Thailand ED Visa: Study Thai or Muay Thai in Chiang Mai

The ED visa (Non-Immigrant ED, วีซ่านักเรียน) is Thailand's visa for study: at a university or school, at a registered Thai-language school or at a Muay Thai camp. You get it at a Thai embassy, or switch to it at Chiang Mai Immigration for ฿2,000 with more than 15 days left on your stay. At a language school or Muay Thai camp it runs 90 days at a time and one year in all, each extension costing ฿1,900 with your hours attended shown; at a university it runs up to a year at a time. It allows no work, and the 90-day report still applies.

The kinds of ED visa#

The Foreign Ministry's visa list of 31 August 2026 has seven education codes. Thai or English language courses and Muay Thai training share one, ED3; a degree is ED PLUS. Every code is single entry and valid for three months, and embassies admit you for up to 90 days from the day you enter.

For an ED3 you send six things: your passport, a photo taken in the last six months, proof of where you live now, proof of money for fees and living costs (such as three months of bank statements or a sponsor's letter), a letter from the Ministry of Education (for Muay Thai, from it or the Sports Authority of Thailand), and the school's enrolment letter, signed, with a copy of the signer's ID. The ministry's list sets no age limit, no fixed sum of money and no health insurance.

Your school gets the Ministry of Education letter. A private school in Chiang Mai files your course and timetable with the Chiang Mai Provincial Education Office (สำนักงานศึกษาธิการจังหวัดเชียงใหม่), which writes to the embassy or to Immigration; a 2024 manual of the Krabi education office gives that step 3 to 5 days. Universities write their own letters.

There is no national figure: your embassy sets it. Washington wants the application on thaievisa.go.th at least 30 working days ahead and, for applicants under 20, a birth certificate, the parents' IDs and, if both parents are not travelling, a notarised consent letter.

Some embassy pages are older than the ministry's list. London's category text (17 July 2024) excludes students of non-formal schools while listing the short Thai course, and Seoul's 2024 checklist says "except for students of non-formal schools". The Foreign Ministry's 2026 list covers Thai-language and Muay Thai courses under ED3, so read your own embassy's page before you apply, or ask your school about the change inside Thailand.

ED PLUS, for a bachelor's degree or higher, needs the university's letter. Budapest's embassy adds that ED PLUS holders need no re-entry permit during their studies and may stay a year after graduating; no Immigration Bureau text we found says either, so ask your university's international office before you rely on it.

Getting the visa: at an embassy or in Chiang Mai#

From abroad, you apply at a Thai embassy or on the e-Visa site, with the school's two letters. Already in Thailand on a tourist visa or a visa exemption, you can switch to an ED at Chiang Mai Immigration on Airport Road for ฿2,000, with more than 15 days left on your stay and no overstay. The switch gives 90 days.

The switch is a published procedure, and Chiang Mai Immigration's own 2026 posts name students who changed to an ED there. Since 15 September 2026, though, a visa-free entry for tourism gives 30 days, so with more than 15 days required you must file by about day 14 (our arithmetic). The schools' paperwork takes longer than that: TSL quotes about 30 to 45 days for the approval and acceptance letter, We Learn Thai 45 days, CM Language Center 45 working days, NES up to 40 to 60 days, and Manna about two months for the change in Chiang Mai. Start the school's file before you fly, or come on a 60-day tourist visa for more margin (our advice). Some schools, including CMU's Language Institute, support only the embassy route, so ask before you fly in visa-free.

1. Your school files your course with the Chiang Mai Provincial Education Office, which writes to Immigration once it approves it. A university writes its own letter: the dean's, addressed to the Immigration Commissioner and dated the day you file, with your latest fee receipt.
2. Fill in form TM.86 if you hold a tourist or transit visa, or TM.87 if you entered visa-free.
3. Bring your passport with copies, one 4×6 cm photo, the school's letters and licence copies, the education office's letter and your landlord's TM30 receipt. The school signs and stamps every page.
4. Go in person to the main office at 71 Airport Road, counter 7 (the Central Festival branch does not change visas), and pay ฿2,000.
5. Allow about two weeks: the Immigration Bureau's handbook gives 15 days for a change of visa. Ask the office if you have not heard by then.

Chiang Mai Immigration Office

Both counters, opening hours, phone numbers, the queue at Airport Road, extensions and fees.

Read the immigration office guide

How long you can stay, and each extension#

It depends on the school. Immigration Bureau Order 12/2568 lets a university or formal-school student stay for the period the institution certifies, up to a year at a time, with no total cap in its text. A language-school or Muay Thai student gets 90 days at a time and one year in all. Each extension costs ฿1,900.

The order names private formal schools; that a private university is extended the same way, up to a year at a time as it certifies, is our reading. For each extension you bring form TM.7, your passport, ฿1,900 and the school's letter certifying and requesting your stay. From the second application you add your past results. A private school other than an international school or a university adds a certificate from a department-level body or the provincial governor. At a language school or Muay Thai camp you also bring a copy of the curriculum and timetable and the hours you have attended so far.

