ED visa from Jakarta impossible?

[mart4366]

I've come to Jakarta to get an ED visa. My school said it wouldn't be a problem and prepared all the documents. But when I went to apply today the consulate said I need a police record issued by the Indonesian police. (see point 6 http://www.thaiembassy.org/jakarta/en/services/64472-Non-immigrant-visa-ED.html).

 

Problem is that the Indonesian police don't issue police records to non-residents of Indonesia, making it apparently impossible for me to obtain the visa here. I contacted the school and they just said sorry, I have to go to some other country instead. I've asked them to call the embassy and double check there hasn't been a mistake, as the website says it only applies to university, higher education, or informal courses. It's neither university nor higher education, but I have no idea what constitutes an "informal course". So far the school doesn't seem interested in calling the consulate themselves.

 

My questions:

 

1. Has anyone come across this issue before? Is there some way to convince the Indonesian police to issue a police report to a non-resident? I saw a thread about obtaining an ED visa in Jakarta from 2015 which didn't mention this problem.

 

2. If I really can't get it done in Jakarta, I've seen there are other consulates in Indonesia (Surabaya, Denpasar). Would they necessarily have the same rules as Jakarta?

 

3. The most convenient flight options from here in case I have to go to another country are Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. The school says Singapore is very difficult but KL should work fine. I've seen other threads saying KL is also a difficult place to get an ED visa. Does anyone know how easy/difficult it is to get an ED visa at KL?

 

Thanks for any experiences or knowledge you can share with me.

 

[ubonjoe]

Informal means schools such as language schools.

Quote

Announcement from the Private Education Commission, Subject: Types and nature of schools, teaching management and curriculum of non-formal school dated on 12 February 2009
• Religious school: a school established by sole purpose of teaching religion
• Art and Sports school: a school established to provide education of music, art and sports
• Vocational school: a school established to provide vocational skills to be applied to further carrier or as an additional skill for
learners
• Tutoring school: a school established to provide additional knowledge parrarel to the general education curriculum
• Skill Development school: established to develop talents, ideas and other skills of learners

It seems that the embassy in Jakarta has much stricter requirements than those in neighboring countries.

1. I doubt it.

2. The consulate in Denpasar Bali follows Jakarta requirements for other visa so I think will be the same for a ED visa.

3. Skip Singapore. KL has improved recently for certain visas. Here is their list of requirements. http://www.thaiembassy.org/kualalumpur/contents/files/services-20170329-105706-699683.pdf

[mart4366]

Thanks, yes my school is non-formal by that definition.

 

I found that checklist from the KL consulate but I can't tell if I have all of the required documents as they are in Thai. The school assures me now that KL will go smoothly but they said the same about Jakarta, so I was hoping someone could report first-hand experience of success in KL with an ED visa.

 

[Telly]

Please skip Singapore. It's hideous. I went 3 times and still got rejected even with all docs. End of day, they don't want issue and will just think of excuses to avoid.

This was just 2 weeks ago.

I got fed up with this and took a flight to penang on a Monday night.

Tuesday morning went embassy, temporarily relocated across the road.

Wednesday afternoon my visa was issued.

My ed visa is from a school in Chiang mai.

[perthperson]

1 hour ago, Telly said:

Please skip Singapore. It's hideous. I went 3 times and still got rejected even with all docs. End of day, they don't want issue and will just think of excuses to avoid.

This was just 2 weeks ago.

I got fed up with this and took a flight to penang on a Monday night.

Tuesday morning went embassy, temporarily relocated across the road.

Wednesday afternoon my visa was issued.

My ed visa is from a school in Chiang mai.

Sorry to be pedantic but your Ed visa is NOT from the school which cannot issue or provide visas.  You obtained the visa from a Thai Embassy/Consulate with supporting paperwork supplied by the school. 

[Daz69]

I had an Ed Visa issued (2014) in Vientienne for a school in Chiang Rai. Absolutely no problems, went like clockwork. Maybe worth a try if you can get to Laos.