Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are posing the question, is it possible to change from an O-A Retirement Visa over to an O Retirement Visa? Now I am going to preface this video by saying I am going to do some analysis here but again this is always going to be case specific. I have seen in the past where this is possible to do in one way and then a week later it is not possible to do it that way anymore. So this particular topic is subject to some pretty substantial fluidity over time in terms of actual processing protocols but I thought it was worth discussing. 

I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, that is pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Summary of Thai Visas available: January 2024. Quoting directly: "It is worth noting that the Thai O Retirement Visa issued by Immigration does not require Medical cover although changing from O-A to O cannot be done without leaving Thailand." Again this is one of those things where a conclusion is drawn and I think that conclusion is overly broad; again it is circumstantially dependent. Immigration Officers have the discretion to do a lot of different things depending on extenuating circumstances. I in point of fact have seen O-A visas convert to an O in Thailand. It hasn't been particularly recently but I have seen it done and by recently it has been like over a year since I have seen that happen. And again as we have discussed in other videos, under the old Emergency Decree, Immigration had a great deal more latitude, then even coming off of that they continued to have some latitude, again because travel was not the easiest thing. 

That said, always presume, the default position with regard to different categories of Non-Immigrant Visas is that Thai Immigration here in-country would prefer people to leave the country and then come back in in order to change from one Non-Immigrant category to another. They don't particularly like to see people change from one Non-Immigrant category over to another Non-Immigrant category notwithstanding the fact that all Retirement Visas operate under the O category, there is a difference between the O-A and the O. For those who are unaware O-A Retirement Visas do require medical insurance while presently, O Retirement Visas do not. So that is something that is of major concern to many retirees here. Many people just don't want the onus of having to maintain medical insurance in order to maintain their visa status. So I can see why people would want to convert from one to the other. But again, it is going to be based on circumstances whether or not that is possible to happen in country or abroad.