Hello together,

I'll be moving to Chiang Mai later this year (May) and I'm doing some research about language schools over there.

My plan is to enter Thailand on a visa exempt entry as I did when I was travelling as a tourist. After that I'll have enough time to attend some kind of trial lessons at different schools to see what works best for me.

I've read through some topics on ThaiVisa, but I in most of the topics there were a lot of discussions about visa abuses etc., but I'm just trying to collect information about good schools.

I've been learning Thai for two years on my own (daily Skype conversations and reading/listening for 30 minutes per day) so I'm not a total beginner.

Here is what I'm looking for:

- a reputable school that won't be out of business so soon and handles their business professionally

- I'd like to pay them monthly - is that possible or do I have to pay for the whole 6 / 12 months period to get the ED visa? If you have to pay upfront, what would you recommend as a "best practice"?

- I want to avoid being the stupid guy if the company goes out of business and I've paid one year or 6 months in advance - maybe a university is an alternative, because I read I'd have to take care of the visa myself instead of a school doing it. If someone knows more about that, I'd be grateful too

I found a lot of bad reviews about Wallen and then I found ProLanguage school - half of their stuff on their website is down which does not make a good impression to be honest.

I'd also like to ask about people here having experience in terms of proving funds for the ED visa. Is it sufficient to hand out of copy of a foreign bank statement? Or does the money need to be transferred into Thailand?

Other information that might be relevant: Age is 28, I won't work in Thailand, I've never lived in Thailand before - so far only 30 day stamps for my visits in Thailand

Any help is greatly appreciated

I'll be posting my experiences as well later in the year when I actually enroll in a course.

+1

I, too am thinking of getting ed visa since I'm planning to learn Thai. YMCA seems to be most reliable as don't think they'll close down. But they don't do ed visa.

Was told by a poster that there are quite a selection of schools at Pantip plaza. Was actually considering Easy Learn Thai school until recently they had closed their school.

Hi Cerox,

I work in the Language Enhancement Center at Payap University. Visa's for language programs are different than for degree producing programs and vary somewhat from person to person. I just asked the Intensive Thai Program coordinator and she explained to me her understanding of how it works.

Language school applicants only get 3 months visas that start on the day the classes start and end on the date the classes end. So I asked her how does a person come to Thailand and enroll in courses and still have time to find a place to stay? She said some come with a tourist visa and decide during their visa to apply. If the person has 20 days left on their tourist visa, immigration will let them switch to a student visa.

If students sign up for 2 successive courses at Payap, they are given visa paperwork that starts their visa on the day classes start. Unfortunately, you can't pay monthly.

There are 8 sessions at Payap for Thai 1 through 8. Each session is 60 hours long. To get a visa, you would have to sign up for 120 hours or two sessions.

The next iteration of Thai 1, 3, 5 and 7 classes start on 23 February. The next time these classes would be taught again would be 30 May, 2016. However, we may offer classes in our second location in front of McCormick hospital in the near future. Either way, the visa process will work the same on the Mae Khao campus as well as the Khao Narawat campus.

I agree that the YMCA is a respected Thai language training center. There are many in Chiang Mai and most do a decent job in teaching Thai. I hope you enjoy your Thai language experience here in Chiang Mai.

I almost forgot, Thai 3 is now full and we are not taking anymore students for that class.

Many thanks Richard, I'll have a look when I'm in Chiang Mai later this year.

Hi,

Does anyone has learning experience with We Learn Thai school at Pantip plaza?

Some misleading information in this topic !

Ed visas can only be obtained from a Thai Embassy/Consulate. If applied for within the region only a single entry visa will be issued which provides an initial 90 day stay on entry to Thailand. It does not "start" when a course begins !

Applications for an Ed visa will fail unless supported with paperwork supplied by a school/university.

Some misleading information in this topic !

Ed visas can only be obtained from a Thai Embassy/Consulate. If applied for within the region only a single entry visa will be issued which provides an initial 90 day stay on entry to Thailand. It does not "start" when a course begins !

Applications for an Ed visa will fail unless supported with paperwork supplied by a school/university.

Yes I was told the school will do the necessary paperwork (takes about 30 days to process). Upon receiving the paperwork I'll have to exit Thailand to neighbouring country and apply for Ed visa at Thai embassy/consulate.