Education for 5 year old whilst he is staying here on Tourist Visas

[Rolanddrums]

Hi guys, i am from England, I own nice condo in Pattaya to. I have a half Thai son age 4 now lives solely with me. His mum is Thai we separated a few months ago . Son born in UK.  I want  to spend much time in the future in Thailand . I am 55 so i can get Retirement Visa with money in Bank. 

Questions... From age 5 my son must have  an education . Can I obtain (pay) for private schooling whilst here in Thai on a series of  60 day/ 90 day tourist Visas for him  ? Obviously it needs to be acceptable to UK authorities ( I'm not sure if would be) and in Thailand to ... thanks . Who should I speak, any names addresses in Pattaya would be useful.

Edited October 15, 2016 by Rolanddrums
speliing error

[ubonjoe]

Your child is a Thai national from birth. Did your register his birth at the Thai embassy in London?

If you did he can registered at an Amphoe to be put in a house book. Then he could get a Thai passport.

If you did not register his birth but do have some proof that his mother is a Thai you could get a one year extension of stay at immigration for him as a returning Thai national.

Moving this to the family and children forum since it is not solely about education.

[MikeyIdea]

1 hour ago, Rolanddrums said:

. Can I obtain (pay) for private schooling whilst here in Thai on a series of  60 day/ 90 day tourist Visas for him  ?

 

Yes, private schools should be ok to take him on as a foreigner as long as they don't know that he also has a Thai citizenship. I don't think they care if he has a tourist or an Ed visa

 

Reason: All schools in Thailand including international schools must teach Thai culture etc to Thai citizens. This rule is set by the Thai Ministry of Education and does not apply to foreign students. It's minimum 5 hours per week at international schools if I remember it right

 

[FritsSikkink]

22 hours ago, MikeyIdea said:

 

Yes, private schools should be ok to take him on as a foreigner as long as they don't know that he also has a Thai citizenship. I don't think they care if he has a tourist or an Ed visa

 

Reason: All schools in Thailand including international schools must teach Thai culture etc to Thai citizens. This rule is set by the Thai Ministry of Education and does not apply to foreign students. It's minimum 5 hours per week at international schools if I remember it right

 

The son is Thai by birth and doesn't need a visa and a Thai can go to a private school too.

[MikeyIdea]

28 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

The son is Thai by birth and doesn't need a visa and a Thai can go to a private school too.

 

Yes, of course, it's actually even illegal to let the child enter on his British passport. There is more to this story in other threads

 

Either parent can veto that the Thai child leaves Thailand until majority = 20 years old. The father will not be able to get their child out of Thailand if he enters on his Thai passport  

 

That is the reason why the father considers letting the child enter on his British passport 

 

[Rolanddrums]

Just to confirm my son was born in England , has UK birth cert and UK passport/

[Puyai]

In my experience it will not be a problem enrolling your son into a school with a tourist visa. I needed to supply a copy of his birth certificate and a copy of the photo page of his British passport. My son didn't have a visa, never did while I was living there. He did receive a few overstay stamps in his passport, not ideal but for me it was the easiest way not being married to his mother (who was not Thai) and me with a one year visa and work permit.


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[realenglish1]

You will not need a tourist visa SInce you are getting a retirement visa he will be able to get a Non O  visa with extension on your account

Problem solved and Yes he can go to school here as well

[khunPer]

OP asks:

»Can I obtain (pay) for private schooling whilst here in Thai on a series of  60 day/ 90 day tourist Visas for him  ? Obviously it needs to be acceptable to UK authorities.«

 

Yes...

You have a choice of having your son to attend an English Program School, that will probably be a K2 (Kindergarten 2) or K3 class, at that age. EP Schools can vary in quality (some use Philippine teachers, som British) and price. The annual terms (two) follows the Thai school terms, i.e. from Mid May till end of March. It has been mentioned, that Thailand should change to International terms, but nothing definite. Some schools has a very good English program with Math and Science and Health and Computer etc. in English, but can also be costly (100,000+ baht at year).

 

There may be a school following British curriculum and approved to British standard – there is one, where I live, think it's approve to Oxford standard – otherwise you can choose an International School. They following International annual terms (three) and teach at an approved level – the certification is quite expensive, and so are the Schools – at age 5 your son should attend "Year 1" at "Key Stage 1". International Schools can be quite expensive (relative, depending of one's income/wealth).

