Immigration Woes - Losing My Mind Here

[HollyMann]

Hello everone.

Well, for the past few months I've been trying to get all the paperwork together to get my son an education visa to a thai school here in chiang mai. The school has been extremely cooperative and helpful. I went to immigration 3 mos ago and was given a list of things to accomplish, paperwork, bank statement for 500,000 baht if I am to be my son's dependent (we are both americans and I am not married to a thai person). I also had every piece of paperwork signed and stamped by the Mayor of Chiang Mai (a very very difficult task I might add - that took quite a while). I went into immigration yesterday, took my son off of school for the day and had everything prepared as the immigration lady told me I needed. Turns out she was either in a bad mood or didn't care for me because every thing I had she tried to say wasn't acceptable. I had everything as she stated I needed, all nice and organized and I was dressed nice, my son there, etc.

It was very frustrating. I was unable to get it yesterday and she said I need:

1. To go to the american consulate to have my son's birth certificate notarized (has anyone needed to do this for a ed visa? I had an ed visa years back and never had to do any of this junk, like the mayor's approval, etc.)

2. Must go to immigration at the airport. Turns out the departure card was inaccurately stamped with the wrong date, etc. so that was removed and must be redone. So I have to go there and have them search for his record and reprint one.

3. Must go back to the school and in addition to the mayor's paperwork which very clearly states that my son is attending and will continually attend the school from this date until next year this time, I need:

- Letter of Registration from the school (the school orig gave it to me but said that the paperwork from the mayor covers it all and it is no longer needed)

- Letter stating my son is attending the school

-Letter requesting that my son gets the ed visa (you'd think those two could be combined?!)

Has anyone had any experiences with obtaining an education visa and what did you need to do to get it? I'm very curious about this - not about the regulations you read about online - but about YOUR personal experiences and what YOU needed to get it. Thank you in advance.

[gzu88bv]

I know it can be frustrating, but the fact is that the Immigration Office has the saying here. You son wants an ED visa and he will get it through Immigration only.

Required papers that come from abroad have to be legalized by your embassy, sometimes re-legalized by the governing body of embassies, which is the Ministry of Foreign affairs (MFA).

The school your son does attend has to provide you with all the necessary paperwork and you would have to ask your Immigration what papers they really want legalized by MFA. In my opinion the Mayor does not play a role at all here unless your school wants his signature on their papers.

If there is any wrong with your departure card and said immigration office cannot help you, your best bet is the Immigration at the airport where it got screwed up.

Stick solely to the requirements of your Immigration office and do as being told and you should be fine. Upon reading your point 1-3 it seems to me that Immigration wants to see the contract you have with that school and a confirmation letter, that your son is indeed attending the school. Maybe these school papers have to be legalized by the Ministry of Education.

[lopburi3]

You are trying to obtain two visas/extensions of stay. The birth certificate establishes your right to the 7.10 extension of stay. The requirement for Mayor approval is very clear in the regulations for son. The requirement for educational facility paperwork is also there. Below are quotes from National Police Order 606/2006 (from pinned items at top of page) that are the current basis for all visa extensions.

For son ED visa the official list is

1. Petition Forms

2. Copy of Passport of the Applicant

3. Copy of the Institute’s educational

license issued from related

government sector.

4. Certify letter requesting for continuous

of study from that education institute

illustrating the course details and its

duration and transcript

5. Must be certified by a related

government sector or by the Provincial

Mayor which is responsible for that

education institute (exempted in the

case of studying in an international

school and undergraduate level)

For your visa the official list is

(2) Must demonstrate proof of

relationship

1. Petition Forms

2. Copy of Passport of the Applicant

3. Copy of Passport of the foreigner who

has been granted a permit based on

education.

4. Copy of documents illustrating their

relationship e.g. copy of the marriage

certificate, birth certificate, or child

certification, house registration,

adoption documents or any other

document from a related government

sector.

5. In the case of (5), must also attach

certified letter issued by the bank plus

a copy of the bank account pass book.

[PattayaParent]

Can both parents get the extension of stay based on 1 child on an ED visa?

[lopburi3]

Only one.

[PattayaParent]

Where can I find a list of schools in Pattaya / Rayong area that are approved to get the ED visa for my child?

[MsFigure]

Hollyman - sorry to hear about your difficulties in getting an ED visa for your son. My (almost) 4 year old daughter got her ED Visa (multiple entry) in August, and it was unbelievably easy..... even though we did have to go to Australia (Perth) to do it . I needed to get a new passport and renew my own non-imm O visa (multiple entry), so we thought it would be a good idea to get our daughter one of her own.

My daughter goes to St. Andrews International (Rayong) and I asked them for a letter requesting an ED visa for Angel. They provided me with the requested letter, plus other pages that are required (no idea what they were as it was in Thai). Along with the documents from her school, the only other papers we had to show was her birth certificate, marriage certificate (husband and I are Australian) and copies of our passports. No other documents were requested (bank, house, etc) and all I had to do was fill in the Visa Application forms for both my daughter and myself at the Thai Consulate office.

I don't know if the fact she was born in Thailand or that we actually left Thailand to apply for the visa made a difference in regards to our experience compared to yours, but I hope you're able to sort your son's visa soon.

Good Luck !

Edited November 23, 2007 by MsFigure

[crocodilexp]

I know it can be frustrating, but the fact is that the Immigration Office has the saying here. You son wants an ED visa and he will get it through Immigration only.

Exactly. Now bend over please, and do as we tell you.

[geovalin]

Hello everone.

Well, for the past few months I've been trying to get all the paperwork together to get my son an education visa to a thai school here in chiang mai. The school has been extremely cooperative and helpful. I went to immigration 3 mos ago and was given a list

etc.

I'm in the same process in Bangkok.

The more difficult here is to obtain the letter from the Education Ministry. It's a kind of certificate stating that the request of a 1 year visa is reasonable. I provided all the requested documents (Lopburi3 lists) to the Education Ministry not to immigration.

Then, it should be easy at immigration because the letter from Ministry is the proof we have all the documents. Well, I cross my finger.

The point of my topic is to tell that THE SCHOOL IS WORKING ON THIS ISSUE. I even understood that the teacher will go to immigration to get the visa. They used to do that for the foreign teachers, so they can do also for the pupils.

We are in this process since nearly one year. Every time the delay is too short to gather all the documents (well, probably the reason is that the teacher working on that is too slow) and we have to go back to the country of origin of the pupils (Cambodia) to get another 3 months ED visa.

I'll know if we obtain the 1 year extension within a few days. If you want, I'll keep you posted.