Tourist Visa | Ed Visa | Changing Visas in Thailand Right Now

[LizT91]

I have a few questions about the current status of visas in Thailand....

• Can Americans can apply for the regular tourist visa (TR)?

• What other types of visas can American citizens apply for right now?

• How many times can the TR visa be extended?

• Can you change to a Non immigrant visa from TR?

• Can you change to a NON-O visa from TR?

• Can you change to an ED visa (regular Thai language school) from TR?

  • If so, do you have to leave the country? Can this be done in Thailand?

[BradyMo]

I was just looking for these same answers today. Bumping this thread.

[Phillip9]

5 hours ago, LizT91 said:

Can you change to an ED visa (regular Thai language school) from TR?

• If so, do you have to leave the country? Can this be done in Thailand?

 

Yes, it has been possible to convert from a TV to ED visa recently without leaving the country.  A lot of us that arrived back before the border closure converted to ED visas a few months ago.  I arrived visa exempt and changed to an ED visa.  Others have changed from TV to an ED visa.

 

You will need to contact schools directly and ask them if they are still offering it.  The school handles all the paper work and most of the interaction with immigration.  Not every school can do it so, don't get discouraged if the first couple you contact say its impossible.  

 

There will be some extra unofficial immigration "fees" for this service.  It will cost you at least couple hundred usd extra in addition to the normal immigration fee.

 

I don't think any schools in bangkok were offering this, but it was available from schools in most other locations with language schools.

 

[ubonjoe]

Most of you questions can be answered by looking at this page on the embassy website. https://thaiembdc.org/visas/

A single entry tourist visa can be extended one time for 30 days,

A tourist visa entry can be changed to certain non immigrant visas if you can qualify for the extensions they are issued for. 

List of them is here on the immigration website. https://www.immigration.go.th/en/?page_id=2537

A non-ed visa cannot not normally be a applied for if attending a informal school such as a language school. But some schools can arrange it to be done for a additional fee.

No need to leave the country for the visa if you can qualify for one that is issued by immigration.----------