# 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!
