LTR Visa is Now available for Long Term Residency

[aublumberg]

15 hours ago, JoeHo said:

[...] pressing question that I have about payment of the 50k THB for the visa stamp. I've read from both @ThailandRyan and @BKKNono that payment can only be done by QR app banking. But how to pay if you'll arrive in Thailand on a (tourist) visa exemption? On a tourist visa I'm not eligible to open a Thai bank account, so how should I pay? [...]

Yes one of those not uncommon catch 22s in Thailand. Different banks and indeed different branches at the same bank have varying practices. You could consider to go to e.g. Siam Paragon in Bangkok and try to open a bank account there. I recently checked with Bangkok Bank branch there by phone and they just require a certified copy of your passport from your applicable consulate in Thailand. So you could get that first (may require booking of consulate appointment), then get the bank account, then pick up LTR at BOI office. The LTR notification approval letter may also help as additional evidence when opening the bank account. Shop around among a couple banks. Bangkok Bank, Siam Commercial Bank and Kasikorn Bank are considered the most foreigner friendly. Check out popular downtown places like Siam Paragon and Central World, go from branch to branch. Once you have the account, deposit sufficient money in cash right then or instruct e.g. a Wise transfer to have adequate funding for the THB50k LTR visa fee. It takes 1 - 2 hours to open the account and they help you install the mobile app as part of that. I am not entirely sure whether you can immediately get access to pay from the app on the same day, sometimes the full functionality is only enabled overnight for next day use. So I guess all of this adds up and is rather tight in terms of schedule based on your current planning. 

 

If you are planning to stay in Chiang Mai longer term then it may be better to have a bank account there, closer to where you live, to avoid cross-province transfer fees and more flexibility to visit the branch if needed. In that case maybe fly back to BKK once you have a BOI appointment. Or if you plan to fly out of Thailand do it on your way out.

I'd suggest you keep a couple days buffer in any case, especially given the current system glitches, public holidays this week (little to no progress for the rest of the week), the growing backlog of LTR recipients and other unforeseen circumstances. Hope it works out for you, good luck.

[JoeHo]

Quote

Yes one of those not uncommon catch 22s in Thailand. Different banks and indeed different branches at the same bank have varying practices. You could consider to go to e.g. Siam Paragon in Bangkok and try to open a bank account there. I recently checked with Bangkok Bank branch there by phone and they just require a certified copy of your passport from your applicable consulate in Thailand. So you could get that first (may require booking of consulate appointment), then get the bank account, then pick up LTR at BOI office. The LTR notification approval letter may also help as additional evidence when opening the bank account. Shop around among a couple banks. Bangkok Bank, Siam Commercial Bank and Kasikorn Bank are considered the most foreigner friendly. Check out popular downtown places like Siam Paragon and Central World, go from branch to branch. Once you have the account, deposit sufficient money in cash right then or instruct e.g. a Wise transfer to have adequate funding for the THB50k LTR visa fee. It takes 1 - 2 hours to open the account and they help you install the mobile app as part of that. I am not entirely sure whether you can immediately get access to pay from the app on the same day, sometimes the full functionality is only enabled overnight for next day use. So I guess all of this adds up and is rather tight in terms of schedule based on your current planning. 

 

If you are planning to stay in Chiang Mai longer term then it may be better to have a bank account there, closer to where you live, to avoid cross-province transfer fees and more flexibility to visit the branch if needed. In that case maybe fly back to BKK once you have a BOI appointment. Or if you plan to fly out of Thailand do it on your way out.

I'd suggest you keep a couple days buffer in any case, especially given the current system glitches, public holidays this week (little to no progress for the rest of the week), the growing backlog of LTR recipients and other unforeseen circumstances. Hope it works out for you, good luck.

Thanks a lot for your suggestions! To be fair I didn't know in Thailand there are cross-province transfer fees, although it won't really matter in my case. I don't plan to stay in CM forever. The thing is that I wasn't planning on coming back to BKK within the 60-days period. I'll just see if I can make it work in that tight time window, otherwise bad luck and an early BKK return ???? 

 

Although I am more than happy to pay via a Thai bank, what I don't get is that they offer it as the only option. How is someone supposed to pay via a Thai account while you're not allowed to open it without having the proper visa? Opening a Thai bank account is for me actually one of the many reasons to apply for LTR visa anyways. Also, I think I won't be the only one. It applies to all foreign working professionals that haven't been to Thailand before and opt for pickup at the OSS in BKK. But well, it is what it is, left or right there's probably a way around it. 

