What are the motivations for becoming a digital nomad in Thailand on the new DTV visa?

@Angelo **********

new visa new charges maybe .Watch they don't change the 1900 on other visas. You never know here

@Martin ******

The extension should be 1900THB like any other visa extension.

@Tommy *******

Message sent.

@Zoe *****

for ppl who work online it's a must (internet speed), hence a valid point

@Tore ********

I totally get it 👍

@Zoe *****

obviously internet speed matters when you work remotely. And unstable internet is a thing in SE Asia. (Not in Thailand though). Nothing remotely funny about that

@Tommy *******

I thought most major cities nowadays have great internet speeds. Maybe just me, but good internet speeds wouldn’t be on my top 10 list of reasons to move to Thailand…

@Tommy *******

yes that's correct

@Lee **********

as I read it it’s a one off 10,000 baht multi entry visa

@Frank-Steven **********

just found and read your post of the gazette and it's all very clear, thanks for posting it 👍

@Tommy *******

No. It is 10k THB once for the whole 5 year visa, when you apply for the visa. You never have to pay again as long as you leave Thailand every 180 days. You are FREE to return then for another 180 days as often as you want to.

@Frank-Steven **********

that's how I read it

@Lee **********

And that is what it is (for now): a multiple entry visa, with which - within 5 years - you can unter up to 180 days EACH unlimitted times and not pay again (unless you optionally choose to extend in-country).

@John ******

exactly, you can't have a bank account unless on another visa, many questions awaiting the official embassy write up for the visa and not the flyer.

@Lee **********

it probably means home country. How can you show in Thailand if you are applying for this visa outside of Thailand?

@Sam *******

Ruin the charm ? Thailand can do that without the help of foreigners!

@Sam *******

Thailand partly attracts the "wrong" kind of people, indeed. But new visa like the DTV might serve as a way to help recompose that towards more quality visitors - if the requirements for the visa are right. Not sure they nailed that with the DTV thus far. They did with the LTR - which is a bit too narrow, while the DTV seems too open.

@Tommy *******

the excitement is understandable

be interesting to see how things develop. I think I read, maybe I am wrong that tourism numbers are down still from pre-covid. But the revenue is down even more because each tourist is spending less. I would guess maybe 🤔

I think in last 5 years people want more vacation time or work remotely. So vacationers are looking at bang for buck. Also there was many remote workers before Covid but now it is many. But, it seems online jobs are fewer and fewer now. If not a programmer or AI engineer the opportunities are fewer because companies are shifting back to in office. It seem before Thailand was only wanting the elite traveler. Now they want more of all people.

@Todd ********

When I mentionned Google translate it was for your usage. I can read Thai and I can tell you that the Google translation is right on point with the original meaning . You are saying all over the place the opposite of what the Royal Gazette is saying. Carry on and change nothing 😂

@Erik ******

alright clown boy. If google translate gave you the level of detail you think you need, that’s great. Carry on

@Todd ********

Mate, the more you post the more you are looking as a clown 🤡 . What you say is totally wrong . If you can read Thai I recommend you to read the Royal gazette article published on Monday on the DTV. If you don’t read Thai you can use Google translate . Even with the Google translate version you will see that you are in total denial of reality .

@John ******

yup, I think it's exactly that.

@John ******

I had a very similar issue with the LTR. Although meeting all other requirements and working for publicly listed company, I was denied as I wasn’t a direct employee but routing my money through a wholly owned corporation for tax optimization.

@Frank-Steven **********

- I was almost approved. the organization I work for has an annual revenue of almost a billion USD, but I was denied because the organization is neither a "private" nor "publicly traded" organization.

@Frank-Steven **********

thanks very much 🙏🙏

@Todd ********

I shared it in this very group yesterday:

@Frank-Steven **********

i definitely wouldn’t make that bet either. Do you happen to have a link to the English version of Royal gazette publication you are referring to?

@Todd ********

It is what it is (for now), so I don't have to bet. All current communication including the legal wording in the Royal Gazette supports this. Will they keep it that way or around for long - we will see. I kind of doubt it. On the one hand, they were cracking down on people abusing ED visa, and now they are basically letting everybody who can show 500k THB in any bank account stay for 5 years (with a few legal border bounces). Amazing Thailand.

@Frank-Steven **********

of what you are saying is remotely true, Thailand has just delivered the easiest, cheapest residency visa on earth. Are you making that bet?

