Student Visa Confusion

[blyish]

I'm currently in Thailand with a tourist visa and doing the paperwork to switch to a student visa beginning in September (which, I've been told, can be done without leaving the country). The school is doing everything for me. Big language school so I'm not worried about them being able to get me a visa. When the visa comes, I was thinking it's going to be the 90-day-at-a-time thing, where I have to report and pay 1,900 baht every 3 months. So what happens if I want to travel within that time period? I'm planning a trip to Tibet and another to Europe (November and April). Because I'm applying to study here for a year but need to report every 90 days, how does that work? How do I get out for the trips without my visa being cancelled? Should I be getting something different? I'm completely lost.

Somebody told me I can go to immigration and ask for an exit permit before I go on my trip and that would prevent my visa from being cancelled. Does that sound right? If not, what am I supposed to do?

[lopburi3]

I suspect you will have to obtain your own visa from outside the country and then return for a 90 day stay and extend at the end of that period based on school.

While in Thailand the current permitted to stay can be saved by obtaining a re-entry permit prior to travel at a cost of 1,000 baht from Immigration. On return you put that number in the visa area of arrival card and get stamed for the same exit date you had before departure.

[blyish]

I suspect you will have to obtain your own visa from outside the country and then return for a 90 day stay and extend at the end of that period based on school.

While in Thailand the current permitted to stay can be saved by obtaining a re-entry permit prior to travel at a cost of 1,000 baht from Immigration. On return you put that number in the visa area of arrival card and get stamed for the same exit date you had before departure.

Thanks. I actually don't need to go out of the country to get the student visa. They'll do it for me while I'm here. Leaving was an option, but since they can also do it here (through some sort of agency), I'm not going anywhere. As for the re-entry permit, yeah, that's what I was told but wasn't sure how it worked. So it sounds like it's not a problem, right?

[TheWorldandI]

I suspect you will have to obtain your own visa from outside the country and then return for a 90 day stay and extend at the end of that period based on school.

While in Thailand the current permitted to stay can be saved by obtaining a re-entry permit prior to travel at a cost of 1,000 baht from Immigration. On return you put that number in the visa area of arrival card and get stamed for the same exit date you had before departure.

Thanks. I actually don't need to go out of the country to get the student visa. They'll do it for me while I'm here. Leaving was an option, but since they can also do it here (through some sort of agency), I'm not going anywhere. As for the re-entry permit, yeah, that's what I was told but wasn't sure how it worked. So it sounds like it's not a problem, right?

It is not a problem as long as you have a re-entry permit before leaving the kingdom. The re-entry permit will allow you to come back to the kingdom within (usually) your stay permit that is within the 90-days stay given to you. If you are a frequent traveller you may consider "multiple entries" re-entry permit THB3800. Not a good record for a student to have evidential missed classes though.

[blyish]

It is not a problem as long as you have a re-entry permit before leaving the kingdom. The re-entry permit will allow you to come back to the kingdom within (usually) your stay permit that is within the 90-days stay given to you. If you are a frequent traveller you may consider "multiple entries" re-entry permit THB3800. Not a good record for a student to have evidential missed classes though.

Thanks, that makes perfect sense. I'm only planning two trips (maybe 3) in a one-year period, 7-10 days each, so I should be ok.

[lopburi3]

The re-entry permit will always be the same date as your current permitted to stay date so you do not want to use multi entry if not in the same period. In your case the extensions will be 90 days rather than the normal marriage/retirement one year.

But if you obtain a one year extension of stay it might be an option to consider. As normally language extensions require exit of country to obtain initial visa not sure what you will be getting.

[steve187]

I would be careful if you are not traveling outside the country to obtain an ed visa,and it is being obtain by SOME SORT OF AN AGENCY. Would that involve losing site of your passport for any length of time?

