Success story from Hanoi. Figured I should write one of these because I found it helpful reading others' accounts when I was planning things out. (Thanks!)

I applied for a Workation visa. I'm a freelancer with a sole-proprietorship from the US. Previously, I've stayed in Thailand for over five years on Tourist visas and Education visas.

I supplied all the required information and put "Freelancer" for occupation instead of "Business Owner". The tricky part is the PDFs it asks you to upload to prove everything. I suggest getting AS MUCH information as possible. Err on the side of providing TOO MUCH rather than too little. I was never asked for any additional documents or for an interview.

For documents indicating current location (merge all into a single PDF, plenty of tools to do this online):

1. Photo of entry slip to Vietnam

2. Hotel reservation PDF

3. Plane ticket PDF

4. Photo of Vietnam visa stamp in passport

5. Vietnam e-visa PDF

6. Photo of hotel key with the name of the hotel in my reservation

Financial documents:

1. Balance letter from my bank indicating current balance (created on the day I applied)

2. Screenshot of bank app from the day I applied (from the web as my phone app did not allow screenshots)

3. 6 months of bank statements (reverse chronological order, I had the 500,000 baht in my checking account for only the past 3 months)

4. Screenshot of exchange rate from the day I applied (Google or any other exchange rate website are fine, put 500,000 baht in so they can see how much it's worth in your currency)

Employment contract or proof showing I'm a remote worker or freelancer:

1. Proof of employment document (I'm self-employed, so I wrote a letter explaining that I'm a freelancer, have a sole-proprietorship, the work I do, how I do it, and that I will not take any Thai clients. Put my name and contact info, signed and dated with a PDF signing service)

2. Contracts with two of my clients (I had no formal contracts with them, so I drafted up a simple, two-page document for each explaining the work I do, how long I've been working with them, how I am paid, explaining that I can work from anywhere remotely, including Thailand, and sent it to them with Dropbox Sign for their signature and date, and sent them a polite email explaining it's for a visa)

3. 5 invoices from recent months sent with my invoicing software

4. Screenshot of Stripe's transactions page, which I use to accept payments, showing the last few months of transactions

I stayed in Hanoi the entire time as I knew I could be called for an interview any time. I arrived on April 17th, applied on the 18th, got my status changed to "Pending Approval" on the 21st, sent an email to the embassy on the 29th asking for a status update, and got approved on May 1st. It was a bit longer than most stories here (9 working days), but patience is a virtue, I guess. My stay in Vietnam is until May 14th, which may or may not have had an effect on the processing speed.

Hope this helps anyone else planning a trip to Vietnam. All in all, it was a pretty easy process, but it was a bit nerve-racking with it taking so long. I would recommend quadruple-checking all of your info before you submit it. I spent nearly an entire day just filling out the application (about 6 hours of work compiling and checking all the info as well as formatting PDFs). Good luck!

EDIT: Just adding a couple of things I forgot to mention in the original post regarding the amount of time the 500k being in my account and salry slips)

DTV Visa (Workation) Approved in Hanoi!

I submitted my application on Wednesday, April 23rd, and it moved to “pending approval” on Thursday, April 24th.

Today, May 1st, I received the approval email!

Documents I submitted:

• *Edit* 6 months of bank statements with salary deposits clearly highlighted, also included 6 months of salary slips from my employer)

• *Edit* Ending balance of 500,000 THB (the closing balance of 500k was added 2 weeks prior to my application) no need for the 500k to be seasoned for a long time in Hanoi!

• Letter from my employer outlining my job description and working hours, signed by the director

• Cover letter signed and dated by me, confirming I comply with all visa regulations and will not work for a Thai company

• Screenshot of my LinkedIn profile

• My personal resume

• Screenshot of my arrival stamp in Vietnam

• Screenshot of my hotel booking on Agoda (2 nights)

If anyone has questions or needs help with the application process, feel free to ask—I’m more than happy to help!

EDIT: Finally got it today, May 1st. Patience works! Thanks for all the comments

I've been stuck on "Pending Approval" since April 21st here in Hanoi. I originally submitted on the 18th (Friday afternoon) and got moved to Pending Approval on Monday, no documents check required. I'm applying for a workation visa and submitted a ton of documents so it should cover everything. I bought round-trip tickets and I'm going back to Thailand on May 14th. I've heard some conspiracy theories that the longer your stay here, the slower you'll be processed, so that might be it.

It's been about 8 working days so far, which I know isn't *super* long, but I've seen some people apply after me that have already been approved here in Hanoi. I know there might be a backlog from Songkran and there's a holiday here in Vietnam today and tomorrow. I sent consular.han@mfa.go.th an email yesterday morning with no response yet.