The order sets no attendance percentage, no Thai test and no interview. The hours you attended are the evidence, and Immigration visits schools unannounced. Schools set their own rules on top: TSL asks for 80% attendance in each 90-day period, and CMU's Language Institute checks 80% each month before it supports a visa.

In Chiang Mai, language and Muay Thai students extend at the main office on Airport Road, whose booking calendar lists education. The Central Festival branch takes teachers, lecturers and students of formal schools only.

A year at a language school ends that route. The order counts the year from your entry or from the change of visa, and does not say whether leaving and returning on a new ED starts a new year. For a longer stay, a degree is the study route with no total cap in the text: CMU and Payap both teach a bachelor's degree in Thai for foreigners (below; our reading of the order).

Where to study in Chiang Mai#

Study at a school licensed by the Office of the Private Education Commission (OPEC) or at a university. OPEC's register listed 235 private non-formal schools in Chiang Mai on 26 October 2026. Every Thai-language school we checked is in it as a vocational school, and seven Muay Thai camps are in it as arts-and-sports schools.

You can check a school yourself in OPEC's public search at peso.opec.go.th: choose the province เชียงใหม่ and the type นอกระบบ (non-formal). It shows the name, address, type and phone, but no licence number. Schools often trade under an English name that differs from the registered Thai one: CM Language Center is ภาษารักษ์ไทย, NES is บ้านภาษา and Walen is สอนภาษาธนวรรณ.

Thai-language schools and their prices#

Six registered schools publish a price for a one-year ED course on their own pages. The prices cover different things, from the course alone to the course plus every government fee, so compare what each includes and check its date. These are the schools' own figures for their own courses, listed alphabetically, not ranked.

Shorter courses exist: Manna lists six months at ฿15,000 via an embassy or ฿30,000 with the change, and We Learn Thai six months at ฿28,900 (฿27,000 plus one extension). AUA, Eden Thai, Effective Thai (EFL Learning Centre), NES, ProLanguage, Thai Leela and Walen are in the register but publish no ED price; ask them. Where a school leaves government fees out, add ฿1,900 for each extension. No official text says whether online-only classes support an ED, so ask the school and the office before you pay for them.

Some schools set an age limit of their own, such as TSL at 50 and Brisbane at 55. No official text sets one.

Universities#

Chiang Mai University (CMU) and Payap University teach Thai to foreigners and write their own visa letters; universities are outside OPEC's register.

Payap lists ฿30,000 per level on its International College page and ฿40,000 on its central fee page; ask which applies to your intake. CMU's Language Institute takes students up to 60 and keeps ฿7,500 of the one-year fee if the visa is refused. Chiang Mai Rajabhat University's 45-hour Thai course (฿3,000, at least 10 students) states no visa support.

Muay Thai camps#

Muay Thai training is on the ED (ED3), with a letter from the Ministry of Education or the Sports Authority of Thailand that your camp arranges. OPEC's register lists seven Chiang Mai camps as arts-and-sports schools, and a self-defence school, Hand to Hand Combat, as vocational. Two of them publish ED prices.

The other registered camps, by their names in the register: จิรโชติเชียงใหม่มวยไทยยิม (Si Phum, Mueang), ที.เอ็ม.ที มวยไทย อะคาเดมี่ (San Sai), เดอะแคมป์มวยไทย (Hang Dong), มวยไทยลานนา (Saraphi), สอนมวยไทยแบงกาแรง (Mae Rim) and สอนศิลปะป้องกันตัวคอร์ คอมแบต เชียงใหม่ (Chang Khlan Road). More camps advertise an ED; check that a camp is in the register before you pay.

Thai cooking is on no ED list: the ministry names it on the 60-day tourist visa (TR3) and the DTV. Thai massage training is named only on the TR3, so for a massage course ask the school and your embassy; a short one fits a TR3.

Rules while you study#

An ED holder may not work, files the 90-day report like any long-stay resident, needs a re-entry permit before any trip abroad, and must be on the landlord's TM30. Chiang Mai Immigration also checks that students are studying: it published 49 visits to schools and camps made between April and June 2026.

• Work: none. The Immigration Act (s.37) bars work on a temporary stay without permission, punished with up to a year in prison, a fine of up to ฿10,000 or both (s.75, in an older English translation). Since 2018 any occupation counts as work, with or without an employer, so remote freelancing on an ED counts as work under the 2018 definition. An internship your course requires has its own visa, ED6; any other internship needs a Non-B (code B4).
• 90-day report: report your address every 90 days of continuous stay, free, online at tm47.immigration.go.th, by post or in person. Every trip abroad restarts the count; a late report is settled at ฿2,000, and up to ฿5,000 plus ฿200 a day if you are caught without having reported.
• TM30: your landlord files it within 24 hours of your moving in. You need its receipt for the change to an ED and for every extension, and the landlord can print it online only for seven days, so take a copy at once.
• Re-entry permit: buy one before you leave Thailand, or your stay is void once you leave. It costs ฿1,000 for one trip or ฿3,800 for several, at Airport Road or, 09:00 to 12:00 only, at Central Festival.

