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expat life thailand

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This page displays all the results for the expat life Thailand tag, sorted by the most recent activity. There are a total of 14 questions that have been tagged with expat life Thailand. Explore the questions to find discussions and information relevant to this topic.
Nov 21, 2025
5 days ago
Chagal *************
ORIGINAL POSTER
📌 My DTV Approval Experience Softpower Muay Thai (Applied in Hanoi – Full Breakdown)

Posting this because I struggled to find proper info on using a WISE account for DTV, so here’s my full process to help others.

I’m a 26-year-old Belgian who’s been in Thailand over 2 years (mostly on ED visa, two tourist stamps, one border bounce), with a brand-new Belgian passport issued in Bangkok.

-I live in Huahin and applied under King of Muay Thai 17,500 baht for 6 months (10 group courses)

-Flight to Hanoi around 6,000 baht roundtrip

- I was reluctant to apply myself and use an agent and i'm glad I did not -- all they do is apply as you online anyway, you'll still need to fly, pay the fees, submit the documents.

📅 TIMELINE (4 BUSINESS DAYS)

15th November (Saturday), 11:30 PM – Submitted my DTV application in Hanoi, Vietnam.

16th November (Sunday), around 12:00 AM – Payment completed right after midnight.

17th November(Monday) – Status changed from Document Checking → Pending Approval.

20th November (Thursday) – Approved, no additional documents requested.

💰 ABOUT WISE (IMPORTANT)

I had 500,000 THB for less than 3 months in my WISE account, but the account was actively used, and I had a little over 300,000 THB at the start of the 3-month period.

There’s almost no information online about using WISE, but mine passed without issues.

📄 DOCUMENTS SUBMITTED (ALL DOCUMENTS FOR EACH CATEGORY MERGED INTO ONE PDF VIA ILOVEPDF)

1. VIETNAM PROOF – 1 PDF

(Everything below merged into this single PDF)

• Hotel booking

• Hotel receipt

• Picture of me holding my passport + room key in front of the hotel sign so the address is clearly visible in big letters

• Close-up picture of me + passport + room key

• Photo of me at a Vietnamese café

• Entry stamp into Vietnam

2. BANK DOCUMENTS – 1 PDF

(Everything below merged into this single PDF)

• WISE certificate proving ownership of the account

• 3-month bank statement with my name and ending balance highlighted

3. MUAY THAI GYM DOCUMENTS – 1 PDF

(Everything below merged into this single PDF)

• 3–4 pages from King of Muay Thai (merged + compressed); Acknoledgement letter + Payment received letter + Certificate from Sports Authority of thailand stating they recognize the Muay Thai gym + Muay Thai Gym Business details + Owners passport + Owners work permit

4. PASSPORT DOCUMENTS – 1 PDF (FIRST DOCUMENTS YOU SUBMIT AT THE FIRST PAGES)

• Recent photo with white background

• Scanned passport

⚠️ PASSPORT PLACE OF ISSUE — VERY IMPORTANT

If your passport was issued abroad, do NOT select your home country.

Mine was issued in Bangkok, so I selected Bangkok or Exactly as writted in passport.

Many people get rejected for choosing their nationality instead of the actual place of issue.

✈️ CONFUSING QUESTIONS & HOW I ANSWERED THEM

“Place of last embarkment / last place of embarkment”

→ This means the airport you will fly from before entering Thailand. I put Vietnam airport.

Flight number

→ I used the flight I booked via Trip.com (it was a flexible ticket set for the 25th — not sure if that helped speed things up).

Commercial or charter flight?

→ I chose Commercial.

Arrival date:

→ I put 25th, the date of my booked flight.

Departure date:

→ I counted roughly 6 months from my arrival and put a date 1–2 days short of exactly 6 months.

First address they ask for:

→ This MUST be your current address (hotel address or the address where you are physically staying while applying).

Then it asks: “Is this also your permanent address?”

→ I selected NO.

→ After that, I entered my permanent home-country address.

