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ResourcesVisa & Immigration LawThailand Immigration LawWhat is the "Muay Thai Visa" to Stay in Thailand?

What is the "Muay Thai Visa" to Stay in Thailand?

Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the "Muay Thai Visa".    

People have asked me about this; I usually get a couple of calls on this a year and I just recently had one. Yes, there actually is a "Muay Thai Visa".  There is a visa that allows someone to come to Thailand in order to engage in "Muay Thai" activities.

Strictly speaking, a Muay Thai Visa is an education visa and so long as the program is certified by the Ministry of Education here, it is possible to get a ED visa, an Education Visa based on participation in Muay Thai events. Now that being stated, it should be noted that ED visas have come under increasing scrutiny here in the Kingdom so those who are coming to Thailand in order to engage in Muay Thai and to go to Muay Thai classes etc., it is going to be a really good idea for you to actually attend those classes as opposed to trying to do this as a pretense to maintain visa status here in the Kingdom. That has happened in the past. The Immigration apparatus is wise to that practice and for that reason they are going to be somewhat suspect. For example, for someone who is shaped like me and clearly hasn't had much in the way of any kind of physical exercise for a prolonged period of time, I think they would look at me if I was applying for my umpteenth ED Visa based on Muay Thai training they would say "ok. Year 1, we get you look this way, but you have been doing this for 3 years, you should probably be in a little bit better shape." Again, I am not trying to make judgment calls on the way people look, myself included. It is just Immigration is going to use a common sense methodology to make sure that the individual in question really is engaged in Muay Thai much the same way that they start having conversations in Thai with people on ED visas who are claiming to be in the country learning Thai. Basically, they will start asking questions in Thai as time goes on. Sort of the first one is free; for lack of a better term it is a “freebie” because presumably one has yet to learn whatever for example Thai or in this case Muay Thai, the sport. Down the road if one can't show that they have some sort of propensity in what they are pretextually learning, supposedly learning, there is going to be a real problem.

That being said, genuine people that want to come to Thailand and study Muay Thai for a prolonged period of time, so long as they can find a program that has all the proper accreditation and can provide sponsorship for an education visa, it is definitely possible to study Muay Thai for a prolonged period of time in Thailand and maintain lawful status thereby.

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