Admission → ED/ED Plus → work on a Non-B; study time does not count toward PR
The gentlest entry into study in Asia among the routes in this registry. Unlike Korea and Malaysia there is no national "twelve years of schooling" rule here: Thailand leaves the equivalence of a foreign school certificate to the university itself, with contested cases going through a recognition procedure at the Ministry of Education — a Russian certificate is accepted for a bachelor's. The visa is the Non-Immigrant ED (its variant for university study at bachelor level and above is called ED Plus), issued for 90 days and extended inside the country through the Immigration Bureau at THB 1,900 per extension. The financial requirement is modest: THB 20,000 per person (40,000 per family) plus six months of bank statements covering the study period — there is no state "a year up front" threshold as in Australia or Germany. Tuition on an English-taught programme at a public university: Chulalongkorn charges THB 76,000–106,000 per semester at bachelor level and 76,000–133,900 at graduate level (the university's fee schedule); international colleges such as MUIC cost more — THB 1.2–1.6M for the whole four-year programme. Thai is studied on the same ED visa at schools accredited by the Ministry of Education: THB 25,000–55,000 a year. Living costs are THB 10,000–20,000 a month. On the endgame, plainly: study time does not count toward PR at all — qualification starts only with a Non-B work visa with a work permit and paid tax. Then come 3 years of continuous annual extensions and a salary from THB 80,000/mo, and only then a PR application — against a quota of 100 people per nationality per year, with a Thai-language interview and 1–2 years of processing. From the start of studies that is 8+ years, with citizenship 5 more years after PR. On the upside you will not have to give up your Russian passport: a declaration of intent to renounce is filed at naturalisation but is not legally binding, and Thailand permits dual citizenship.
Path — Thailand · updated 2026-08-30
Timing depends on an external condition — not predictable in advance
Extension — THB 1,900, the "Application for extension of temporary stay" line of the Immigration Bureau tariff (Ministerial Regulation 27, 2003)
Chulalongkorn — THB 76,000–106,000 per semester for a bachelor and 76,000–133,900 for a master; the MUIC international college — THB 1.2–1.6M per programme
Timing depends on an external condition — not predictable in advance
Timing depends on an external condition — not predictable in advance
THB 7,600 to file and THB 191,400 for the residence certificate on approval; the "Application for permanent residence" and "Residence certificate (TM.16), for employment or expert" lines of the Immigration Bureau tariff (Ministerial Regulation 27, 2003)
Timing depends on an external condition — not predictable in advance