Edu Visa Questions! :)

[stacks]

Hey guys

First post. Great site! My question is this.. I plan to enter the country in Sept coming from the US, at which point from what I can tell, I'm given a 30 day tourist visa. I'll then travel to Chiang Mai and enroll at a language school I've picked out (not naming because I don't know forum rules about that). On their site it says:

First we will need to apply for a letter from the Thai Ministry of Education requesting a one year ED visa for you. It takes between 3-5 weeks. Once you receive this letter you will need to go outside Thailand to one of the Thai consulates (most nationalities can go to Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia and Singapore, some nationalities like Indians, Chinese, Pakistanis and middle eastern countries will need to go back to their country) where you will be issued a one year non-immigrant ED visa. With this visa you will need to come back to us and we will apply for a second letter from the MOE certifying your enrolment, this letter allows you to make 90 day extensions at the local immigration office for the duration of the course. No visa runs are required at all.

Now here is where it gets confusing for me.. Now I know to enter the country, I need to already have an exit ticket booked. Can I book a ticket to Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia or Singapore in advance, knowing I will need to leave the country in order to get the Edu visa, and when I re-enter the country on the Edu visa, I should be fine, right? Also, the school is stating that once they send for a letter from the Ministry of Education, it can take anywhere from 3-5 weeks.. If my visa is only a 30 day visa, what would my option be as far as extending it or overstaying and paying a fine? Furthermore, will the fact that the date I'm leaving and re-entering on the Edu visa is possibly over 30 days out cause any problems for me pre-ordering the plane ticket out of the country and having it count as my exit ticket?

I've just gathered this all by reading threads on here and I very well could have misinterpreted some things. Please correct me and I'd love some advice on the matter

Anyone can contact me via Skype, I'm on 24-7 @ Nick(dot)Giuliani1

Thanks guys!

[Mario2008]

The only requirement is that you have a ticket out, so a ticket to a neighbouring country should be fine.

(You get a visa exempt entry for 30 days upon arival, not a tourist visa).

You can also apply for a tourist visa, good for 60 days. With a tourist visa you don't need a ticket out of the country. Seems the better option. At many consulates you can apply by mail.

[lopburi3]

No one year visa is available or provided. You will only get a single entry ED visa from a Consulate in the area for language study. Only extension of stay can be up to one year and that involves immigration and for language school it is normally limited to 90 days each time as they go on to outline near end. As said above obtain a tourist visa prior to travel to allow time and travel issues.

[stacks]

Awesome thanks for the replies guys, I just wrote the Thai Consulate in LA to see what I need to do to move forward with applying for a 60 day tourist visa. My next question I'm having a hard time putting into writing, so bear with me.. Since I can get away with getting a flight out to a neighboring country in order to honor the must have an exit flight booked policy, would I be best off booking it for 50-60 days into my 60 day entry, to ensure that I'll have ample time to receive the letter back from the Ministry of Education? Also, what would my best flight path be? I plan to fly from LAX to BKK, then from BKK to Chiang Mai. Where would be the most cost effective flight destination from CM that I would be able to leave and re-enter once I receive my Edu visa?

Thank you!!

[lopburi3]

You do not need any flight if you have a visa. For your ED trip you can do it on a low cost flight you arrange after you have the paperwork. You can study on the tourist visa until then.

[stacks]

You do not need any flight if you have a visa. For your ED trip you can do it on a low cost flight you arrange after you have the paperwork. You can study on the tourist visa until then.

Okay so just to be clear, once I get a 60 day tourist visa from the Thai Consulate, you're saying they will let me into the country on a 1 way flight? Everything I've read has said they wouldn't let me enter without an exit flight booked sometime within the time-frame of my visa. My idea was that I could hit 2 birds with 1 stone and have that exit flight be the low cost ED trip. What do you think?

[lopburi3]

I do not know where you have been reading that but know it was not here. Thailand will not even stop your entry without a visa but airline might. If you have any type of visa they should not have any issues. You can check this yourself with the Delta Airlines site that provides the IATA requirements for entry.

http://www.staralliance.com/en/services/visa-and-health/

If you want to book that is fine but some schools will ask that you use specific Consulates that they know the requirements for (not all want exactly the same paperwork).

[stacks]

This is such great news. Thanks!!

[Colabamumbai]

Pay the school now from your home country they will provide all the documents for you to take to the Thai Embassy in your country, since you are going to have to leave Thailand anyway, and you will probably get the visa for the length of the study ie 6 months 9 months, rumor is they may stop one year ed visas.

This is the easiest way then you come here with your Ed visa you do not need a ticket out and probably do not have to visit immigration for at least 90 days, maybe not at all.

Embassy's in the area only give 90 days, whether the school or the contract for the job is a year, and you have to extend the visa within Thailand, 1,900 Bhat before the 90 days expires Getting it at home may save you some time and money.

I did this 3 years ago. My deal with the school was 100 hours, 2.5 months they got me 6 month visa, Canadian consulate asked me if I wanted a year on the Ed visa, I said sure and paid the difference in fees. You can mention school names here and ask for recommendations. some sponsor the site.

Good luck

[lopburi3]

But you can not stay longer than 90 days on an ED visa regardless. So you either have to exit country every 90 day if you have a multi entry visa or visit immigration every 90 days for a new extension of stay. A one year visa only allows 90 day stays - only extensions of stay offer longer and for part time language study the period is only 90 days for extension.

[stacks]

But you can not stay longer than 90 days on an ED visa regardless. So you either have to exit country every 90 day if you have a multi entry visa or visit immigration every 90 days for a new extension of stay. A one year visa only allows 90 day stays - only extensions of stay offer longer and for part time language study the period is only 90 days for extension.

Via the Language School's site:

With this visa (Non Immigrant ED) you will need to come back to us and we will apply for a second letter from the MOE certifying your enrolment, this letter allows you to make 90 day extensions at the local immigration office for the duration of the course. No visa runs are required at all.

So is it true, that once I obtain the ED visa, I'll be able to get an extension for 1,900 Baht every 90 days and not have to do border runs as long as I'm attending school? Anyone have any experience with this type of situation specifically (with obtaining an ED visa through a language school) that can shed some light on their experience with extensions.

Pay the school now from your home country they will provide all the documents for you to take to the Thai Embassy in your country, since you are going to have to leave Thailand anyway, and you will probably get the visa for the length of the study ie 6 months 9 months, rumor is they may stop one year ed visas.

This is the easiest way then you come here with your Ed visa you do not need a ticket out and probably do not have to visit immigration for at least 90 days, maybe not at all.

I know it would make more sense to try and nail down the ED visa before going out there.. I've just got pretty strong reservations about enrolling into a school sight unseen. Finally found the page on the Thai Consulate site in LA that I needed (the translate feature on their site is broken, and the navigation is an imagemap.. doh!~) where I was able to confirm what lopburi3 said: I won't need to worry about having an exit flight booked. Seems the visa application process is pretty painless.

[Mario2008]

Yes, as long as you study you can extend your stay every 90 days with paperwork from the school confirming you are still studying.

[Learned]

I'm on an Ed Visa at the moment. I was already in Thailand when I signed up for one.

Paid my money to the school and they did me the paperwork which took about 4 weeks. Left Thailand and went to KL to apply for the Ed Visa (took two days). Returned to Thailand and now every 90 days I go to immigration to get another 90 days.

I got a single entry Ed Visa which means if I want to leave Thailand I have to get a re-entry permit so that my Ed Visa stays 'live' when I return to Thailand and they don't overwrite it and give me the 30 days stay (AFAIK). It costs 1000 baht to get a re-entry permit.