 

Unfortunately I don't live in Pattaya, so I have no local knowledge.

[Freespirit]

Hi, just want to share my experience here as I'm going through this with my daughter. She is half Thai with a UK and Thai birth certificate. Firstly i have never had any problem taking her in or out of Thailand on either passport. But my story is very similar to Rolanddrums. We are here on tourist visa's, and she goes to a christian international school. She was taking important tests at school near Christmas so I couldn't take her for her visa extension. No harm I thought, she's under 15, so overstay won't matter. I'll take her for a 30 day visa exempt stamp when i go and clear the 29 day overstay. Yesterday (Monday 23rd January 2017), I went to Mai Sai to test the new visa exempt rules for a 30 day stamp. I took my daughter with me. I walked up to the exit booth presented our passports and declared my daughter had some overstay. I thought simple enough to clear. no fine to pay. WRONG! We were detained at the booth for 2 hours. A calculator was pushed under my nose with 14,500 baht fine to pay for my 13 year old.! I said NO because my daughter is under 15. Despite having her passport open in front of him, he then asked how old is she? I told him 13. He then asked the same question 3 times. My daughter said dad why he keeps asking it says in my passport right? I said yes. we were then told to step aside as this was serious. We were kept waiting while a female officer was brought out to talk with us. She said my daughter can't go school on a tourist visa. I said I was not aware of that.Then the first guy  told us to wait while he called his boss to come. We were kept waiting standing by the booth all this time. My daughter said she was tired standing for so long but nowhere to sit and no privacy. All this time farangs looking on wondering what the big problem was. Anyway the boss comes. A young looking officer, tall about 29 to 30 ish is my guess. he says this is serious. he calls his boss at Chiang Rai  immigration and says he will help us by telling his staff to give us the exit stamps and my daughter the overstay stamp, but we must go to Chiang Rai immigration today (Tuesday) and report to the boss. The first guy then says we are lucky they change the rules so we can get the visa exempt stamp at land borders 92 times only). I said I know. He then says if I let my daughter overstay 90 days she will get banned from Thailand for 10 years! This clearly states on the poster displayed that this does not apply to children under 15 years. They clearly do not have the right training or knowledge of the rules. The whole thing was a very bad experience and my daughter is starting to feel persecuted for being luk krung (half Thai). My daughter is missing more tests this week as  I was told she cannot go school on a tourist visa!  I think it''s all wrong and that we shouldn't have been given such  a hard time at the border. They were very negative and intimidating. My daughter has a Thai birth certificate  and an old expired Thai passport but apparently no rights to stay here without a visa or go school here. i think they are wrong and well out of order. Anyone here who knows the rules 100%? Because from now she has to stay home. Very bad feel for us now. We don't feel welcome in Thailand.

[Freespirit]

Sorry for my typo, it should say the visa exempt is 2 times only not 92!  My keyboard is sticking. Also just to mention we had already asked the school to get the ED visa papers for us last month but it seems to be taking a long time. Mai Sai immigation staff did not seem to believe me so I gave them her teachers phone number. As i said the whole thing was a very bad experience. i was even accused of sending her to school in Thailand for 8 years already, when she has only just started there. Why don't they think first before talking and making up stories.

[Freespirit]

Sorry another further thing they said. The boss asked why I didn't get an ED visa now. I said it takes time. he said no. You can get it today at Chiang Rai immigration, just go! This is another case of bad training/poor knowledge. I have researched it on the Thai immigration website and it doesn't work that way! Can't sleep and still have the bad feeling. If you want my advice steer clear of Mai Sai immigration! The immigration staff in the booth and the boss could not speak English, I thought this was a requirement to work in immigration, maybe I'm wrong. What happened to Thai Rak Thai, my Thai daughter is having such a hard time.

[Rolanddrums]

Just picked up on these replies. Perhaps some can see why I am a little nervous of going the 'overstay stamps' route now. Anyway I have had half Thai sons UK birth cert stamped at MK in UK and by Thai Emmbassy in  UK to . I will apply for retirement Visa on our next 60 day tourist trip next month .

I'm just not sure what I then need to do to bypass all this overstay stuff?  'extension for him that accompanies my retirement visa' somehow as I understand it.?

For schooi I am choosing Satit ( Sadit ?) school in Pattaya. 130k baht a year including everything . A private Thai school and I am choosing the 70% English 30% Thai programme.....I have house book and vacination records for him available now to ....what a palava !

