Studying in Thailand: The ED Visa for Thai Language, Muay Thai and University
The ED visa used to be the cheap way to stay a year in Thailand. Since the 2025 crackdown it only works if you actually study. Here's who it fits, what a year costs, how the extensions work, and when the DTV is the better visa.
Published October 4, 2026
Checked as of October 2026. Exchange rate: ฿33.5 = $1. Fees and documents are from the Royal Thai Embassy in Washington, DC. Where a rule comes from a law firm, a school or the news, it says so.
For years the ED visa was the cheap way to live in Thailand. Sign up for a "visa package" at a Thai language school, show up now and then, extend every 90 days. A year in the country for about the price of a flight.
That version is over. In August 2025, Thailand's higher education minister announced that nearly 10,000 student stays had been revoked (reported), after investigators found many of those students never went to class. Schools now report attendance. Officers at the extension desk may talk to you in Thai.
The ED is a student visa again. Immigration checks that you're a student.
If you actually want to study, it's still the cheapest legal year in Thailand. This guide is for three kinds of people: you want to learn Thai, you want to train Muay Thai, or you've been accepted to a Thai university. If you just want the year, skip to the ED vs DTV table.
The short version
| Visa fee | $80 (about ฿2,680), from the DC embassy |
| First stay | 90 days |
| Extensions | 90 days each, ฿1,900 (about $57) at Immigration |
| Time limit, language schools | One year in total, per Immigration Bureau Order 12/2568 as quoted by a Thai law firm |
| Funds | 3 months of bank statements with an ending balance of at least $1,000 a month (language, Muay Thai) or $4,000 a month (degrees, school, vocational) |
| Apply | Online at thaievisa.go.th, at least 30 working days before you travel |
| Work | Not allowed |
Language schools
This is the main use, and the one immigration watches most closely.
The paperwork. The DC embassy asks for two things from your side in Thailand: a "Letter from the relevant authority under the Ministry of Education" and a "Letter confirming enrollment details from the school." The licensing body for private language schools is the Office of the Private Education Commission (OPEC), under the Ministry of Education.
In practice, schools say it works like this: you pay, the school sends your receipt and passport copy to the Ministry, and the approval letter comes back in about 1–3 weeks. Then you apply for the visa. Add the embassy's 30 working days and you're looking at roughly two months from first payment to flight.
Attendance. You'll hear "80% attendance" quoted as a rule. I couldn't find it in any law, and neither could the law firm I checked. Schools set their own bar. AAA Thai Language School in Bangkok, for example: "Students must attend at least 70% of their classes." AAA also requires students to live in the Bangkok Metropolitan Region. Ask your school for its rule in writing before you pay.
The Thai test (reported). Agencies say officers may give you an oral or written Thai check at the extension interview. Do badly and, they say, you might get 60 days instead of 90, or 30, or a refusal with about 7 days to leave. None of this is published as an official rule. But it's consistent enough across agencies that you should plan for it. If you've been studying, it's a short conversation. If you haven't, it's a problem.
After one year. The one-year total is for a language course. After that, agencies say you're generally expected to switch to another language or another kind of course. I couldn't find an official lifetime cap, so I won't quote one.
What it costs. Prices from school sites and local guides, read October 2026:
| School | Package | Price | USD |
|---|---|---|---|
| AAA, Bangkok | Group full-time, 11+ months | ฿36,600 | ~$1,093 |
| AAA, Bangkok | Easy Thai, 11+ months | ฿30,000 | ~$896 |
| AAA, Bangkok | 6 months | ฿18,800 | ~$561 |
| Chiang Mai schools (local guide, May 2026) | 12 months | ฿42,000–50,000 | ~$1,254–1,493 |
AAA's price includes the school handling the visa and extension paperwork. The AAA page is undated, so confirm the number.
A full first year: tuition of ฿30,000–50,000, plus the $80 visa, plus three extensions at ฿1,900 (฿5,700, about $170). Call it ฿38,000–58,000, or about $1,130–1,730, before rent, food or flights.
More on choosing a school:.
Muay Thai: ED or DTV?
Muay Thai training is one of the six study categories on the DC embassy's ED page. You need a letter from the Ministry of Education or from a relevant organisation such as the Sports Authority of Thailand. Funds: the same $1,000 a month as language students.
A Muay Thai ED in Chiang Mai runs about ฿53,000–84,000 a year (~$1,582–2,507), per a local guide from May 2026.
The other option is the DTV, the Destination Thailand Visa. Muay Thai counts as a "soft power" activity there too. The difference is who you are:
- Training on a budget, no remote income: ED. You accept a trip to Immigration every 90 days.
