Can Tourist Visa Be Changed To Non-immigrant Student Visa?

[prantikbordoloi]

Hi,

I hope I can get some on the following manner -

One of my friend from Mongolia is coming to Thailand on a Tourist Visa and loking for some universities to study. He wants to come in Nov and Begining Jan middle he wants to join in some courses. Now the question is can he change his visa status from Tourist Visa to Student Visa in Thailand?? Because the cost of going back to Mongolia and coming back again is not an option

Please any information/suggestion will be appreciated

--Prantik

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

Hi,

I hope I can get some on the following manner -

One of my friend from Mongolia is coming to Thailand on a Tourist Visa and loking for some universities to study. He wants to come in Nov and Begining Jan middle he wants to join in some courses. Now the question is can he change his visa status from Tourist Visa to Student Visa in Thailand?? Because the cost of going back to Mongolia and coming back again is not an option

Please any information/suggestion will be appreciated

--Prantik

there are a bunch of new changes in the works now. I think the best bet is to get the letter of invitation from the school and then go to malaysia or singapore to try to get the Non immigrant education "ED" visa. The Thai consulates seem to be getting tighter so its best if they try to get it from their home country.

It might be possible to convert and some people have already been able to convert the 30 day to the retirement visa without leaving Thailand but at this point it very unclear.

anyone else???

[cooL_guY_corY]

iam thinking about going to school next fall in bkk.

The university i was looking at said to take your letter from the school and get a non imm visa ( o i am assuming..? ) and that once you go to school, they will change it to a student visa. and renew as needed. The whole thing with me is, i would like to be in the country before i go to school, so prob would enter on tourist visas and apply for the non imm visa at a neighbouring country, although i have no idea where. I've always just used tourist visas + extenstions and Burma visa runs in the past.

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

iam thinking about going to school next fall in bkk.

The university i was looking at said to take your letter from the school and get a non imm visa ( o i am assuming..? ) and that once you go to school, they will change it to a student visa. and renew as needed. The whole thing with me is, i would like to be in the country before i go to school, so prob would enter on tourist visas and apply for the non imm visa at a neighbouring country, although i have no idea where. I've always just used tourist visas + extenstions and Burma visa runs in the past.

this part I do know for sure since I have one now. If your going to study in Thailand and get an invitation from a school that is registered with the Ministry of Education then the visa which is issued is a Non Imm "ED"

If you sign up at a school and usually pay some fees or non refundable deposit then the school can send you the invitation letter before you arrive in thailand. Otherwise I think a person would have to go to malaysia etc to get the new visa.

The issue that is unclear now is whether Malaysia or Singpore Thailand consulates will issue multi entry Non Immigrant "ED" visa's. I got my multi entry visa from Los Angeles but some recent reports are that nearby SEA countries are not issuing mult entries.

if the visa they issue is just a single entry then its only good for 90 days.