Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Thai Visa conversion. What are we talking about here specifically? Well Thai Visa conversion, this is what I think of or what I am describing is somebody comes into Thailand on one type of Visa or even on a Visa exemption stamp and then upon arrival or shortly thereafter, even a long time after, they decide they want to change visa status, they want to change over to another type of Visa so they want to convert status. So if they come in for example on a 30-day stamp and they want to convert to a Marriage Visa, or a Retirement Visa or a Business Visa.

In the past, prior to the COVID-19 decree back in March of 2020, conversion was a hard thing; conversion was not a foregone conclusion. The paradigm of Thai Immigration is look, you are in Non-Immigrant status and the vast majority of foreigners in Thailand are in Non-Immigrant status, we want you to obtain your Non-immigrant abroad at an Embassy or Consulate, come into Thailand and then use that status. You can extend it here but inside of Thailand the paradigm operated against allowing people to move from say a Visa exemption to a Marriage Visa or a Visa exemption to a Retirement Visa or from a Business Visa to Retirement Visa. The thinking was more along the lines "look you need to leave, get the proper non-immigrant Visa at an Embassy or Consulate, come back and then extend".  Now obviously during the past two and a half years where travel was less than easy to say the least, it was really not conducive to that particular framework so they were given certain discretion under the Emergency Decree at Immigration to make conversions. Now I saw them turn down conversions under certain circumstances; I saw them turn down extensions where they didn't believe somebody was really "stranded" in Thailand. So this was not a foregone conclusion but they had far more latitude and they used it far more often than I have ever seen before in the last 15 years I have been here. 

So now the question becomes with the end of the Emergency Decree are we going to see that sort of revert; are we going to see a reversion to the prior way of thinking? I think there is a good chance we will. So what does this mean for expats out there? Well it is something to think about and it is something to have in mind when coming into Thailand that it may not be possible or it may not be a conclusion to be able to convert one's status in-country.