Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing conversion from a Visa Exemption Stamp to a Marriage Visa in Thailand. Now for those who are unaware yeah, conversion is when you move over from one immigration status to another. 

Generally speaking, conversions are not the order of the day in terms of the paradigm of Thai Immigration internally here in Thailand. What is the reason for that? Well Non-Immigrant visas are viewed as exactly that. A Marriage Visa is a Non-immigrant O Visa; they are viewed as Non-Immigrant, their name is sort of explicit in sort of how it's internally viewed. What that means is you are not presumed to be living in Thailand so the presumption, especially prior to March of 2020 and the promulgation of the Emergency Decree which did kind of shake things up especially for the first 18 months, we are starting to see things revert back to the mean sort of now here in August of 2022. But the thing to take away from this video is yeah in the past and we are getting more back to that way of thinking, conversion is not the presumed way to do it. What they generally want to see is somebody leave the country, do a Visa Run so to speak, go to an Embassy or Consulate abroad, apply for the new Visa they want to get, in this case an O Marriage Visa, and then come back in.

Now there may be extenuating circumstances. Thai Immigration Officers do have certain discretion to approve a conversion. That being said, you've got to overcome pretty hefty presumption, I guess you could call it a rebuttable presumption that people need to leave and get their new Visa, it's not a foregone conclusion that an Immigration Officer will favourably exercise their discretion to allow for a conversion from a Visa Exemption stamp over to an O Marriage Visa.