Hey guys!

First off, thanks for all the info you guys share on this group, it’s been super helpful. This might be sorta long, but bare with me because I kinda have to add context to make it make sense lol

I’ve been in the process of applying for the DTV as a freelancer from Chennai, India. I wasn’t sure of exactly how to fill in my name in the application so I had emailed the Thai consulate here for clarification. They responded back telling me to fill in my entire “given name”(first and middle name) from the passport in the “first name” field, leave the “middle name” field blank and add a -(hyphen) symbol in the “last name” field since the surname field in my passport is blank.

So I followed their advice and filled it that way and submitted the application. I’m supposed to go make the payment physically at the consulate since there’s no online payment option here, which basically means my application is on “pending payment” and will be removed if I don’t pay within 14 days.

I was planning on doing the payment today, but I just came across a “Common Mistakes in applying for a Thai E-Visa” page on the ministry of foreign affairs Thailand website while I was looking for something on google. One of the “Don’ts” literally says “DON’T use - or N/A or X or anything to indicate that you do not have that part of the name. Just leave that field blank. But if it is a REQUIRED field, please put - (dash)”

Now as far as I can tell, the last name field on the DTV visa isn’t mandatory or REQUIRED. So, this has now confused the heck out of me lol my full name in the final submitted application shows up as my given name followed by a -

Should I be leaving the last name field blank as well since it’s not a mandatory/required field even though the mail response I received from the consulate in Chennai asked me to add a hyphen for the last name? Wondering if I should submit a new application with the middle and last name left blank and make the payment for that application and let this current one get removed/expire or should I go ahead and make the payment for this one that I’ve already submitted?

It would be a shame to get rejected for something as trivial as this but I’m super confused because of the conflicting information. Thanks in advance, I appreciate you guys 🫡

Just got my approval in Hanoi (Singaporean passport).

Took 5 working days. Submitted on 13 Aug, approved on 20 Aug.

Here’s the list:

-Passport bio page

-Passport photo

Proof of Location:

-Flight booking

-Image of arrival stamp

-Boarding pass

- Accommodation booking (1 week)

Proof of Employment:

-My own cover letter (stating I work remotely, won’t do any business in Thailand, and will adhere to all the Thai rules and laws.

*This part is VERY important to emphasise.

-Company cover letter (same points as above and signed by my HR on the company letterhead)

-Employment contract

-Company Business Registration (ACRA)

Proof of Finance:

-3 months’ bank statements (highlighted my name, account number, month of statement, and final balance with the exchange rate from SGD to THB to make it easier for them to check.)

-1-year lease in Thailand (I added here since other files in the other sections were getting pass the 3MB)

In my cover letter, I had a list of all the documents I was going to include to make things clearer. And added short explanations in each PDF to highlight details and make it easy for the officers to understand.

Assume they’ve never seen your country’s documents before so having helpful information to guide them through what everything is will make it easier for them to find what they're looking for.

Also...

When filling in “departure date” from the country you’re applying in, I put about a week later, this might speed things up since they see that you're leaving by this date.

And you don’t actually need to buy the ticket out.

I entered Hanoi on a one-way ticket, no problem at Hanoi airport. Once approved, I bought a ticket out the very next day.

Hope this helps.

Good luck to everyone applying.

Any questions, drop them below.

Hi there! I've been asking some questions here a few times, read loads of posts, and that was helpful. I just had the great new : got approved! So I thought I would share my experience. I'm talking about the french embassy here.

I applied on the 21st of July from Paris embassy for the soft power Muay Thai.

Got asked extra documents on the 18th of August.

Send it to them on the 19th and got approved about 1 hour later.

On their website it says they can take up to a month, which was exactly the time they took for me. Another person on the group applied there on the same date as me and also got approved today. So yes be patient. They are easy to reach over email, they respond quickly... I tried multiple times to get them through the phone and never had any chance, but then I saw on one of their email they said if you wanna call them it's only on tuesdays from 2 to 4pm.

The documents I had to send were the basics : picture of my passeport, picture of me, invitation letter from the gym, bank statements for 3 months.

The extra documents they asked were : License from the gym (I was the 1st one from there applying in Paris so maybe that's why), a proof of payment for the courses and my bank statement again.

For those who wonders because its different from one embassy to another, so i'm talking only about Paris :

- 6 months course is enough. I had a letter saying that I booked for 6 months, and the receipt for the payment I made which was not for the whole 6 months.

- they asked my bank statement again because I sent them only a paper signed from my bank saying how much money I have in my account, without saying for how long I've had it. What they want is 15000k each months for 3 months.

- I read in the group a lot of confusion about what to put in "place of issue of your passeport". I put FRANCE instead of the city written on my passeport. I contacted the embassy who said both are fine.

