I have been living here for 5 years on a retirement visa after leaving Hong Kong. I have recently been offered a job. To be legal, I understand I need to bin the retirement visa and re-enter the country with a non-immigrant 'B' visa before applying for a work permit. At the end of job, I want to revert to retired status. Can I do that without leaving Thailand or do I have to repeat the whole retirement visa process outside? Problem is, I do not live anywhere other than Thailand so where would I go to get police clearance, for example? The Royal Thai Police?

You can work with a Non Imm O OR B Visa so yes you would have to leave and get a Visa.

After working you can apply for 12 Month Retirement Extension at Immigration. You do not need Police Clearance for this.

You will not get a B visa at any nearby consualte without a work permit or a WP3 (work permit application receipt).

You can get a non-o visa at most any nearby consulate for being over 50. You could get a work permit and an extension of stay based upon employment with this visa.

To go the other way is not a problem. You would just need a letter from your employer stating that you are no longer working when you make the application.

Lite Beer and ubonjoe, thanks a lot. Now to get back to work ...........

My situation is similar to Nutcrackers but possibly a little more awkward, my husband has an extension of stay based on retirement and I have an extension as his dependant. Does anyone know if it is possible for me to obtain a work permit with my current visa status as I am not actually the one who is retired (I am not over 50)

If not would I be able to obtain a multi entry non imm o from a nearby consulate on the basis of being married to a retiree, (I read earlier in this thread that a work permit can be issued on a non o visa) I don't really want to get a non b visa because if I decide to stop working I would have further visa problems.

My situation is similar to Nutcrackers but possibly a little more awkward, my husband has an extension of stay based on retirement and I have an extension as his dependant. Does anyone know if it is possible for me to obtain a work permit with my current visa status as I am not actually the one who is retired (I am not over 50)

If not would I be able to obtain a multi entry non imm o from a nearby consulate on the basis of being married to a retiree, (I read earlier in this thread that a work permit can be issued on a non o visa) I don't really want to get a non b visa because if I decide to stop working I would have further visa problems.

You should be able to get a work permit but that will entirely depend upon the labor office that will be issuing it. Every office seems to have their own rules. All you can do is try.

If you got a multiple entry visa it would not matter if you had O or a B visa both would still be valid if you lost your job. Only extension of stays based upon employment go away if you loose your job.

With either visa or an extension of stay you could easily get or switch back to a dependent extension.

If they will not issue the work permit you could go to a nearby consulate and get a single entry non-o as a dependent and then get the work permit. If the company can meet the requirements you could then get an extension of stay based upon employment.