Thanks again!

[Ludlow]

9 hours ago, Pawpal said:

I had a bit of a worrying surprise yesterday. Some background info:

My current "retirement visa" expires in mid-November, and the BOI representative I spoke with by phone in September assured me there was plenty of time for me to apply for the "wealthy pensioner" LTR as it would take 20 working days.

 

I submitted my application on Sept 14 and assumed all was in order with the documents since I heard nothing further from BOI. On Oct 12, the 20th working day after my initial application, I received a request for another insurance document. (I assume the problem was that the one I'd submitted didn't have an expiration date but stated the policy was automatically renewed every April.) I phoned the insurance rep and he promptly issued a document saying my policy was good till April 2024, and I immediately uploaded it to my online LTR application.

 

Yesterday I phoned BOI to see how long it would be before I would be notified whether or not my application was accepted. The representative said "20 working days" and that the clock started ticking when the updated document was received (Oct 12). She was very sympathetic when I described my concerns over my soon-to-expire retirement extension (another 20 working days would really push things to the limit), and she said she'd talk with the officer in charge of my application.

 

I'm wondering if anyone has had a similar situation. Is there a chance the other docs originally submitted have already been vetted and that approval of the LTR visa is a real possibility and/or they'll get back to me in less than 20 working days?

 

Thanks. 

There was an earlier post (which I can't locate now -- this topic already has 22 pages!) by a successful applicant who, if I recall correctly, was 3 weeks into the review process when he got a new document request, and ended up getting approval about a week after that. 

[Northwest87]

21 hours ago, Pib said:

That's what I'm hoping.  Regarding the U.S. Medicare, it does "not" provide coverage outside the U.S. (except in rare situations).   And I think most other countries' social security medical coverage works the same way...that is, coverage within the home country but not outside.   

 

I haven't worked in Thailand....no Thai social security.

 

Now I do have U.S. Medicare coverage "only because" I must maintain it to automatically retain coverage under the U.S. military retiree Tricare for Life medical coverage which provides coverage worldwide.  Tricare is the coverage I've been using in Thailand for well over a decade. 

 

So, I have Medicare and Tricare coverage but since living in Thailand only the Tricare coverage applies since Medicare only covers in the U.S.; however, when I go back to the U.S. for say a one day visit or permanently  I'm automatically covered by Medicare and Tricare the second I set foot on U.S. dirt....kinda like double coverage.

 

But will BOI really understand medical coverage provided by many foreign countries....coverage that even applies if living outside the home country may not come with any document that states coverage in monetary terms like say $1M coverage since the coverage is really unlimited...no dollar limit....and really no policy end date as long as  you are paying the monthly premium/stay enrolled....an open ended policy end date so to speak.

 

I'm hoping where the BOI uses the term "social security" medical coverage it's meant in board terms of having some "government medical coverage" although that coverage may not be coming from the Social Security Agency in that country but another part of the government like the military. 

 

 Hopefully BOI will respond to my question with a clear, definitive answer but I'm not holding my breath.   I would like to get some clarification from them versus uploading a bunch of personal info docs for income, medical, etc...etc....etc...to probably live on their servers for years only to be turned down due to medical coverage paperwork.

 

 

I'm in the same boat with an AFSPA government-sponsored plan. I wouldn't count on the BOI to count a US-style plan as social security, even with government sponsorship, but I would love to be proven wrong. I have also asked the question to the BOI, but they stopped answering emails, at least for general questions. Please keep us posted if you hear something back. I'll do the same.

 

NW

[Pib]

On 10/12/2022 at 5:23 AM, mudcat said:

I submitted a brokerage statement with both retirement accounts (traditional IRA [income taxes due upon distribution] and Roth [income taxes already paid]) and a small robot managed non-retirement account with a combined balance well in excess of the requirement.  I had a phone call late last week that my application had been approved but I have not seen the notification.

 

Use of my assets was prompted by the difficulty of having my health insurance expiration date changed along with dropping out-patient coverage.  I realized that what I really wanted was health insurance to protect my assets rather than to be used to qualify for an immigration visa as that is its true purpose here - to serve as insurance against a major medical expense not to pay for every headache and band aid.  

