Canceling ED Visa for Nongkhai Visa Run

[Alexander Joo]

This pertains to me, so I read everything I could on this forum. Still, there were some enormous gaps in information that I'd like to fill, because they cost me a shitload of time, money, energy and effort.

Exposition: I'm a Canadian on ED visa for 6 months (initial 3 month + 3 month extension). that expired last Saturday, January 31. Because of the bullshit going on with ED visa, I decided to switch to Double Entry Tourist visa, and chose Vientiane to do it. Flights were $250US per one way, so my plan was to fly from Bangkok to Nongkhai ($30US) and cross the border by land.

I had a letter from my school canceling my visa on Jan 31st -- the day I was to leave Thailand, as the visa is invalid from the date specified in the letter.

On Saturday, January 31, I got the the Nongkhai border around 6pm. Walked up to the passport control, gave him my passport and letter. He knew what they were so directed me to the office on the side.

I went to the office on the side and the girl in there said I need to cancel my ED visa. "So cancel it," I said. She said only immigration can do that. "Aren't you immigration?" She said she was just an outpost with no real power (except re-entry stamps), and I'd have to go to the NONGKHAI IMMIGRATION OFFICE ... that was closed for the weekend and would reopen Monday at 8:30am! Make sure you arrive during office hours to cancel your ED VISA, and go to the Nongkhai immigration office a few kilometers away from the border.

Because I'm a drama-king, I also yelled, "I JUST WANT TO GET OUT OF THIS GODDAMN COUNTRY, HOW CAN YOU KEEP ME HERE LIKE THIS?" and a male immigration officer smirked and guffawed my way. I've been here long enough to know what works so I shut the hell up and jumped in a minivan outta there.

The following doesn't have to do with ED visa nonsense, just the typical, garden-variety visa nonsense.

I went over all of my options and the best thing to do was suck it up and stay two nights in Udon Thani/Nongkhai. Then hit Immigration Monday at 830 when it opened, and try to get to Thai embassy in Vientiane before 1130am when they close.

Monday morning -- today -- I went to immigration. Someone on this forum said there's a special desk for canceling ED visas ... there isn't. Get there early, because you're in the same queue as everyone else (extensions, etc.) I arrived at 815am and was number 12, so get there earlier.

Finally got my visa canceled, then hopped in a tuktuk for the Friendship Bridge border. I was forced to overstay for 2 days, so had to join the very, very slow Overstay Line. Then I bussed across the bride and through Laos immigration (simple but time-consuming).

While waiting for my Laos visa-on-arrival, I lamented that it was now 11:30am, the exact minute the Thai Embassy in Vientiane would close applications for the day. A taxi driver asked if I needed to get to the embassy and I said it's closed. He said, "I might be able to get you a queue ticket, then you can still get your application in today. 1000THB." I didn't want to stay an extra day in Laos, so told him to get on it.

Got my Laos visa, hopped in his taxi (200THB) and at the Thai embassy, his friend entered and gave me a queue number stapled to a Thai visa application form. The taxi driver led me upstairs, handed what I needed copied to the copy guy, trimmed my photos while I filled in the application. He stapled everything together and directed me to a chair. "Wait for your number to be called." This guy saved my life, so I gave him 500THB. Totally didn't mind, as he led me through the process where I would've undoubtedly wasted time.

Sorry that this is all over the place. I'm still in Laos now and exhausted from 3 days of Thai bureaucracy. I thought I did everything possible to mitigate the risks of this canceling ED Visa business but didn't have full information. Hope this helps someone out there.

[krey]

yeah its a rule that i been hit with as well

You need the cancellation letter from your school if you are switching visas

I been told several times from several people you dont have to do it, but then i get to immigration and you do

i switched from one school to the other and cancelled an ED visa but had to go immigration twice because of it as i got denied first time without my special cancel letter

and that was even after i left the country and came back with a new visa

[Colabamumbai]

You could have just left the country, your visa was over. I have never gone to Immigration to cancel an Ed visa. And I have never had any letter from any school to cancel anything. If you are going to a new school then you would need their paperwork for a new Non B.

