muay Thai?

4 hours ago, beachtime said:

ok thanks.

it looks like there are a lot of new volunteer visa applicants.

Is there a risk of them not being approved or have they all been granted?

 

My assumption is that the 65k THB  fee include a sufficient amount of tea money that ensures issuance of the visa.

 

Would this be multiple entry though assuming you'd have or want to leave the country sometimes once travel resumes?

On 8/3/2020 at 3:29 PM, Seik said:

Update: I pressed Elite again on my likelihood of getting the approval letter before the end of Amnesty. They say based on their experience they're confident it should arrive by the end of this month, so I'm going to put aside the Agent lead for now.

You will be fine. Depending on your nationality and record this should be processed quickly and most definitely prior to SEP 26th.

I'm interested in the Volunteer visa as well.. does anyone know of any agencies in Phuket?

 

Also, is it possible to fly to Bangkok now? (from Phuket)

5 hours ago, beachtime said:

ok thanks.

it looks like there are a lot of new volunteer visa applicants.

Is there a risk of them not being approved or have they all been granted?

Or even if it does get approved, is there a risk you could be detained and deported for not using the visa as intended?  What are you going to say if you get questioned about your volunteer work by a random police officer searching for overstayers?

4 hours ago, padthaininja said:

Also, is it possible to fly to Bangkok now? (from Phuket)

Yes.

If you went to these guys, you probably just wasted a ton of money.
 

 

51 minutes ago, audaciousnomad said:

If you went to these guys, you probably just wasted a ton of money.
...

 

Crazy, everyone's been recommending them too...

So is this the end of the story about Volunteer Visa? Sounded too easy to be true...

On 8/5/2020 at 12:05 PM, audaciousnomad said:

If you went to these guys, you probably just wasted a ton of money.
 

 

Thankfully I did not. Dodged a bullet big time!

Edited August 6, 20205 yr by Seik

On 8/5/2020 at 5:18 PM, sallecc said:

So is this the end of the story about Volunteer Visa? Sounded too easy to be true...

No, can still get , 18 K, 90 days

22 hours ago, CorpusChristie said:

No, can still get , 18 K, 90 days

Renewable?  Need 90 check in?

4 minutes ago, BangkokReady said:

Renewable?  Need 90 check in?

Can get 3, 6, 12 months , more than 18 K though , just pay the money and thats it .

My Thai friend knows all about it , PM me if you want her contact details 

51 minutes ago, CorpusChristie said:

Can get 3, 6, 12 months , more than 18 K though , just pay the money and thats it .

My Thai friend knows all about it , PM me if you want her contact details 

Do you mean with that same Visa agency with the agent that got busted?

30 minutes ago, Seik said:

Do you mean with that same Visa agency with the agent that got busted?

According to their Facebook page she's been reinstated and is back at her desk today. 

11 hours ago, lamyai3 said:

According to their Facebook page she's been reinstated and is back at her desk today. 

Funny old world. 

Sometimes things just sort themselves out. 

11 hours ago, lamyai3 said:

According to their Facebook page she's been reinstated and is back at her desk today. 

If she had gone down, there was the potential to take some pretty senior officials with her. This seems like a classic example of where it will be announced that the case has been dismissed for lack of evidence. It is just an unfounded rumour that she is involved in corrupt practices with senior immigration officials.

Oh well at least they got a nice photo op and a bit of news coverage out of it.

21 hours ago, CorpusChristie said:

Can get 3, 6, 12 months , more than 18 K though , just pay the money and thats it .

My Thai friend knows all about it , PM me if you want her contact details 

 

Edited August 8, 20205 yr by sallecc

8 hours ago, rott said:

Funny old world. 

Sometimes things just sort themselves out. 

Immigration really made a rod for their own back with the new rules. They clearly want people using agents, but they've made the whole thing so complicated that the rules are almost impossible to comply with in many circumstances. Hence the vagueness and lack of detail about the whole thing.

 

Personally I'd be more than happy to see some of this red tape wound back a bit, immigration has been like a dog with a bone in their reforms this past couple of years. 

20 hours ago, lamyai3 said:

According to their Facebook page she's been reinstated and is back at her desk today. 

What happened with her husband Bob Marley?

55 minutes ago, sallecc said:

What happened with her husband Bob Marley?

I'd guess his medical research is still suspended.