I am thinking of doing the ED visa, and am wondering if it's better to get it while in my home country(USA) or if I can come to Thailand on a 30 day entry stamp and get it in person ( w/ a trip to neighboring embassy ).

I'd really like to check the schools out in person before going all in on something if possible. Hence the come for 30 days and see for myself idea.

If you can then I suggest you get it back home in the US to avoid a lot of hassle and waiting around.

Coming in on a 30 day visa exempt entry would not give you enough time to check out schools and get the paperwork for a ED visa. It would be best to enter on a single entry tourist visa.

Another problem with coming in on an exempt entry is that you may need to show a ticket out of the country within 30 days of arrival to board your flight.

If you wanted to go the route of getting and ED visa in the states it would be best to get a multiple entry non-ed visa. You would have to leave the country every 90 days for new entry but with all the new restrictions placed on getting extensions at immigration for attending a language school it would be better and less costly in the long run.

IMHO you should get at least a single entry tourist visa first. That way you could go to a couple of schools, talk to the present students and audit a couple of classes before you decided what school you wanted to sign up with. You can go to school on a toruist visa, but you would have to commit to a school - sight unseen and pay (non refundable) money in advance in order to get the paperwork necessary to get the ED visa. Kinda like buying a "mail order bride"!

Coming in on a 30 day visa exempt entry would not give you enough time to check out schools and get the paperwork for a ED visa. It would be best to enter on a single entry tourist visa.

Another problem with coming in on an exempt entry is that you may need to show a ticket out of the country within 30 days of arrival to board your flight.

If you wanted to go the route of getting and ED visa in the states it would be best to get a multiple entry non-ed visa. You would have to leave the country every 90 days for new entry but with all the new restrictions placed on getting extensions at immigration for attending a language school it would be better and less costly in the long run.

Thanks for the advice. I was torn over doing the ED or TR visa and after seeing a bunch of reports stating that with the ED visa they are only getting 60 or 30 day extensions ( or none at all ) I guess doing a 90 day border run is a better alternative.

I'm guessing I can do a triple entry TR from the USA, then around 9 months later when it is over get a double from Laos and finally a single from Penang before going back to the USA for a bit.

Edited January 18, 201511 yr by hansomman

You could get another 2 entry in Laos it you wanted to. At the moment you could get 3 of them back to back.

If you want to study Thai you could do it on tourist visas.

If you can get it from back home I'd do it that way because otherwise you have to go to a neighboring country of Thailand and that takes time and money. On the other hand Vientianne isn't too bad and worth going there ta least once.

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You could get another 2 entry in Laos it you wanted to. At the moment you could get 3 of them back to back.

If you want to study Thai you could do it on tourist visas.

This is a little off topic, but what happens after the third tourist visa?

If you can get it from back home I'd do it that way because otherwise you have to go to a neighboring country of Thailand and that takes time and money. On the other hand Vientianne isn't too bad and worth going there ta least once.

Getting one from back home would mean committing to a school site unseen. Not a good idea. But why would you have to go to a neighboring country? As far as I know, you can convert a tourist visa to an ED visa in TH, provided you have 21 days remaining on the visa. One school claims they can do it with a visa on arrival:

"Current visa on arrival should allow a stay for at least three more weeks in Thailand after bringing the aforementioned documents to our school, otherwise there may not be sufficient time to process the ED paperwork, thus requiring applicant leave Thailand again either by air or a border run."

http://www.thaisolutions1502.com/education-visa-thailand/

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You could get another 2 entry in Laos it you wanted to. At the moment you could get 3 of them back to back.

If you want to study Thai you could do it on tourist visas.

This is a little off topic, but what happens after the third tourist visa?

If you can get it from back home I'd do it that way because otherwise you have to go to a neighboring country of Thailand and that takes time and money. On the other hand Vientianne isn't too bad and worth going there ta least once.

Getting one from back home would mean committing to a school site unseen. Not a good idea. But why would you have to go to a neighboring country? As far as I know, you can convert a tourist visa to an ED visa in TH, provided you have 21 days remaining on the visa. One school claims they can do it with a visa on arrival:

"Current visa on arrival should allow a stay for at least three more weeks in Thailand after bringing the aforementioned documents to our school, otherwise there may not be sufficient time to process the ED paperwork, thus requiring applicant leave Thailand again either by air or a border run."

http://www.thaisolutions1502.com/education-visa-thailand/

I didn't know it can be converted. The thing is, normally you have to apply for visas at embassies or consulates outside of Thailand, which in turn means an overnight bus or train ride which sucks, unless you can afford to fly, and at least one night in a hotel. If you were to go this way, then I suggest to go to Laos on Thursday night and to apply for the visa on Friday. That means you have to stay in Laos the entire weekend, but the major advantage is you won't have to wait in line for several hours because there's no- one else who applies because no one wants to stay the weekend. The worst days from my experience are Monday,Tuesday and Wednesdays.

For me it was easy to get my ED visa here, but I think maybe it depends on what school you are going to attend. I go to Bangkok University they had my paperwork for me in a week. I think it would be much harder to get your ED visa in the US. You will need to either go to a Thai Embassy or mail in the proper paperwork. If you come here on tourist visa and go to the school you plan on attending within a 5 days, you should have no problem. You may need to pay for an extension on your tourist visa because when you go to immigration for your ED visa, your tourist visa needs to show you have 15 days left. The cost for extension 1900 ฿ the cost of ED visa 2000 ฿. Be sure to check your schools start date !

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You could get another 2 entry in Laos it you wanted to. At the moment you could get 3 of them back to back.

If you want to study Thai you could do it on tourist visas.

This is a little off topic, but what happens after the third tourist visa?

If you can get it from back home I'd do it that way because otherwise you have to go to a neighboring country of Thailand and that takes time and money. On the other hand Vientianne isn't too bad and worth going there ta least once.

Getting one from back home would mean committing to a school site unseen. Not a good idea. But why would you have to go to a neighboring country? As far as I know, you can convert a tourist visa to an ED visa in TH, provided you have 21 days remaining on the visa. One school claims they can do it with a visa on arrival:

"Current visa on arrival should allow a stay for at least three more weeks in Thailand after bringing the aforementioned documents to our school, otherwise there may not be sufficient time to process the ED paperwork, thus requiring applicant leave Thailand again either by air or a border run."

http://www.thaisolutions1502.com/education-visa-thailand/

I didn't know it can be converted. The thing is, normally you have to apply for visas at embassies or consulates outside of Thailand, which in turn means an overnight bus or train ride which sucks, unless you can afford to fly, and at least one night in a hotel. If you were to go this way, then I suggest to go to Laos on Thursday night and to apply for the visa on Friday. That means you have to stay in Laos the entire weekend, but the major advantage is you won't have to wait in line for several hours because there's no- one else who applies because no one wants to stay the weekend. The worst days from my experience are Monday,Tuesday and Wednesdays.

It very likely depends on the type of school you're attending (uni v. language or other trade type school) and the reputation of the school. And some nationalities are required to get the ED visa in their home country. But as far as I know, it can be done.

I don't really agree with going to Laos on a Thursday night. Yeah, it's a bit of a hassle Monday through Wednesday, but I've never been turned away.