[krey]

that doesnt work anymore

I left the country and Chiang Mai Immigration said it didnt matter I still had to cancel my old ED, its a newer law that some follow

Edited February 2, 2015 by krey

[paz]

You could have just left the country, your visa was over. I have never gone to Immigration to cancel an Ed visa. And I have never had any letter from any school to cancel anything. If you are going to a new school then you would need their paperwork for a new Non B.

Maybe you don't understand. They would NOT stamp the passport, meaning one CANNOT leave. Illegal and abusive, but that is what happens at Nongkhai, and it has been known since months.

[krey]

all i know is

1. I wanted to change schools as i moved somewhere else in Thailand

2. I left the country to reset my visa in Laos and got a new ED Visa Stamp with my new school

3. During the first 90 extension Chiang Mai immigration said I had to cancel my old school and technically I was now 90 days overstay

but if I got my letter from my old school they would cancel it and start using the new visa

that is the process I personally went through

[nzexpat]

Strange discussion !

Immigration/Schools never cancel visas !

Alexander Joo, by his own admission, did not even have a valid "visa" in his passport !

Edited February 2, 2015 by nzexpat

[paz]

all i know is

1. I wanted to change schools as i moved somewhere else in Thailand

2. I left the country to reset my visa in Laos and got a new ED Visa Stamp with my new school

3. During the first 90 extension Chiang Mai immigration said I had to cancel my old school and technically I was now 90 days overstay

but if I got my letter from my old school they would cancel it and start using the new visa

But the OP was not changing school. He has been abusively prevented from leaving country, especially when his permission to stay had expired already. The That approach to make life miserable for non-imm ED visa holder is really pitiful, those that are on a budget, or have chosen the wrong travel schedule, or border to leave are punished, unlike who is able to just fly out and perhaps take a vacation in Bali or something.

[paz]

Strange discussion !

Immigration never cancel visas !

Not strange, it is correct that immigration does not cancel visa.

OP had an extension of stay:

(initial 3 month + 3 month extension). that expired last Saturday, January 31.

Immigration do cancel extensions of stay, for various reasons.

Edited February 2, 2015 by paz

[Alexander Joo]

I've been coming here for 8 years and I never hit this level of ... well, it's not "incompetence" because they're actually following the rules to the T. What's bizarre to me is that if this canceling of ED visa before exiting was a real thing, then that's fine, as long as it happens at every single border, land or air or sea. But because it's only happening at Nongkhai (and CM (?) as someone said up there), that's what makes it seem so arbitrary. How is something this serious only at one border crossing?

And to only be able to cancel the visa at an immigration office and not at the border -- well, there was little way I could've known that.

Anyway, I think I'm a pretty resourceful person, and regardless of how stupid these rules are, I tried my best to get everything in order to their guidelines. I did everything that I think anyone could have possibly done in this matter and still failed. They have no officially posted guidelines anywhere, and it's terrible that the first few hundred of us have to be sacrificial lambs and then post on Thaivisa what's up (but thank god that there are sacrificial lambs who are awesome enough to post here afterwards).

Also, a not-wholly-unrelated problem: I replaced a lost passport last week and while getting all my stamps at Chaengwattana, they said the last time I entered Thailand was November 9 on a 30-day visa-exempt. I told them that that was the weekend I went to Saigon and I paid for a multiple re-entry and produced the receipt (for bookkeeping, I had it on my phone). They said it SUVARNABUMHI IMMIGRATION DIDN'T PUT IT INTO THE GODDAMN COMPUTER.

So CW made me physically go to Suvarnabhumi to pick up a copy of my application form there. I asked, "Can't they fax it? Email it?" "No, you must go in person." So I went all the way across town, picked up a copy of that application (that didn't even say "approved" or anything) and brought it back to CW the next day. That fixed it, but seriously, my life got f*cked because someone didn't do their data entry job? I was almost charged 80+ days of overstay!

[paz]

I've been coming here for 8 years and I never hit this level of ... well, it's not "incompetence" because they're actually following the rules to the T. What's bizarre to me is that if this canceling of ED visa before exiting was a real thing, then that's fine, as long as it happens at every single border, land or air or sea. But because it's only happening at Nongkhai (and CM (?) as someone said up there), that's what makes it seem so arbitrary. How is something this serious only at one border crossing?

There is no law or regulation that says one cannot leave the country unless extension of stay is cancelled. If there is, it is not published and nobody has ever seen it.

