Thailand’s Ministry of Education has warned all schools which offer Education Visas to foreigners to be legitimate and make sure the students adhere to attendance and testing requirements. This has been ongoing for a while and the Thai government has now reacted.

The ministry has recently summoned all language school owners to address the issue and notify the schools of the crackdown. Now, any language school found to be selling the Education visa simply to allow the foreigners to stay in Thailand without attending the school will be closed down and lose their license. All of the school’s students – whether attending or not – will have their ED visas cancelled.

Some schools are reportedly selling discounted “courses” where the “student” pays a reduced fee that gets them a visa but they have no intention of ever attending a class. Immigration police also told the schools that several “foreign nationals are now working undercover on behalf of immigration trying to buy a visa from schools without attending classes.”

The ministry will also investigate visa shops and law firms who offer the ED Visa as it is only registered schools who can offer these visas.