More than 670 Thais have returned to China to continue their studies after their education was suspended for over two years due to Covid-19, according to the Thai-Chinese Students Association (TCSA).
Rhonnakorn Rojjanakatanyoo, a TCSA adviser, said the association had been supporting Thai students to resume their classes in China since the beginning of this year. For the first batch in February, the Chinese embassy in Bangkok approved long-term study visas for 75 Thai students.
“Even though it was only 75 students who got the visas out of a thousand applicants, it was better than nothing because, according to the regulations at the time, no one could receive visa approval as the long-term study visa was not open for registration,” he said.
“The students needed to stay in state quarantine for 14 days plus another seven days either at home or [elsewhere] in their city,” he added.
In June, the second batch of 129 students flew to China out of 600 whose names were submitted by the association to the Chinese embassy, he said.
On Aug 22, the embassy reopened long-term study (X1) visas and 242 names submitted by the association were approved. They flew to China on Sept 20.
The fourth group of 232 students was approved on Tuesday, taking the total to 678, he said.
“Although the Chinese embassy restarted the X1 visa in August, the airfares were too high for some students to purchase. The association provided a charter flight to ease their financial cost,” he said.
He said the association will arrange for the fifth batch of 260 students to fly to China on Oct 25. It is also eyeing a sixth group to travel back there on Nov 10.