[danstarr]

Same thing happened to me a couple of weeks back. Needed to apply for a non-O in Vientiane but got to passport control at Nong Khai who sent me back to their immigration office to cancel my Ed Visa ( I am a degree student but want to do an internship).

Got there just before 8am but didn't get out of there until they closed just after 4pm. Wasted a whole day while they kept rejecting letters from my college requesting the cancellation of my ED Visa. They did this four times before they were satisfied with the wording of my cancellation letter and even threw the penultimate one back at me. It was, at times, intimidating but I was polite and spoke clearly in Thai and English throughout but it made no difference and I can't fathom why a simple request had to be so difficult.

Although I had to wait for my college to respond to each rejected cancellation letter, it lost me a complete day and they kept me hanging on needlessly. It was unnecessarily stressful and I was glad to eventually make it over the border at about 6pm.

[paz]

Same thing happened to me a couple of weeks back. Needed to apply for a non-O in Vientiane but got to passport control at Nong Khai who sent me back to their immigration office to cancel my Ed Visa ( I am a degree student but want to do an internship).

Got there just before 8am but didn't get out of there until they closed just after 4pm. Wasted a whole day while they kept rejecting letters from my college requesting the cancellation of my ED Visa. They did this four times before they were satisfied with the wording of my cancellation letter and even threw the penultimate one back at me. It was, at times, intimidating but I was polite and spoke clearly in Thai and English throughout but it made no difference and I can't fathom why a simple request had to be so difficult.

Although I had to wait for my college to respond to each rejected cancellation letter, it lost me a complete day and they kept me hanging on needlessly. It was unnecessarily stressful and I was glad to eventually make it over the border at about 6pm.

Could you post the version that they accepted, removing personal details? That would help others in the same situation.

Edited February 2, 2015 by paz

[danstarr]

In my haste to get out of there, I didn't take a copy but basically they want dates of when study started and ended, which was a headache for me because I'm still at uni and I just want to change my visa-type.

This is basically what they wanted:

Needs to be on headed paper from your school, stamped and signed.

The biggest issue they had with my letter was this: they wouldn't accept it because it said something like "... would like to terminate his Ed Visa from today's date" (the date was at the top of the page as normal) but they wanted the date as part of a sentence in the main body of the letter.

[ronthai]

The lessons to all is:

Always go with an established Visa Agency available everywhere in Thailand, by big bus or Van.

They handle everything and check all your paperwork before you even go.

A lot less hassle and cheaper in the longrun.

I had the same a few months ago, from ED-Visa to simple Double Entry Tourist, no problems at all with the agency handeling all.

Total costs 9000 baht (Pattaya-Nong Khai (trip, visa, hotel, a few meals)

Sorry, but any booze while in Laos you pay extra

Edited February 3, 2015 by ronthai

[PaulHamon]

Aint all visas just cancelled when you leave the country?

Have not tonnes of people been caught by this in the past, leaving and then trying to come back thinking they're visit is still valid.

[charliebadenhop]

I have heard various anecdotal stories of people having trouble with their ED visa extensions, but do we really know that there IS a specific problem?

I have to extend my visa in about two weeks.

The school wanted to add a sheet showing a test I had taken and passed.

I said that I was most comfortable showing the amount that I can READ Thai. I placed "read" in caps because the teacher wanted me to show my ability to write Thai, and my writing is still horrendous.

So anyway, I have decided that I will go to immigration, and IF necessary I will show them what I can do, rather than getting freaked out by possibly being made to do what I cannot do.

I figure the worst that can happen is that they cancel my ED visa and I come in again under another visa.

To me this seems like a good strategy, because IF the immigration person is at all reasonable he/she will respect the fact that I have indeed been studying and learning. Proactively showing what I can do, rather than perhaps having someone pick away at what I can't do.

And if I get an unreasonable immigration person, well then it most likely doesn't matter anyway. I will "fail".

???

[ubonjoe]

Aint all visas just cancelled when you leave the country?

Have not tonnes of people been caught by this in the past, leaving and then trying to come back thinking they're visit is still valid.

A visa would not be cancelled when leaving the country. Only the permit to stay obtained from it would end. If that permit to stay has been extended then that extension would also end.

What Nong Khai is wanting is a formal cancellation of an extension of stay (it is not a visa). I think this may be to catch those that have extensions and have had no contact with the school (fraudulently obtained ones).

