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Is it too risky to apply for the DTV Soft Power visa in Athens just 15 days before my trip to Bangkok?

DTV Visa Thai Visa Application Visa Processing Time Visa Exemption Travel Tips Immigration Advice Thailand Visa Category - Cooking

Jul 7, 2025

7 days ago

ORIGINAL POSTER

Hi everyone, I need some help regarding the DTV Soft Power visa (Cooking category).

We are a group of seven friends from Serbia, and we’re all planning to move to Bangkok.

On July 1st, each of us deposited 500,000 THB into our personal bank accounts, to meet the 3-month financial requirement for the DTV visa.

We plan to fly to Bangkok on October 15th, and were originally thinking of applying for the DTV visa on October 1st at the Thai embassy in Athens, Greece.

Now here’s our concern:

 • If we apply on October 1st, we only have 15 days before our flight.

 • We’re not sure if that’s enough time for the visa to be processed.

 • If it gets delayed or rejected, we might waste the application fee and miss our flight plan.

So our question is:

👉 Is it too risky to apply for the visa in Athens just 15 days before our trip?

👉 Would it be a better option to just fly to Bangkok on a tourist exemption, and then do a visa run to Laos to apply for the DTV visa from there?

Any advice or similar experiences would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

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TLDR : Answer Summary

A group of seven friends from Serbia is planning to move to Bangkok and is concerned about applying for the DTV Soft Power visa (Cooking category) only 15 days before their trip. They initially planned to apply at the Thai embassy in Athens on October 1st, but are worried about the processing time and the risk of rejection. Community responses suggest that 15 days may not be sufficient for visa processing and recommend applying earlier or considering entering Thailand on a tourist exemption and then performing a visa run to Laos.

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Luit *****************

Why not just apply in Serbia?

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Enes ********

ORIGINAL POSTER

@Luit ****************

Yeah unfortunately 3 months of seasoning is needed

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Luit *****************

Then I think your best alternative is to wait with flying to Bangkok till you get DTV.

Applying in Laos also can take some time which is difficult to predict.

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Luit *****************

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Enes ********

ORIGINAL POSTER

@Luit ****************

We apply in Athens from Serbia. There is no embassy to apply to in Serbia, it goes through Athens one.

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Luit *****************

If Serbia is within jurisdiction of Athens embassy why do you not apply before October 1st? Did you check the money is needed 3 months before? Certainly not all embassies need this.

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Luit *****************

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Wannikea *********

Ditto, more time unless you all want to have the nervous jitters cramps at the same time. Are your Serbian banking documents in English?

Have you read reports here of the Athens embassy success and failure stories or if they are difficult? Make sure your course provider has a strong success rate and that the course is lengthy. Also ensure the start date of the course is well into November.

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John *******

While their website says 7-10 business days (you have 9), as others have mentioned, there have been countless instances where embassies have needed 3+ weeks. Also, if they come back and ask for additional information, it could delay the process.

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Meaw ************

You should apply 1 month before you fly, Athens can be 2 weeks - 1 month from our experience :)

BTW you can do visa exemption worst case

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Enes ********

ORIGINAL POSTER

@Meaw ***********

Yeah i have the same question, should we then apply and if not approved enter on the visa exemption while waiting? I read somewhere that you shouldn’t be in Thailand while waiting for DTV

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Meaw ************

worst case = reject

You still can come to Thailand and go try reapply in Vietnam or Indonesia after 😉

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Luit *****************

You should be in the country you apply during the process, that means when you want to apply in Laos you should plan to have enough time in Laos.

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Luit *****************

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Christina ********

@Meaw ***********

so are you saying apply for the dtv and if its not approved enter on the visa exemption while you wait?

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James ********

@Christina *******

don't do that... stay in the country where you are applying for the DTV visa UNTIL the decision is known.

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Meaw ************

@Christina *******

worst case = I mean if it’s rejected

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Luit *****************

@Christina *******

You should stay in the country where you apply during the application process.

Not doing so is risking your application and fee.

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Luit *****************

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Anonymous ******************

Its not enough time to be honest 2-3 weeks minimum

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Anonymous ******************

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