First, Hello everyone. New to the board.

I first visited Thailand in 05 while on leave from Iraq. Originally supposed to go to Phuket but the tsunami scrapped that and I ended up in Bangkok for a week then Pattaya for 2 weeks so I could do some diving.

I am 39 years old and an avid Scuba diver and interested in doing one of the dive internships either in Phuket or Pattaya and have a few questions regarding Visa's.

The course itself is only 3-6 months but I would like to stay one year for a variety of reasons.

One of which is taking a few weeks off to go dive with whale sharks and take a month or so to travel through out the country.

Am I stuck doing what people are calling border runs?

I did look through many posts and while some lead to more questions for me others just leave me confused.

One of which is some kind of education visa thats supposedly good for a year and some posts claim as long as 5 years. While I don't need that long would I qualify for this type of visa since I am coming to thailand to take diving classes and instruction?

How do I even start the process living in Tampa, FL?

is this something I can set up before I come or would i need to be in Thailand to set this up?

Thanks

It is possible to get an educational visa for the perpose of follwoing an internship, that it is a divingschool shouldn't be a problem, but it would need to be a diving school wich is recognised as a teaching facility.

If you find a diving school who wants to give you an internship you might be able to get a multiple ED visa with a letter from them when you apply at a consulate for a visa.

With a multiple ED-visa you can stay 90 days at a time in Thailand, after 90 days you need to hop over the border and could come right back for another 90 days.

The best you could hope for would be a Multi Entry Non Imm O Visa. Valid for one year and gives Multiple entries of up to 90 days. This would mean a border run every 90 days.

Not so easy to get in the States but members have reported success at the Consulate in Portland. Based on Visiting Friends. You do not really qualify for much else. Maybe the Dive School as Mario said.

Give them a ring and ask. http://www.thai-or.com/

Thanks for the advice I appreciate it.