and free not so important. I'm not fussed about paying another 1,900 extension fee

@Jay ****

hard to argue with that. Just 3 months to all who lost 3 months

the funny catch-22 is that the school gives us 3 months of classes to make up for the ones we missed during lockdown, but we can't collect them on the correct visa status without spending upwards of 100k baht to leave and come back (probably completely barmy after 28 days in quarantine)

for what it's worth, I'm 11 months (8 months, thank you covid) into a 2 year language school plan, which is step 2 of a 3 step plan to integrate here and start a business that employs locals. Step 1 was buying a cheap condo so I don't burn money on rent. Not looking for sympathy, I know a lot of people are worse off than me, but it's still very stressful and I'm getting a bit old to keep starting again in a new country... 😅

The requirements seem to be designed to make sure people like me go back where we came from...

@Greg *******

i assumed so too but it seems to be a blanket rule. Maybe we can hope that it gets changed for the uni students and we get a lifeline in the process

@Terry *******

sad day when you have to hope for a 2nd wave as the only viable way to continue living where you put down roots.

balance of 12.8k in a current account for 6 months is a lot of lost interest or dividends... 😑 punished if you're smart and have your savings working for you... 🤔

@Laurent *********

yeah we seem to be being punished for what the stereotype does, even if we don't fit the stereotype

@Bernardas ***********

I heard the opposite, that since the pandemic started it became impossible to do a 2nd year of ED visa without leaving the country to apply, at great risk and expense (both financial and mental health, for back to back fornights of isolated quarantine)

Good to know but still not close to 10m