 

I will post when I receive the 'letter' as that will confirm that use of my brokerage statement was acceptable.  I do note that a statement might be questioned if it was not current and did not show the required balance for the past year.  

That is good news because I expect a lot of people do have more than 100K USD in "investment" type accts like 401K/IRA/mutual funds/etc., vs keeping high amounts in "bank" accts.   

 

And since the BOI LTR requirement is the 100K USD balance has been available for at least 12 months before the LTR application since investment type acct balances typically are left alone by the person up till retirement and then "slowly" drawn down after retirement IMO that makes it more likely at least 100K USD would be setting in the acct for "many" years whereas a bank acct balance is more likely to vary a lot.  

 

The BOI requirement also says that 100K is suppose to be in a "bank" acct for at least 12 months before applying but hopefully BOI's definition of a bank acct also includes investment accts since money in most investment accts can be withdrawn quickly to pay bills like a big hospital bill.  

 

Definitely update us if you do get final, final approval...it definitely sounds positive. Thanks.

[Misty]

On 10/12/2022 at 8:24 PM, aublumberg said:

Hello, appreciate everyone's sharing here. My chronology:

05 Sep 2022 submitted application online for a LTR WFTP
26 Sep 2022 request for additional documents but actually everything was already provided correctly in the first place
04 Oct 2022 email approval received
12 Oct 2022 received formal Notification Letter for Qualifications Endorsement

 

Next step to make an appointment at the Royal Thai Consulate in Hong Kong for the visa stamp. According to the published fee schedule it's HKD15,000 or approx THB72,000 currently. 

 

Called a couple times into the BOI office in Bangkok along the way to enquire progress. Always super helpful team, keeping spirits high despite the system glitches, with some still persisting currently.

 

 

 

Hi, how difficult was it to get the Notification Letter for Qualifications Endorsement to use with an overseas consulate? Did the BoI mention having to contact or interact with the HK consulate at all? Was this a long drawn out process?

 

The reason I ask is that my timeline is similar to yours, but I'm still waiting on the Notification Letter. By phone, my BoI officer has been reluctant to issue a Notification letter for a consulate. Instead BoI staff were encouraging me to "just enter Thailand visa exempt" and then apply for the Notification letter inside Thailand, wait for it, make an appointment and wait for that. After I understood the time frames involved in entering visa exempt, I realized that that plan doesn't work in my case. 

 

My BoI officer has said it could take a long time to get a consulate Notification letter. She seems to think has to contact the consulate directly. Did that happen in your case?  

 

On my end, my LTR online e-visa application is complete except for this BOI Notification letter. On its part, the Royal Thai US consulate has been very helpful via DM. I'm wondering if my BoI officer possibly doesn't understand the process for external consulate visas as well as she understands the process inside their own office in Thailand.

[aublumberg]

26 minutes ago, Misty said:

Hi, how difficult was it to get the Notification Letter for Qualifications Endorsement to use with an overseas consulate? Did the BoI mention having to contact or interact with the HK consulate at all? Was this a long drawn out process?

Hello @Misty, hah - you’re raising a lot of most relevant and timely questions here and I went through all the same literally just days ago. So after BOI initial approval they send you an email and ask you to specify where you want to get the actual visa - in Bangkok or at your applicable Royal Thai Consulate. So I specified HK and replied immediately and was expecting the notification letter in “1 - 2 days” as the email stated but it actually took more than a week. They have been plagued with computer system issues including their email system and then this past week were public holidays. That most likely triggered a lot of delays. I also think they prioritised those applicants who pick up in Bangkok directly, which is fine. I understand they may have only signed a dozen or so notification letters this week. When I spoke to BOI they said they will send the consulate the notification as well and I should contact the consulate to make a booking. When I spoke to the consulate in HK (just a couple days before getting the notification letter) they said I’m the first one they have ever come across with a LTR in HK and it’s all very new and once they get something they “will call me”. Would be the first time ever a consulate has called me ha. They also observed the Thai public holiday at the HK consulate so the past week was basically a complete write-off. Last night to my surprise I received another batch of notification letters dated three days later than the first batch and worded slightly differently. They became available in their online website for download. So I assume the system issues still have impact and they re-do some of their notification letters. 

