Hello! I have the following question concerning ED Visa:

If a person is 45 years old now and would like to retire in Thailand. Obviously, this is not possible since his age is below 50. So, can he apply for a Thai ED Visa (renew yearly) and study Thai for 5 years without leaving Thailand? According to some Thai language schools, they claimed that they can only issue ED Visa for a maximal of three years. Does anyone has a solution to this problem? Thank you.

Queries:

1. Nationality ?

2. Location in Thailand ?

3. Finances: Comfortable or shoestring ?

4. How often travel to country of citizenship?

Believe study can be for a number of reasons and there are always other methods to stay to may or might be available. We live in a changing world so what may be true today may not tomorrow.

As Kuhn Lopburi says in Post #3: what may be true today may not tomorrow. And for a Thai citizen to obtain a Visa for language study in the USA, the language course must be for a minimum 18 hours per week of classroom study.

I was issued a Thai ED visa, good for 12 months, so that I could do volunteer English Teaching in Chiang Mai. ( I had been teaching in Asia for 6 years prior to this) As most readers would know, the volunteer program with Chiang Mai university did not eventuate. I was told by the acting head of Department in the language school, that I had to study Thai, could not do any teaching on an ED visa, and if I stopped studying, I'd have to leave the country.

I chose the latter, as I had intended teaching, not learning Thai.

Since I returned, I've read a lot of contraindications about having to leave.

Any new comments?

It depends on if you are A: on a 12 month extension of stay from immigration OR B : have a valid multiple ED-visa and leave the country every 90 days.

In case of A: you permission to stay ends when you stop studying and you need to leave the country or are on overstay.

In case of B: you visa and 90 day entries remain valid. You don't need to do anything.

Queries:

1. Nationality ?

2. Location in Thailand ?

3. Finances: Comfortable or shoestring ?

4. How often travel to country of citizenship?

Dear Jazzbo, thank you very much for your response. My answers are as follow:

1. Canadian

2. Hope to retire in Pattaya

3. With a saving of USD 300K, can I enjoy a Moderate comfort lifestyle for 25 yrs in Pattaya? I need to return to Canada at the age of 70 in order to claim my Canadian pension

4. I planned to stay in Thailand for 25 yrs (without leaving). First 5 yrs on ED Visa and the next 20 using Retirement Visa. Is this approach feasible?

At the moment, my main concern is whether Thai Immigration willing to issue me 5 yrs (renew yearly) of ED Visa for studying Thai. Thank you.

5 years on an ED-visa is possible, note that you don't have to study Thai. You can also study something entirely different, as long as the institution is recognized.

3. With a saving of USD 300K, can I enjoy a Moderate comfort lifestyle for 25 yrs in Pattaya? I need to return to Canada at the age of 70 in order to claim my Canadian pension

For what it's worth, I doubt that you will be able to manage 25 years on USD 300,000. At the current exchange rate that equals THB 9 mio or THB 30,000 per month assuming that the interest on your capital just covers inflation. You may be able to do slightly better, but not by much as you can't afford the risk of losing any of your limited capital. I could live reasonably happily on that, but I doubt that most people could. And what are you going to do if exchange rates changes unfavourably for you, 25 years is a long time and a lot can happen.

Also, will you be able to live in Canada on your pension when that time comes?

Sophon