(There’s almost zero guidance online about this step, so take note.)

Address in Thailand + how long you’ll stay there

→ I used my home address and the number of days matching my 6-month renewable lease.

⚠️ IMPORTANT SUBMISSION TIPS

• Double and triple check everything — I checked my submission 10 times.

• Copy-pasting my hotel address did not work because the website does NOT support Vietnamese accented characters. I had to search the hotel on another website to copy a non-accented version.

• All PDFs were merged cleanly using iLovePDF before uploading.

💡 NOTE:

I did NOT submit a cover letter or table of contents.

Many people say it’s needed, but I didn’t include anything extra and still got approved smoothly.

Everything I learned from this group is exactly what helped me apply and get approved. Thank you to everyone who shared their experiences — it genuinely helped me get through this.

Good luck to anyone applying, and feel free to ask me questions. I was in the same boat as you.
Aug 18, 2025
3 months ago
Munich *****
ORIGINAL POSTER
I need some 'what kind of visa' advice from you for my current situation. Would be great to understand what is feasible and/or possible for myself and what you guys recommend:

- I live in Germany

- 50years old

- ready to step down from a well paid job and live from my savings for rest of my life

- own a Condo since 12years in Jomtien Beach

- have a Thai bank account

- travelled past 25yrs minimum 80x to Thailand all on 30/60 days stamps. Meaning 3-6times per year in average

- 4 stamps in my passport for 2025 so far btw...

- never extended or have any legal issues

- can provide any home financial requirements (leave my Thai bank account with necessary savings for spendings only)

- have spent money (ETF saving plan) which pays me 5.5k Euro/month for next 8years

- have a health precondition which excludes it probably from most insurances

- I spend 6months abroad from Germany with heavy travelling in and outside Thailand

What I am looking for is a visa which relieves me from checking or applying any trips in/out from Thailand most of the time. Meaning I love to travel and go to Lao, Vietnam, Cambodia etc. many times as well. So multiple entries etc. would be required.

Now I see there is DTV, LTR and other options but can't really figure out what makes sense while I don't really see a point for the Thailand privileged cards.

Health insurance I do currently for long termed travel insurance which only covers in serious situations and is better than nothing.

So for it's more health issues rather than financial aspects...
Mar 18, 2025
8 months ago
I'm so pissed off about some comments here. I've got the visa, I can work here remotely for overseas companies, I can pay taxes here, I can stay here for 5 years (with flights every 6 months). I don't have to pretend I'm a tourist, because I'm not, and it's clearly stated in my visa and my other documents. Period.

Are you a lawyer and want to force people to use your services? Why do you spread misinformation?
Mar 8, 2025
9 months ago
Is there anyone entering to Thailand from Vientiane - Nong Khai border lately on border bounce purpose? Is there any abnormal situations? I'm just curious coz I'm gonna do that tomorrow.
Aug 29, 2024
a year ago
I am married to a Thai man, I want to go to join him for 4months , but the criteria for o/a visa is difficult. I would be better off with tourist visa and extend for month! So 3 months. We have been married for more than 30years and it’s got more difficult.
Feb 5, 2024
2 years ago
Andy ********
ORIGINAL POSTER
👋 just joined and hoping for some insight into my best option for spending 6 months a year in Thailand 🇹🇭 from November to the end of April

I have an idea but open to hear other opinions, I have been climbing in Railay Bay and Tonsai Bay for over 25 years and now I’m at an age that allows me more me time!

My budget is limited so nothing extraordinary expensive

Andy
Sep 27, 2020
5 years ago
Matthew ************
ORIGINAL POSTER
Hi Guys,

I currently have a NON-ED extension of stay which expires on 30th October.

I am legally married to a Thai so I would like to do the following:

1. Cancel extension of stay based on education

2. Immediately apply for a 60-day extension based on visiting my wife with required documents

3. Apply for one-year extension based on visiting my wife with required documents and evidence of funds in my account for 60+ days

Please can you confirm this is definitely possible and the correct way to do things?

Many thanks
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