Is moving to Thailand on a DTV (Digital Nomad Visa) a realistic decision?

This is want I am in the middle of doing now.

Got my DTV in July after a week there earlier in the year.

Just got back again from almost 3 months while on my DTV.

I'm now back in the U.K. to make arrangements for a one way trip back there, using my DTV to stay settle there.

I will just time border runs when needed every 6months to visit other countries for short holidays or weekends away, so no messing around with extensions.

🙋🏼‍♀️

I have done exactly that - been here 8 weeks 😁

im going to! Ive never left the US and actually wanted to go back...

Was quite happy in jamaica and the bahamas. Im gonna love Thailand!

He most important question is, have you lived in Thailand for a few months before and are you sure, you want to live there longterm?

Just make sure you can still do business / maintain an address in your home country as you most likely won’t be allowed to use Thailand for that.

I moved with his new visa, out of the blue (has never visited or lived in Thailand before) and I'm loving it. I didn't packed all of my belongings, just stored everything safely at home and came with some basic clothes, my computer and that's it.

Me and missus have done exactly that with our 4 pets! We were in Spain previously. As long as your income doesn't require you to work for a Thai based business, this Visa is crazy good!

Yeah the 180 hop for the next 5 yrs could be seen as a headache by some, but for us its good excuse for a break from our work and forces us to be organised with all that.

5 years to figure out if Thailand is indeed the place to be, is a good length of time!

We're not sweating it, if we do decide to stay, which seems quite likely as we absolute love it here, then we'll start looking into things more seriously after a year or so.

But for now enjoy enjoy and enjoy some more.... We haven't cooked a meal in over 2 months 🤣 Loving that ease, and it so fun to mingle with folks here, Thai people are amazingly friendly.

I think that the DTV will be honoured to all those that have purchased it. Whether they stop issuing it in the future is anybody's guess. If there is one thing I do is to always be prepared for a quick exit from Thailand should something go pear shaped. I may be a little negative on this but like anything else in life, enjoy the present but prepare for the worst should something go wrong. Good luck.

Every country can change visa types, entries, requirements at any time and there is never a guarantee that they will honour prior visa conditions. From when the visa first started in July to now, embassies have tightened requirements and it entirely depends of where you apply and what category as to what you need to provide. No one has any real idea of what potential extensions will look like, or even cost, at this point so all the comments regarding that are just pure speculation. You also need to consider if how this will impact any potential tax situation, if your country has a tax treaty, etc.

If you want to move to Thailand, or anywhere really, those are things you need to accept and work with. So can you trust it? Meh impossible to say 🤷‍♀️. Can you work with the potential of changes? Up to you...

Would highly recommend that you live here for a while first before you totally uproot your life.

We got the DTV visa and up and moved our entire life over here. It’s been a straightforward and easy process for us.

What exactly do you define as "the big move"? If you mean sell up everything in your home country and sever all ties, I'd never suggest this on ANY visa

The visa is good for 5 years that's not going to change.

For those aged 50 and over or of any age married to a Thai the DTV really isn’t all that significant. Aimed at digital nomads (operative word being nomad) a five year visa seems a little contradictory to me. There have been reports of DTV’s being issued for what I would term ‘spurious’ reasons e.g. a single dental appointment. Possibly the intention is to make the DTV almost guaranteed to be granted. That has implications for the Thai Immigration Office and Thai Consulates. Five years visa fee ‘upfront’, less passport stamping at border posts and only one (or even zero) extensions per annum for immigration offices to issue.

Well, technically it’s a tourist visa. If you want to move here long-term you really should get an appropriate visa.

That being said there has always been ways to stay in country for long periods of time (ED visas, agents, whatever) - the tricky part was getting back in if you had to leave. At least now with DTV that issue seems to be resolved.

Moving overseas long term always involves a bit of risk regardless of the visa you obtain. Look at what happened during COVID for example.

I am talking about under 50's as once you hit 50 the current retirement visa is easy. Many have lived here longer on various visa types. They used a mixture of various tourist and Ed visas etc. I remember when people would do monthly visa runs from Bangkok to Poipet. The DTV makes all of this easier.