Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing "COVID Visas" and whether or not it is possible to convert from a "COVID Visa" over into a standard visa of any type. I have had questions on this from a lot of folks, I don't know why, here recently. It is probably a good idea to look into this. If you are still on what has been deemed a COVID Visa which is basically an extension of status under the discretionary powers granted under the Emergency Decree of March 2020 to Immigration to basically extend folks status that basically got caught here during COVID. And understand, it is discretionary to begin with that these be issued. Then on top of that, the folks that were not here and got caught during the Emergency Decree back in March of 2020, it is not a foregone conclusion that you can get a COVID Visa. Maybe if you get an Immigration Officer willing to favourably exercise their discretion, that may be possible but it is not a foregone conclusion. Understand that. I have had a lot of people who contacted us over the past few months that have come to find out the hard way that it is not necessarily something that will necessarily be granted if they were not stuck here. 

Regardless, those who are on "COVID Visas", is it possible to convert? I am sure I sound like a broken record to those who watch this channel often but yes it is going to depend on your circumstances; it is going to depend on why you are looking to convert. Understand the default position of Immigration and part of their inherent paradigm is that Non-Immigrant Visa holders, and anybody converting out of a COVID Visa would be presumably converting into a Non-Immigrant Visa, they want those folks to have to go abroad, get a visa from a Thai Embassy and then come back in. That is kind of the default position. Now everybody understands we are under different circumstances right now. When exactly that will end remains to be seen but if you are in a situation where you can get yourself into a Non-Immigrant Visa, it is advisable that you do so. I said this about a year ago, I was talking about this too and the folks that went ahead and did that they found themselves in a lot more relaxed set of circumstances. They are not constantly having to worry about getting converted over or maintaining their extension; they are just in longer term status. 

The other thing and I think this is key, we may not get hardly any notice that the "COVID extensions’ are going to end. They have been done as an expedience. If and when, and obviously the current situation doesn't look like we are going to see anything happen in the upcoming weeks, but if and when it does come to an end, it may be very abrupt. They may just say "Okay we are done. That program is over," and we have seen them do similar things over the course of the past 18 months and I have certainly seen very abrupt policy changes happen over the course of my time dealing with Thai Immigration going on 14 years now. But long story short, yeah if you can get into a Non-Immigrant status, it is probably better that you do that rather than just trying to maintain status using one of these "COVID" extensions.

So the thing I would take away from this video is get into regularized status early and often and understand that you may actually have some issues with that because again giving the “COVID Visa” is discretionary. Conversion is also discretionary and requires a lot more, for example conversion into a Business Visa, that is a lot of paperwork you are talking about dealing with. Marriage Visas somewhat similar although perhaps less corporate documentation obviously because you are not dealing with a corporate sponsor but yeah you are looking at documentation to prove that up. Also you have got to get over this paradigmatic hurdle in the mind of these Immigration that they would really prefer you to go abroad and come back rather than convert in-country. So for that reason, it is probably a good idea to figure out farther in advance than later, how you are going to do it and under certain circumstances it might not be a bad idea to contact a legal professional, gain some insight and guidance into how best to proceed.