All retirement visa applications must now be made outside of Thailand?

[mango66]

It seems they have pulled Jomtien's ability to do non immigrant visas.

You will need 15 days remaining on your entry to do it at Chaeng Wattana. And it may mean 2 trips to get the stamp.

They will keep your income affidavit. You will need to get another one to get the extensions.

Two trips indeed. My 30-day permission of stay is until 28-Oct-2014, so the latest I can do it is Monday (13-Oct). Earliest appointment available for ACS at US Embassy to get the letter is on 15-Oct.

What do you mean "it may mean 2 trips to get the stamp" -- by stamp do you mean the Non-Immigrant O? If so, why would two trips be needed? If you mean two trips to get the extension, then that I comprehend: one trip to get the Non-Immigrant O at Chaeng Wattana, and another trip to get the extension at Jomtien.

The 2 trips are just to get the the visa and entry stamp done. There have been several reports of CW telling people to come back in 2 weeks while their application is being approved before getting the visa and entry stamps.

You should be able to get a 30 day extension of your 30 day exempt entry and then do the conversion.

It not unusual for ACS appointments to be not available unless you can get them a week or so ahead of time.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but I am. For me, coming from Jomtien for a couple day trips to Bangkok is no big deal since I'm retired and don't have a life. But, for folks living out in the Isaan hinterlands to make two treks into Bangkok could be a bit daunting.

Do you have any idea what is being approved before getting the visa/entry stamps? They can approve a one-year retirement extension on the spot, but need to do two weeks worth of research before issuing a 90-day visa???

propably an adventure from Isaan to the capital,

but nor bad to get a touch of civilisation back;