I just got my DTV visa in Dubai - and it was a mistake 😅

A little background about me. I’m a content creator based in Dubai. I have a 10-year Golden Visa residency in the UAE thanks to my work with the Dubai Media Office. This kind of visa allows me to live, work, and even open a business in Dubai without the need for a sponsor (like an employer), which regular work visas don’t allow.

But I recently quit that job to become a freelancer and travel more.

Excited about the new chapter, I started my DTV application in Dubai on June 8, 2025. I prepared all the required documents:

* A full portfolio as a freelance content creator, with contracts and receipts for paid work (shout-out to a helpful group member who guided me with this!)

* Financial proof of having more than 500K THB in my bank account

* My apartment lease in Dubai and a recent electricity bill as proof that I reside outside Thailand

I submitted the application and paid 1,500 AED (around $408).

A week later, I got a request for additional documents: a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from an employer and a work permit in Dubai, which I didn’t have anymore, since I had quit.

So I wrote myself an NOC explaining that I’m a freelancer and outlined my visa status in the UAE, and then resubmitted the application.

A week after that, they asked for a freelancer permit (in Dubai, it’s mandatory to have one if you’re working with brands or doing paid collaborations as a content creator). I was already in the process of applying for it and once it was issued (which cost me 7,500 AED, approx. $2,000 per year), I uploaded it and waited for their response.

A few days later, I got an email from the Royal Consulate of Thailand in Dubai requesting an in-person interview. They asked me to bring my:

* Original passport

* Emirates ID

* New bank statement from the past 3 months showing over 500K THB with a wet stamp from the bank

* Round-trip plane tickets

* Confirmed hotel reservation

The appointment was within a week.

I prepared everything and I went to the consulate, I was the first person there.

A nice lady came over, took my passport and residency ID, and began the interview, right there, standing in the waiting area. She asked me to:

* Show my social media profile

* Share examples of paid collaborations

* Show my bank balance using my bank’s mobile app, including some payment transactions from clients

* Explain my intentions for the DTV visa, whether I planned to work in Thailand or create travel content (I told her I make science and technology videos only)

Then she said, “Okay, please upload all of these documents to the online portal.”

When I got home, I found new document requests on the Thai visa portal (as written on the online portal):

1. Financial evidence (again, the same one I showed in the interview)

2. Fully-paid round-trip airline tickets from airline

3. A condo rental agreement in Bangkok or a PDF file of a confirmed hotel reservation covering the full trip

4. My Dubai apartment rental agreement (which I had already uploaded before)

I uploaded all the new documents.And just like that… the next day, the visa was approved!

I’m so happy it worked out in the end, but the process was long, stressful, and expensive, it took almost 40 days. Looking back, I probably should’ve just gone to Vietnam or another country where people seem to get the DTV in a week or so.

Also, I think my Iraqi passport may have raised some red flags, which could have made the process more complicated. Honestly, I might be the first Iraqi to ever get a DTV visa 😅

So yeah… I don’t recommend applying for the DTV from Dubai, especially if you’re a freelancer and don’t already have all the official permits in place.

Thanks to this group for all the support and helpful info! Wishing everyone good luck with your applications 💙🌏✈️

Anyone else finding the captcha on the visa website to be extremely difficult or do I need to get reading glasses?

Hey anyone ! I’m a freelancer looking into the DTV visa – wondering if anyone’s done it via an agency or on your own? Also curious if anyone here applied in Laos? Any tips would be awesome. Thanks heaps! 😊

Hi everyone, can anyone help me. So I applied for a DTV visa over a month ago in the US they ended up needing more info and I thought I wasn’t going to qualify in time so was just waiting to get denied. I came to Thailand on a visa exempt for my passport and then was going to get a different visa under my son’s school because he is going to school here. However I just found out I got approved but I’m in the country now, what do I do??

Got my DTV Visa approved today, and wanted to share the relatively painless process!

I'm doing soft power, through a cooking school in Chiang Mai that has a program made for DTV. I paid 63,000 baht for a program that's supposed to last for a minimum of 140 hours of cooking classes, and it took about a week from applying to the program to getting a pdf file from them with all the DTV info I'd need for proof of enrollment.

Following that, I applied for the DTV through the Chicago consulate on July 9th. I just got it approved today (July 16), a total of about 6 full business days. I enclosed the DTV pdf file from the cooking school (after reducing its size), a picture I took of myself on my phone, pictures of my passport page, and a bank statement for June of this year. My bank statement also held notably more than the minimum requirement.

All in all, both faster and less painful than I was expecting. Aiming to land in Chiang Mai in two months to kick off my stay in Thailand!

Hello everyone! Me and my husband just married and plan to move to Thailand from the U.S. We purchashed a one way flight to Thailand for next month. The goal is to live in Thailand for at least a year. We think education visa would be best. However we’re not sure if we should purchase the classes and go with the education visa before getting there or getting an E-visa then changing to education visa once we’re there.

Hello!

I recently finished my bachelors degree (remote) and have been in Thailand the past 1.5 years on education visas and visa except in the beginning. I fell in love with the country, a Thai man and Muay Thai.

I did not have 500,000 in an account in my name because I had a company in Germany before and it was safest there while I was abroad. Transferred it now. I can get a recent statement, but not 3 months.

I am planning to add a cover letter explaining my plans etc.

Do you have any advice on embassies (close to Thailand) or general advice?

I appreciate it!

Dear group, now after 8 month of soft-power DTV I might need to change my visa to a regular working visa. As I just applied to a bunch of white-collar expat jobs here in BKK and already have interviews scheduled.

I'd assume the process is pretty intense, but would be handled by (company) lawyers anyways.

Just to get a broader picture: has somebody in this group done this Visa transformation? How was it?

Anything one should know?

(PS: It would be also a bit strange and first time for me to be 'totally' in the hands of the visa sponsor company - at least this is how I'd likely feel in the first few months. What do you think?)

Hey I just got married to a Thai national and I’m currently in the process of trying to get her visa and green card to move with me to America. I am in the military and we got married with proxy online and I’m in the process of getting signatures so the marriage certificate can be recognized in Thailand as well. Does anybody know the process or how I got about doing her visa to get her to move with me?

The Visa galaxy in Thailand is a nightmare. One cannot know exactly what to do since procedures change depending on region/office/Clerk ……. For me, this is the one and only stone in the shoe for Thailand