Person of every nationality can get an education visa for Thailand if they apply for it with right set of documents. Yet, the Thai Royal embassy is known to have predetermined preferences whilst issuing an Education visa. It would be best for you if you make them work in your favour.
• Nationality preferences
There are 48 countries, whose nationals can enter Thailand and then apply for the Ed visa. There are other countries in Asia and Middle East as well where students will need to apply to educational institutions and get accepted before they can apply for Education visa for Thailand from their country of origin.
• Language schools
There is a huge emphasis on learning Thai and its several dialects. Though, it is not mandatory, students, who opt to include local language into their courses, are preferred for educational visa approval.
• Presence in the country on 1 month visa
If you are already in Thailand and enrol for classes or in some educational organization, then you can apply for an Ed visa during your stay and extend your stay for one year. If you are already in the country and your visa application meets the requirements of the Thailand education visa, you can get the one year non-immigrant education visa very easily. However, it should be a full-time course that requires a minimal of 10 study hours per week. In other words, you should complete 100 study hours in 90 days or 400 study hours in 1 year. These requirements of study hours are applicable to all applicants within the country with education visa.
Yet, each visa applicant must fulfil certain requirements to get visa approval such as:
• Valid passport
• Application form provided by the school
• Photos
Though, it is not mandatory, Thai Embassy or Consulate prefers applicants, who have already made full tuition fee payment. Though, it could be seen as irrelevant as it is not mandatory, it would certainly help the speedy visa processing. The applicant would also need to set the visa fees aside to make the payments while submitting the application form. As of today, the visa fees for Thai educational visa are 60 USD or 2000 Thai Baht.
There are several people who use this visa to simply extend their stay in this wonderful country and avoid the visa runs to Cambodia and Laos. It does make sense. However, it is necessary to meet the requirement of study hours consistently. If you would need to complete your study hours and improve your skills as the immigration officers keep track of these details.