Kids don’t do education visa runs, says Phuket Immigration

The Phuket News

A woman carries her child up the stairs to the Phuket Immigration Office in Phuket Town. Photo: Tanyaluck Sakoot

PHUKET: Following concerns earlier this week that children might yet be included in the blacklist ban on re-entry on all “aliens” who overstay in the country, an officer at Phuket Immigration has urged parents not to confuse the issue with whether or not children were required to leave the country specifically to obtain “education visas” in order to stay in the country and attend schools.

“This is not the case,” one senior-ranking officer, who specifically asked not to be publicly identified in this report, told The Phuket News.

All that is required is a permit-to-stay for education, he said.

There have been no changes to the requirements, which apply equally to all children under the age of 20, the officer explained.

“If parents know their child will be attending school in Phuket before they arrive here, they should get an education visa before they leave their home country. This is not necessary, but certainly makes the process simpler,” the officer said.

Regardless, the parents or guardian of the child must obtain a non-immigrant visa – not a tourist visa – before arriving, he added. “This has caused a few issues recently,” he said.

“Another issue is parents presenting themselves at the main Immigration office in Phuket Town and asking for ‘education visas’. We (immigration) don’t do that. Visas are issued by Royal Thai Embassies and you must exit the country to get one, and this has caused some confusion.”

Full story: http://www.thephuketnews.com/kids-dont-do-education-visa-runs-says-phuket-immigration-56665.php

-- Phuket News 2016-03-19

Surely deliberately making rules ambiguous and lacking in clarity significantly contributes to this so called confusion.

Who's job is it to clear up the confusion then?

That is assuming your kid school is recognized by the Thai govt, if the school is only recognized by e.g a European country you are screwed and forget the Thai school if none of the parents has the Thai nationality.

Oh god, here we go again.

Can they maybe bounce some ideas off each other, perhaps look into what complications might arise when implementing such vague laws and releasing them to the public.

Nobody knows anything in Thailand! It's absolute bedlam.

Perhaps a new News Title: Educating Thai Immigration Officials?

It seems impossible to know what the real rules are, especially that different offices seem to make their own. In this case Phuket.

The senior officer doesn't want to have his name in the quote. Think for a moment why that is. It will tell you everything you need to know.