I have a 4 and 6 year old. I think overstaying is fine, and I’ve heard lots of people do it, but the need to show an outbound flight for them is something to consider.

Ah ok. Appreciate the really useful responses. Slightly strange in that had we checked in online, we would have been fine. Immigration didn’t care because my wife and I had ED visas, but I guess that’s the immigration game!

Hi all. Thanks again for all your advice. I wanted to respond with my findings after some people contacted me directly, and after speaking directly with the Thai Elite company.

The easiest and cheapest option would be to have guardian status, with my children on an education visa, but this isn't possible with the school my children go to. We can also learn Thai and get a 9 month visa, which we have already begun doing, but we want to stay longer, hence looking at other options post the 9 months.

It was suggested that my children could overstay with no problem, which prompted me to contact Thai Elite to get their thoughts. Initially they told me that all members need to be part of the elite visa, directing me towards their 'Family Excursion" membership, which would be 1.4M baht for a family of 4.

When I probed about the possibility of my children overstaying, they eventually confirmed that it was possible, which dropped the cost of membership to 800k baht. This was their actual response:

"Please be informed that every individual has to have a proper visa to enter Thailand or exempted for some nationalities regardless of their age. But once entered Thailand, children under 15 years old will be able to stay in the country as long as their parents’ visa is valid without having to pay overstay fine when the children overstay, and no bad record, also.

For example, you have Elite Visa and you can stay in Thailand for 1 year. Your child who is under 15 years old is also with you in the country on an exempted visa that allows him to stay for 30 days, in this case your child can stay with you more than 30 days without overstaying."

I agree. International schools are more prepared, but this is a small French school and I don’t know if the education visa for children requires them to be learning Thai? My children are English, but are studying in French and there is no option at this school for them to learn Thai

I totally agree. Unfortunately it was the school that didn't know about the possibility of the children obtaining an ED visa, instead they pointed us to a language school to learn Thai and obtain an ED visa ourselves

The ED visa is an interesting one as I have received conflicting stories. My children currently go to a French School in Samui. We are currently on a 60 day visa, but have enrolled in a Thai Language ourselves in order to obtain an ED visa (9 months). We were under the impression that we couldn't obtain an ED visa for our children because the school they go to does not teach them Thai. If anybody has any advice that would be greatly appreciated. We are looking at the Elite Visa because we would like to stay long term rather than just 12 months