Anything else I can do besides just wait? Was hoping to go to Da Nang to celebrate after I get my visa but we'll see if I have time...

Hello, I’ve applied for the workation DTV at Hanoi on the 6 April. 8 April, it went from pending documents check to pending approval. Since then, nothing. Is this normal ? Should i contact them or still wait ? I’m asking because I’ve sent other getting the approval at Hanoi in 4,5 days. Thanks

# ✅ DTV Approved in Manila, Philippines in 4 days (Workation category)

My profile: I am a business owner so I only work for myself.

Since english is not my native language so I had to translate some documents.

## My experience:

Before going to Manila, I created my account on thaievisa.go.th and started filling out the online forms so I don't have to do everything last minute. It is not a problem to start the process while still being in Thailand. Only the final submission matters (I submitted the application and paid the next day of my arrival in the Philippines).

To make sure I would not be asked further details and avoid wasting time, I made sure to make my application as complete and as easy to understand as possible, even provided extra details when it felt relevent.

There are 3 separate documents to provide on the last page of the application, and each document can only be one file under 3MB so you need to merge all of your documents for each section into one single PDF (I used adobe acrobat for that). You should have 3 PDFs at the end.

At the beginning of each PDF, I created a table of contents with page numbers and a brief explanation for each page in order to make reading easy to understand and to keep the reader in a good mood.

## 🟢 Proof of current location (pdf 1):

* Photo of the Philippines passport entry stamp (with a background view of the city from my airbnb)

* AirBnb Reservation details (1 week booking)

* AirBnb Reservation receipt (You can request a "Receipt for Visa" within your Airbnb booking)

## 🟢 Financial evidence (pdf 2):

* Bank balance certificate from my bank (luckily my bank had an option to generate it in English).

* Bank statement screenshot for the current month (showing the latest transfers because I moved large amounts only a few days before the application and it would not show on the previous statements otherwise).

* Bank statements for the past 6 months (only 3 were required). I did not translate those but highlighted the income in yellow using the adobe acrobat highlighting tool.

## 🟢 Work details (pdf 3):

* Cover letter explaining how my business works and how I make money, the purpose of my stay in Thailand, including a compliance statement with thai laws (3 pages total!).

* Company ownership and remote work agreement (A signed document mentioning I am the sole owner of the company and that I am allowed to work remotely. It sounds overkill but I read it was recommended to do that for business owners)

* Company registration certificate (English translated)

* Company registration certificate (French original - “Avis de situation”)

* Certificate of tax regularity (English translated)

* Certificate of tax regularity (French original – “Attestation de vigilance”)

* Landing page screenshot of my business website

* Screenshot of the “earnings dashboard” from my business showing consistent revenus for the past year

* Business-related invoices for the past 6 months.

## Some details that got me wondering during my application:

* You need a flight number but don't need an actual booking so just look up for any relevant flight and put the flight number there.

* Your entry/exit dates don't need to be accurate, just write realistic dates.

* Current location address was my airbnb address but I had to check something like permanant address and added my home address from my home country as well.

* I translated myself some documents with google translate when it was necessary (provided a copy of the original along), no need for notarized translation

The actual making of all the documents took quite some time, I maybe spent 2/3 days on this but I wanted to make sure that it was very clear for the person that was going to read it for the first time.

So I would say Manila is a very good place for DTV, I submitted my application on a Sunday evening (actually it was past midnight so technically on Monday), and I received the approval email the next Thrusday at 6pm o'clock (4 days processing time). The timing felt as if the emails were sent in batch at this exact time at the end of a working day. It was a pleasant surprise and I could finally move on from this process!

One last detail: the start date of validity of the visa is the day your visa is granted, not the day of the "intended date of arrival" that you had to fill out on the application.

So thank you everyone from this group as I had a lot of valuable details across posts, this is now my contribution to this group!

Good luck you all!

DTV Approved

Hey DTV crowd! First of all: Thanks for alle the valuable information in this group 💛 Without you, applying for the DTV would have been a nightmare.

So here is my experience applying in Phnom Penh, Cambodia under the Worcation category:

I prepared all documents in advance and uploaded them to the e-visa website, without submitting my application. So, when I arrived in Phnom Penh, I just had to add my "proof of current location".

For each PDF I created a clickable table of contents.

For all German documents I created an automatic translation with Google Translate and added it as a screenshot.

