hello all,

I hope you can help me with my travel situation. I am planning to depart to Thailand the first week of July 2015. I have Danish/American citizenship and am 18 years old. The reason for my travels is to study at Buddhist Monasteries in northern Thailand, but I am very confused with the application process. I was planning on staying for 6 months, but I have no idea what Visa I apply for. Your help will be very much appreciated.

Even if there is a visa for religious activities (non-imm "R"), it would be virtually impossible for you to obtain the necessary paperwork to support the application. So in practice you'll have to settle with a double or triple entry tourist visa.

You can get a 2 entry tourist visa that would give you total stay of 6 months. A tourist visa gives 60 days for each entry that can be extended for 30 days at immigration. You could also get a 3 entry visa that would give your more flexibility for your trip.

If you were able to get documents from a monastery you could get a a non immigrant ED visa for your studies that would give a 90 day entry.

I received a 2 month x3 extension tourist visa in USA no problem. Another year I asked and received an invitation letter from a Buddhist wat where we learned then went to USA Thai consulate and got a non immigrant O, single entry. Later went to Thai immigration and got it extended for over a year in case you want to stay longer. Another way is to go out of country to Lao or elsewhere with the letter from wat and get a non immigrant O there, harder but still not that bad. If you need more info and if you are a member of TVisa I think you can message me and I will tell you about the wats that I or others have learned at and what to expect. Good luck or chock dee on your journey.