DTV Workation (USA, Business Owner) approved in 1 business day in Manila, Philippines 😮 I have a branding and web design business with a US based LLC. I have tons of online presence and an online portfolio to showcase, so I'm sure this aided in the quickness.

Followed a lot of the posts in this group here to a T, alongside the help from ChatGPT to write contracts, letters, descriptions etc.. But wanted to share my own experience to aid anyone else in the process! I put together three different PDF's that I created in Google Docs.

1. PDF 1: Proof of Business

* Cover Letter explaining who I am, what my company does and why I'm seeking the DTV. Made sure to highlight that income is generated from non-Thai sources and that my work is fully remote in nature

* Company overview with a company intro, explanation of business services, explanation on where my clients are based on how I earn revenue, and description on my nature of work being remote and location-independent

* Employee Contract & Director Service Agreement (asked ChatGPT to write this between my LLC to me as the director)

* Employment Certificate Letter (written by ChatGPT stating that my company certifies me to work online and remotely)

* EIN Document from IRS

* Schedule C (Proof of Sole Proprietorship and Tax) for tax year 2024 and 2025 - I blacked out my social security number

* Tax Compliance Report downloaded from the IRS

* My website screenshot with a link alongside a short explanation on who I am, what I do and for whom

* Screenshot of Upwork Profile

* Resume & University Degree

* Screenshots of client branding & website projects with links to live websites. Each portfolio piece had a short description on project scope, a written client review and video testimonials

* More client reviews (included about 10)

* Client Invoices for the past 6 months

* Business Bank Statements for the past 6 months with client payments highlighted in red to match invoice names. Also highlighted owner draw/salary in blue

* Business Income Statement from Xero showing company Revenue & Expenses year to date.

* 2 Client Contracts

2. PDF 2: Proof of Financial Evidence

* Personal Savings Overview: A table outlining the amount held in USD on Jan 23, Feb 17, March 17 with the Thai baht equivalent next to it. Included a screenshot of my ending statement balance converted from USD to THB on Xe currency converter. My ending statement was approx ฿720K+

* 6 months of bank statements: ฿500K+ held for a little under 3 months, and it did drop under that amount by a little once or twice! I've heard from this group that you don't need 3 months of fund seasoning for Manilla, but had it prepared just to be safe.

* Proof of Long Term Investments held in a Brokerage account with Vanguard

* Business Bank Statements for the past 6 months with client payments highlighted in red and owner draw/salary highlighted in blue

3. PDF 3: Proof of Location

* *Note: *I'm dual American & Philippine citizen. I included a photo of my Phil passport to prove this. I am staying with family in Cebu at a condo I co-own, so didn’t have a formal booking

* Proof of accommodation letter (written by ChatGPT) stating that I am staying in the condo for a month. The letter included my full name, my passport number and address in Cebu. Also included a recent utility bill, the condo title, and the passport + license of the other owner

* Proof of Location including a photo of my entry stamp, a photo in front of the Cebu airport holding my passport and boarding pass, a screenshot of my etravel arrival card, and my airline eticket receipt.

My application was probably a bit overkill tbh, but no revisions or additional documents requested. I feel like the hardest part was compressing my PDFs to under 3MB each without losing the quality of images lol. I used a combo of Adobe Acrobat and iLovePDF to compress the files

I’ve been in Thailand for 7 years with all sorts of visas including education, volunteer and smart visas. Still amazed at how smooth this visa process was and still can’t believe it took one day to process 🤯

I applied around noon on Wednesday, e-visa letter available to download through the portal on Thursday around 4pm, and official approval email received at 7:30pm

—

My partner is British with an online e-commerce and Amazon FBA business, and he followed a similar format. They asked for some additional documents for his application after 1 business day, then was approved the following day around noon. He included screenshots of his Amazon product listings with links to his Amazon storefront, screenshots of product reviews, UK business incorporation, UK + US brand trademarks, Amazon FBA payout proof receipts, screenshot of seller central dashboard highlighting recent sales for the past 6 months, supplier invoices, product packaging, product inserts, link to his Shopify website, 6 months of company bank statements with amazon payouts and director salary highlighted and labeled, recent PAYE statements for the past 2 months, VAT registration certificate, and proof of his last VAT return for his UK Ltd company (screenshots from [[GOV.UK](GOV.UK)]([members only]) website).

*** The additional documents they requested from him was proof of corporation tax / tax payments. He uploaded PAYE statements, VAT registration certification, and proof of his last VAT return for his UK Ltd company*

Took two business days in total for him to receive his e-visa approval letter.

DTV Journey - Da Nang (Ho Chi Minh Consulate)

Posting this a bit late because I have been a bit busy since returning to Thailand

Here are the details of my application journey, I hope this will help others in a similar situation

I applied using Issa Compass, UK passport as a business owner (I own a social media marketing company).

📅 Timeline:

17th Feb — 4:30pm Submitted application via Issa Compass from Da Nang. Arrived same day and provided photos of my passport including my Vietnam entry stamp. As I submitted after the consulate closing time, Day 1 of processing was effectively 18th February.

26th Feb — First Additional Document Request Around 3:44pm received a request from the embassy via Issa Compass for:

* Photos of ALL passport pages including blank pages, with a device showing the current date and time visible in the shot

* A selfie taken at a tourist attraction in Vietnam, again holding a device clearly showing the current date and time

* Income tax from the last 2 years

27th Feb — 11am Issa Compass reviewed and submitted additional documents to the embassy.

3rd March Public holiday in Thailand — Thai Consulate in HCMC was closed. This ate into processing time unexpectedly!

