Admission & Visa Procedures

Admission procedures (How to Obtain a Letter of Admission?):
  1. Choose and decide on a program you are interested in.
  2. Submit an online application form or come personally to BSM office to do the same.
  3. Additionally, submit copies of the following documents:
  • high school certificate/diploma or any equivalent certificate as authorized by the respective country’s ministry of education, preferably in English
  • High School Transcript, preferably in English
  • Passport 1?1.5 inch (2.5?4 cm) recent photo

Upon receiving the above-mentioned documents, the student will receive official documents necessary for visa application or any other purpose from BSM. In the case of on international student, upon arrival in Thailand, you would need to immediately report to BSM office so that your visa and permission to stay in Thailand could be processed and regularized. Students who fail to do so may face difficulties and land in unnecessary troubles.

Visa Requirement:

All international students require an Education Visa to study in Thailand. Students could apply for the visa in their respective countries by visiting the Embassy of the Kingdom of Thailand and presenting relevant documents including a Letter of Acceptance (or Letter of Admission) and an Official Note certifying the purpose of travel. These would be issued by Bangkok School of Management upon successful online application process by the applicant.

Visa Procedures:
  1. Fill in the online application form.
  2. Once your application is accepted, you will receive an acceptance letter, commonly called “Letter of Admission.”
  3. This Letter of Admission will be printed on the official letterhead of Bangkok School of Management and signed by the officially assigned officer. It confirms that you are accepted for the program and invites you to begin your studies at a certain date. It will also state the number of courses you will study in the particular semester. Both details are important.
  4. Since the Letter of Admission with a definitive starting date is the legal pre-requisite for obtaining a non-immigrant ED visa (student visa).
  5. The student visa is a 1-year visa. It is granted only to those who will seriously study and is not intended to be a backdoor for a long and lazy holiday. You therefore need to register for at least 4 courses per semester.
  6. With this Letter of Admission, a photocopy of your passport (which must be valid for at least 6 more months), and recent passport-size photographs, you now can apply for your student visa at a Royal Thai Embassy or Consulate in your country.
  7. If you are already in Thailand when you receive your Letter of Admission (for example, you applied in person), be careful. Citizens of some countries can enter Thailand without a visa, citizens from other countries get a 60-day visa. If you arrive in Thailand without any visa, be prepared that you need to leave the country in order to apply for a non-immigrant ED visa from outside the country.
  8. If you are in Thailand with a 60-day tourist visa, you can change your visa without leaving the country within the first 30 days of your visa – the other 30 days might be needed for processing your non-immigrant ED visa. The visa must be valid for at least 21 days in any case.
  9. The photocopies need to carry your signature. Make sure to sign with blue ink to highlight that your signature is original and not photocopied as well.
  10. On the photographs, don’t carry anything what might change your face, such as sun glasses or a baseball cap. Don’t smile too much either. Although Thai people love to smile so often that many call Thailand ‘The Land of Smiles’, any official photograph is a serious thing. A look on a Thai ID card will show you that no one smiles. To be on the safe side, don’t smile on these photographs, which have to show your full face (no profile or half-profile, please).
  11. The number of photographs to submit is not clear. Some embassies say two Galleries, some say four. With four photographs, you’ll be fine. Don’t worry; you’ll need more for any paper and permission you will request in Thailand. Fortunately, getting passport Galleries is very cheap in Thailand. Experienced foreigners always carry some photographs in different sizes with them, where ever they go.
  12. Your application alone doesn’t make you a student. Therefore, the student visa is only valid for 90 days when you get it the first time.
  13. Within these 90 days, you need to register and pay your tuition fee for the respective semester. With a confirmation letter about your registration, you can then apply for extension to the full period of time (BSM will assist you in this process). During this time, in most cases you don’t need to leave the country in order to ‘refresh’ your visa. Even extension for the next year of study is a simple technicality, which needs the same documents as named above.
  14. Due to several questions, let’s make clear what you can do with a non-immigrant ED visa: You can study. It’s not a working visa and so it does not permit working in Thailand in any way. It allows you to learn (study), nothing else.
  15. The idea to finance your studies by jobbing around is therefore, at least following Thai laws, not a safe way. Reportedly, there are cases of students who, for instance, teach in order to finance their studies. Please be aware that this is illegal even if doing so is possible.
  16. Independent of how long you stay in Thailand, you need to notify the Immigration Bureau every 90 days and tell them your current address. It’s a simple form you need to fill in, and there is no fee. You get a slip from this form noting the next date when you have to do it tagged into your passport (BSM will assist you in this process).
  17. For this notification, you can go from 7 days before the date. If you miss the date and come only one day later, you will have to pay a fine of 5,000 Baht (that’s about 100 Euro or 150 USD). If that happens more than once or twice, you risk your visa. So, be careful. You can go to any immigration bureau anywhere in Thailand for the 90 days notification. There is no need to return to the location where your visa was originally issued