For those of you who got an education visa to learn Thai, how long did it take to get the visa completed? From what I’ve seen, most schools say 3-4 weeks.
I’ve got a friend now who applied for a Thai language Ed visa while in Thailand and is 2 1/2 weeks into the process and they were just told the “school needs more time”.
Does the school do all their paperwork up front and hand it over to immigration or is there some back and forth between the school and immigration?
If the school just summits everything and the rest is up to immigration, it seems strange it would take 3 weeks or more for a school to produce the needed documents.
I assume most of the time would be spent waiting on immigration but don’t know what the actual workflow is.
He’s trying to see if maybe there’s some issue the school is not being up front about or if this is normal.
Does anyone know what the actual steps are between the school and immigration?
Thanks for any insights you might have.
TLDR : Answer Summary
The processing time for a Thai education visa (ED visa) generally varies, with most educational institutions estimating around 3 to 4 weeks, while some may take as long as 6 weeks. The school is responsible for submitting the necessary paperwork to the Ministry of Education, which can take time for approval. Once approved, the school prepares the documentation for immigration. Additionally, applicants should ideally begin the process with at least 21 days left on their current visa, and attendance may be required during immigration checks at the school.
