I submitted my application to Hanoi on August 18th, but received a rejection on the 20th. I was working remotely, and all the documents were in order. Why was it rejected in just 2 days? If I change my soft skills documents and submit them again, will I have a chance? Do you have any reliable agents to recommend? I am in Vietnam now.

submitted my application in Jakarta and uploaded all the required documents, including:

Scanned copies of every page of my passport

Employment certificate issued by my company

Work contract

Bank statements (with monthly salary transactions)

Proof of deposit (balance meeting 500,000 THB requirement)

Jakarta entry stamp

Hotel booking confirmation

Location screenshots

But despite all this, my application was still rejected.

I carefully checked everything and made sure there were no mistakes in my submission.

The rejection came so unexpectedly, leaving me completely unprepared.

Hey! I want to return the favor and post my experience applying for DTV visa (I quietly read the posts in here and reddit and then did my thing).

I am a dual citizen (Romanian native + USA), currently in Romania and I applied online based on the Romanian passport + freelance work that I've been doing for the past 5y.

I applied on August 4 and on August 10 I got approved.

My work is mainly for US companies, as a contractor. I merged work related documents into 1: my contractor agreement from 5y ago when I started working with this one company that I still work with, my latest annual review that also states my increased hourly pay rate, and a letter the CFO wrote saying that I have been working with the company since x year, and that I am allowed to work from anywhere, and that they are aware of my intention of working from Thailand and that'k ok with them.

Then, I also merged together money related documents into 1 pdf: my HYSA account screenshot that showed 1 month worth of transactions (and current funds of like $15,300) and account info to show my name on it + 1040 form that shows my total income for 2024.

I was happy the process was so quick and nothing extra was required. The most surprised I was that the email with the announcement and the evisa came on a Sunday afternoon. Yay!

DTV 6 month update - Laos border - August 2025:

Edit to add info: US passport holders on remote worker DTV

We had a successful same-day visa update on our own (no agency) by driving to Chiang Khong, parking at the vehicle checkpoint, and then taking the Friendship Bus over to Houayxay and back.

Immigration in Laos (Houayxay) tried to push us to stay for a few nights in Laos, saying that Thailand wouldn’t let us back in same day. We kindly said we still want to try, as friends (aka posts from this group) said that they had no issue. We had a friendly conversation and he stamped us out, saying we would need to get a new Laos visa if we are turned around by Thailand.

To confirm - no issue on the Thai side!

We’ve previously done a crossing at the Golden Triangle (Van Pak Len), but I would recommend Chiang Khong/Houayxay instead! It was simpler and didn’t feel as sketchy.

Just make sure your USD are pristine 🫧💵 - they will reject any bill with even the smallest mark.

We also encountered the 20B fee to exit Laos immigration - it seemed more official than other postings I’ve seen, giving you a QR code to scan to exit.

I'm currently in Thailand but back in the UK for 2 weeks in October and wish to apply for a DTV (I'm a UK citizen) - just trying to get my ducks in a row 🦆🦆🦆

Will a monzo statement be OK? Does the money have to be in your regular account or will a savings pot be ok? If I submit my paperwork before hand - will the 2 weeks be sufficient? Also, still undecided on whether to do the soft power or remote work option. I'm doing muay Thai anyway and can get a sponsered letter and can work remotely with a contract if needed- what's a better option for success? Thanks for any support. 🇹🇭🙏

I'm applying from Vancouver. I have contracts with 2 companies: a travel agency and as a real estate agent.I have worked remotely as both in the past and both companies are fine with this. Both of them state that I'm an 'Independent Contractor'. Neither of them mention working remotely,. Should I submit both, or just one, with my application. Should i ask each company to add a note mentioning that working remotely is ok? Financially I more than satisfy the requirements. Appreciate any advise.

good morning all,

i have a dilemma id appreciate some advice on. so i applied as a remote worker which i am but the salary is pretty much on the low end. the way i support myself comfortably is through rent from two properties. initially i did not include info regarding the properties, and i am being asked for additional info on payslips, examples of my work etc. while im going to upload everything i m asked for im planning to include info about the two rental properties in the financial section. would this be a problem since they re not payslips?

