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

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;