4th March — Second Additional Document Request Around 5:49pm received a second request from the embassy for:

* Company bank statements updated to include February

* Invoices for October and November

At this point I felt my application wasn't as comprehensive as it could be and didn't want to keep going back and forth. So in addition to what was requested I also proactively submitted:

* Further hotel bookings showing my extended stay in Da Nang

* Personal bank statement for February confirming over 500,000 THB equivalent and showing my money moving from business to personal account

* Business bank statements for February

* Client invoices for October, November, and February

* IRS tax form for my company

* Additional examples of work from February and 2026

* Fresh passport photos with device showing current date and time

* Photos of me holding my passport with current date and time visible

* Photos of me outside my hotel in Da Nang with date and time visible

* Receipts from recent purchases in Da Nang confirming my location

Same day ~6:48pm submitted everything to Issa Compass portal.

5th March — 12pm Issa Compass reviewed and submitted full second batch of documents to the embassy.

5th March — 6:13pm ✅ DTV APPROVED! 🎉🇹🇭

6th March - I flew back in to Bangkok at Suvarnabhumi Airport with zero questions. I printed out my E-VISA and gave to the officer, my TDAC was on my phone.

Key Takeaways for Anyone Applying:

⏳ Budget at least 2-3 weeks if you have a complex financial situation like myself

📋 Provide comprehensive financial evidence upfront — show the full money trail across all your accounts (business and personal)

📸 Location proof is important — passport photos and selfies must have a device clearly showing the current date and time (this was never asked by Issa Compass at the beginning but they do advise showing receipts at local restaurants/shops etc)

🏢 Issa Compass were helpful throughout — they reviewed everything before submitting and kept me updated. However their response time was quite bad, sometimes I wouldn’t get a reply for days but when they had something to update me on they did let me know immediately

If you gave any questions or need help please feel free to comment or message me 🙏🏼

Singapore or Hanoi for dtv workcation?

Hi there,

I’m based in Singapore running my own registered business in Singapore as a coach. How is it like to apply in Singapore for dtv? I heard applying in Hanoi is faster. I’m half a mind cos I got all my details here and don’t have to pay for accommodation in Singapore but on the other hand, I heard Hanoi is faster. Advice appreciated please. 🙏🏻

Approved Hanoi - DTV Workcation

Hey all - wanted to say a big thanks to everyone in the group and contribute my part to this community with my experience 😀 Applied for the DTV in Hanoi under the workcation stream as a business owner. Approved in 5/6 business days, the 3rd was apparently a Thai holiday.

Timeline

- 01/03 flew to Hanoi from KL, application submitted and paid Sunday evening, a few hours after arriving

- 03/03 status changed to pending approval around 1800

- 09/03 received approval email at 1500

- 10/03 entered Thailand

Here are some insights from based on my own unique circumstances:

- I had the minimum 500k funds in my account for 2 weeks but I have business revenue consistently remitted, 3-4 times a week, for entire 6 month statement period I submitted. The balance when I submitted around 750k but I don't think it matters too much at all.

- I'm running a sole trader business so the business bank account is just my personal account that I segregated for business purposes. Thus the statement shows my name as per passport.

- In the last 365 days, I had 4No. 30 day extensions and spent 300 days in TH on visa exempt. I have never overstayed or broken the rules but perhaps I abused the visa exempt, I'll admit that 😅😂 In terms of DTV approval, i think it's good evidence that your history shouldn't matter too much.

Upon arrival at CNX, the IO flicked through my passport didn't look amused. Was sent to the boss and then an interview. I filled out some paper work general questions similar to TDAC but also asked questions about income and savings etc. I asked if I would be questioned like this every time. They said no, and that the paper work was to activate the DTV upon first use (not sure how trust that is since some people just rolled through first time at BKK/DMK no issues). Anyway I was told that subsequent entries won't be an issue.

As for the specific docs. I just followed all the good advice that's been repeated in this group and tailored it to fit my own situation. If you have specific questions you can ask.

Thanks again to all the contributors in this group 🙏🙏

Hello everyone,

I am gathering all the documents to apply for the DTV, but there is something that concerns me. I plan to apply as a Business Owner, but the issue is that I created my company (a US LLC) only three months ago. I am still in the product development phase, so I currently have no income.

Although I can provide a cover letter explaining my situation, a guarantee that I will work 100% online, and the Certificate of Incorporation proving ownership, I cannot provide tax filings or an income statement.

Will this be cause for rejection? I can compensate with the financial proof part, as I have well over 3M THB in savings, but I am not sure if that solves the issue. I will be applying at the Madrid embassy.

Many thanks!

DTV approved. I applied as a business owner to the Los Angeles consulate. They did require additional documentation, but the entire process took just a couple days.

I organized my documents with a table of contents into 1 pdf. One document they requested that I didn’t have is a business license. However, I just included a letter explaining why I didn’t need this. A big thank you to this group.

Hello! Has anyone here successfully applied for the DTV visa as a business owner with a company incorporated outside Thailand?

I'm wondering what documents you used to prove your company's legitimacy and financial activity. My company is in its first year, so I don't have any filed tax returns yet - only one year of business bank statements showing cash flow.

Did the consulate accept management accounts, or do they require statutory accounts that have been filed with your country's registry?

Any insights would be really helpful!

Visa approved for my wife and I (she’s a dependent).

I own my own businesses but found that the paperwork to apply as an employee was way easier and less hassle.

Would highly recommend for any business owners to apply as an employee of your own company.

I applied from the London embassy. I’m a U.K. passport holder and I have a company in the UAE. Overall the process took around 4 weeks for my wife and I combined.

Any questions drop them below happy to answer.

Please, any brazilian who applied in Brazil 🇧🇷and have a "MEI" who can give me a little help? Tks!

Denied dtv visa.I thought business owners would be able to this visa?Very strange.The business is not in Thailand.