@Brandon ***********

thanks for your comprehensive and precise response. Although it’s not what I wanted to hear, I’m happy that someone has been able to clarify this succinctly. The school I’ve been talking to has confirmed it’s possible to get the ED visa from outside of Thailand before we enter.

Based on what you have said, is this now what I should do?

1. Apply to Thai Language school and pay their tuition fee.

2. Wait for their approval via the Thai ministry of education. Normally takes about 10 days. Approval letter emailed to me.

3. Take school approval letter to Thailand embassy in Kuala Lumpur where I am now. Or do I need to go to the Thai embassy in Sri Lanka as that’s the country our Thai bound plane departs from?

4. Get 90 day Thai Ed Visa approval letter from embassy. Do I pay them visa immigration fees?

5. Travel to Thailand and enter with 90 day visa.

6. At 90 days, go to an immigration centre with school documentation and extend for a further 90 days at 1,900 Baht.

How does that sound?

@Jennifer ***

hi. It’s difficult to fully digest for me! 🤣. I have tried to map it out on a spreadsheet. Let me know if the structure looks right (type of visa, intervals and duration). Don’t pay too much attention to the costs.

@Jennifer ***

thanks! Do you count a boat crossing (Koh Lipe to Langkawi) as “land” ?

@Jennifer ***

hey! Wow this one sounds complex and expensive! 🤣. But also gives us the freedom of not being tied into an ED visa. I might try and map this out on a spreadsheet to see if it’s cheaper than ED visa…

@Andy *********

what are the costs associated with this option? Schooling costs? The cost of the visa itself? Anything else?

@Brandon ***********

thanks for your helpful reply. Yes all four of our children are under 15.

A few further questions:

Option 1:

- For an ED visa, how much would it cost for each parent? On this option, do we need to show them 500k Baht in each bank account or is that just for option 2?

- Does the ED course have to be Thai language? What other forms of education could we opt to do? I hear Muay Thai is an option…?

Option 2

- Do we have to enrol all 4 kids into school on an ED visa or at least 2 of them to allow both parents to stay?

- I assume there are then the costs of school that need to be accounted for with this option?

Does Thailand have a digital nomad visa? I’ll be working remotely. Is this something I can apply for which means my whole family can stay under my nomad visa?

@Phil *******

thanks mate. Really helpful. Love point number 8! 😂

@Graham *****

everything on there seems fine except the TM6 departure card. I don’t recall ever seeing one of these when I entered Thailand. Currently we have no definitive plans to leave Thailand (e.g. no onward travel booked) and we actually intend to stay until April by doing a visa border run in mid Jan.

@Graham *****

thanks that’s helpful.