- Training and earning money from foreign clients or an employer abroad: DTV. Five years, 180 days per entry, and remote work for foreign clients is what it's built for. But you need ฿500,000 in funds and a $400 fee.
Cooking classes are not on the ED list. The DC study categories don't include them. Cooking is one of the DTV's soft-power examples. If a cooking school offers you an "ED package," ask exactly which category it's filing under.
Full DTV details: the DTV guide. Camps and costs:.
University students
If you're doing a degree, the ED works differently.
Documents and funds. A supporting letter from the university addressed to the embassy, plus the Ministry of Education letter. Funds: $4,000 a month in your statements for three months.
Extensions. A Thai law firm quoting Order 12/2568 says university students can extend for up to one year at a time. That's far less desk time than the language-school route.
ED Plus. A newer category for bachelor's degrees and above, from a Cabinet resolution of 28 May 2024. The DC embassy lists it as a category but doesn't spell out the benefits. Law-firm summaries say:
- the university files your extensions
- you can leave and come back without a re-entry permit
- after you graduate, you get one year to stay, look for work or travel, and change visa type inside Thailand if you're hired
Get your university's international office to confirm each of those in writing.
Work. Not allowed. A Thai law firm puts it plainly: "Employment is prohibited on an ED visa. That includes unpaid work, volunteering that looks like a job, and freelance work for Thai clients." I found no official rule allowing part-time work for students. No work, full stop, unless your university confirms otherwise in writing.
The 2025 crackdown
Everything in this section comes from news reports and a law firm's summary. I couldn't find the official texts in English.
The rule. On 14 May 2025, the higher education ministry (MHESI) set new rules for short non-degree university courses, as reported: a 180-day cap, at least 60% of teaching on-site, and monthly enrolment reports into a central database that Immigration checks against whether the school is actually teaching.
The revocations. On 22 August 2025, Higher Education Minister Sudawan Wangsuphakijkosol announced that permission to stay had been revoked for nearly 10,000 foreign students in short courses that didn't comply. Investigators reportedly found many had "never attended classes." Immigration cancelled the stays under section 36 of the Immigration Act, per the law firm.
Two things to be careful about. Those were short non-degree courses under the higher education ministry. The reports don't say how many, if any, were language-school students. And I found no official count of language schools shut down.
Still going. In August 2026, a Deputy Prime Minister reportedly ordered an investigation into one university's international admissions.
The direction is clear. Every year there's less room for a student who isn't studying.
ED vs DTV
| ED (language / Muay Thai) | DTV (soft power) | |
|---|---|---|
| Fee | $80 | $400 (DC) |
| Stay | 90 days, then 90-day extensions to 1 year | 5 years; 180 days per entry, +180 once |
| Funds | $1,000 a month, 3 months | ฿500,000 (US: $16,000) |
| Thai language school | Yes. The main use | No, in practice since 2025 (no published rule) |
| Muay Thai | Yes | Yes |
| Cooking | No | Yes |
| Remote work | No. Not what it's for | Yes, for foreign employers and clients |
| Desk visits | Every 90 days, possible Thai test | One extension per entry |
The call: Want to learn Thai? ED. Muay Thai plus a remote income and ฿500,000? DTV. Muay Thai on a budget? ED.
Neither fits? Start with which Thai visa fits you, or which kind of expat you are. Staying a winter, not a year? The snowbird guide.
Common mistakes
- Buying the visa, not the class. Attendance is reported. Cancellations happened at scale in 2025.
- Not learning any Thai. Officers may test you at extension (reported).
- Working. Including freelance for Thai clients. The DTV is the visa for remote work.
- Paying an unlicensed school. No Ministry letter, no visa. Ask for the school's licence and a recent student's approval letter before you pay.
- Leaving without a re-entry permit. Leave during an extension without one (฿1,000 single entry) and the extension is gone. ED Plus students are reported to be exempt.
- Forgetting the 90-day report. TM.47 still applies once you've been here 90 days in a row. See the visa admin cheat sheet.
- Planning a second language year. One year total, per the order as quoted.
- Reading the wrong embassy page. The DC embassy has two ED pages. "Non-Immigrant Visa ED" covers workshops, internships and monks. "ED To Study" covers language, Muay Thai and degrees. You want the second.
- Taking a DTV to a Thai language school. Refused in practice since 2025.
- Living outside the school's area. Some schools require it, and your extension goes through your local Immigration office.
This is information, not legal advice. Checked as of October 2026.