They also want to see extensions based upon working to be cancelled. This is to catch people that have stopped working long before they leave the country.

[NoshowJones]

all i know is

1. I wanted to change schools as i moved somewhere else in Thailand

2. I left the country to reset my visa in Laos and got a new ED Visa Stamp with my new school

3. During the first 90 extension Chiang Mai immigration said I had to cancel my old school and technically I was now 90 days overstay

but if I got my letter from my old school they would cancel it and start using the new visa

that is the process I personally went through

All the Thai IMOs make up their own rules, it's a disgrace the way they mess folk around.

[NoshowJones]

Same thing happened to me a couple of weeks back. Needed to apply for a non-O in Vientiane but got to passport control at Nong Khai who sent me back to their immigration office to cancel my Ed Visa ( I am a degree student but want to do an internship).

Got there just before 8am but didn't get out of there until they closed just after 4pm. Wasted a whole day while they kept rejecting letters from my college requesting the cancellation of my ED Visa. They did this four times before they were satisfied with the wording of my cancellation letter and even threw the penultimate one back at me. It was, at times, intimidating but I was polite and spoke clearly in Thai and English throughout but it made no difference and I can't fathom why a simple request had to be so difficult.

Although I had to wait for my college to respond to each rejected cancellation letter, it lost me a complete day and they kept me hanging on needlessly. It was unnecessarily stressful and I was glad to eventually make it over the border at about 6pm.

Could you post the version that they accepted, removing personal details? That would help others in the same situation.

It won't, read my post #19.

[BeeNox]

My ED visa expired 12 of February. I have changed language school. From the previous school I took a paper that I will finish my course at 12 of February. Got all documents from a new school. Tomorrow I'm going for a new ED visa. Will I have any problems?

[paz]

It won't, read my post #19.

It does help indeed, read post #14, thanks to danstarr for clarifying !

[2008bangkok]

Seems strange, what would happen if you just left the country?

[paz]

Seems strange, what would happen if you just left the country?

That Laos immigration will not let you in because you don't have a Thai exit stamp.

And even if Laos stamps you in, Thailand consulate will not issue a a visa since you never left Thailand.

Edited February 3, 2015 by paz

[2008bangkok]

Seems strange, what would happen if you just left the country?

That Laos immigration will not let you in because you don't have a Thai exit stamp.

And even if Laos stamps you in, Thailand consulate will not issue a a visa since you never left Thailand.

What i mean is if you left the country normally, like didnt says you want to cancel juts exit normal way and then apply for a visa

[ubonjoe]

Seems strange, what would happen if you just left the country?

That Laos immigration will not let you in because you don't have a Thai exit stamp.

And even if Laos stamps you in, Thailand consulate will not issue a a visa since you never left Thailand.

What i mean is if you left the country normally, like didnt says you want to cancel juts exit normal way and then apply for a visa

If you have valid extension of stay the will not let you leave. You have to go the immigration office to have it cancelled.

[paz]

If you have valid extension of stay the will not let you leave. You have to go the immigration office to have it cancelled.

The absurdity can be, as in OP's case, that said extension has expired already. How one can cancel something expired.

[Maestro]

Removed a post using abusive language.

[Alexander Joo]

If you have valid extension of stay the will not let you leave. You have to go the immigration office to have it cancelled.

The absurdity can be, as in OP's case, that said extension has expired already. How one can cancel something expired.

Right. Since I couldn't leave on January 31st, the day my extension expired, then what was there for me to cancel? I should've been kicked out of the country, rather than stuck in it. And while I was waiting for regular office hours to open on top of trying to gather everything I needed -- basically, everything out of my hands -- the juice (overstay) was running!

[hullupullo]

Seems strange, what would happen if you just left the country?

That Laos immigration will not let you in because you don't have a Thai exit stamp.

And even if Laos stamps you in, Thailand consulate will not issue a a visa since you never left Thailand.

What i mean is if you left the country normally, like didnt says you want to cancel juts exit normal way and then apply for a visa

If you have valid extension of stay the will not let you leave. You have to go the immigration office to have it cancelled.

There are many kinds of extensions, which one have to be cancelled before you can leave?

Edited February 4, 2015 by hullupullo