Travelling Abroad Whilst On An E.d Visa

[advancebooking]

My question herein relates to the intricacies of the E.D visa.

If I successfully obtain an E.D visa in my oz passport, it is my understanding that every 90 days I will have to visit an immigration centre with some paperwork thus keeping the visa valid.

From the outset I know that my attendance record in class is not going to be exemplary because I intend to travel for up to 2 months at a time around Asia – within the above mentioned 90 day period. i.e. depart and return to LOS within the 90 day reporting period.

The boss of the school implied that it would not be a problem as long as I let them know and obtain a special visa permit which will keep the ED visa valid when flying back to the LOS.

The question I have is the following…. When I fly get back from one of my trips and I go to immigration at the 90 day period, surely they are going to look at all the exit and entry stamps and deduce that I must not be attending class and thus not satisfying the basic requirements of the ED visa?

The boss of the school mentioned that his wife is well connected and that it would not be a problem if the ED visa is from his school. A current student of the school corroborates his claim. The boss alleged that she is a member of the thai senate in bkk.

I appreciate your opinion on the above situation as I’m trying to decide if its worthwhile paying for the ED visa or continue with the double entry tourist visas.

I am keen to learn more thai whilst I’m here and would attend class as much as possible when Im here in Thailand- if I do proceed with the ED visa.

To assist with your assessment / advice on my situation, I recently obtained a new oz passport. The previous passport had 1 triple entry tourist visa, 1 single entry and multiple 30 day VOA’s. I’m about to fly back to the nanny state of Australia for a short holiday and thus need to start deciding on my future visa strategy which will best enable me to continue using this country as base camp.

Many thanks

[lopburi3]

If you plan frequent travel why even bother with visas if you are allowed visa exempt entry? Or just get a tourist visa when you intend to remain longer? There should not be any problem doing that if you are indeed travelling often. An immediate red flag for me anywhere is reference to contacts; as that often means a less than legal operation (or such influence would not be required) and once in the web you are at there mercy.

[INV]

I tell you what. this is defamation if you cant proof what you are saying? I know for a fact you are full of BS as I go to that school.

And belive me this school is one of the few that will not play along on this kind of BS. You are clearly pointing out this school

to being involved in illegal activities and in the way you are describing the owner and his wife its not hard to guess which one.

Why would any person tell publicly about something like this as if true(not) it would be helpful to you? can It be that you are connected

to some other school and try to make same shit? or some other reason? This smells bad.

[IMA_FARANG]

To answer your first concern, it would be entirely legal for you to travel out of Thailand with an Ed extension/visa just as long as you get an exit re-entry permit from your local immigration prior to that travel.

The exit re-entry permit allows you to leave and return and keps your current Ed extension/visa alive. A single exit re-entry costs 1900 Baht and a multiple exit re-entry cost 3800 Baht and allows you multiple exits during the term of your Ed visa extension. No problem there, it's entirely legal. If your intending to travel out of country several times a year, a multiple exit re-entry permit is you best opyion .... but that's up to you to decide.

Now, on the question of attendence at the school. Immigration will assume you are really attendingthat school. I'll assume here that the school is exactly what it claims to be .... a legal language school, and that you are attending it.

The immigration however has the right to ask you to verify that you are actually a legitimatr student ,,,, and not just getting rgar ED extension.visa to stay in Thailand as a tourist. So they may require prrof that you are really attending that school, i.e. attendence lists.

If for some reason they suspect you are NOT attending the school as you claim, they can ask for proof you are atteding school regularly as you said.

A tip for you ..... if the school will let you sign a longer term contract; a 6 months to a year contract, immigration may look at you more favorably. Of course, that means you are paying for the entire course up front .... again that;s your choice.

Now, frankly, the statement that someone has a "contact in the Thai prarliment/government" is like a red warning flag to many people who have been here a while. It's like a taxi driver who won't turn on the meter or agree a price just "don't worry I give you good price" from that taxi driver.

Exactly what do you get every 90 days? Doyou get another 90 day extension, or to you actually get another VISA each 90 days?

If you actually have to leave country each 90 days, you are probably doing all the work on your ED visa yourself a nd the company isn't. Thatps another big red flag if that;s the case.

But yiu say that isn't the case ... so I'll ive you the benefit of the doubt.

However actually there is no such thing as a true Ed VISA, what you really get is a 90 day non immigrant O visa which is then EXTENDED in country based on your attending school. From what I understand, that's what you are doing ... extending your visa for 90 days at a time with documentation from your school.

That's the way it should be done properly. If somenone has to leave country every 90 days to get another Ed visa (so-called) that;s a Big Red Flag,

[londoedan]

I tell you what. this is defamation if you cant proof what you are saying? I know for a fact you are full of BS as I go to that school.

And belive me this school is one of the few that will not play along on this kind of BS. You are clearly pointing out this school

to being involved in illegal activities and in the way you are describing the owner and his wife its not hard to guess which one.

Why would any person tell publicly about something like this as if true(not) it would be helpful to you? can It be that you are connected

to some other school and try to make same shit? or some other reason? This smells bad.

Agree - I hope this idiot gets banged-up for abusing the ED visa. No wonder the authorities are clamping-down on abuse of such visa's

[TerryLH]

"...as long as you get an exit re-entry permit from your local immigration prior to that travel."

"A single exit re-entry costs 1900 (1000) Baht and a multiple exit re-entry cost 3800 Baht and allows you multiple exits (entries) during the term of your Ed visa extension."

"If your intending to travel out of country several times a year, a multiple exit re-entry permit is you best opyion..."

Not if his extension is only good for 90 days.

"However actually there is no such thing as a true Ed VISA, what you really get is a 90 day non immigrant O visa which is then EXTENDED in country based on your attending school."

O and ED are different categories of a Non Immigrant Visa.

OP, if you plan on making Thailand your base, there is a lot of information that will be useful to you in the pinned topics at the top of this forum.

Terry

[gleeglee]

I also know this school and i can say that it is a very very busy school. As a student in this school for 3 years, this is a question i have asked before, Full attendance is not required only 70% attendance is required, I also went on holiday for 2 months to Malaya so the answer you got is correct with a re-entry permit you can leave Thailand and it does protect the visa.

In my case the school was flexible as i learn most classes, when i came back they gave me a couple of private classes to catch up on what i missed which they did not have to do.

I have met the Thai owner she is a very nice person and yes she has a PhD in Education and is indeed an Advisor to the Senate this is not a secret and you can freely pick up one of her business cards from within the school

Some school are bogus this school is not one of them, you only have to look at the facilities within the school to know this. Top staff top school is my opinion

[Maestro]

Perhaps the person at the school giving the explanation to the OP does not speak English very well or the OP misunderstood or misinterpreted part of the explanation, or a combination of both.

It is part of operating a school to have contact – some may less appropriately call it connections – with the Ministry of Education and, if the school assists with the students' applications for extension of stay and re-entry permit, also with the local immigration office.

A certain minimum annual hours of study are required for the extensions of stay and I have seen posts mentioning that this can include home study (homework) to some extent. Allowance is made for the interruption of a study course for a vacation, within or outside Thailand, and with the regular documentation from the school a student can continue to get his 90-day extensions of stay regardless of the status or place of work of the school's owner, regardless of alleged "connections" the school may have with any government agency.