So Have They Refused Ed Visa Extension To Anyone?

[male]

Are they still testing students at immigration? I have to go there again next month, looking for info

[Mario2008]

There seems to be no testing.

[male]

Really? So that lady in Immigration won't be trying to speak in Thai with me anymore?

[crgram]

At Chiang Mai they do talk to you in Thai. You have to wait for the "interview" after the paper work has been done. I didn't have to say anything except yes and thank you to one question. Probably because I was there for my first extension. But the guy in front of me had quite a conversation. His Thai was good so I don't know what happens if your not good enough.

Chiang Mai Immigration is still efficient and polite. In and out in just over an hour. And that was getting there a little late, 20+ were ahead of me.

cr

[MacWalen]

Probably not, just give you an extension however it is a wise thing to learn Thai for many reasons. I could never quite understand people who can live in another country for extended period of time and totally ignore a language spoken around them and not try to learn at least basic conversation.

Walen School

www.thaiwalen.com

[kosh]

Thai language is not written with western alphabet and it is used only in one country.

If I would be in taiwan i will try to learn chinese....

Same for my language, italian, irrilevant, we are only 60million....

[Tod Daniels]

Thai language is not written with western alphabet and it is used only in one country.

If I would be in taiwan i will try to learn chinese....

Same for my language, italian, irrilevant, we are only 60million....

While anecdotal and humorous what exactly does this have to do with the fact whether they are testing and/or interviewing at Changwattana when you extend your ED visa?

[RickBradford]

I renewed my ED visa at Chaengwattana this afternoon and was certainly encouraged to show I could speak the language. I don't say it was a formal test, perhaps just a gentle inquiry to see whether, after 9 months, I had grasped the rudiments of the language.

What happened was this: when you go to the ED/Diplomatic/Elite section, your number is usually called from the main office in front of you. But there is an older guy, with an office round the corner (might be the boss), who wanders around and occasionally invites someone who is waiting, round to his office.

Once we were seated, he looked at my application and said: เรียนภาษาไทยหรือ, to which I replied in the affirmative, and he then asked me why I was interested in learning Thai, how long I'd been studying and whether anyone in my country spoke Thai. I even managed a mild joke, which seemed to please him.

As I say, I don't think it was a test as such, but if I'd been completely blank when he asked the first question, he might have been inspired to challenge me more formally.

This might have some effect on my school, which has 10 times as many students on its books as ever turn up for class -- if all their students fail after six months, they theoretically could get their licence pulled. Looked at another way, they'll be raking in one-year tuition fees and only having to provide six months "teaching". They don't mark down if you attend class or not, but they have been good enough to remind students about this visa issue.

For me, it makes one thing clear: studying outside school is just as (if not more) valuable and important than anything you might learn in the classroom. Alternatively, try not to catch the eye of the older guy at Chaengwattana....

[BWPattaya]

Alternatively, try not to catch the eye of the older guy at Chaengwattana....

At least you made me laugh!

[YanTree]

I renewed my ED visa at Chaengwattana this afternoon and was certainly encouraged to show I could speak the language. I don't say it was a formal test, perhaps just a gentle inquiry to see whether, after 9 months, I had grasped the rudiments of the language.

What happened was this: when you go to the ED/Diplomatic/Elite section, your number is usually called from the main office in front of you. But there is an older guy, with an office round the corner (might be the boss), who wanders around and occasionally invites someone who is waiting, round to his office.

Once we were seated, he looked at my application and said: เรียนภาษาไทยหรือ, to which I replied in the affirmative, and he then asked me why I was interested in learning Thai, how long I'd been studying and whether anyone in my country spoke Thai. I even managed a mild joke, which seemed to please him.

As I say, I don't think it was a test as such, but if I'd been completely blank when he asked the first question, he might have been inspired to challenge me more formally.

This might have some effect on my school, which has 10 times as many students on its books as ever turn up for class -- if all their students fail after six months, they theoretically could get their licence pulled. Looked at another way, they'll be raking in one-year tuition fees and only having to provide six months "teaching". They don't mark down if you attend class or not, but they have been good enough to remind students about this visa issue.

For me, it makes one thing clear: studying outside school is just as (if not more) valuable and important than anything you might learn in the classroom. Alternatively, try not to catch the eye of the older guy at Chaengwattana....

Interesting. I was there just a few days ago and didn't see any men at all in the ED visa section other than a young gay guy who appeared to be some sort of errand boy - nor was I spoken to in Thai in any way.

Though I wasn't sitting there at all. I go downstairs and have coffee and wait and come up usually after my number has been called so when I am upstairs I either sit at the desk and give them my stuff and leave or pick up my passport. Maybe this strategy unintentionally saved me from getting tested. Others might want to do it too. If your number has already been called they treat you as if you are first in line and deal with you right away.