Sharing how I and my spouse SUCCESSFULLY converted at Chaengwattana Immigration this year FROM Non-B (Work) visa extension and Non-O (Dependent) visa extension TO both of us getting Non-O (Retirement) WITHOUT leaving the country.

Background: Both my spouse (non-Thai) and I had been in Thailand for 9 years. For me, I was working and on Non-B (Reason: Work) annual extensions. For my spouse, she was on Non-O (Reason: Dependent) annual extensions. I had worked for a BOI-listed company, so we had never experienced the wonders of Chaengwattana Immigration as our annual extensions were done by company visa agent at Chamchuri Square. At the end of 2024, I was happily notified that I would get an exit package at the end of February 2025, so I had ample time to plan. Both of us were over 50yo and I had created separate accounts with THB800,000 under our sole respective names over a year before. YES, I know that my spouse could continue to apply as a dependent and save the THB800k getting locked up, but I wanted my spouse to have her own standalone Retirement Visa in case something ever happens to me.

Objective: Again, both of us wanted to convert our current extensions (Non-B Work, Non-O Dependent) to Non-O Retirement WITHOUT leaving the country. Conventional wisdom is that one must physically leave the country and apply for Retirement Visa from a third country (e.g. Laos, Malaysia). Even having consulted our company visa agent Deloitte, they said there was no official Immigration procedure to switch from Non-B to Non-O in country. Deloitte was very clear to advise me that whatever happens is at the discretion of the Immigration Officer, so even if I did apply there was no guarantee of acceptance. However, I was able to figure out a sequence that took into consideration the valid concerns that Immigration has with this particular switch (and what I believe is the key to avoiding rejection).

How We Did It: The process we used with company/agent below works back from what was my Final Day of Employment - Friday, 28 February. The company is able to cancel a working visa up to 21 days before your Final Day of Employment, but I used a different timeline sequence as below. You can also build your own sequence working back from FDoE.

(1) 19FEB (WED): Agent picks up our passports.

(2) 19FEB (WED): I obtained a letter from my company HR Department that I will be "on leave and not working from 24 to 28 February". This is VERY IMPORTANT, as it officially establishes 21 February as my Last Day of Work (the day I intended to apply at Chaengwattana). This IMHO is the key to make this work. Why? Because if you cancel a Non-B work visa on 21FEB, but your Final Day of Employment is 28FEB, then there is a gap when you have a Non-O Retirement Visa (strictly not allowed to work) and when your Final Day of Employment may be. This is an easy reason for the Immigration Officer to reject if they think you might still work. So by having this letter, I could clearly show to the Immigration Officer that I would not be working the final week. YES, I know could cut things closer, but I wanted to have some buffer in case the IO rejected.

(3) 20FEB (THU): Morning - Company Immigration Agent cancels visas for both of us. Final date allowed to 28 February (Final Day of Employment).

(4) 20FEB (THU): Afternoon - Company Immigration Agent returns passports. When the passport was returned, our Re-entry Permits were VOIDed and there was an extra stamp next to the visa saying that "Permission to Stay in the Kingdom ends on 28 FEB 2025", which aligned with my Final Day of Employment.

(5) 21FEB (FRI): Plan A: Both of us apply at CW Immigration. If successful, I will be on leave the following week.

(6) 21FEB (FRI): Plan B. If rejected, I have already set up account for our e-visas and have the following week to fly out and apply from abroad. Spoiler alert: I didn't need Plan B.

What Happened on 21 February at Chaengwattana Immigration Division 1:

08:30 Went to nearby SCB Bank and obtained (a) Bank Letter (b) Made a THB100 deposit into each account and (c) 1-year Bank Statement for both of us. Cost was approx. THB500 (100+400) for each of us.

09:15 Arrived at CW and got queue numbers for COUNTER L (Non-O). DO NOT go to the counter for Visa Change or any other counter. The lady at the queue wanted to send us to another counter (C?), but I corrected her to give us queue numbers for COUNTER L. There was a long queue, so we went to have coffee downstairs and I made scans of our documents as follows:

(a) TM7 - Application for Extension of Temporary Stay. 4x6 photo attached. (each of us)

(b) STM2 - Acknowledgement of T&C for Permit of Temporary Stay (each of us)

(c) STM9 - Acknowldegement of Penalties for Visa Overstay (each of us)

(d) Letter from my Company HR stating that I would be "on leave and not working from 24 to 28 February" (me only)

(e) Copy of Condo Lease Contract (each of us). Note that both of our names were on the lease.

