Thank you to the group, I spent hours researching posts and comments which were invaluable. I’m very grateful, I hope I can help others by sharing what my partner and I submitted (essentially a collation of info from this group).
Timeline
⭐️ Sun 15 June 7pm >> applied
⭐️ Tues 17 June >> pending approval
⭐️ Fri 20 June 2pm >> my visa approved
⭐️ Tues 24 June 11am >> partner visa approved
(No further docs requested for either of us)
Partner’s Thai tourist visa extension was valid until 24 June, so we wonder if they delayed approving his DTV until he had no active Thai visa.
🇹🇭 Thurs 3 July >> entered Thailand no questions asked, only Thai smiles
Passports: Switzerland & UK
Documents
📄 3 PDF’s to create: 1) Current location 2) Finances 3) Thai activity
📄 3MB per PDF
📄 We used Adobe pro 7-day free trial to convert and collate our documents, it’s easy and intuitive, you can highlight and circle. I cancelled at 7 days they offered me 1 year free
📄 We highlighted anything important in our docs: account balance, account name, account number, dates, income, transfer of the 500k etc
📄 We had a mixture of photos, screenshots and scanned docs and all were accepted. Ensure every page is clear and visible, translate anything important into English from another language
📄 I wouldn’t use an agent but I can understand the appeal.. you need to be meticulous, view the process seriously and comb through everything many times. The embassy will review everything and are getting very strict. Make your story clear and simple for them.
Current location PDF:
🇻🇳 Location cover letter
🇻🇳 Passport arrival stamp
🇻🇳 Vietnam visa
🇻🇳 Flight boarding pass
🇻🇳 Accommodation confirmation in Hanoi
🇻🇳 Photo of hotel key
🇻🇳 Selfie in front of hotel sign with date stamp
🇻🇳 ATM receipt in Hanoi
🇻🇳 Google location at hotel
Financial Evidence PDF:
💰 Financial cover letter
💰 Bank statements 6 months (savings account and current/daily account) with 500k minimum balance 3-6+ months
💰 Screenshot of xe exchange rate to Thai Baht
💰 Income = certificate of interest/dividends from a few institutions for latest tax year
💰 Partner Income: letter from himself as company board member, company registration, tax return and sponsor letter and 3 bank statements from me
💰 Accommodation confirmation in Thailand
💰 Flight booking to Thailand
Proof of Activity PDF
🥊 Acceptance Letter Muay Thai gym (6 month course)
🥊 Payment receipt
🥊 Photos and info about gym
🥊 Business registration document (DBD)
🥊 Copy of Thai ID
🥊 Certifications: Ministry of Education or Ministry of Tourism and Sports. Board of Boxing Sport
✨✨
For those still reading and interested, I’ve added long comments below for the documents.
Standard Items
📄 Digital Passport photo - we used this app [members only] for our photos. You can take a photo yourself, it’s free, it removes background
📄 Digital Passport copy - ensure your passport is clear with no reflection, we used a scan version of ours, as it came up more flat and clear
Passport biometric fields
🔒 Check every cell before you submit to ensure the information matches your passport, the automated filling was incorrect for both of us. Some fields also changed when we saved the application and re-visited it later, so check each cell before you submit.
🔒 Unfortunately simple passport detail errors will get your application cancelled and you’ll have to submit and pay again. We read many people were cancelled for not including their middle name.
🔒 We had confusion over “issued by”, as both our passports display an issuing authority not country. We entered the county name our passport is from, not the issuing authority or which embassy we got our passport from
🔒 Swiss passports have place of origin on their passport which is not always the place of birth (it’s the origin of the ancestors). For place of birth, we used passport place of origin, to ensure it matched
Current Location PDF
👉🏽 We used current address as Hanoi and permanent address in our passport countries
👉🏽 Cover letter - 1 page formal letter addressed to the embassy with full name and passport number in bold and explanation of accommodation, dates and visa status in Vietnam, and a list of the documents included which verify our location
👉🏽 Arrival stamp - photo of the full page of the passport the stamp is on, including the passport number (which is at the bottom of the page). Remember, on arrival in Vietnam, you need to go to the counter, not the e-gate to get a stamp
👉🏽 Vietnam visa - the visa will be emailed to you. When applying for your visa before entering Vietnam, give at least 1-2 months duration in Vietnam, as they give you a visa timeframe of exactly what you ask for. So you’ll need a few weeks for the waiting time and are not allowed to leave the country after applying
👉🏽 Accommodation - we showed a 1 week booking in Hanoi as we hadn’t booked the rest of our trip. You can travel around Vietnam while you wait for your visa, so if you have more than 1 location, add all of your hotel confirmations and write about your travel itinerary in your location cover letter
👉🏽 Hotel selfie date stamped - you can add a date mark to your photos in phone settings. Another iPhone method.. take the photo, swipe up and date/time info appears under. I took a screenshot of the photo with the info under and circled the date and time. My partner used date stamp and circled it.
👉🏽 ATM receipt - I withdrew cash on arrival at Hanoi airport and the receipt included part of my card number but not my name so I took a photo of the receipt next to my card, which showed my name and the same digits as the receipt (erased the other numbers)
👉🏽 Google location - we took a screenshot from Google maps showing the blue location circle at our hotel in Hanoi
Financial Evidence PDF
🫰🏾 Cover letter - 2 page formal letter addressed to embassy, first page with subject, name and passport number in bold and confirmation of application for DTV soft power, a paragraph on purpose of stay, a paragraph on financial support, a paragraph on accommodation and a short statement on commitment to compliance (I understand the DTV conditions, will not work in Thailand and will adhere to all Thai regulations).
