Non-Immigrant ED Visit to study for 3 months

[damole]

Is it possible to get a 3 month study visa with the intention to study for 3 months and then leave?  

 

I have been coming and going for the past 20+ years and have studied before but the most recent time was at least 15 years ago and my Thai plataued a long time ago.  I feel I want to step it up to the next level as I've long since forgotten how to write and this is what I've been doing that for the other countries I spend time in but with DuoLingo.

 

I am a UK passport holder currently in Thailand on a VE and would be planning to come back mid November after leaving next week.

[BritTim]

If you can find the right school, that should be possible. Are you intending an intensive course (several hours each day)? There are some high quality, but expensive, courses of that nature, typically targeted at business people.

[DrJack54]

17 hours ago, damole said:

Is it possible to get a 3 month study visa with the intention to study for 3 months and then leave?

You could consider tourist visa + extension.

Does not exclude studying at a school or otherwise.

Most folk that obtain non ED are looking for longer stay than 3 months. 

[Dart12]

As I understand, you'll need 45-55 days processing once you are here.

So if you came for classes, you'd have to come on tourist visa and immediately start process for school and visa.

You'll also have to check for class availability very much in advance.  One school told me 2 weeks ago that they have no openings until like September/October.  

[novster]

My education visa for study at a language school issued by the Thai embassy in London was for a stay of 90 days which can be extended up to 3 times for a further 90 days on each occasion. So you could just not extend the original visa. . 

[damole]

The reason for asking is that most search results talk about 1 year ED visas and I don't want to study Thai for a year nor have the time to spend that much time in Thailand in one go.

 

From what I have read I would need to get a letter from an acredited school here that needs to be signed along with a copy of that person's ID card.

 

I would be happy to study for 2-3 hrs a day Mon-Fri.

 

I am in Chiang Mai and previously studied at Payap, YMCA and Cornerstone in that order.

 

The reason for not just doing it on a tourist visa is that it would be helpful for me to get a Thai driving license for which I need an non-imm O visa.  I always carry my IDP with an A motorcycle stamp which has been specifically checked twice in the last 2 weeeks but it would be nice to have the real thing.  I assume once I have it I can keep it as long as I renew it as and when it is necessary.

[BritTim]

Most language schools that advertise visas are, at least partially, visa mills that exist largely to facilitate one-year visas. Those schools are not going to help you for a normal three month course. The short courses that will provide Non Ed visas are the intensive courses targeted at business people. They are often total immersion courses. They are great for improving your Thai quickly, but expensive. I have a feeling that this is not what you are looking for.

 

Maybe, you will get lucky, and find an inexpensive language school that (perhaps for an extra fee) will agree to provide you with a visa for, say, a three month course The best I can find with a cursory search is Pro Language that offers a six month course with visa for 22,000 baht (https://prolanguage.co.th/student-visa-services/). I have a horrible feeling that this will start at beginners level, but you could chat with them online, and see if you can work something out.

[DrJack54]

Slightly off topic but I have this Oz friend and he became fluent in Thai.

I realize that word fluent is thrown around however the point is his Thai is excellent.

He opted for one on one with a Thai teacher. 

Given OP is only looking at 3 month stay and mentioned you can do that with SETV and one extension. 

Clearly would require discipline to be useful.