This question has probably been asked already but how many years can you be on a ED Visa consecutive without returning to your home country?

Is it 10 years? Is there a limit?

Just curious

Thanks

Moderator please delete this got double posted by mistake

The new rule now is you cant stay more then 1 year on an ED visa, you have to leave the country every year and reset it if u want to stay in the Land of Smiles,

the days of stay up to 10 years without leaving Thailand are gone, at least under the current rules,

Moderator please delete this got double posted by mistake

The new rule now is you cant stay more then 1 year on an ED visa, you have to leave the country every year and reset it if u want to stay in the Land of Smiles,

the days of stay up to 10 years without leaving Thailand are gone, at least under the current rules,

Maybe OP wants to know about how any years can they learn and obtain a visa at the same school? If so that would depend on the school, for me it is 5, but yes now we all have to leave every year and will probably be tested at immigration every 3 months, which I understand but the test should be relevant to the student which is almost impossible to organize, especially here.

Moderator please delete this got double posted by mistake

The new rule now is you cant stay more then 1 year on an ED visa, you have to leave the country every year and reset it if u want to stay in the Land of Smiles,

the days of stay up to 10 years without leaving Thailand are gone, at least under the current rules,

I understand that but how many times can you get a 1 year ED Visa back to back if you leave to say Laos and apply again.

Moderator please delete this got double posted by mistake

The new rule now is you cant stay more then 1 year on an ED visa, you have to leave the country every year and reset it if u want to stay in the Land of Smiles,

the days of stay up to 10 years without leaving Thailand are gone, at least under the current rules,

I understand that but how many times can you get a 1 year ED Visa back to back if you leave to say Laos and apply again.

Read above ^^^ depends on your school. Ask them. I was told from day 1 I had 5 years. IF I want to continue after that I will simply apply at a different school ...

I haven't heard of any limit, I assume one can just enjoy their stay here indefinitely. By changing schools if necessary.

Great for those that want to keep practising their Thai, in classes or self-taught. One can never get too good.

My understanding is 3-5 years, think it might depend where you are studying etc. I believe it is different if with a University?

The recent Penang Ed visa thread mentioned a lady who'd been here 30 years.

Many schools have courses approved for five years. Some of these schools have approved courses other than Thai. If you follow the rules in place and leave the country each year, get a new visa and change courses at the end of the approved length of the course the amount of time is only defined by the courses that you study.

I could provide a link to a school, not a sponsor, that currently offers at least 10 different courses all approved for up to five years of study. If you follow the rule in place each time that you have to renew your visa, that would give you 50 years!

Is attendance at the school physically required ? What I mean is do they have open universities wherein studies can be done online. If they could....then here's a plan.

If you already have a skill or degree is a specialist field, for example, mathematics. Then enroll pay your dues and the content of the course will be walk in the park along with any assessment.

But if one doesn't need to be physically at school, he/she won't need to be in Thailand and, therefore, won't need any Ed visa...

Is attendance at the school physically required ? What I mean is do they have open universities wherein studies can be done online. If they could....then here's a plan.
If you already have a skill or degree is a specialist field, for example, mathematics. Then enroll pay your dues and the content of the course will be walk in the park along with any assessment.

No attendance was a slight exaggeration......you may need to sit exams. Im talking about a degree mnot hopscotch

Most language schools have several languages offered and at least 3 years per language.

Not sure if native English speakers wanting to improve their English can take English classes.

I think some never take attendance but assume you attend every class when your passport shows you in Thailand and will mark the attendance form to immigration accordingly.

Language schools have no homework, no assessment, and unless changed recently, report perfect attendance to immigration (of course you will attend every class)

A quote directly from the website of a school, not a sponsor of TV, explaining their interpretation of the rules regarding attendance:

"70% attendance is required at the school and schools are going to be inspected on a regular basis , Some schools offer learning by Skype , This does not get you a student visa as 70% attendance is required."

Thanks Wayned....... And that's the way it should be.

I was being a little sarcastic

A quote directly from the website of a school, not a sponsor of TV, explaining their interpretation of the rules regarding attendance:

"70% attendance is required at the school and schools are going to be inspected on a regular basis , Some schools offer learning by Skype , This does not get you a student visa as 70% attendance is required."

This would require students to have an assigned class and the school would be expected to produce that list on inspection.

A school on asoke with 3 small classrooms (12 max per could classroom) could accommodate maximum 500 attending students.

I suspect due to prime location student enrollment is considerably larger.

Hard to believe the school will report true attendance.

They might loose over half their students.

Schools that are liked by immigration (for various reasons $) probably won't be bothered.

What is the ED visa?

ED = education

It is a non immigrant visa based upon going to school.

It is a good visa. However it is now being widely abused by economic refugees from the west

It is a good visa. However it is now being widely abused by economic refugees from the west

What do you mean economic refugees and how are they abusing it?

Kep up Tim. ED visas around the world have been abused.

They use the cheap visa that allows them to work.

When renewing Ed visas several times, Thai consulates sometimes ask for 'proof of income from outside Thailand' to show one isn't working here while a student. Screenshots and moderator clarification - http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/715011-red-stamp-in-vientiane-advice-needed/

So they don't consider remote online work and offshore sourced income to be working in Thailand - in fact that foreign income is their safeguard against abuse.

Edited October 25, 201411 yr by jspill

I could provide a link to a school, not a sponsor, that currently offers at least 10 different courses all approved for up to five years of study. If you follow the rule in place each time that you have to renew your visa, that would give you 50 years!

Can you post the course subjects and location? There is always talks about studying something different from Thai, but little substantiated information.

I could provide a link to a school, not a sponsor, that currently offers at least 10 different courses all approved for up to five years of study. If you follow the rule in place each time that you have to renew your visa, that would give you 50 years!

Can you post the course subjects and location? There is always talks about studying something different from Thai, but little substantiated information.

If anybody wants the info, PM me and I will attach the link there. There is also an explanation of their interpretation of how the new rules will affect those wanting ED visas.

In reply to the OP

I have always been told at the several schools I have attended that there was a limit of 3 years to study the same subject. the choice then was to either (apply and) change to a different subject matter, or take a break for about 6 months then apply again for the same course, starting the clock from zero again (for another 3 years stint).

As long as you kept 'mobile' in either your subject or location - then there didn't seem to be an upper limit, however I don't know anyone who has studied anything for longer than a couple of years, so time will definitely tell.

Since the new 'rules' earlier this year, students now have to apply for a new visa outside the country every year, instead of the old system of getting a local extension based the original visa, every 3 months.

Does anyone yet know how many times people will be 'allowed' to go back to an embassy and apply for a consecutive ED visa, without raising eyebrows?

Apart from the additional cost of going out every year, there is also the additional costs from the school - if the hours required for attending are doubled. Courses will be only 6 months long (for the same original cost) or course fees will be doubled to make the visa last the full year.

I know education visa are the easiest and cheapest way to stay in the country long time.

I am waiting for the government to start asking for proof how you can support yourself long time without working but probably won't happen.

I assume the thai government knows paying for a 4 hour a week class is not a student.

A physical check of language school facilities would probably show they can only accommodate 30% of their students.

If I had a child and he said I can't work because I have classes 4 hours a week (no homework no test) I would laugh.

I believe language school visas will be around for a while.

There is probably good communication $ between language schools and immigration.

The government knows what is happening.