I’m a freelancer currently working with two main long-term clients, and I’m planning to apply for the DTV visa. I’d love some advice on a few questions:
1. I have over 500K in my bank account for more than 3 months. The account statement mostly shows incoming payments and almost no expenses, since I only use it to receive funds and occasionally transfer money to my investment account. In addition, I recently had a one-time payment from a third client for work I did outside Thailand. Does this kind of activity raise any issues, and do I need to provide documentation about that one-time job, or can it be ignored?
2. I’m tax-resident in Panama, where freelancers don’t need a registered company or specific documentation. I only have tax declarations from previous years. Is that usually acceptable for the DTV application?
3. Do I really need remote-work approval letters from all clients, or are there alternatives?
4. For translations: do all documents need to be translated into Thai? And are machine translations acceptable?
5. Since I’m applying as a freelancer (without a registered company), and I’m currently in Thailand, based on people’s experience which embassy tends to be the smoothest or least strict for DTV freelancer applications? Hanoi, Vientiane, or somewhere else?
Thanks so much in advance for your help 🙏
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TLDR : Answer Summary
A freelancer is planning to apply for the Thai DTV visa and has several questions regarding the application process. Key concerns include the stability of their income as evidenced by bank statements, the need for documentation relating to a one-time payment from a third client, acceptance of tax declarations from Panama, whether letters of remote-work approval from clients are necessary, requirements for document translations, and recommendations for the best embassy for the application process. A comment suggests that applying through the Vientiane embassy might yield a better experience due to its high acceptance rate if income can be satisfactorily demonstrated.
If I were you I’d go to Vientiane. There’s a mandatory interview that is mainly focused on proving a steady income stream on your phone by logging into mobile banking. Supposedly very high acceptance rate if you can demonstrate income. All the other embassies might request a bunch of documents or reject because of your complicated freelance situation.
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