What you need to know after your ED Visa is approved

90-day visa

The ED visa to study Thai at a Thai language school is not a 6-month, 8-month, or 12-month visa.

The ED visa is a 90-day visa which can be extended a maximum of 5 times.

The first extension is for 30 days and the remaining 4 extensions are for 60 days each.

If you apply for all 5 extensions, it will add up to a total of 12 months.

The ED visa for language schools is not the same as the ED visa for universities.

Continue reading for more information about visa extensions.

Visit our school

Once you receive your 90-Day Single Entry Non-Immigrant ED Visa from a Thai embassy/consulate, then enter Thailand, you must visit our school with your passport within 7 days.

We are required to submit copies of your passport and ED visa to the Ministry of Education to prepare for your extension.

ED visa extensions

Once it’s close to the end of your first 90 days, you will be required to extend your ED visa at Immigration on a regular basis.

The cost per extension is 1,900 baht. Be prepared to get quizzed in Thai by the Immigration officer, but do not worry, as the questions are usually simple, like “what is your name”, “where are you from”, “what do you like to eat”, and etc. If you’ve been taking lessons and doing your homework, these questions are not difficult to answer.

In most cases, you’ll get a 60-day extension if you’re able to convince the immigration officer that you’ve been studying Thai. Failure to do so may result in a 30-day extension, or at the worst case scenario, 7 days to pack up and leave the country.

90 day report

Apart from extending your visa, you are required to report your address to immigration every 90 days in Thailand.

This not a visa extension.

If you haven’t left the country during your first 90 days, your first visa extension and 90-day report will coincide. You will then have the convenience of settling both matters at immigration on the same day.

Subsequently, your 90-day report will no longer coincide with your visa extensions. However, the good news is, you do not need to do the 90-day report in person. You can pay an agent to do it for you, or do it online if the website works.

The window for reporting online is from 15 to 7 days before your actual report date, whereas the window for reporting at an immigration office is from 15 days before, and up to 7 days after your actual report date. IF you file a 90-day report more than 7 days after the report date, you will be fined 2,000 baht.

Re-Entry Permit

Remember to apply for a re-entry permit if you plan to leave Thailand while on the ED visa. Failure to do so will result in the cancellation of your ED visa upon re-entering Thailand.

The cost is 1,000 baht for single use, or 3,800 baht for a multiple re-entry permit.

The re-entry permit can be obtained either at an immigration or at the airport (both Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang).

Having a re-entry permit does not exempt you from your visa extensions. You must come back to Thailand on time for your extension or your ED visa will be revoked once past the extension date.

A re-entry permit is only valid as long as your current “extension of stay” stamp is valid for.

Leaving Thailand with a re-entry permit will keep your current extension status “active”. If you do not fill out a re-entry permit, your visa will be canceled. When you re-enter Thailand you will be stamped in for the same “admitted until date” as your extension of stay.

The countdown for filing your 90-day report resets every time you re-enter Thailand. Your next 90-day report will be due 89 days from the date you enter Thailand because Thai immigration counts the day you enter the country as day 1.

DO NOT throw out your old receipt of filing a 90-day report (even though the due date of your next report is wrong). Keep it and turn it in along with the TM.47 90-day reporting form when you file your next 90-day report.