ED Visa

[Patrik95]

Dear community

 

I'm going to attend a 1-year Thai language course at Duke Language School. Now I'm wondering about the ED visa. I will ask at the school of course as soon as I register, but I always like to have different sources of information.

 

What will I have to do when I'm on the student visa? Will I have to extend it every 90 days at the immigration or will I have to do border runs every 90 days? Or can I even choose? Is the embassy / consulate (e.g. Vientiane) going to give me a multiple-entry visa or just a single-entry? Would it be better to apply for the visa in my homecountry (not that I want that, but if there's a benefit..) The school has 7 course parts. Each part will be covered in one month. That means, that I will have some months where I don't stay in school and probably want to visit another country. I heard about the re-entry-permits one can get at the airport. Is that something to keep in mind?

 

Thank you in advance for your help. If you have a link to an official page (Thai immigration, ministry of foreign affairs, ...) please let me know and I will read it there. Unfortunately I couldn't find that much about that type of visa.

 

Thanks a lot in advance!

Best regards, 

Patrik

[BritTim]

I freely admit that I have no recent personal experience. Consider all the opinions you receive before deciding on a plan of action.

 

Once upon a time, education visas were a good way of staying long term in Thailand. That fact was abused and, unless studying at university, immigration is very suspicious of people on such visas. Be prepared for some hassles.

 

Vientiane will only give you a single entry Non Ed visa, and will insist your paperwork is in order before giving you that. You will then need to get extensions of stay. The gaps in studying may end up being an issue, and extensions may be very short.

 

If you can get a multiple entry tourist visa (from home country) this is likely to be a less stressful option.

[DUS]

You will apply for an extension of stay after the initial 3 months. On that first occasion you can also do your 90 days report (if I am not mistaken and provided that you didn't leave the country for a weekend trip etc). The extension will (regularly) be granted for 60 days so after 60 days you'll apply for another extension.   30 days later you'd go to CW again for your 90 days report and so forth. 

 

I study at DLS and was thinking about an ED visa but FOR ME it is too much hassle.

[Patrik95]

Thank you for your answers.

 

I didn't want to fly back to Switzerland just for getting a visa. 

 

So am I getting this right, that the 90 days report has nothing to do with the visa and the extension?

So they will give me a visa that is valid for 90 days, then I have to get an extension maybe for 60 days and I still have to go for the 90 days report? Would I have to do that at the Wattana office?

 

The reason I'm also asking is, that a student I met during my trial lesson, told me, he got a multiple entry student visa (ED) in his home country (Germany) and that he has to do a border run every 90 days but this way doesn't have to deal with the offices in BKK. Since he hasn't been here long enough and hasn't done the first border run yet I'm not sure how accurate this information is.

 

@DUS If you don't mind me asking. How long are you studying? What is your experience with that school? I only hear and read good things about DLS. So I assume you're using the multiple-entry tourist visa?

[DUS]

So am I getting this right, that the 90 days report has nothing to do with the visa and the extension?

 

Correct!

 

 they will give me a visa that is valid for 90 days, then I have to get an extension maybe for 60 days and I still have to go for the 90 days report? Would I have to do that at the Wattana office?

 

Correct!

 

The reason I'm also asking is, that a student I met during my trial lesson, told me, he got a multiple entry student visa (ED) in his home country (Germany) and that he has to do a border run every 90 days but this way doesn't have to deal with the offices in BKK. Since he hasn't been here long enough and hasn't done the first border run yet I'm not sure how accurate this information is.

 

That´s correct! If you can still get a Mutliple Entry ED then this imho would be much better than applying for a single entry one in one of the neighboring countries over here. But, as you correctly said, you´d need to leave and return every 90 days.

 

As for as DLS is concerned: As long you are serious about learning (the basics of) the Thai language then DLS is very good. But to do it "the right way" you should expect to invest 1-2 hours per day in "homework" on top of the 3 hrs at school. It is a lot of stuff that they put into their 4 weeks courses and in the 7 months at the school so far I haven´t come across a single student who made good progress without a noticeable effort "out of school". 

[DUS]

PS: Yes, I am currently using my second METV.

[Patrik95]

Thanks a lot @DUS! Really appreciate your help. Now I know the facts.

As for the school: That's what I was expecting.In my case putting in time and effort has only to do with my motivation. And other than in primary school I decided that I want to learn Thai. So my motivation is high :)