So on Monday morning I will call the Royal Thai Consulate here in Hong Kong and try to figure out what’s the next step. It’s very new for everyone and I would not be surprised if it takes some more time to get the actual visa stamp / sticker into my passport. I’m in Bangkok for an extended weekend end of October and was briefly considering to pick it up at BOI directly but that would probably confuse everyone even more so I’ll stick to the HK consulate route for now. 
 

In any case, I shall keep you posted timely of any progress. 

 

[aublumberg]

Sharing a couple screen shots in chronological order for emails and the LTR portal for anyone who may be interested ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clicking on the [Print] icon then shows this:

 

 

 

[Misty]

1 hour ago, aublumberg said:

Hello @Misty, hah - you’re raising a lot of most relevant and timely questions here and I went through all the same literally just days ago. So after BOI initial approval they send you an email and ask you to specify where you want to get the actual visa - in Bangkok or at your applicable Royal Thai Consulate. So I specified HK and replied immediately and was expecting the notification letter in “1 - 2 days” as the email stated but it actually took more than a week. They have been plagued with computer system issues including their email system and then this past week were public holidays. That most likely triggered a lot of delays. I also think they prioritised those applicants who pick up in Bangkok directly, which is fine. I understand they may have only signed a dozen or so notification letters this week. When I spoke to BOI they said they will send the consulate the notification as well and I should contact the consulate to make a booking. When I spoke to the consulate in HK (just a couple days before getting the notification letter) they said I’m the first one they have ever come across with a LTR in HK and it’s all very new and once they get something they “will call me”. Would be the first time ever a consulate has called me ha. They also observed the Thai public holiday at the HK consulate so the past week was basically a complete write-off. Last night to my surprise I received another batch of notification letters dated three days later than the first batch and worded slightly differently. They became available in their online website for download. So I assume the system issues still have impact and they re-do some of their notification letters. 

So on Monday morning I will call the Royal Thai Consulate here in Hong Kong and try to figure out what’s the next step. It’s very new for everyone and I would not be surprised if it takes some more time to get the actual visa stamp / sticker into my passport. I’m in Bangkok for an extended weekend end of October and was briefly considering to pick it up at BOI directly but that would probably confuse everyone even more so I’ll stick to the HK consulate route for now. 
 

In any case, I shall keep you posted timely of any progress. 

 

Thanks very much for the details.  The NY consulate has been really helpful via FB DMs (both for the LTR and previous NonB e-visas).  But I haven't had luck in trying to call the NY consulate.  I wonder if the HK consulate uses FB DM? 

 

By FB DM, the NY consulate said an LTR e-visa would take 15 working days, after I submit my application and pay the fee.  And the BoI letter is required to do that.

 

It makes sense that the Thai holidays may have slowed things down. Also the various IT glitches.  Hope things get a bit more smooth going forward!

 

I'll be following up with the BoI this week to try to get hold of the Notification Letter and will post what happens.

 

But it also seemed like the new LTR visa was intended to attract new people & investment to Thailand.  So it would seem their target client would be people outside of Thailand, who would use Royal Thai consulates for the visa.  So far however, the BoI seems more able to handle people who are already in Thailand and who aren't necessarily investing new funds and who already have Thai bank accounts....

[aublumberg]

On 10/5/2022 at 5:25 PM, Alldar said:

Have someone applied for the Work-from-Thailand-Professional category? What documents are needed if the company is publicly listed on the stock market - do we still need to provide something for "Audited corporate’s annual financial statement or financial report" or that is not required?

If it's a publicly listed company then the company's annual reports should also be public and available e.g. on the company's public website. I used the financial sections (including the external auditor confirmation of the financial results) of the annual reports for the last three years and uploaded those in .pdf to the BOI website and it was accepted fine.

[aublumberg]

For some of the early notification of qualification letters e.g. the one @ThailandRyan shared it states the letter is valid for 60 days. This is also consistent with the BOI communication on email and website. Upon double checking my notification letter however it is valid for 10 years. It seems that BOI may have changed this recently, providing more flexibility in timing and perhaps location to obtain your actual LTR visa.

 

[anrcaccount]

18 hours ago, aublumberg said:

For some of the early notification of qualification letters e.g. the one @ThailandRyan shared it states the letter is valid for 60 days. This is also consistent with the BOI communication on email and website. Upon double checking my notification letter however it is valid for 10 years. It seems that BOI may have changed this recently, providing more flexibility in timing and perhaps location to obtain your actual LTR visa.

