Over 50 retiree visa vs teacher or student visa?

[drdan]

I am intending on moving to Thailand within 4-6 months. What are the advantages/disavantages of each one when my intention is to minimize hassles and avoid doing border runs????

Thank you for any advice

[muu]

drdan, I'm new to forums and hope the info I provide is of some use to you.

 

When I first moved to Thailand I signed up for a TEFL course at a college in Bangkok who arranged documentation for an immigration "B" visa. This was valid for 12 months (15 if you leave the country and return before it expires) but required a border run every 90 days.

 

Following that I enrolled on a course to learn Thai language. For this the school issued documentation for an "ED" visa. Again valid for 12 months but this time no border run just report to immigration and pay a fee of 1900 baht every 90 days. Because of the timing of the reporting this extended to just under 15 months. I've recently extended this visa by enrolling for a second year with the school providing the documents for me to take to immigration. The school/immigration office advise me that the new visa lasts for 1 year (4 visits to immigration giving 90 day extensions each time).

 

Each visa was issued in the UK but the extension of the ED visa was done in the immigration office here in Pattaya.

 

I've got 3 years to go before I reach 50 so am not 100% sure of the disadvantages of the retirement visa but from what I've read elsewhere it looks to be a similar process to the ED visa in that you need to report to immigration every 90 days.

[drdan]

Hi MUU, thank you for your reply it is very helpful.

The ED visa to learn Thai sounds good to me (something I wanted to do).

Can you post any names of schools in Pattaya that offer classes that will make it possible to get the ED visa? any idea of tuition cost?

[muu]

There's a good selection of language schools in Pattaya varying in price and quality. If you Google "Language School Pattaya" you'll find several.

 

I use CTLS and I paid 22000 baht for 180 hrs (4 hrs a week for 45 weeks) with 2 lessons each week in a group of 6-10 people. The fee includes the documents needed for immigration. Others I can think of off the top of my head are Walen, Prolanguage and PLC. It's worth checking their websites to see what they offer in terms of assistance with visas and details of their courses.

 

Several of the students I know came to Pattaya on tourist visas and went to Laos to get their ED visas but I'm sure that most of the schools are able to send the relevant paperwork to you (for a fee) if you want to get your visa before getting here.

[drdan]

Thanks. this is a very inexpensive and useful way to get the visa, I really like it.