@Mark *******

I can only give you an example of my own actual experience of moving from Retirement O to a B. No way would the Singapore Embassy entertain the B application while my O was active. I had to have my O cancelled in Thailand. I had 7 days to leave the country. I then applied for B in Singapore while I had no active visa. I was OK with 2 trips to Singapore though on expenses staying at a 5* hotel but then again I was not paying :-)

@Mark *******

You might want to visit this thread and let this person know about activating inside Thailand

There is another guy in the group reckons you can activate it just by going to immigration at airport or an office - give it a go and let us know how it goes! 🙂 🙂

@Fitfac ****************

Not DTV but the embassy would NOT cancel my "O" Retirement" visa or process application when I tried to apply for a "B" for work. I had to cancel it at Immigration in Thailand then go to Singapore for the "B".

@Mark *******

Where is this conflicting info? Show us a single example or link of that - ie activation by immigration INSIDE Thailand. Can you activate any other visa issued by MFA inside the country?

@Mark *******

You are meant to wait in the country where you applied until a decision is made. Do some people bend the rules and get away with it - yes. Do some people get caught out - yes. You can NOT activate a DTV in Thailand - if you have arrived and had the DTV issued you must leave and re-enter to activate it. It is quite simple.

@Mark *******

Some people have exploited this procedural gap. Some people have been caught out and their application cancelled and fee lost. You will in all probability have to cancel you Retirement O before you apply for the DTV so you will be entering on a visa exempt before you have the DTV - you could be left in limbo. The risk is all yours. If you are retired why not just go through the required process - why the need to be in Thailand so quickly?

@Mark *******

You CANNOT activate the DTV IN Thailand.

@Maksym **********

Exactly - simple and straightforward.

You are really overcomplicating things. The others are correct in that you need to leave, apply for the DTV and wait in the country till it is issued. You are probably going to have to cancel your old visa ie the retirement before you leave and apply for the DTV. There have been cases of DTV issued and people cancelling Ed upon return but there are many cases where they will not issue a visa while you have another live visa