Samui Ed visa not affected by recent changes?

[jspill]

I read on another forum

'2 of my friends work for Walen Samui as teachers, they have assured me nothing has changed in Samui. Walen get preferential treatment from Samui immigration. See here for school in Samui still advertising 25k per year including visa: http://kstvs.com/education-visa/'

As I understood it schools now require 400 hrs study, not 200, e.g Walen BKK, Pro language BKK, and several other websites I checked advertise 400 hour courses for around 40k-60k Baht or so, and some people only receive 1 or 2 month extensions, not 3.

Is Samui exempt from that?

I've searched and so far found one post from a guy who received 1 month extension in Samui http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/779276-ed-1-month-extension/

[ubonjoe]

I think you will find that you will 400 hours to get a total stay of one year. Two hundred will only get you 6 months.

All any school can do is supply you with the paper work to first get a single entry non-ed visa that gives a 90 day permit to stay that can then be extended for 90 days with paperwork from the school. After one year you have to go out for a new visa and start all over again. The cost of enrollment in a school does not include the visa and extension fees.

The person that posted he only got 30 days was wrong it you read the entire topic. He got a 30 day under consideration stamp and then got the remainder of his 90 day extension after 30 days.

[shailo]

Now in language school http://kstvs.com/ you can learn Thai or English with ED visa. 
No more problems with extensions on Samui, but when you arrive in Thailand with a new ED visa (or re-entry permit), immigration can ask you some questions about your study and try to check if you work here illegally (you need Non-B visa type for work in Thailand) 

And here you can read very useful shools comparison - http://kstvs.com/koh-samui-language-school-comparison/2017/07/ education prices, courses, and contacts of all  language schools on Koh Samui

[JackThompson]

It all boils down to the particular office and your school's connections.  Some schools have "arrangements" with immigration to deal with your extensions.  These avoid "negative-feedback" punishments such as "under consideration" or "short-extensions" which result from not paying the "extra fee" to the school (passed back-door to immigration) for smooth extensions.  This system appears to be what the "ED Visa Crackdown" was really all about - increasing back-door revenue.

 

Be sure and ask any school you plan to attend if they will take care of your 90-day extensions for you, for a fee.  Though many fake-students use this system, many legit-students are now forced to do as well - depending on the level of corruption at the local immigration office at the extension-desk that handles their Non-ED extensions.