And if true; their marketing dept is vastly underplaying this…

@Todd ********

Yes. The DTV is an extended version of the METV. That is exactly what it is. Crazy as it seems. The DTV isn't meant for residency (though people will use it as such), just for longer stays of tourists working on the side back home, or doing "soft power" leisure activities.

@Frank-Steven **********

i would have to say the multi entry TOURIST visa is the different beast here. It’s for tourism. What you are suggesting is the DTV is a thinly disguised residency visa for ‘nomads’ who are not actually nomadic. And five years is a long time to study Thai cooking…

@Todd ********

I will still be aiming for the LTR by the way, probably just using the DTV for now. The more I look into the tax changes, the more I find the explicit tax exemption of the LTR on foreign income valuable.

@Todd ********

I understand the difference to the LTR, with which you never have to leave Thailand for the whole duration of that visa (the inital 5 out of 10 years). Let me instead do a comparison with the Multiple Entry Tourist Visa METV instead - as that follows the same mechanism the DTV will. With the METV you get a (multiple entry) visa that is valid for 6 months starting at the date it is issued. Within therse 6 months, you can enter Thailand unlimitted amounts of times and will be stamped in 60 days at each entry. And you can optionally extend you stamped in stay for another 30 days at immigtation for a fee at each stay, if you so choose and want to avoid having to leave Thailand in order to do another entry. This is how a multiple entry visa works. For the DTV it means accordingly: You get a 5 year visa, and within those 5 years you can come to Thailand unlimitted times and will be stamped in at 180 days each. The LTR is a different beast here. With the LTR you will be stamped in for the whole 5 (initial) years and a need for a re-entry permit is waived. The LTR is not technically a multiple entry visa, it is a long term visa, with the need for a re-entry permit waived should.

@Todd ********

i believe you were partly right, and in line with the intention of the visa. Officially if you want to stay a second 180 days , then an extension does cost another 10k. To do the full 365 days, you have to leave and come back utilizing the multi-entry even after an extension, which makes it a bit obsolete. So most people will bounce twice a year and avoid the 10k extension.

@Frank-Steven **********

I will use the LTR as the already existing comparable. It’s a 10 year visa. That expiry date is stamped into your passport, just as 5 years would be for DTR.

But that is not the ‘stamped in until’ date. With LTR you are stamped in until one of two dates. Your passport expiry date or 5 years from visa issuance. Whichever comes first. With DTV I’m assuming (it isn’t clear) that you would be stamped in for 180 days. And same as with LTR, you can come and go as you please. Multi-entry. At the end of the 5 years or 180 days (or passport expiry if sooner) you need to get the visa extended. In the case of LTR, you must re- submit documents and you may need to return to BKK for next stamp. With DTV, you would need to either extend in country (for 10k baht) or leave and get a new 180 for 10k baht… 🤷‍♂️

@Neil *****

the no tax mentioned, is if you only stay for the 180 days in a tax year. If you stay 181 or over, you will be liable for any monies remitted into the country for the whole year.

@Todd ********

yes it does visa valid 5 years says nothing about per entry. I get 1 year multi non O i only pay for visa not per entry

Todd McGowan There are so many who think it is 10k for 5 years not per 6 month stay.

@John ******

Agreed. Although I think they should have gone for more of a middle ground between the LTR and what the DTV is now. Or just improved the LTR instead of starting yet another new visa.

@Todd ********

- My understanding is that they are trying to get more people to enter Thailand and spend their money in the local economy. They thought that the LTR visa would bring in many more than it did, but the requirements were too much. I believe this is to address that. They want people who have incomes (not backpackers) to come and spend their money. Honestly, I would probably be fine with 20k a year, but just don’t see how it would operate, especially since 1 time out of 2 a year would not be an immigration office, but at the airport.

@Todd ********

If what you were saying was true (despite differently worded in law), and you could only stay 180 days once and extend once and then have to get a new visa, it would effectively be a single entry visa, which it isnt. I also in theory get your idea of a 180 balance spread over 5 years - and once that balance is up, so would be the visa. But no information supports this, and such a visa scheme has never existed in Thailand. And that would require a whole lot more infrastructure to administer that.

