DTV Approved.

Where: Vientiane, Laos (In person with appointment).

Wait time: Usually 3 working days but I lodged my application on a Friday so I had to wait the weekend for a Tuesday pick-up.

Key points: I promised to make a post because I'm one of the cases where I was on an ED visa when I left Thailand (well, technically, I was on an ED visa extension because my original visa has already been extended twice). I obtained a reentry permit for my ED visa in case my DTV application wasn't successful. This didn't cause me any issues with obtaining the DTV.

Note: I go back to Thailand tomorrow and will make an update on this post if anything needs to be mentioned about the re-entry process ie. if they ask questions or if there is any confusion around the DTV and reentry permit.

My experience: Firstly, I will say that the whole experience was very smooth and quite quick. I read a lot of the posts in this Facebook group, and that definitely helped me have the right documents.

It took me about 5-7 minutes talking with the officer and explaining my documents on the lodgement day, another 15 minutes to print off one extra piece of evidence requested, and literally less than a minute to pick up the passport from the window on collection day (this doesn't count waiting in line on lodgement day of course, which took about an hour - I arrived as the gate opened in the morning. Waiting in the afternoon for collection took a lot less time - ten minutes max).

I'm a freelancer registered as a sole trader in Australia (self-employed contractor/freelancer with a business number but not a company).

Documents I provided:

1. Application form and 2 passport photos.

2. Scanned passport pages - ID Page, exit stamp from Thailand, Laos visa and entry stamp (all scanned pages signed by me).

3. Proof of location - scanned booking and receipt from hotel.

4. Cover letter - outlining the nature of my work. I also explained my business structure (sole trader) and where I am registered and gave my business number. In addition, I explained where I obtain my clients (mostly Fiverr with some private clients), and I emphasised that none of my clients are sourced from Thailand and that I have no business operations within Thailand. I outlined how my clients pay me. I described the payment trail - how the money moves from clients to my bank (since this involves a couple of steps when being paid by Fiverr).

5. Evidence of my business number on ABN Lookup (an Australian government website that lists business numbers and who trades under them).

6. Fiverr Profile with reviews from clients and a screenshot of my Fiverr earnings page.

7. One contract with a private client and an accompanying invoice.

8. Payoneer transaction history (as this is a step in receiving funds from Fiverr)

9. Bank statement showing 500K for six months.

10. Bank statement showing payments from Payoneer (business earnings).

The officer read my letter and asked me questions about the 'payment trail' for my earnings. I explained this with the supporting records.

Finally, the officer asked to see my savings account with the 500K baht on my phone banking app and sent me away to print a screenshot of the app.

I hope this post helps, and thank you to everyone here who has been sharing their experiences so generously. It helped me immensely.

Has anyone applied for the DTV from Malaysia (e.g. Penang)? Either online or in person.

I've just read on some platforms that it's quite a struggle from there as they seem to require more documents than other countries.

Can anyone relate?

I would like to apply for DTV but there was an INCIDENT during my last visit.

When returning the bike, the owner accused me of damaging it (the side was slightly scratched, it was like that when I rented it, but I didn't take any photos). He wanted 10 or 15 thousand baht from me, I refused and went to the airport to leave Thailand. The owner wrote to me, showed screenshots from the messenger, that he had notified a policeman he knew, it looked quite credible, but he also said that the Thai police wanted to arrest me and that he had submitted reports that would reach all SEA countries (xD).

Could this affect my DTV visa? How can I check if this migration has received any reports? I haven't been to Thailand since then and I wanted to apply for DTV from Europe, but maybe a better idea would be to fly to Thailand for 60 days, see if the police or migration will have any questions for me and then apply for DTV by flying to a neighboring country ?

Hi there, I wonder if anyone knows; I made my DTV online application in Vietnam from Ho Chi minh, is there anyone know how long would take more or less to complete the process?

I see that most people on here have been applying for the DTV from Asian countries. I'd really like to hear about the experience of some Americans. I did see something about consulates here asking for tax returns? Can anyone tell me what they had to do to get approved while applying here? Specifics would be appreciated! Thanks

DTV VISA - Approved!

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Applied online & got approved within 5 working days. Documentation matters indeed.

I will apply for a DTV visa, but my flight date is not certain yet, and I have only defined one hotel information at the moment because I am thinking of renting a house when I go to my destination.

So this informations is not completely clear, what do you think I should do?

thanks.

Hi everyone,

I’m applying for a DTV visa and need to submit my financial statement. I need to convert my amount into THB for the application.

1. Which exchange rate should I use (e.g., Central Bank, embassy rate, etc.)?

2. How did you calculate or present your financial balance when applying?

Any advice to me. Thank you!

