What is the process and experience of obtaining a DTV visa through an agent in Thailand?

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

agreed 👍 but there's no reports of being questioned by Thai Immigration Officers and denied entry.

@James *******

I see some reports, but it is difficult to check if they are true or not.

The only tjing I wanted to make people aware of, is that in case an IO asks for proof of ongoing activity and you don't have, the IO has the right to stop you.

You got granted a visa to visit the country for a purpose and the IO has the right to check if your visit matches this purpose.

The more people abuse this visa and do not have an ongoing activity, the more difficult it will get for people who really want to use the visa the way it is intended, so we should be happy with the checks by IO.

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

✅

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

There is no requirement to maintain courses. The best example to demonstrate this is the medical route, no one is doing 5 years worth of dental treatment, most not even doing a month, yet 5 year visa is granted. Meanwhile with ED there is a requirement to keep going or lose visa

Anonymous participant 768 haha yet wait until you get checked for ongoing courses to maintain your DTV, in essence the DTV is only for Muay Thai so pointless and invalid if not doing the course, don't see anywhere it says book a 6 months muay Thai and with give you 5 years DTV , probably reason it's only valid for 6 months at a time

Anonymous participant 571 they accepted 3 month course initially, 6 months is just period of stay they set at start, when same time they were accepting 2 week dental treatment plans. While there is no guarantee they don't change things later, there is zero requirement at this time you have to sign up for more courses, that is fact

Anonieme deelnemer 768 Do you have proof for that? Normally you have to comply with visa rules as long as you want to use it. DTV should not be an exception, and that is also why you need to show everything when you extend in country.

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

How can one prove a negative? There is zero requirement listed ANYWHERE to maintain your muay thai, cooking, medical treatment, job or anything on DTV.

But you will see that requirement listed on ED or NonB/WP, or simerlar on retirement to keep funds in account.

Now to extend in country you are meant to show various proofs, but that's just something immigration invented themselves (foriegn office control DTV) and actually have not created any actual law/rule for all that

They are probably feeling butt hurt that dtv cuts into their unofficial revenue streams, like no question asked ED extensions, partnerships with visa run companies or agents to look other other way if not got the cash in account to renew retirement and so on

Anonieme deelnemer 768 Just believe what suits you best, but requirements are clearly stated without any time limit. So a bit weird you say you cannot prove a negative. And saying immigration invents its own rules is ridiculous, they are only allowed to check if you comply to visa rules, and only are free to interpret how you can prove. They are not allowed to make new rules.

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

"clearly stated" that you have to maintain for 5 years ....where? Link please ....waiting ...

"saying immigration invented its own rules is ridiculous" you really are new to Thailand are you not? It's not only not ridiculous, its expected. It's part of the reason everyone checks requirements for X by office here, because each immigration office has its own rules, invented by them.

For example around about year ago Phuket immigration would not grant ED if you had a Vientiane land crossing stamp anywhere in your passport, why? Because head of Phuket immigration was having a spat with head of immigration up there, nothing more nothing less

Anonieme deelnemer 768 If there is a visa requirement and it is not stated as required only for a limited time, it just is a requirement for the whole period the visa is valid. That is how all types of visa in the whole world are working.

It is not an entrance ticket you buy and when you get it rules suddenly don't apply anymore.

You apply for a visa for a certain purpose of stay, and get granted if MFA thinks it is likely you will visit the country for that purpose.

But that does not mean you can enter the country for whatever you like when you are not visiting it for the purpose you applied for.

I am certainly not new to Thailand, and I know about different interpretations of laws at different immigration offices, but the guidelines for extension are clear and say that it should be checked you still comply to the visa requirements.

Maybe I also would take the risk to use a visa, even when I do not comply anymore because the risk to get caught, at least for now, is very low.

But telling that requirements don't exist anymore as soon as you are granted for the visa, just is not true.

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

Still waiting for links, until you are able to provide them advise you to stop telling people to waste money, because everything you are saying is just your newbie interpretation of how things work elsewhere in the world. As the old saying goes "This is Thailand" not the world

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

Correct

@Paul ********

everyone has to leave the country to apply. It’s a 5-6k difference on using Issa compared to doing it yourself. For me, having a guarantee of refund and having someone else handle application and replies to embassy, was worth this little extra cost.

@Wayne ******

hey Wayne!

So for me, I’m paid directly from my company that employs me from Europe — however my work does not require me to be in Thailand. Bangkok is a great place to be for my time zone of operation and accessibility to Asia-Pacific. But none of my work takes place in Thailand.

Your agent is correct, based on my previous experience as well. This chicken and egg payment before visa thing was my problem initially. I was previously employed by a Thai foundation, and when I got my new remote job in December, I tried immediately to go to Taipei to get on DTV.

I had been paid only one month on my current contract when I applied the first time, and they pretty much told me to go back to Thailand for 3-4 months and try again later when I had been paid consistently on my current contract😕 I thought that once I switched my job, the right thing would be to switch my Visa. But you have to wait for a couple payments FIRST. it was a huge waste of money for me, and so when I did it the second time —after being paid on my current contract for 4 months. I decided to use Issa to check my documents, ensure I was fully eligible (and by some chance I was denied, get a full refund) and did my visa in Vietnam. It was processed fine this time.

For you, I think one thing i’d consider is that even though you’re being paid from China, forgive me if I’m wrong, your work is in Thailand. I think that there could be legal ramifications of this fact down the line — beyond that of just experiencing initial challenges getting the DTV visa.

@Daniel ********

they have a 99.4% success rate and a guaranteed refund if you’re rejected. That’s worth 5k for me alone.

But seriously like the time it takes to organize all the paperwork, submit everything, reply to embassy is also at least a half-day of work. Which to me is worth just paying someone else $150 to do it for me — even outside of the guarantee.

If that’s not worth it for you, that’s fine. Everyone has a different value on their time, and that’s okay. For some people this is a worthwhile service

@MacKenzie *****

of course they do as they won’t process your documents unless you meet the requirements. They aren’t doing anything else than submitting the required documents:

@Chris ********

They emailed the embassy on my behalf when there was a follow up question about my pay slips.

I had a line of support the entire process. I’d do it again this way in a heartbeat.

@MacKenzie *****

you dont email them just reply to the message on the website portal, this is how you communicate between you and the embassy, I only knew this as did my own and 5 friends with them it's a 5 minute process and if you are missing any documents you get asked to upload them

@Chris ********

I was thinking same here don't do anything accept 10 minutes upload the details you emailed them, easy money

Anonymous participant 571 Not a bad business ey, double dipping too cause they probably get a commission from the muay thai gym

@Chris ********

yeah I paid 18k for 6 months course so 48k 😂 pants pulled down