Like many people said in the group already : DOUBLE CHECK YOUR INFORMATION before submitting. I put all the info by myself and then when I uploaded the picture of my passeport, it automatically changed some dates... so BE CAREFULL!

I used the website ilovepdf to merged all the documents together and compressed, super easy and free.

I'm really bad with paperwork and I hate it, however I found it really easy to apply, the documents they ask are pretty basic... so I do not think paying a tierce person to do it for you is necessary.

I did book my flight ticket before applying because I thought I had to since they ask for it... but I read in the group that you can put any flight number, which I think is better because it was really stressful to not get the visa on time even tho I gave it some extra time. But I did see here that some people has been ask for the actual flight.

Now I'm flying on sunday and if i'm correct I just need to print my VISA and do my TDAC.

Is there a time limit money needs to be in an account that you use for DTV application ?

How strict are they on any time limits from others experience?

Thanks in advance

Regarding two bank accounts:

My bank separated my current and fixed deposit accounts into two accounts, making it appear as though my funds were held in two different banks.

When applying for DTV, I wrote a letter explaining that they were held in the same bank, but the consulate simply ignored it.

They didn't look at the total amount; they needed to be in the same account to meet their requirements. So, I transferred the money from my fixed deposit to my current account, and that was approved.

If you also have two accounts, I recommend combining your funds.

Hello all.

When I first applied for a DTV in Hanoi, it was canceled, so I had to reapply, which took quite a long time. While waiting for the result of the reapplication, I received news that a family member in Thailand was ill, so I entered Thailand. In the meantime, the DTV I had reapplied for was approved. In this situation, can I still use this visa? Can I leave to a third country by land and then re-enter Thailand using this DTV?

Hi all — I want to apply for the DTV now, but I won’t be able to enter Thailand for 6–8 months. Has anyone either:

1. applied with a flight dated soon, but entered much later?

2. applied with a flight dated 6–8 months ahead?

Any issues with approval or at immigration when you eventually entered? Thanks!

Hi everyone, I applied for the Thai DTV visa and my application status has been showing “Pending Approval / Processing Pending Approval” for the past 5 days.

I was asked to submit additional documents twice, which I’ve already done — just wondering if this is normal?

•How long did it take for your status to change after this stage?

•Is “Pending Approval” a good sign, or are there still chances it could get rejected?

Also, can I travel to another country while waiting, or do I need to stay in my home country until the visa is approved?

Any insights or experiences would be really helpful 🙏🏼

Hi everyone,

I applied for the 5-year DTV as a Cyprus tax resident (Non Domicile) and company owner, but mistakenly selected UAE as my current location because Cyprus has no embassy and I thought that field only chose the processing embassy.

I submitted all Cyprus-based docs, then got asked to provide UAE documents. I need to know if I can fix the existing application to reflect Cyprus instead, or if I must reapply (and pay again).

Also: I am a Non Domicile (60 days) in Cyprus. I have no residency card—can I use rental agreement + utility bills + tax residency proof? And is a shareholder certificate enough to prove my business status? I'm not employed, my only source of income is through dividends being a shareholder and director of my company.

Did anyone have this situation? What's my best collection of papers to get the visa?

Ankara/Turkey/Türkiye embassy DTV approval! Just posting this for anyone else that might be searching the group for info about the DTV via Ankara.

tl;dr:

I applied with a U.S passport from Tbilisi, Georgia, on June 7 for a July 4 arrival date. I sent one Facebook message that received no reply but seemed to trigger a status change. Visa approved on July 4, but I'd already pushed back my travel plans given the Ankara embassy's long processing times.

----

My application was for the "workcation" version, and, for the work section, I provided a cover letter describing my work in detail (along with a list of links to my sites/projects) and plans to stay in Thailand, a screenshot of my professional website, and a few recent invoices from different clients.

For the financial section, I provided 3 months of bank statements. My bank lets you download a statement of all your accounts smushed into one, so I had 1 checking and about 3 different savings accounts included in the statements, but one of the accounts was over the required 500k THB for 2 out of the 3 months, and 2 of them added together were always over the requirement, so not sure if this is useful as a data point for number of accounts your money can be spread across.

For supporting residence, I provided a clear shot of my most recent entry stamp into Georgia, along with the lease agreement for my current place in Tbilisi.

I waited about 3 weeks, then sent them a message on Facebook asking about my application status. They didn't get back to me, but the next day my application changed from "Pending document check" to "Pending approval" so I didn't contact them again, assuming I was almost there. I'd already decided I was going to stay longer in Tbilisi, anyway, so if it took a little longer that wasn't a problem.

Ultimately, my visa was approved on July 4, which was my intended arrival date. That would have been a little tight for my taste if I hadn't ended up booking a later flight.

Given that it took me a month to get approved and that the approval came in super last-minute, I'd definitely recommend keeping your travel plans flexible.