Can I cancel my DTV visa to apply for a work permit in Thailand?

@Yann *********

Have you actually had a B Visa and Work Permit in Thailand? My actual experience is completely different to what you describe.

@Greg *******

30 years of non-B ...

@Yann *********

So did you change from another visa and have no recent actual experience? Singapore would not issue a B while another visa active. That is why my O had to be cancelled. Are you suggesting Singapore is an outlier? BKK immigration woukd not cancel my O and allow Visa Exempt Entry while I had multiwntry permit. Told me to go to Immigration Office where issued to cancel. This was all to work on a BOI B visa at a IBC.

@Greg *******

in my case no , in the case of some close friends yes . anyway to apply non-b you have to get out right , apply outside Thailand ( i not mean the 1 year renewal but the first 3 month non-B before getting the work permit ) . you fly out stamping you passport out and when you come back just tell immigration you change visa .... but never go to immigration before fly out and ask then to cancel it . does it make sense ?

@Yann *********

Correct you have to go out. They would not change from my O to a B while O was active. BKK Immigratiom would not cancel the O and allow me to enter on Visa Exempt as multi re-entry pass. I wanted to do this to fly to Singapore and apply for B. I could not apply for B with active visa. Now we cannot be 100% as not heard anyone doing it on DTV but with it being multi-entry it is still valid. Then again how do you cancel a DTV? Issued by MFA and not immigration. To be fair nobody knows 100% how to move from DTV to B for WP. Probably depends on who you deal with that particular day of the week

@Greg *******

immigration at airport ? if it's at the office they can't cancel it as you are automatically without visa and still inside the country . but i have many friend who was on ED visa and jump to non-B and never have problem to change it . but anyway we all got our experiences

@Yann *********

The airport would not allow me to enter on Visa Exempt while I had O with multi entry. I had that cancelled at Immigration Office and you have 7 days grace to leave the country. It is the same when my B is cancelled. You have 7 days grace to leave. Nobody is left inside the country without a valid stamp if visa cancelled at Imkigrstion Office. Your friends Ed would have been cancelled when they left the country to get the B unless they had re-entry permits

@Greg *******

yes forgot that 7 days rules , sorry .