I have a friend on a Retirement Visa now has the chance of getting a good job here in Thailand. Would there be any problems changing to a Work permit?

Cheers Tony

visas and work permits are not correlated. a WP qualifies u to work but is in no way attached to the type of visa a foreigner holds, as long as he or she held a non-imm visa at the time of issuance of the WP or the time of application.

the fact that ur friend holds a retirement visa tells me that when he or she initially entered the country to obtain the retirement visa h/s was on a non-imm. by extension, said individual is now eligible to to apply for a WP with the ministry of labour. once granted, h/s will have to coordinate the length of stay of extension with the immigration department.

h/s will get the WP no problems as long as the company meets registration requirements.

o^6

edit: PC reasons

A work permit allows you to work and is not normally (virtually never) issued if you have a non immigrant visa for retirement. He should not have any problem changing however.

Let's make it short:

Nobody is allowed to work while he / she is on a retirement visa (not even if it's unpaid work or giving a hand to a Thai wife who is running a restaurant - someone just got arrested for this in Hua Hin!).

Your friend has to return the retirement visa, leave the country and re-enter with a non-immigrant-B which allows him / her to get a work permit.

That's the way it works and there is no other way.