I've been communicating with Thais in Thai every day for the last decade. Academically my Thai is at the level of a young child, with learning difficulties. If your girlfriend wants to pass the exam, she better train with a teacher/tutor who knows how this particular exam works and can assess her skills and help her to improve as required. If you search in Google for "[name of exam] tutor in Bangkok" I'm sure there will be many suitable options.

@Todd ********

Thai immigration has made a lot of adjustments to allow people to extend or apply for new education or business visas in-country that could previously only be obtained at Thai embassies abroad. I agree 100% with you they could be clearer about the new rules but it can be done if the applicant uses some initiative to reach out to immigration and explain their situation. Thai immigration are amazingly flexible if you have a genuine case (I twice had long overstays forgiven pre-covid but obviously I had to spend some time there explaining everything and showing all the evidence). As for freedom here compared to other countries, I don't think many countries allow people who have overstayed visas to stay indefinitely without visas nor make it as easy to stay as literally paying $13k for a 5-year visa regardless of what country you come from or what you do.

@Todd ********

surely the vast majority can apply for a long term visa if they plan to work or study visa, buy an elite visa if they are so rich they don't need to work, or return home (as most tourists would have done several months ago at the end of their holiday anyway)? i'm not saying there aren't some with unique circumstances that are literally trapped here (that's another matter), but the problem is many of those who aren't trapped will assume they can just stick around and wait for another extension because immigration keeps extending.

the problem is they've cried wolf too many times now and most of the overstayers won't do anything between now and the end of next month.

no. you paid around 2000 baht for a visa and baht to a scammer.

Immigration should say people who want to extend another 30 days can consider their extension approved but can go to immigration to get the actual stamp and pay anytime during this month but with a price that increases on a sliding scale so there is an incentive for everyone not to wait until the last minute and cause the same problems again.

No. You paid for the peace of mind and you got it.

should be ok by next year with elite visa or special tourist visa (and quarantine on the way in each time)

150,000 foreign tourists have been in Thailand for the last half-year? Where are they all hiding? How can they afford such a long holiday? How do they plan to get by in Thailand without a job or a pension?

there is no real quarantine in the UK. borders have been open throughout the pandemic. even arrivals from high risk countries just fill out a form promising to stay home unless they need to go out outside and not to use public transport unless they don't have a car. and i'm not kidding.