Thailand’s Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation and the Immigration Bureau are to take pro-active steps to tighten controls on the enrolment of foreign students in non-degree courses offered by Thai universities, to prevent them from working or overstaying in Thailand.
It is reported that non-Thais, Chinese nationals in particular, apply for student visas to attend such courses, which allow them to stay in Thailand for a longer period than a tourist visa, and a significant number of them have worked here illegally.
Higher Education Minister Supamas Isarabhakdi said that the ministry will now require Thai universities offering non-degree courses to foreign students to send details of the courses to the ministry for assessment.
If the courses are approved, she said the ministry will notify the Immigration Bureau, so it can issue student visas for periods which match the courses’ lengths, adding that any universities which fail to comply will not be able to apply for visas on behalf of their foreign students.
Regarding the non-degree courses, the minister said that officials will determine whether they are appropriate, whether class attendance is online, on-site or hybrid and their length. She stressed a course should not exceed six months.
The permanent secretary, Suphachai Pathumnakul, said officials will conduct periodic random checks, to determine whether the foreign students are actually attending the courses and the universities must report the number of students who complete the courses each year to the ministry.
Pol Lt-Gen Panumas Boonyalak, commissioner of the Immigration Bureau, said that each university must assess how many foreign students they can enrol each year and whether they can manage them properly.