@John ******

if I’m wrong- great. Everyone wins. Except Thailand for visa collection fees! But that isn’t something many governments are willing to give up

@Todd ********

I agree that it somehow seems to "good" to be true. But we should really stick with the wording of what was published in the Royal Gazette and the official illistrations and statements made the the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and on the Thai E-Visa website. And based on all of that, it is 10k THB for 5 years with unlimitted entries up to 180 days EACH. Additional costs only if extensions in-country are chosen (optionally). Having said that, I am also sceptical on how things might change in the near future. For now, the DTV just seems too open and too open to be "abused".

@Frank-Steven **********

I’m very happy to be wrong here.

Great. Saves many a great deal of money. We shall see in due course precisely how it plays out.

@Todd ********

- if you have “dug into it” - show the evidence you have found

@Todd ********

Please stop spreading such misinformation. While some aspects are not fully clear not - i.e. what documents qualify for proof, the general mechanism of the DTV visa is very clear as stated in the law text (which among other things I previously shared). It is a 5 year MULTIPLE entry visa for 10k THB. And within those 5 years you can enter Thailand as many times as you want for up to 180 days - without needing to reapply or to pay another fee. Like every other multiple entry visa works.

@Todd ********

I think you are incorrect. You have your visa, which shows the validity of the visa (5 years), then you have you entry stamp, which also tells you when you have to leave. This is where it would list the date 180days from entry. When you exit the country, you get an exit stamp, so that entry stamp is now closed. You think when you re-enter, they are going to give you the same exit date? That would require them to look at the exit date on my last entry stamp and then set that date on their stamp. That is way too much burden on the immigration officer at the airport.

@Tommy *******

this is true. There still seem to be some gaps in clarity

@Neil *****

I understand how some of these unofficial graphics make it look. Not ideal. But if you do dig into it a bit you will quickly see that each 180 days requires 10k more

@John ******

It’s a 5 year visa. In 180 days increments. You do NOT get a new 180 on each entry. Your 180 multi entry will expire 180 days after you are stamped. You an extend this ONCE for another 180 days for 10k. After which you must exit the country and get a new 180

@Todd ********

this is the one that made it look like 10k for 5 years

@Todd ********

- It is a multi entry visa. Every time you enter you get 180 days. How are they going to charge 10K each time? At airport immigration?

@Neil *****

I agree. Would effect things a lot in Thailand. Cost of living would increase

@Neil *****

absolutely positive. On absolutely no sites does it say 10k for 5 years

@Todd ********

are you sure mate, on other sites it says its 10k for the 5 years

@Neil *****

it’s 10,000 baht for each 180 days. So 20k/year. And if you stay 180 days in Thailand, congrats, you became a tax payer

@Stephen *******

....wondering if tele work would qualify as Digital Nomad.

@Tommy *******

If you are reaching out to the Government official I would appreciate if you can get clarity if a Individual managing his private investment (Stocks, Bonds, Crypto) receiving 1099 year end statements from brokerage accounts, qualify as a "Freelancer" under the DVT rules. I received a rather vague response from the Washington D.C. Embassy, so I am not sure they are certain. Thanks

@Stephen *******

Most Retirement Visa holders I know live full time in Thailand, or at least greater than 180 days, I am not sure how the new Tax policy would impact the DTV, most people are not certain how it impacts people full time retired.

@Tommy *******

I'd imagine that's legal anyway. If it isn't, anyone doing any work, anywhere but in their country of business or employment would be working illegally?

As far as the dtv, it seems you only have to an amount equivalent to 500k in baht and have to have earnt that. Its not stating you need to be employed, or asking for a certain level of income.

I'm not sure why most retirement visa holders wouldn't be better getting this?.

@Tommy *******

sure have several brokerage accounts and I use a vpn never had any issues. Security is via a app on my phone. Crypto trading is absolutely legit as every major bank and investment bank provide access. JPM Goldman etc

@Stephen *******

Yes, I have similar questions. I manage my own investments for income and I do it about 5 months or less from Bangkok. But I don't work for anyone else. I image there would be some Crypto Traders applying?

@Tommy *******

There are no "hopeful" DTV-holders,either.

@Tommy *******

No i have lived in Thailand a long time but work for Singapore based company all over the world. A five year multi entry visa if i could work it would be better than 1 year multi entry i normally get.

@Tommy *******

I contacted Singapore embassy this morning and they havent even recieved the criteria for issuing them