Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the O-A Retirement Visa. I have made a video contemporaneously with this one where I discuss the O Retirement Visa. Let me be clear, we are talking about the O-A, we are not talking about the O. For those who are interested in O Retirement Visas, I urge you to check out our channel and see that other video. 

Now in this video, we are discussing the O-A. First of all conversions were very much a rarity prior to March of 2020 when we saw the Emergency Decree promulgated in response to the overall global pandemic situation and a lot of discretion was vested in Immigration to provide conversions. My personal opinion is I think that that paradigm is going to be shifting especially in coming months and especially as we move over into 2023. I think Immigration discretion to convert is not going to be as prevalent as we have seen it the last couple of years; it essentially is reverting back to the status quo ante COVID where you essentially had a situation where it was very difficult to do a conversion in Thailand. The presumption was you needed to leave, go out and get a Visa and come back in.

With the O-A though, that has always been the case. O-As always are only issued by Embassies or Consulates outside of Thailand. They are specifically issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at an Embassy or Consulate abroad. There is not really a way for Thai Immigration to issue an O-A. They are going to issue an O Retirement Visa if it is being converted generally speaking but to convert into an O-A, I have never heard of it. I could stand corrected. If somebody knows of a situation where somebody has converted into an O-A in Thailand, I would be interested to hear about it but I have never heard of it. It is my understanding that only the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the auspices of an Embassy or Consulate abroad, can issue an O-A Visa for a foreigner looking to retire in the Kingdom of Thailand.