# My Experience Obtaining the Digital Thailand Visa (DTV) Under the Workcation Category in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam

Hi everyone,

I recently went through the process of obtaining the Digital Thailand Visa (DTV) under the "Workcation - Business Owner" category. I wanted to share my experience to help others. For privacy reasons, I won't mention specific dates, but this was a recent experience.

## Timeline

* Before Departure:

Prepared all documents and filled out the eVisa application up to the point of needing to verify my current address.

* Day 1:

Went to Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam to complete my DTV application.

* Upon Arrival in Vietnam: Took a picture of my passport with the hotel welcome letter in the background.

Then I took a picture of the Vietnam entry stamp in my passport with the same background.

Printed out the hotel booking confirmation as a PDF.

Merged these pictures and documents into one PDF as the 'Document Indicating Current Location' and uploaded it.

* Day 3:

Received my DTV approval in my email late evening, which was surprising because that day it was a public holiday in Thailand.

* Day 4:

Returned to Thailand holding an active Non-B multiple entry visa. Immigration officers were initially confused, sent me around different booths and took about 20 minutes to figure out what to do.

They said something about cancelling my Non-B re-entry on the spot and stamped me in under the DTV.

They called my previous employer to confirm my status, and I assured them I would properly cancel everything related to my previous visa after entering Thailand.

(the reason why I kept my Non-B visa active as a backup in case my DTV wasn’t approved)

## Documents I Provided

1. Cover Letter:Introduced myself and my business.

Explained my purpose of staying in Thailand and my appreciation for Thai culture.

Stated my commitment to comply with all Thai laws and not engage in local employment.

Listed all supporting documents and their purpose included in the application.

2. Proof of Self-Employment and Business Ownership: Official Document from Government: Obtained an officially recognized confirmation from my government verifying my business and ownership status.

Company Registration Lookup: I gave them a printout of the official government homepage and wrote a few sentences about how they can verify it themself.

Employment Contract: I set up a contract between my company and myself confirming my role as the business owner. (seems unnecessary since it's a sole proprietorship but I just did it as many people recommended it)

3. Professional Portfolio: Detailed professional experience, key projects, and clients.

Highlighted that all work is conducted remotely for clients based in other countries.

4. Service Agreement with a Client: Provided a service agreement with a client in my home country, demonstrating ongoing work and active business operations.

5. Financial Evidence:Official Financial Statement:

Showed a maintained balance exceeding the required 500,000 THB (equivalent in local currency) over the past 6 months. This bank statement was from my private account, not my companies account.

I also added last years tax statement that showed my income.

6. Accommodation Proof: Provided a rental contract confirming accommodation in Thailand.

Remark: I translated all government papers and bank statements through a translation service. I didn't notarize it but they all had a stamp of the translation company on it.

## Key Points from My Experience

* Verify All Passport Details Carefully:

The eVisa system may auto-fill your information after uploading your passport, but it can sometimes contain errors, especially with dates. So be careful and review every single field.

* **Double and triple check everything

**I can't stress this enough. It took me a few days to prepare everything and I intensively used the search in this group to be up to date on how others organized their application. In the end they didn't request any additional infos and everything went very smooth. If you have any questions almost everything is covered already in this group so make the best out of that

* Application Completion Before Departure:

You can fill out most of the eVisa application before leaving your country, except for the 'Current Address Verification Document'.

After arriving in the country where you're applying, just take pictures of stamp and the hotel you're staying at, merge it into a PDF, upload and done.

* PDF Handling and Compression:

The eVisa system has a maximum upload size of 3 MB per file.

My initial PDF containing the cover letter, portfolio, and confirmations was over 40 MB.

Standard compression tools like Adobe Acrobat and Preview on Mac sometimes resulted in empty pages.

I successfully compressed my PDFs using a tool called Ghostscript. Moral of the story if you run into the same issue just try different tools until something works

* **If you go to Vietnam, make sure you have a Visa if you need one

**I only realized a few days before my flight that I need a visa for Vietnam but luckily I somehow managed to get it just in time.

Final Thoughts

The entire process was surprisingly smooth, and I owe a lot of it to all the information shared in this Facebook group. The tips and experiences posted here helped me a lot to prepare all the documents. So I'm hoping I can give something back with my summary

Safe travels and good luck!

Just received my DTV Workcation E-Visa. Applied online addressed to the embassy in London, UK. Took 3 working days, and here are a list of documents I sent in.

1. Passport bio data page

2. Photo

3. Most recent bank statement with £11K+ balance. Just one month and required balance transferred in one week prior.

4. Letter from employer stating name, position, duties, and that the job can be done remotely.

5. Employment contract (this wasn't on the initial list provided by the embassy, but they requested it as an additional documentation)

6. Proof of address: utilities bills.

Thanks to Oliver O'Dell and Nigel Blake from this group for helping out with my queries.

Good luck everyone!