*DTV VISA EXTENSION - UDON THANI*

Hey folks, here's the lowdown on my successful DTV extension and how it worked.

Chapter 1 - Preparation

Bureaucrats love papers, right? As such, I painstakingly prepared a portfolio of 48 pages. It included:

-A table of contents

-An explanation of my work/income sources as a freelancer and my situation working from Thailand

-Screenshots of recent payouts and invoices

-My Upwork profile page for content writing + teaching profile from two platforms I teach on

-A freelance contract with one of the companies I work with

-3 months of bank statements

-An invitation letter from my accommodation

-My accommodation owner's ID copy and house book copy

-Published writing samples (as more evidence of freelance work)

After carefully preparing the portfolio, making the long journey from the countryside to the city, printing the portfolio, and running across the city to the immigration, I marched in, sure that imminent victory was mine.

"Passport please", requested the smiling officer at the info desk.

Guess who was so caught up in preparing the portfolio that she didn't even think of bringing her passport? Yep, that's right.

So, two days later, I came back, portfolio AND passport in hand. First at the info desk, the staff called over some other colleagues to talk with, probably because DTV is not a common visa class around here.

One of the staff members asked me why I don't just leave the country and then come back and get another 180 days. I briefly explained why it's much more convenient for me to extend. That seemed to satisfy her.

The staff at the info desk looked through my portfolio, but they were only interested in:

-The bank statements

-The accommodation docs (invitation letter, owner ID, house book)

After awhile, they sent me to sit down and wait. I waited for around an hour or an hour and a half, then they called me up to a.) sign my name on every single page of my portfolio, plus a few other documents (wow, I haven't practiced my signature this much since about first grade) and b.) pay. And that was that! They granted me a 6-month extension of DTV.

I'm sharing this here because lots of people who try to extend in Chiang Mai are denied, and I'm not sure how the situation is in other cities. So, if your city makes it more difficult, maybe Udon Thani can be an alternative for those who don't fancy a trip to Laos.

Any tips about making the application fully prepared?

I want to avoid delays such as emails asking for more documents

# DTV Update: HCMC Approved!

I'm in HCMC right now and just picked up my DTV today.

Here's what I did to prepare:

- Scheduled my appt at the HCMC Thail consulate 3 weeks ahead of my trip

- Pre-filled the visa app from HCMC Thai consulate

- Printed out my American business license/LLC paperwork

- Printed out 2 client contracts with my American biz name/address shown (matched LLC paperwork)

- Printed out 6mos of bank statements with 500k+ baht showing for all 6 mos

- Printed out my HCMC hotel confirmation

- Had visa pics printed and ready

- Had precisely $340 USD in crisp bills

What they did when I arrived that you can do ahead of time:

- Had me glue my picture to my visa app

- Highlighted the ending bank account summary amount for each month

What issue I ran into:

- One of my USD bills had a tiny bit of ink on it - they asked me to exchange it for a "clean" one. I popped over to a currency converter shop and exchanged it, and was able to get back in line without an appointment.

Visa approval + pickup

- They processed all the paperwork with the "clean" bills in 5 minutes and gave me a slip to pick up my passport with the new DTV in 48 hours. (This means you're officially "approved")

- Two days later, I returned the slip and instantly picked up my passport, which included DTV.

*NOTE: The HCMC Thai Consulate visa center is a tiny container office outside.*

I hope this helps!