 

Nice.

 

Do you or anyone else know how this is related to the 5 year checking of validity?

 

E.g. In your example above if for whatever reason you didn't get around to affixing the visa until say January 2025 - when would the '5 year check' occur -

 

January 2030 ( 5 years after Visa affixed)  or

5 years after 13th October 2023 -13 October 2028?

 

[Alotoftravel]

Aublumberg,

 

Upon double checking my notification letter however it is valid for 10 years …
 

can you please tell me 

on your second page of your notification letter, is your 10years visa starting on the day of approval and ends of your notification letter too?

 

 

[aublumberg]

23 minutes ago, Alotoftravel said:

Can you please tell me  on your second page of your notification letter, is your 10years visa starting on the day of approval and ends of your notification letter too?

Hello, the notification letter is dated 14 Oct 2022 and Duration of permission on the second page is 13 Oct 2032, for Visa Type LTR "T".

[Alotoftravel]

Thanks for your reply, so if you took your time to bring the notification letter to immigration to get your stamp. , you are still limited to Oct 13th, 2032, not 10 years starting on the date you get stamped at immigration 

[ThailandRyan]

2 hours ago, Alotoftravel said:

Aublumberg,

 

Upon double checking my notification letter however it is valid for 10 years …
 

can you please tell me 

on your second page of your notification letter, is your 10years visa starting on the day of approval and ends of your notification letter too?

 

 

That would be a change from the letter I had posted above giving me 60 days and the attachment showing the 10 years. One has to wonder if obtaining it from inside Thailand your time listed is shorter because your already in the country.

[ThailandRyan]

2 hours ago, Alotoftravel said:

Thanks for your reply, so if you took your time to bring the notification letter to immigration to get your stamp. , you are still limited to Oct 13th, 2032, not 10 years starting on the date you get stamped at immigration 

No it's 10 years from date stamped for the life of the visa and 5 years from the date stamped into the country.

[ThailandRyan]

On 10/15/2022 at 5:05 PM, aublumberg said:

Sharing a couple screen shots in chronological order for emails and the LTR portal for anyone who may be interested ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clicking on the [Print] icon then shows this:

 

 

 

Funny that your portal shows completed. I have my visa and yet the portal shows this.

[Alotoftravel]

21 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

No it's 10 years from date stamped for the life of the visa and 5 years from the date stamped into the country

Ryan,

thanks. Getting my stamp today .

[aublumberg]

Hi @Misty, looping back. Went to the Royal Thai Consulate in Hong Kong this morning with the BOI notification letter. Unlike the US, HK is not on the e-visa system, hence the visit in person.
 

Filled out a generic visa application form (neither TM94 nor STM8 required) together with one photo. They checked their computer and can see the LTR status from there, I assume it will be similar for the Consulate in the US.

 

Paid the LTR visa fee and can pick up my passport with the visa in two days.

 

Hope you were also able to make progress in the meantime.

[Alotoftravel]

Everything went smoothly. It was dated per Ryan comment above.

thanks for everyone replies before , good luck to you all

[ashkale]

Did they accept a credit card or debit card?

[Misty]

4 hours ago, aublumberg said:

Hi @Misty, looping back. Went to the Royal Thai Consulate in Hong Kong this morning with the BOI notification letter. Unlike the US, HK is not on the e-visa system, hence the visit in person.
 

Filled out a generic visa application form (neither TM94 nor STM8 required) together with one photo. They checked their computer and can see the LTR status from there, I assume it will be similar for the Consulate in the US.

 

Paid the LTR visa fee and can pick up my passport with the visa in two days.

 

Hope you were also able to make progress in the meantime.

That's great news, thanks very much for the update. So good to hear you'll have the visa in two days.

 

From what I'm hearing, apparently the process involved in e-visas and consulates may be more involved. An "introduction letter" has gone to our consulate since last week. The consulate has to send an acknowledgement of the letter back to the BoI, which takes time.  (apparently it goes in a queue with all other such letters) .  Only then can the Notification Letter be issued.  So in a queue system now apparently in the US consulate.... after that, I can submit my e-visa application. 

 

[mudcat]

Received an email notifying me of my approval and directing me to make an appointment and gather documents.

 

I chose to substitute my brokerage account statement showing >2x the required 'deposit' in my IRAs.  Letter issued without any issue.  I am glad I have broken the link between two of my favorite bureaucracies - insurance companies and immigration.

