Ok, adding my experience to be helpful, even though I'm sure I'll get plenty of snide comments for using a Visa company.
Have been on plenty of different visas over the years, as my situation has changed many times, and I've always done it myself, because it's just basic paperwork.
With this one, I have reasons for deciding to use these guys, especially with their money back guarantee, and I'm not going to get into the details about why.
I had my paperwork submitted by Issa Compass, and overall had a good experience with them.
My nationality: USA
Applied in: Jakarta
Date applied: May 17
Date approved: May 29
No additional paperwork requested. Applied as a freelancer. I'm an online tutor.
Papers I gave to Issa Compass:
-bio data and Thai related visa pages of passport.
-my address in Thailand
- my booking in Indonesia and my evisa confirmation from when I entered Indonesia
- 6 months of personal bank statements, where you can see deposits from my income and over 500k baht
- my resume, screenshots of my website, screenshot of my classroom software business account, in-class screenshot as an example of what I'm doing
-invoices to my clients for the past 3 months, pdfs of the money hitting my overseas payment service, transfers and receipts of the transfer service I use to convert the currently into USD (that correlate with my US bank records), and because there are so many steps to this.... I made a little info-graphic showing the payment process step by step, with currency conversions into baht on all the relevant payments highlighted.
- a cover letter explaining what I do, how I'm paid, and why I want to be in Thailand, thanking them for their consideration.
-the 1040 Tax return page of my 2024 taxes, showing my previous year income that is listed as freelance tutor work.
Any of the pdfs/images that could be bundled together, I merged as one PDF (money related, proving work related, location related, passport pages, etc), which can be done on websites for free.
I was thorough, I know, but Issa Compass was helpful in telling me what was safe and what was overkill, and verifying that all documents were organized and presented in the way the embassy likes. I got to ask them questions I wouldn't ask publically, and about things particular to my situation that I was worried about- and they let me know if it would affect my outcome. All was well.
They do tons of these, and have a money back guarantee, because they know that if it passes their test, it'll pass the test of the embassies they recommend. They submit for you, so you don't get to log on and check it every 5 seconds (as some of us would like to do), but whenever I messaged and asked how it was going, they got right back to me and assured me I was still in a reasonable timeline and not to worry.
You could totally do all of this yourself and be fine in most cases- but if you have reasons to worry that the stakes are higher for you for various reasons and you'd rather pay for the peace of mind, then I do recommend Issa Compass. They couldn't offer the govnt fees back to their customers (in case of rejection) without it being a terrible business model, if they didn't facilitate what they do with confidence and experience. Anyway, just wanted to share.
I got hit up by 2 or 3 people by DM asking if I actually was using them, after mentioning it in a comment, so I know people are weary of whether or not they're legit. Now that it's finally all done, I can say that they are 👍🏼
I'm giving them this big rundown and praise because before using them I searched for their name in these groups a TON to see if I could trust them, and a good amount of the praise was posted anonymously, or the poster got ripped apart being accused of working for them. So, I wanted to help contribute a real account of being their customer. Yeah, I wish the fee was less for sure- but compared to what I've paid over the years for visas, I'm still super happy with what it cost in the end for me to not stress on this crap for another 5 years 😁
Stay, work online, so I can be paying into the Thai economy. I'm really happy this visa option exists for us now ❤️ 🙏🏼
I don't think I left anything out, but if you have any questions I'm happy to share more details of my experience if it's helpful. I know I relied heavily on the experiences of others to make choices to prepare for this visa myself, so happy to pay it forward. 🫶🏼
PS- if you're staying on Java and don't want to be in Jakarta, but relatively close, I have a great recommendation for a place in Bandung. 30 minute whoosh train from Jakarta, and you're in a city that's way more interesting and is a jumping point for tons of activities. Out guesthouse arranged some amazing day trips for us at half the cost I'd seen advertised online, and they really changed our experience of this visa run from a hassle to amazing. 😊
