I'm currently enrolled at a language school and inquired with a different school about enrolling there. They said I could take classes there but they couldn't help with the visa as I obtained the visa initially at my current school. Is it a law/policy with either Ministry of Education or Immigration Bureau that you can only obtain a visa from a single school during ~ 1 year of studying Thai, or is this just a policy at this school?

As a general rule, the school is correct. If the old school had an agreement with immigration that they would extend the permission to stay without checking attendance records, or if the new school had a very good relationship with immigration, maybe the change of schools could occur. However, usually, extending your permission to stay involves a process between the school and immigration which tracks your adherence to the terms of the (original) course. Even taking a one month break (say for an overseas trip) will tend to be a problem unless you can provide an extremely strong justification.

Your ed visa is tied to your school so you have to get a new visa if you change school because not every school is approved by the immigration.

 

There are schools which are visa mills where the students hardly attend classes.

 

 

On 3/17/2022 at 7:57 PM, EricTh said:

Your ed visa is tied to your school so you have to get a new visa if you change school because not every school is approved by the immigration.

 

Thanks, that makes sense. Not sure why they don't want to do this, unless they're unaware.

On 3/17/2022 at 7:44 PM, BritTim said:

As a general rule, the school is correct. If the old school had an agreement with immigration that they would extend the permission to stay without checking attendance records, or if the new school had a very good relationship with immigration, maybe the change of schools could occur. However, usually, extending your permission to stay involves a process between the school and immigration which tracks your adherence to the terms of the (original) course. Even taking a one month break (say for an overseas trip) will tend to be a problem unless you can provide an extremely strong justification.

My current school said I would need to take a test if taking a break from classes. I was under the impression that breaks from the monthly classes for one-on-one lessons and/or travel were expected based on the number of classes available vs the amount of time available for the visa... 7 or 8 classes vs 12 or so months of visa eligibility.

On 3/19/2022 at 4:13 PM, Ashokan said:

My current school said I would need to take a test if taking a break from classes. I was under the impression that breaks from the monthly classes for one-on-one lessons and/or travel were expected based on the number of classes available vs the amount of time available for the visa... 7 or 8 classes vs 12 or so months of visa eligibility.

Did the school say that to you personally, or when many people were there? They often won't be upfront about how flexible they are, but then again I'm sure some schools don't have as great a relationship with immigration as others.