[FritsSikkink]

13 hours ago, Rolanddrums said:

Just picked up on these replies. Perhaps some can see why I am a little nervous of going the 'overstay stamps' route now. Anyway I have had half Thai sons UK birth cert stamped at MK in UK and by Thai Emmbassy in  UK to . I will apply for retirement Visa on our next 60 day tourist trip next month .

I'm just not sure what I then need to do to bypass all this overstay stuff?  'extension for him that accompanies my retirement visa' somehow as I understand it.?

For schooi I am choosing Satit ( Sadit ?) school in Pattaya. 130k baht a year including everything . A private Thai school and I am choosing the 70% English 30% Thai programme.....I have house book and vacination records for him available now to ....what a palava !

"Just picked up on these replies." no you didn't, your son is Thai too. get the registration fixed.

[Freespirit]

If his ex tThai  wife has left and is not co operating it's not as easy as you think Frits. The mother has to be present to get Thai ID and Thai passport. Thats what I was told. Now I've got Thai welfare and the school trying to get that for me. They think they can do it, but a farang on his own will find they put up more barriers and dont want to help. If you haven't gone through it you cant comment. They make life as difficult as they can for a half Thai kid. It's sad but true.

Edited January 28, 2017 by Freespirit
missed something out

[Freespirit]

About overstay I think it was just Mai Sai immigration kicking up and trying to show power. I went to Chiang Rai immigration the next day to report to the boss as I was told to do, and they said no need. I asked again, they repeated the answer "no need". Just get ED visa. I presented my daughters expired Thai passport and Thai birth certificate and asked this helps or not? They said she is Alien! Mai Sai staff said I can't send my kid to school on a Tourist Visa, So I stopped sending her this week as they were intimidating and it scared me. Which is what they were trying to do. If I was the big boss I'd send then for some attitude adjustment! The school rang me and asked why I didn't send her. I told them my story. The school said Mai Sai were wrong, all kids have to go school by Thai law, and the UNESCO agreement Thailand signed up to says every kid of every nationality in any country has the right to an education even if they don't have papers or ID. They said send her to school next week. They will help me try to get her Thai ID because they specialise in helping kids with no parents or no ID,  They even quoted the Princess of Thailand's efforts to get this by making a new law last September. So the quest goes on, but its not easy. Maybe I should write to the their Majesties at the palace for help? It's not easy. When is a Thai kid not a Thai kid? Answer; When Thai authorities and officials make if difficult to give them their rights, just because they don't fit in the box, and there's no guidelines for this that help the kids.

Edited January 28, 2017 by Freespirit
mispelling

[Rolanddrums]

Yes I think getting sons Thai passport/ birth cert is not going to happen for me .( Yes Thai wife nightmare and wont help me ). Sticking with UK Passport and UK Birth Certificate ( Legalised now in UK and Stamped in UK by Thai Embassy... but for what reason i am still not sure haha) .

I will trundle forward .... UbonJoe offering me much help on this on my other thread. I think i dont need Education Visa either .... I think 90 non O visas for both of us ... then 12 month extensions for both of us ( Mine based on retirement ) ... then get exit/ re-entry stamps so we can pop back to UK for one more 4 week trip in April ... So confusing I cannot believe the complexity of it all

[FritsSikkink]

13 hours ago, Rolanddrums said:

Yes I think getting sons Thai passport/ birth cert is not going to happen for me .( Yes Thai wife nightmare and wont help me ). Sticking with UK Passport and UK Birth Certificate ( Legalised now in UK and Stamped in UK by Thai Embassy... but for what reason i am still not sure haha) .

I will trundle forward .... UbonJoe offering me much help on this on my other thread. I think i dont need Education Visa either .... I think 90 non O visas for both of us ... then 12 month extensions for both of us ( Mine based on retirement ) ... then get exit/ re-entry stamps so we can pop back to UK for one more 4 week trip in April ... So confusing I cannot believe the complexity of it all

It is only confusing because you for a reason you don't know your self (haha), you don't' get the Thai registration fixed.

[Freespirit]

On 1/29/2017 at 7:04 AM, FritsSikkink said:

It is only confusing because you for a reason you don't know your self (haha), you don't' get the Thai registration fixed.

He told you already, his Thai wife is not co operating. She has to co sign documents.