 

A few notes:

The  notice has an effective date of October 17 - the letter expires on December 16, 2022 and the visa expires on December 16, 2032.

 

There is a bunch of confusion about the size of the photo - the list of required documents has it as a 3x4 cm but the approval letter has it as 4x6 cm (the standard immigration size called out on the back of the TM94).  

 

Anyone have any luck with a payment alternative to putting a Thai application on my phone?

 

 

[mudcat]

Oops.  The visa expires October 16, 2032 not December:

The  notice has an effective date of October 17 - the letter expires on December 16, 2022 and the visa expires on December 16, 2032.

[JimGant]

17 hours ago, mudcat said:

There is a bunch of confusion about the size of the photo - the list of required documents has it as a 3x4 cm but the approval letter has it as 4x6 cm

And what about this.......

 

Quote

Photograph (Max 2 MB) * WHITE background, dressed in business attire (t-shirt is not allowed) without wearing glasses or headgear, taken within 6 months

Presumably the operative phrase is, "t-shirt is not allowed," as my business attire went in the trash when I retired. The fanciest shirt I own is a polo shirt.

[ThailandRyan]

55 minutes ago, JimGant said:

And what about this.......

 

Presumably the operative phrase is, "t-shirt is not allowed," as my business attire went in the trash when I retired. The fanciest shirt I own is a polo shirt.

I wore a nice polo shirt, all that's in the photo is my head and the collar.....lol. I took my glasses off for the photo. 

[Boomer6969]

So I have my appointment to get the visa next Tuesday, the whole thing was quite relaxed so far, hardly had to lift my lazy bum from the couch to get to this stage.

 

One thing that has been a bit unexpected was that immigration requested my latest 90 days report, a recent Kor Ror 2, and the original of our Marriage certificate. The reason they gave was that they needed it because I terminate a "Thai Wife" extension. My guess is they try to catch guys who wouldn't have reported a recent divorce, but who knows.

 

Somehow my wife started getting calls from BOI staff who seemed happy to converse in their familiar tongue. They also recommended that she comes along on Tuesday "to makes things easier".

 

Thailand

[Pib]

31 minutes ago, Boomer6969 said:

So I have my appointment to get the visa next Tuesday, the whole thing was quite relaxed so far, hardly had to lift my lazy bum from the couch to get to this stage.

 

One thing that has been a bit unexpected was that immigration requested my latest 90 days report, a recent Kor Ror 2, and the original of our Marriage certificate. The reason they gave was that they needed it because I terminate a "Thai Wife" extension. My guess is they try to catch guys who wouldn't have reported a recent divorce, but who knows.

 

Somehow my wife started getting calls from BOI staff who seemed happy to converse in their familiar tongue. They also recommended that she comes along on Tuesday "to makes things easier".

 

Thailand

Now that's good to know.  I plan to apply for a LTR Pensioner over the next month or so and currently have an Marriage Extension of Stay...in fact, I picked up  my renewed 12 month marriage extension stamp today....I'm now good to go until the end of Oct 2023.   If by some wild chance the BOI approves my LTR application I'll now know to go get a fresh Kor Ror 2 and bring along our Original Marriage Certificate something I would not have even thought about doing unless the BOI had given me a head-ups in advance. 

[ThailandRyan]

29 minutes ago, Pib said:

Now that's good to know.  I plan to apply for a LTR Pensioner over the next month or so and currently have an Marriage Extension of Stay...in fact, I picked up  my renewed 12 month marriage extension stamp today....I'm now good to go until the end of Oct 2023.   If by some wild chance the BOI approves my LTR application I'll now know to go get a fresh Kor Ror 2 and bring along our Original Marriage Certificate something I would not have even thought about doing unless the BOI had given me a head-ups in advance. 

You will more than likely also end up with the stamp in your PP as I indicated I did and which when translated by another member is the notation allowing the cancelation of the current extension of stay and allowing for the LTR to be placed into the PP.  I talked with someone who had wanted t change from their Non Imm O-A extension to a Non Imm-O visa and they were advised they would need to leave the country to kill off the existing extension, then re-enter on a 30 day visa exempt entry and then apply for the Non-O in Thailand.  Thankfully, the BOI and LTR program keeps us from having to bounce out and in to have the Visa affixed.