These were the documents I supplied:

1. PDF file for "Proof of current location":

- Entry stamp into Cambodia

- Visa for Cambodia

- Flight tickets Bangkok-Phnom Penh and Phnom Penh-Bangkok

- Hotel Booking for the first 4 nights in Phnom Penh

- Rental contract for my condo in Bangkok (I know, this doesn't fall under "current location" but due to file size restrictions this was the best place to proof my future location in Thailand)

2. PDF file for "Financial proof of no less than 500.000 THB":

- 3 months of bank statements (German)

- Screenshot of the English translation from Google Translate

- Screenshot from Bangkok Bank about the current exchange rate (as my account is in Euros)

Note: I had a little less than 500.000 THB in my bank account for several months and only topped it up in February. So, I added a note that due to exchange rate fluctuations I had to add more money recently.

3. PDF file for "Business Portfolio":

- Short CV with work related information

- Information about my products & services and my clients

- Confirmation of employment letter written and signed by myself

- Authorization of remote work written and signed by myself

- Operating agreement & Articles of organization of my US LLC

- Service Level Agreements with my main clients

- Bank statements showing my income plus related invoices for 6 months

The application process took the full 10 business days (plus the day of application), just as indicated on the embassy's website. The approval came pretty late, after the business hours of the embassy. So, don't be alarmed if you haven't heard anything by 5 pm on day 10!

Also, be warned that it's impossible to contact the embassy in Phnom Penh! They don't pickup the phone, they don't answer any emails and - according to second-hand information - they don't let you in if you visit in person!

And one more thing to consider for my nomad friends: Internet in Cambodia is a nightmare! So, be prepared to take a holiday or watch the hour glass forever!

**DTV approved on 🇮🇳 Indian passport in Cambodia! ✌️🎉

**Grateful to everyone who shared their experiences—it helped tremendously! I had applied under workation category. Sharing my experience and timelines.

22nd Feb - Arrived in Siem Reap from Bangkok. Applied the same night around 11 PM.

Documents submitted

* Proof of current location - Cambodian QR code arrival sticker (did not get traditional sticker visa and immigration stamp), boarding pass, Airbnb booking for 1 month of stay here.

* Financial evidence - Last 3 months' bank statement with over 500k THB balance for all months and my last tax filing.

* Employment info - Letter from my employer confirming I can work remotely and attached last 3 months of salary slips.

24th Feb - Request for documents - Immigration stamp.

I had already uploaded the QR code based arrival sticker Cambodian immigration pasted on my passport (it has arrival date, days of stay etc). But I guess this is a very recent change, and Thai embassy was still expecting the regular immigration stamp. I responded within an hour and uploaded the same QR code sticker and added an explanation that I did not receive the traditional visa sticker or immigration stamp.

25th Feb - Request for documents - work agreement and company registration

Uploaded my original offer letter and had to quickly arrange for the CIN (certificate of incorporation) from my employer. Uploaded both documents same day.

11th March, 9:15 AM - Received email approval with e-visa PDF valid for 5 years! 🎉

Total time - 12 business days with two document requests. I was aware of processing timelines for Cambodia and since I was here for a month, I was chill about it.

Excited to call Thailand my new home from next month. Happy to answer any questions! 🙏

Hello! Trying to figure out the best way to come to Thailand on SSDI. I am 35 years old. I have 85k USD in savings and get 3k a month. Can I go the workation route? I'm scared that if I go the Muay Thai or learning to cook route. It will get back to Social Security and I will lose it. Appreciate any guidance on the matter!

Hey!

I wanted to share my experience in Taipei (got approved!).

I am a remote worker in a global company, applied for workation.

Total time was one week.

I applied on Tuesday all the requesdted documents. They asked for some more documents like a bank document showing the salary transactions in the actual account abd company license. I added it on Wednesday (the day after) and was invited to an interview on Monday, the week after.

The interview was good, the interviewer was nice but at the same time gave me a feeling like I'm in a job interview. She asked questions about my job and why I'm applying in Taipei and not in my home country.

In the interview she said that I will get a final answer by the end of the week. I got the approval after four hours :)

The all process was exactly one week. Got to Taipei on Tuesday and I was off to Bangkok by Monday night, the week after.

I got my DTV (workation) in Phnom Penh. Thanks to all the people who posted here who gave useful information.

I didn't overdo the requirements. Just submitted the following:

1. Current bank statement

2. Entry stamp

3. Letter explaining my work (I am an online ESL teacher. [No company])

4. Screenshots of the lessons I conducted with my current students. (My students are not from Thailand.)

5. Screenshot of my LinkedIn profile.

I submitted the application on Feb 4 and received an email at around 22:00 on Feb 17.