it was a bit confusing and not confirmed by anything I can find on the net. I am not married and 42 y/o but I need to get a 1 year visa here. Also I do not work. They told me at Imm that my only option was to deposit 3 million baht in a thai government bank and that's it. What was confusing was I went for a 30 day extension on a 60 day tourist visa the same day. my 60 day expires sat. The guy in the office was telling me that I could come down and change the visa at BKK imm. before 60 day expired but not after even though I got a 30 day extension. What's this all about? I told him I needed some time to set up the acct and couldn't get documention for a few weeks. Then he tells me I have to go outside the country to get visa. any thoughts?

Sounds logical to me. A tourist visa is valid for only 60 days. To change/extend stay a visa the visa must be valid. After 60 days you will be on an 'extension of stay' without a valid visa. So you need to obtain a new visa for them to change/extend stay.

That's just a guess.