Who qualifies
- Students enrolled full time at a Thai university or international school.
- Students at a Ministry of Education licensed Thai language school, for courses of a set number of hours.
- Trainees at some licensed Muay Thai and vocational schools.
How it works
Enrol and pay the school. They send you an acceptance letter and the documents for the embassy.
Apply for the Non-ED through the e-Visa system. It is usually issued for 90 days.
Extend at immigration with a school letter, normally every 90 days or yearly depending on the course.
Attend. Officers may ask you to speak or read Thai at the extension.
DTV or education visa?
For Muay Thai, Thai cooking and short courses, the DTV is usually better if you have 500,000 THB in savings: five years and 180 days per entry instead of 90-day steps. The education visa makes sense for full-time degrees, children at school, and people without the DTV savings.