Chiang Mai Immigration's investigation unit posts its checks of foreign students at non-formal schools. Between 7 May and 6 July 2026 it published 49, made from 1 April to 26 June: 39 at language schools, 6 at Muay Thai camps and 4 at other schools, about 159 students in all (our count). The posts find students "staying lawfully, for the reason given in the extension application" (our translation), and none reports an offence. No official attendance percentage exists, but every extension shows your hours attended.

The national tightening of 2025 concerned universities' short non-degree courses, not language schools. A higher-education ministry rule from 14 May 2025 made universities report foreign students to Immigration and check their attendance each month (Naewna and Bangkok Biz News, news; we found no official text).

The 90-day report, step by step

The due date, filing online, by post or in person at either Chiang Mai counter, and the fines.

Read the 90-day report guide

When the course ends, or if you stop#

Your stay rests on your school. If you leave a private school before the course ends, the school tells the education office, which asks Immigration to cancel your stay. No official text gives a number of days to leave after that, so leave or change status at once and ask the office. At a language school, the end of the year ends the route.

To go on to a second course within the year, the school files 30 days before the current one ends. Switching to another visa depends on the target. A DTV cannot be obtained inside Thailand at all, and since 31 August 2026 only where you are a national or permanent resident. The LTR is issued in Bangkok, at the investment board's service centre. A Thailand Privilege visa is stamped in Bangkok or on a direct international arrival, according to the operator. No official page describes a change from an ED to a work (Non-B) or family (Non-O) visa inside Thailand: ask at Airport Road.

Thailand Elite visa, now Thailand Privilege

The membership visa with no study, age or income test: the five tiers, the yearly extension and the 90-day report.

Read the Thailand Privilege guide

ED, DTV or a tourist visa for a course?#

For Thai lessons, the ED: the Foreign Ministry files Thai-language courses under ED3, and no DTV list names a language course. For Muay Thai, either: it is on both. For a short cooking, massage or boxing course, the 60-day tourist visa (TR3) fits better than either.

A year of Thai lessons costs about ฿7,700 in government fees if you switch in Chiang Mai: ฿2,000 for the change and three ฿1,900 extensions, before school fees and re-entry permits. A DTV year costs about ฿11,900 (฿10,000 plus one ฿1,900 extension), but needs about ฿500,000 shown and an application where you are a national or permanent resident (our arithmetic). Privilege and the LTR suit only someone for whom study is a side matter: no LTR category is for study, and Privilege is bought, not earned. A school's own "DTV programme" is its offer, not a ruling that language study qualifies.

DTV visa Thailand

Who qualifies through remote work or a soft-power course such as Muay Thai, the ฿500,000, applying from home and the extension in Chiang Mai.

Read the DTV guide

Family, bank account, insurance and tax#

A student's spouse and children can stay as dependants, up to a year at a time, and a student's parent needs ฿500,000 in a Thai bank. No insurance is required, banks name students among the foreigners they serve, and tax follows the days you spend in Thailand, not the visa.

• Family: Order 12/2568 (clause 2.11) lets the father, mother, spouse, children, adopted children and spouse's children of a student stay up to a year at a time. A spouse must be married in law and in fact; a child must be unmarried, living with you and not over 20; neither shows money. Only a parent of the student does: at least ฿500,000 in a Thai bank in their own name, held for 3 months before filing, or 30 days before a first application. Each dependant files their own 90-day report and is on the TM30. A dependant's stay cannot outlast the student's, so a language-school family has a year (our reading); ask the office about your case.
• Bank account: the anti-money-laundering office's guideline for banks has a row for study (passport, ED visa and a school certificate). Kasikornbank accepts any non-immigrant visa with a purpose document such as a school certificate, and refuses DTV holders by name; UOB's checklist names students, with ฿1,000 to open. No law gives a right to an account, and since 17 December 2025 banks must ask why you want one and may refuse.
• Insurance: none required. No ED document list asks for it, and Order 12/2568 asks for insurance only in its retirement clause.
• Renting: any visa can rent. A language-school ED moves in 90-day steps and ends after a year, so a 12-month lease with a break clause, or a shorter one, fits it (our advice, not a rule).
• Tax: 180 days or more in Thailand in a calendar year makes you tax resident. Since 1 January 2024 a resident's foreign income is taxed in the year it is brought in, but support from parents or a spouse is exempt up to ฿20 million a year, and savings brought in are not income. A student who brings in their own foreign earnings in a resident year owes tax on them.

International schools in Chiang Mai

All 21 schools with their own fees, and how a child stays: as a dependant, on a student visa or with a guardian.

Read the schools guide