What are the options for obtaining educational visas for children relocating to Thailand if school enrollment deadlines are tight?

Question

Hello all!

Would greatly appreciate any advice on our current situation. (Please be nice 😊)

Our family (with kids aged 7, 8, 10) was initially planning to relocate to Chiang Mai in October. However, due to school policies in Thailand, our initial plan does not work out and the school we are planning to apply requires our children to attend school by August 14th, or else we will need to wait until May 2027 to enroll them in the new school year.

The school needs around 1 month to prepare school documents in Thailand (because of the school ministry in Thailand), and our Canadian embassy requires at least 25 business days for processing the visa application.

The school is currently suggesting we enter Thailand first, then once the school completes the documents on their part, our family will leave to a neighbouring country to do our visas (ED/Guardian) in Vietnam or Laos. The school advised the approval time should be around 3-7 days if we were to apply from there. However, I am nervous about the timeline, so was wondering if anyone else has been in my situation or any recent experiences with visa applications in Vietnam or Laos?

Or should we just enter Thailand with DTV, let the kids enroll in school for May 2027 school year then switch back to ED/Guardian visa?

Would greatly appreciate any helpful advice 🙏🏻 Thank you so much in advance!

Ask Thailand · Answer

A family relocating to Thailand is facing an urgent visa situation due to school enrollment policies that require their children to begin school by August 14th. They are exploring options, including entering Thailand with a DTV visa and later switching to ED/Guardian visas, or applying for necessary visas from Vietnam or Laos after entering Thailand. The community provides insights regarding visa transitions without needing to leave Thailand and reassurances about processing times at embassies in neighboring countries.

Kim ********** · Answer

We didn’t have to leave in order to change my kids paperwork from Visa exempt to an educational visa. It was actually pretty easy.

Dca ***** · Answer

Are there actually any schools in Thailand that actually have perhaps a « Liaison/Facilitator», or at least, provide the full paperwork to get an in–country Non–ED or Non–O Visa from the local Thai Immigration Office inside Thailand vs. having a stack of paperwork from the school that one would still need to upload onto the Thai eVisa Website and then travel out of Thailand to submit a Non–ED or Non–O E–Visa Application at a Thai Embassy/Thai Consulate outside Thailand (and remain outside Thailand until having successfully received Non–ED or Non–O E–Visa PDF Files)??

John ********** · Answer

I'd avoid the DTV if you intend to switch to ED & guardian visas

Brandon ************ · Answer

3-7 days is a conservative estimate.  The embassies in Laos tend to issue non-immigration visas in 2-3 business days after you pay at the embassy.

What are the options for obtaining educational visas for children relocating to Thailand if school enrollment deadlines are tight?

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