How long does it take for a DTV Soft Power visa to be approved and what documents are necessary?

DTV Soft Power Approved! Two weeks!

Location: Washington DC

Activity: Cooking (1 year program)

School: Arun Thai

Visa Service: ISSA Compass

Applied: May 14

Approved May 29

I was sweating a bit hearing all the stories of 1 or 2 day turn arounds but mine took 2 weeks. I provided all my documents and didn’t get any further document requests. I was not asked to provide flights.

Documents provided:

* 4 months bank statements. One consolidated PDF for each month. I had a summary sheet showing the balances in each account and doing a Baht conversion. I did a screenshot of the bank balance on the summary but provided the entire statements with no edits or removing pages.

* In February I opened a WISE account and started moving my balances there in March so I made a note on the summary sheet with some arrows and explanations showing what I did and why.

* Passport photo – I got it taken at Walgreens

* Every page of my passport

* Driver’s License

* Photos of me cooking

* Hotel booking for 2 weeks around the time I want to enter

* School documents & payment receipt

The Visa agency asked for foreign sources of income. I’m really taking a sabbatical so this where I kinda got lucky. I quit my job in early April but I happened to be picking up a few little contract jobs to keep busy (and stash cash). I also happen to have an LLC I ran my contracts through.

* Paystubs January – April

* Copy of my contract

* Articles of Incorporation for my LLC

* EIN for my LLC

* All the invoices I’ve submitted for my contract