(f) Hand-drawn map to our Condo (each of us)

(g) Copy of Passport Cover (each of us)

(h) TM47 - 90-day Report Notice (each of us)

(i) TM30 - Notification of Residence, issued by landlord (each of us)

(j) Copy of SCB Bank Book Cover (each of us)

(k) Bank Letter from SCB (each of us)

(l) 1-Year Bank Statement from SCB (each of us)

(m) THB1900 each in cash for visa fee (each of us)

=====================================

(n) TM8 - Application for Re-Entry Permit. 4x6 photo attached. (each of us)

(o) Copy of Passport Cover, Visa, Stamps (each of us), Visa must be copied after you get visa stamp.

(p) THB3800 each in cash for permit fee (each of us)

NOTE: We put our signature in BLUE INK at the bottom right corner of EVERY PAGE of every document above.

14:00 After returning from lunch, they finally called our queue numbers. My spouse and I were at adjacent counters. I could see that the Immigration Officer took a good look at the letter from my Company HR, but nothing was said during the entire "interview". After about 10 minutes of shufflng and scanning papers, the IO picked up her stamp and started stamping documents. THB1900 paid.

14:30 Each of us got our passports back with fully approved Non-O Visa Extensions with RETIREMENT stamped for reason.

15:00 We then applied for our Multiple Re-Entry Permits and were DONE about 15:30. SUCCESS!

A side note about the Work Permit. I only handed my Work Permit to the Company Immigration Agent on 28 February, my Final Day of Employment. About a week later they gave me a letter from the Ministry of Labor acknowledging that my Work Permit had been cancelled. I was told this was important if I were ever to apply for a Non-B work visa in the future to prove that I had followed the process with my previous employer. So take note to get this document if you intend to work in the future.

In a few weeks we will be doing our first extention under retirement. This time we have a 10:00 appointment already, so the whole process should be done within the morning.

Long post, but wanted to give back to the community as this was a grey area when I went through the process. I would always say have a Plan B like I did. However, if you follow carefully, I think your chances are good if you need to do the same. All the best.

Don't know who said you couldn't cancel an extension based on employment and immediately apply for another extension for another reason because it's done routinely, employment to retirement, employment to marriage, marriage to retirement, trailing spouse to retirement etc.

I think some of the confusion is calling it a non b or non o anything, as it's neither of those. Neither of you got visas you got extensions of stays

You were on a yearly extension of stay from a non b (which long ago expired) and your trailing spouse was the same (on a yearly extension from a non o that had expired long ago)

All you did was "change the reason" for your extensions, employment to retirement and trailing spouse to retirement.

That the officer tried to send you to section C-1 means someone was saying you were changing VISAS which you weren't doing at all.

Just so you're clear your retirement extension was issued because you previously held a non b visa, the rule is you only need any type of non immigrant visa to get a retirement extension.

Never the less, congrats, glad you two got it done, now you'll just get yearly extensions based on retirement..

@Hocus Pocus thanks for excellent clear report.

9 hours ago, Tod Daniels said:

trailing spouse to retirement

Your response is very interesting. In a few months, my wife will be trying to change her extension status from dependent / trailing spouse on my retirement extension (non-O both of us). We have decided, same as Hocus Pocus, that at our age we should both have individual retirement extensions for a layer of security in case something happens to me as the primary extension holder.

Her new retirement bank account will be six months at that time. Originally, we were told the money needed to be in the account only two months to change the status. However, the information we have received from immigration is a bit muddy and unclear.

Is there anything official I can reference about changing the status of the extension? We really do not want to use an agent. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

And thank you, Hocus Pocus, for your detailed report. Plain, clear facts and not opinions are always welcome on this forum.

Everyone, Happy New Year.

39 minutes ago, LivingNThailand said:

Her new retirement bank account will be six months at that time. Originally, we were told the money needed to be in the account only two months to change the status.

Assuming that your wife entered Thailand with a Non O she can base extension on retirement.

She will need 800k seasoned for two months prior to day of application.

42 minutes ago, LivingNThailand said:

However, the information we have received from immigration is a bit muddy and unclear.

What did your immigration office tell you.

Edit: I note that you had a thread some time back here

https://aseannow.com/topic/1338217-wife-transfers-from-dependent-visa-to-retirement-visa-in-case-i-pass-away-before-her/

What did immigration office advise.

1 hour ago, DrJack54 said:

What did immigration office advise.

Phuket. They said there would be a fee to change from dependant to retirement and the fee would be over and above the 1,900, and that special circumstances would be considered to change. Otherwise, she needs to leave the country and start all over, which is not at all desirable. The exact details were vague, but it seemed like she would just have to have all the same documents that I have when applying for the extension and have the money ready. I am guessing that we take the documents into immigration and tell them we want to switch. No special extra forms?