[TheWorldandI]

I would be careful if you are not traveling outside the country to obtain an ed visa,and it is being obtain by SOME SORT OF AN AGENCY. Would that involve losing site of your passport for any length of time?

blyish and an acquitance of mine are the two people so far I have heard stating this. From what I know, you will be approved from the Ministry of Education and then take the documents to a thai embassy. The other guy has been waiting for about a month or so.

[Mario2008]

A Thai embassy is located outside of Thailand. It is illegal to send your passport abroad, and the consequences of this can be very serious.

[blyish]

I would be careful if you are not traveling outside the country to obtain an ed visa,and it is being obtain by SOME SORT OF AN AGENCY. Would that involve losing site of your passport for any length of time?

Well, not exactly. The school is the one doing the paperwork. They work with an agency that goes to Bangkok (I'm in Hua Hin) and gets me the visa there, directly from immigration. They didn't pressure me to choose this option. In fact, the first option they offered was to give me the papers for me to go to Malaysia (or wherever) to do the visa. They offered this other option when I asked if there was a way to do it from inside Thailand.

According to the immigration website, it's possible to obtain an ed visa from inside Thailand. It indicates there that it might take up to a month to process it, though, which I wasn't told (but matches the timeframe given by TheWorldAndI). I'll talk to them again on Monday. It might just be easier to get out of the country for a couple of days, although I'm dreading the idea (would have to put dogs in a kennel, arrange flight + hotel, etc.). Ugh.

[blyish]

A Thai embassy is located outside of Thailand. It is illegal to send your passport abroad, and the consequences of this can be very serious.

No, no. They wouldn't be sending my passport anywhere. They would get the visa directly from immigration, in Bangkok.

Edited August 21, 2010 by blyish

[TheWorldandI]

A Thai embassy is located outside of Thailand. It is illegal to send your passport abroad, and the consequences of this can be very serious.

I am not saying anybody should mail his or her passport, but I want to know the legal procedure to obtain an ed visa.

[blyish]

sorry, double post

Edited August 21, 2010 by blyish

[tombkk]

I would be careful if you are not traveling outside the country to obtain an ed visa,and it is being obtain by SOME SORT OF AN AGENCY. Would that involve losing site of your passport for any length of time?

blyish and an acquitance of mine are the two people so far I have heard stating this. From what I know, you will be approved from the Ministry of Education and then take the documents to a thai embassy. The other guy has been waiting for about a month or so.

Well, I stayed in Thailand on an ED visa for two years when I studied for my MBA. You have to have a letter from the teaching institution confirming that you are enrolled. The Thai embassies overseas have a list of teaching institutions accredited by the Ministry of Education. So you apply for the visa there, you get a non-imm ED visa.

Once you have that visa and study, you can apply for an extension of stay. My university had to issue a letter, which I took to immigration, and I never had to leave the country.

I did get a multiple re-entry permit though. With this, you can leave and re-enter the country. If you stay 90 days in the country, you have to do the 90-day reporting. If you leave and come back, the 90 days restart when you arrive back. So there is no problem if you are abroad at day 90, it's just for people who don't go abroad. Just ensure that you follow the dates on your multiple re-entry permit, it iwll expires at some date.

Edited August 21, 2010 by tombkk

[lopburi3]

To legally obtain a conversion inside Thailand would require an extra charge of 2,000 baht and require paperwork from highest levels which from reports can only be had for full time study at several well known Universities.

As you seem to have been offered a service by request, rather than normal school procedure, I would be very careful of legalities as such a request is often treated as your permission to take shortcuts of questionable legality.

[blyish]

To legally obtain a conversion inside Thailand would require an extra charge of 2,000 baht and require paperwork from highest levels which from reports can only be had for full time study at several well known Universities.

As you seem to have been offered a service by request, rather than normal school procedure, I would be very careful of legalities as such a request is often treated as your permission to take shortcuts of questionable legality.

Thanks for the info. I think I'm going to make my way to Malaysia and just get the visa myself. Cheaper and faster (though I hate the idea of dealing with the dog/kennel situation) and I don't have to worry about running into trouble.