Why is your plan to enter as a tourist? That's the worst plan. You CANNOT open a bank account as a tourist, and the money in the Thai bank is a requirement to apply for the non-O visa in Thailand. Therefore your plan is impossible.

Visas are meant for entering countries. So do it the way it's meant to be done. Apply for the non-O visa BEFORE you travel to Thailand from the Thai embassy who will accept any bank account. Then use your non-O visa to open your Thai bank account that you'll need to apply for the 1-year extension.

@Jeffrey *********

an education visa is just a visa people use to stay in Thailand. There's no law that says you must be on an education visa to attend a school. It's the school first, then the visa, not the other way around.

He CAN attend school while on an LTR. If the school says otherwise it's because they want his permission to stay in Thailand linked to his tuition payment. So if you don't pay or enroll him for another year then he loses his permission to stay. It's extortion basically. As far as Thai immigration is concerned, you can study on any visa.

You cannot hold 2 visas at the same time. You would need to talk to the BOI about how you would cancel an LTR visa.

If you went that route, you would need to cancel the LTR (if possible) and then leave Thailand to clear his status. Then if the school can support an in-country conversion from tourist to student you can return and have him stamped in visa exempt and get the literal mountain of paperwork from the school (a few hundred pages sometimes) and go to immigration to apply. If the school cannot supply this paperwork then you would need to go to another country and apply for the ED visa through the Thai embassy in whatever country you're in. There's no appointments to make as all Thai embassies are on the e-visa system so you do everything online.

If I were you I would find a school that isn't extortionate and will let your son attend as long as he can show he's on a legal permission to stay. And get it in writing before paying tuition.

There is no ETA, it was never implemented.

You'll need to fill out a TDAC which is just an arrival card. You can only do this within 3 days of your arrival. It does not require any approval.

Doesn't matter what you're interested in or not. It matters what you qualify for.

But you haven't given any information to answer your question.

How old? Any Thai family?

Not needed

@Lindsay *********

you did it at the Krabi immigration office?

Ask the Krabi immigration office. If that's one of the offices that allows for non-O conversions in Thailand then yes you can do it. You'll need at least 15-21 days left on your existing stamp on the day you apply though.

@Miguel ************

the embassy has no say on if you can enter the country. The embassy is under the MFA. Entrance to Thailand is controlled by immigration, a completely different government agency. They will not let you enter as you are not eligible to enter. A letter from a different government agency will not let you break the rules of a separate government agency.

Thailand is one of the few countries in the world that does not require your passport to be valid for 6 months in order to enter.

BUT the rule that Thailand goes by means you're still not allowed to enter. Because your passport must have enough time left for the stamp you will be entering on. A DTV gives 180 day stamp. So if your passport is not valid for 180 days then you're not eligible to enter Thailand. You'll either need to renew your passport in Indonesia or you'll need to return to your home country and renew it before returning to Thailand.

They don't care that you want to enter Thailand to renew your passport. That's your problem, not theirs. You're simply not eligible. Your airline won't even let you board your flight.