it's 1yr thai language class. 2/week, 2hrs/class. 30k baht

PM me the questions, I'll try to help as much as I can. Got my Education visa, but haven't done the extension for 1 year yet (I'll get the extension letter from CM Uni soon).

well since there's so many ppl i'll just ask here, pointless to PM everyone
wanna go somewhere else, probably more sea-side -ish mainly cause i wanna live in an area that's as little poluted as possible.

I've come across a couple of places, but no such visas, and was wondering whether I could get it from CM uni then just **** off somewhere else (withing Thailand) for the year

I am also in Koh Samui.

I dont post on here a lot, but read it every day or so, and am most definitely in Samui.

my student visa with thai lesson cost me 23 k (or around) baht first year and now 20

Anybody have an idea how many 2+2 er's live in Bangkok?

It is possible, the CMU class is not overly strict. My original class started with ~24ppl now we have about 12-15 still coming. It is fairly common for people to travel for weeks/months at a time. Sometimes ppl fall behind in material and give-up.

The 1-yr visa I received is split in 2 parts.

- A 3-month I got by leaving Thailand on a border run to a Thai embassy nearby with a letter from CMU. (I believe this can be done inside Thailand as well)
- A 9-month that I got at the Chiang Mai immigration office with a second letter from CMU. To do both visas you must have a letter from the office at CMU or you will be denied. Getting the letter is not dependent on your attendance you simply go and ask for it when the time comes.

Personally, I think it's a waste of 30k++ baht and a hassle if your doing it just for a visa. There are much less expensive ways to stay in the country. I also don't know of a person who did it just for the visa so there might be a risk i'm overlooking.

I think there are some courses a bit cheaper than the CMU one, like 20-24k baht for the 1 year course. I can see some people then just being in it for the visa. I don't see why you wouldn't just take the free lessons anyway though unless you are already crushing the Thai.

Are you still studying in the 2nd year? I imagine a 2nd year Thai course being pretty advanced no?

what would be the better way? I was actually seriously considering staying in CM before I read about the pollution, and honestly for me it seems that going to thailand and staying in a polluted place is such a conflicting idea that it borders on ******ed. Had I lived in CM I wouldn't have done the Uni deal just for the visa, I was gonna get the TEFL thing for teaching english and do some volunteer ****.

as it stands, i can do my volunteering someway else but do need a visa as I wanna be there for a year without spending time in 50-person jail cells where you have to bribe the guard to sleep on your back otherwise you have to scooch(sp?) like everyone else

I dont know what everyone is talking about with this pollution, it just seems exactly the same today as it has every other day I've been here. Am I supposed to be coughing up blood or something?

For a visa you could always just do visa runs every 3-6 months like most people on here do. Its not too much hassle

lol yeah i know. i don't notice much pollution either. compared to bkk at least. maybe it's only the tourist side of town that;s bad

Sup guys, got into thailand a few days ago, been partying it up in bkk and jesus christ this place is awesome. Anyways, wells fargo told me over the phone that they charge 3% for me to use the atm + the 150 baht kasikorn atm charges, so every $300 USD i take out I have to pay like $10 bucks which isn't bad but will probably end up annoying me in the long run. I remember lessu posted about opening a kasikorn account and using a friends address as your own since they require a thai address, so can anyone help me out and give me an address to use? or is it cool if I just make one up? thanks.

Are you still planning to settle in Phuket? If so, I reccomend waiting til u get here and then open in a Phuket branch. That way if there are ever any issues you can resolve them locally. (Thai banks really want you to go to your own branch to fix problems when they occur). Even if you open the 1st day with a rando address, you can then go in like 10 days later once your settled and update the address.

20+

Most ED visas can be had for about 20K Baht. Please enlighten us what these less expensive options are.

Are you taking the baht bus to the border every XX days or something? ED visa is by far the easiest way to stay in Thailand without worry for 1 year+. Definitely the least amount of hassle. And for most people that don't take the absolutely cheapest transport and accommodations on their visa runs, it's probably the same cost or substantially cheaper.

Non immigrant type 'O' visa from your home country. It's good for one year and cost's around 5k baht. I've had two now with no hassle

to add to the topic: does anyone know if i can do the thai classes at chiang mai university on a month-by-month basis? the visa doesnt matter since ill be leaving he country a lot anyway. i just arrived in chiang mai and dont want to make a comittment for a year, but the classes sounded really nice. i wrote them but no reply so far...

I'm not sure about monthly lessons at CMU but you can definitely book blocks of lessons at other schools in Chiang Mai. So you could book 20 private lessons for xx baht and do them throughout the month. I did a similar thing in Phuket last year and they were really good

I don't know any of the Schools off the top of my head but I see adverts and Thai Language school signs all over the City. There is probably more info about them on thaivisa.com as well.

Hey,
Me and a few other guys are in BKK atm and we are staying here for another few days and thinking about maybe going to chiang mai for a few days has anyone got any recomendations on where we should stay or what we could do there, we are going to phuket after to maybe get a house there so wanna get about a bit before and chiang mai sounds like a good place

Semi-regular posters (not just ITT), probably a few dozen. Including the guys with somewhat inactive 2+2 accounts, probably 200ish.

isn't that only available in hull?

I basically don't know anybody who has an address in Thailand, would there be risk if I just put a totally random address?

Pretty sure others have got it that aren't from England

thanks for the info bud, we are still planning on going down to phuket, but we are all having SO MUCH FUN in bkk we really don't know exactly when we are leaving. I can probably get by with the 3% fee and not care for a while, so i'll take your advice and wait until I get to a more semi-permanent residence. oh yeah also i'm not going back to the USA, this place is WAY better hahahhaha.