Do I need to leave Thailand to apply for a retirement visa after my work visa?

I did this 13 years ago. Be aware: when they (in my case my company) cancel your work permit, you must apply for your non-O on the same day, and not within 24 hours as my company lied to me. Make sure you've had 800k continuously in your Thai bank for 2 months before applying (I fell foul of this and had to do a boarder run). I did all mine in person at Jontien immigration, and the officer was very helpful in explaining what i need to do and put right. Alternatively, an agent would make it a lot easier but expensive.

I was told it was possible, but for me, it didn't work. Had to leave and come back on a non imm o. On a brighter note, It only took a week to process. And really enjoyed the trip 😃.

You need to leave Thailand and serch new visa outside Thailand.

If you don't take help from agent.

But this days it's problematic regarding money on bank.

Best of luck

I'm assuming you're not on any visa, but you're actually on an annual work extension (extensions are not the same things as visas).

Get paperwork from your company that states your last day of work. Take that to cancel your work permit (can be done about a week before the date on your paperwork in most places) and then take the paperwork and cancelled work permit to the immigration office that issued your work extension and cancel it. Then you can immediately apply for a new extension based on being over 50 (retirement).

You'll need to be able to show proof of 800,000 baht in your Thai bank account for 2 full months already at the time you apply for the extension.

If you cannot meet the seasoning requirement for the money, you'll need to leave and apply for a new non-O visa instead since the visa doesn't have the same seasoning requirement that the extension does.

The only way you can avoid needing to show the proof of funds is if you can get proof of income from your embassy in Thailand that shows at least 65,000 baht per month of income.

No, you are probably on an extension so you'll cancel your work permit then immediately change the reason for your extension to retirement by meeting the requirements