🫰🏾 Cover letter - see this as a letter of your intent, expressing why you want to be in Thailand, what you like about it, why you chose Muay Thai/ other activity, how do you meet the visa requirements, how will you support yourself while there, where you’ll live, that you have income/savings in your country and won’t work in Thailand. Keep it simple and sincere. We added, within the relevant paragraphs, the URL to our banks, the Muay Thai gym and the Thai hotel, to make it easy for them to verify
🫰🏾 Cover letter - the second page was a list of the financial evidence docs we included. We added a sentence to confirm all the docs the Hanoi embassy request on their website for the DTV application are included with our applications [members only]
🫰🏾 Bank statements - we both included 6 months and highlighted name, balance, account number. In Hanoi it’s common for 500k minimum balance for 3 months, if you haven’t transferred the funds early enough, then I would demonstrate you have a secure financial circumstance and write about it in your cover letter. I wouldn’t risk expecting they won’t notice the transfer date, as could be rejected. I read some people have moved funds just a few weeks before and were approved, so it’s possible, but if it was me I’d still explain why, demonstrate your financial security and make it easy for them to understand. You can always get a sponsor letter and bank statements from a partner / family member if you’re concerned.
🫰🏾 My bank statements - I had a much higher balance than 500k for more than 6 months in my European savings account, so I included statements from this account, but there weren’t many transactions, so I also included 6 months of current account bank statements with more frequent transactions (with no significant balance)
🫰🏾 Partner bank statements - he included 6 months of bank statements from his Thai current bank account (got while on ED visa), which is his main bank account as he’s lived in Thailand a while, he had a 550k balance for 2.5months. He got a signed letter from his branch bank manager, dated 2 days before the application, confirming his balance and they stamped the start and end of the 6 month statements. He didn’t have many transactions in his Euro account so he didn’t include it. He uses Wise and we read the embassies might not accept them, so we didn’t include. I included a letter and my latest 3 bank statements in his application to confirm I would act as his financial sponsor (my financial position is stronger than his). If you have Wise statements and it’s a clear story then I would still include them, we read others have been ok.
🫰🏾 Xe exchange rate - screenshot of xe website showing savings account balance in euros converted to Thai Baht (date displayed as day of application)
🫰🏾 My Income - income isn’t a requirement for soft power DTV, but I included a few investment and trading statements (you could include any type of dividend) to confirm some income for the last tax year. I didn’t share everything but demonstrated enough for a 2k USD monthly income. There isn’t a minimum income requirement, I would just ensure if you show it, it’s enough to support yourself. I listed my employment as freelancer, as I make money through investments. The yearly income I gave matched the dividend statements I provided.
🫰🏾 Income - I read some people listed themselves as unemployed for soft power applications and were accepted (as income is not a requirement) but as the application process seems to be getting stricter, we didn’t want to risk this and provided evidence we could support ourselves beyond the 500k balance
🫰🏾 My partner income - he wrote a letter himself from the foundation (where he’s board member and paid from), stating his role and he can work abroad. He included the business registration document which shows his position and the last company VAT return. He doesn’t have payslips or an employer as such, and the payments he receives are irregular into Wise and he transfers to his Thai bank, so we felt it may be confusing, so we didn’t include.
🫰🏾 Flight booking - we used BestOnwardTicket.com to hold flights to Thailand, you can hold up to 14 days. We didn’t want to book flights and have to change them, so used this confirmation in our applications
🫰🏾 Accommodation - we booked accommodation near our Muay Thai gym for 6 weeks and included the confirmation in our documents and wrote in our cover letter we’d look for longer term accommodation when we were there. We booked with free cancellation.
Proof of Activity PDF
💪🏾 Acceptance letter - should be signed by the Thai gym owner and be the same name as on other documents. It was 1 page, addressed to the embassy, with gym owner signature and business stamp. It included our full name, passport number, brief itinerary of the 6 month course, confirming we had paid, list of following documents included.
💪🏾 Choose your gym carefully, ask if they’ve had successful applicants, how many, which passports and what embassies they applied from. Check they have the Muay Thai certifications, we looked at gyms that offered ED visas as thought they’d be a strong choice. We didn’t want a gym approving hundreds as we thought there could be risk of them being over used or applicants sharing documents, which was probably just an irrational fear. We read some embassies asked the gym to email a confirmation about the applicant directly, it didn’t happen to us.
💪🏾 Payment receipt - this was their tax invoice, showing we paid for a 6 month course for 2 people, start date and end date, our full names, passport number, date of payment and included the company registration number
💪🏾 Certifications - the gym should be certified by the Ministry of Education as a legitimate Muay Thai school (usually, schools that can issue Education visas for Muay Thai) or if a professional Muay Thai camp it’s registered under Ministry of Tourism and sports. The gym’s owner should be registered with the Board of Boxing Sports. We included the evidence our gym had these certifications.
💪🏾 The gym suggested we submit the acceptance letter only, as this had worked with other customers, but we insisted on getting the other documents after seeing recent rejections with soft power applications. Given it’s a requirement for them to have them, we felt our application was stronger if we submitted everything and wouldn’t delay us with requests for more documents.
Happy to answer any questions in the comments!
Good luck with your application ☺️