My fear is that I will be required to go to an embassy in person:

I'm thinking of flying from Thailand to Danang to be in Vietnam while applying for the DTV.

If there are extra documents required, can I submit them electronically from anywhere in Vietnam?

I'm applying for a workation DTV. I don't yet have my own company, but I can show income coming in to my bank account.

How likely is it that I would need to travel to an embassy?

Very happy to get DTV approved yesterday and thanks to all those who helped me when I had some uploading glitches, much appreciated. And of course I read others' updates on here regularly to help me prepare, hence I'm giving my update in the hope of helping others.

Here’s details of my application and what else I was asked to supply, and I hope the information can help anyone applying from HCMC under workation.

NZ passport

I have lived in HCMC for the past 10 years and applied in HCMC

Remote worker – Online teacher

Friday 1st August – Completed online application

Monday 4th August – requested 3 more documents

Tuesday 5th August – uploaded new information requested.

Thursday 7th August – Approved

I thought I had been very thorough and uploaded everything with cover letters/summaries, explanations etc. but still got asked for 3 extra documents:

1.Proof of current location – they asked for a photo of every page of my passport, including blank pages and with time and date stamp.

I was surprised because I have already uploaded by apartment contract (In Vietnamese and English) signed by landlady and with my address, my bank account with the same address, and my passport page with the last entry stamp into Vietnam.

2.Proof of payslips matching bank account – It simply said show proof of monthly payslips matching bank deposits. (They didn’t question the 500,000 THB, but my balance was significantly more.)

I thought this was odd too as I had already uploaded 6 months of bank statements showing salary, 6 months of payslips with company stamp and a little table on the cover page explaining it all.

The covering table listed the months, amount earned in GBP, amount deposited in NZD in bank account and a Thai conversion.

I couldn’t think of any way to make it simpler or more obvious so I just uploaded the same 6 payslips and the same bank statements again but put coloured highlights over the amounts and inserted a comment box saying – January payslip and January salary deposit.

3.Samples of work or portfolio – I had already sent my linkedIn link and a letter of recommendation from the organization I freelance to, stating what I do; tutor students, write course curriculum etc.

So, I decided to upload my CV, some lesson plans, a course I wrote, some IELTS speaking and writing marking templates I’d developed. I honestly thought this might be way off the mark, but didn't know what else could be relevant, and anyway it worked.

And of course I had already supplied all the company stuff; business registration, letter of recommendation, letter stating my work was all remote and no Thai clients and my work contract – all stamped with company stamp.

So, that was the screening process I experienced this week in HCMC. Now, you might get a different officer who checks different things, and they may get stricter or more lenient over time, but that was the state of play this week. I hope it’s helpful for someone thinking of applying in HCMC.

DTV Approval Post

Location: Jakarta

Type: Workcation

Applied: Friday, August 1st at 9 am

Status update: Tuesday August 5 at 3 pm, changed from "Processing Pending Document Check" to "Processing Pending Approval"

Approved: Wednesday August 6 at 1pm

No additional requests for documents, took less than 4 business days. US passport.

I submitted a cover letter using this template [members only] and added a complete description of all other files. I compressed all the files using [members only]/.

For location, since I am staying with family in Jakarta I included scans of my full passport including blank pages, a letter from a family member confirming that I'm staying with them & photos of us in front of the house.

For finances, I included a 6 month bank statement from Kasikorn Bank with an ending balance of over 500,000 baht, with the majority of it transferred in the last two weeks, but showing plenty of day to day activity.

For portfolio, I included my resume, portfolios, business cards and letters from each company I work for explicitly giving me authorization as a remote worker in Thailand, addressed to the Royal Thai Embassy of Jakarta. I'm a freelance consultant in multiple industries, so I explained my roles as simply as possible and used a lot of images to make it clear.

I have previously held 2 ED visas and had three visa free entries to Thailand, over the last three years.

Any other questions feel free to ask. Yes, I have printed out my visa, to the guy who always posts that in all caps in the comments haha.