Successful DTV application

Embassy: The Royal Thai Embassy, Delhi, India.

Citizen: India

Route: Soft Power - Cooking classes (6 months)

Applied in: November 2025

My Background:

* On a long term sabbatical since Early 2023

* In terms of DTV online form, classified as unemployed

* Out of the last 12 months, I have spent ~ 7 months in Thailand. In my last entry, I was flagged by the immigration officer and escorted to a questioning cell. In the line of duty, they checked all my reservations, return ticket, finances and after the due diligence and before they approved my entry, one Senior Immigration Officer politely yet diligently guided me that I should be applying for a long term/stay visa and that started my DTV journey.

* Sources of income:

1. Stock trading and investing (which I understood, post making a research before applying for the DTV, is difficult to explain under the Digital Nomad category).

2. Other Passive income sources such as Rent, Bonds, Term Deposits etc

Documents provided:

Set 1 (Pdf)

* Cover letter explaining:

1. Sabbatical Status

2. Income summary

3. Proof of sufficient funds ie > 500,000 THB

4. Reasons why I travelled to Thailand often- not working in Thailand and only for Tourism

* 3 months Bank Statement with consistent deposit > 500,000 THB

* Income and Income Tax Statement for FY25

* Explanation of incomes in the Tax Statement by breaking-down incomes with proofs such as:

5. Trading/ demat accounts P&L statement screenshots. Since I have multiple trading accounts, I attached multiple statements for FY25.

6. Rental income proof by attaching the Rent agreement and explained the same

7. Term Deposits - Consolidated amount screenshot with Account Details mentioned

8. Bonds - Consolidated amount screenshot with Account Details mentioned

Note:

* All the incomes and numbers were originally in INR but I inserted text boxes and mentioned the THB conversion alongside each of the incomes.

* Summary of incomes in a tabular format before proofs were attached

While it might look like oversharing, I understood while preparing/ researching for my application that it is immensely important to assure and project financial stability specially when under unemployed category/ classification.

Documents Provided:

Set 2

Proof of location

1. Aadhaar Card (National ID)

2. Phone bill with address same as ID

3. Entry into India FTI-TTP (fast track immigration gates). Screenshot with explanation. This can be seen as an equal of immigration stamp.

Documents Provided:

Set 3

1. Invitation letter and related documents from Soft Power - Cooking school

Now the Journey in Terms of Working Days:

Day 1:

* Applied and and paid on the same day

* Mailed the proof of payment to the Embassy which was promptly acknowledged

Day 2:

System status: Pending Payment

* Mailed the Embassy to check if I had missed something as the status was still Pending Payment

* Status Promptly changed to Document Check to Pending Approval

Day 14:

System status: Pending Approval

* Checked with the Embassy over a call and mail

Day 15:

System status: Document check

Day 16:

System status: Additional documents requested

* Embassy asked additional questions regarding Proof of Employment and Sources of income.

* I replied with a cover letter explaining sabbatical status and sources of income. Supported this letter one more time with all income proofs and bank statements while attaching the Soft Power invitation again.

* Almost instantly and promptly the status was changed by the Embassy to Pending Approval

Day 22:

System status: Pending Approval

* Shared the status with Embassy over mail and requested for guidance

Day 22:

DTV Approved

Other learning/ points noticed:

* The Royal Thai Embassy, Delhi is extremely efficient and responsive

* November to say till February/ March is high season and applications will take time due to work-load

* Before applying for this visa, prepare documents based on how you want to present your case

* ilovepdf website is useful for editing, compressing and preparing PDF files

I'm extremely thankful to the Royal Thai Embassy, Delhi and also grateful to this group 🙏🏻.

Also, I hope this explanation helps other aspirants.

Vientiane

Hi everyone. I hear there are 2 thai embassies and I wonder which map location is the one for dtv.

Also I read first you go to pay 10k in person , and I wonder they tell me this how/when ? Anyone who did the process recently and can tell me the time waiting till interview date?

I recently heard that you can now only apply for the DTV from your home country. Can anyone confirm if this is true or not? Every other day there seems to be more and more confusion about this visa!

I’m just reading on the website of the Thai embassy in Vientiane that it’s not possible to apply for any type of visa in person. Is that true? Does everything have to be done online?

What is the status of Cambodians visiting Thailand by air? Before the "troubles" it was that a Cambodian would automatically get a 2 week visa free. I had heard that had been reduced to 1 week but I cannot confirm that. My friend just went to Thailand for a medical visit and got 4 days. The Thai embassy in Cambodia is non responsive.

Hi. I’m an Australian, I’m traveling in Europe now., and I don’t intend to go home anytime soon. I’ve just lodged a DTV application online and I’ve chosen the Thai embassy in Sydney. My question is, will they call me to request a face to face interview? Do I must be in Australia during the visa application process?

Have many UK citizens applying for DTV through London Embassy been asked for tax returns when applying as a freelancer?

Help, I’ve applied for a visa. In the uk. But they’re asking me for my hotel reservation. But I own a condo. I’ve sent them a screenshot of the chanot & a page of the blue book. But it’s all in Thai.

anyone know anything about applying from Los Angeles?

I would like to share my experience. I have received the approval for DTV Soft Power in September from the Thai Embassy in Paris (I am French).

I have applied with Arun Cooking School for their 6 months course. The application was prepared with the help of a visa agency in Bangkok.

Visa was approved by the Embassy. However when entering Thailand to activate it this weekend, they were reluctant at first because I had already spent some time as a tourist before during the year.

Immigration officers in Suvarnabhumi were super nice and calm during the whole process. I had to wait a bit for an 'interview' with them. They were surprised that I was granted DTV for cooking school, and were wondering if I should have an education visa instead...

In the end, they stamped me for 180 days and told me they were going to notify the Embassy about their feedback. I find it weird because they are the one to set the rules for DTV anyway and visa was granted already.

So a bit of a stressful experience but it ended well!

I wonder what will happen in May 2026 when I want to stamp another 180days! Especially if I have not extended my cooking lessons (not sure if I will, I would like to try something else)