She has Non-O from Malaysia 10 years ago. She does not want to start all over, especially with 10 years of history with immigration and she will have 800,000 in the bank for about 6 months before the extension.

I remember I did inquire about this before, but things are always a bit wavy at immigration. After reading the response from this post I was just wondering if there is something in writing that says it's normal to change without leaving the country and not really a special circumstances situation. Special circumstances seems to indicated that the officer has to make a judgment call. I don't mind paying an extra one-time fee, she just doesn't want to leave the country and start the process all over again after going through all the procedures for the past 10 years.

We are both planners, so already working on this for March. I wouldn't have written again, but the response intrigued me. Thank you very much for your assistance.

7 minutes ago, LivingNThailand said:

Phuket. They said there would be a fee to change from dependant to retirement and the fee would be over and above the 1,900, and that special circumstances would be considered to change.

What you outline seems like a shakedown.

We all deal with things in Thailand differently.

Personally I'm a "when in Rome guy"

Yes the extension fee is 1900b

I would be happy to pay a "service fee" if it was few k baht.

It would be a once off.

Not a good example but eg some offices charge zero for a COR and I have read of an office charging 800b

6 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

What you outline seems like a shakedown.

We all deal with things in Thailand differently.

Personally I'm a "when in Rome guy"

Yeah, well.....What are you gonna do? For the convenience I'll pay it. But now I know that they really can't decline it if everything is properly done, which gives me some peace of mind. I guess there isn't anything in writing about this procedure to convert (not the shakedown). We will just go with the flow.

BTW, 500 for a COR for opening new bank account and another 500 for COR for driving license renewal this year. Again, what are you gonna do?

Thanks for clarifying and Happy New Year.

16 minutes ago, LivingNThailand said:

But now I know that they really can't decline it if everything is properly done, which gives me some peace of mind

In this very brief attached thread the very first reply makes it clear and it's by the gold standard ubonjoe.

https://aseannow.com/topic/1204827-advice-on-steps-to-move-from-dependent-non-o-retirement-to-independent-non-o-retirement/

9 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

In this very brief attached thread the very first reply makes it clear and it's by the gold standard ubonjoe.

Thanks. Just go in and say This is What I want to Do. Have some extra money in the pocket. My mind is a bit more peaceful now. Thank you.

Sorry to hear about Ubonjoe.

4 hours ago, LivingNThailand said:

Have some extra money in the pocket. My mind is a bit more peaceful now

Your change is unusual but if suits your needs fine.

The threads to obtain Non O based on dependant show difficult.

Even to the point of entering Thailand Non O (retirement) then after one year based on retirement change to based on dependant.

Only post as that is common question

16 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

@Hocus Pocus thanks for excellent clear report.

What a kind reply and acknowledgement of the contribution @DrJack54 .

On 1/1/2026 at 4:30 AM, Tod Daniels said:

I think some of the confusion is calling it a non b or non o anything, as it's neither of those. Neither of you got visas you got extensions of stays

A great deal of confusion arises from people like you making misleading statements.

Any extension of stay is based on visa status. Extensions are not changed for a reason, it is a case of visa status being converted and only in certain circumstances.

Visa status defines the conditions for an individual residing in the Kingdom, not the reason.

47 minutes ago, sandyf said:

Any extension of stay is based on visa status. Extensions are not changed for a reason, it is a case of visa status being converted and only in certain circumstances.

Wrong. An extension is an extension, based on a specific reason for an extension. It is not a visa and has nothing to do with a visa. It's an extension.

48 minutes ago, sandyf said:

Visa status defines the conditions for an individual residing in the Kingdom, not the reason.

A visa is only for ENTERING Thailand, and has nothing to do with residing in Thailand.

Your passport has a "permission to stay" stamp, which is what allows you to be inside of Thailand (NOT a Visa). And that is always what you extend, you extend your permission to stay (extension of stay).

On 1/5/2026 at 10:14 AM, BrandonJT said:

Wrong. An extension is an extension, based on a specific reason for an extension. It is not a visa and has nothing to do with a visa. It's an extension.

Obviously this statement went beyond your comprehension, and you would have to show me where I referred to a visa.

"Any extension of stay is based on visa status."

It would also appear that you believe anyone with a permission to stay stamp is subject to the same conditions of residence within the Kingdom.

Everyone is free to believe what they want, only facts matter, and it is a fact that extension applications refer to a visa.

On 1/5/2026 at 10:14 AM, BrandonJT said:

A visa is only for ENTERING Thailand, and has nothing to do with residing in Thailand

Totally wrong. A visa grants the holder visa status on entering a country, even if the status is visa exempt. When permission to stay expires, visa status automatically becomes "illegal".

Visas and derived status has everything to with residing in Thailand, the most notable being the ability to work.