Approved in Hanoi for Workcation (4 Business Days)

I applied for the Workcation category on Saturday 5 July 2025. My status changed to “Pending Approval” on Monday 7 July, and I was officially approved on Thursday 11 July.

No additional documents were requested during the process.

Before applying, I had been living in Thailand on ED visas for four years.

Here is exactly what I submitted, grouped into three sections.

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1. Work Documents

I am a teacher on italki.

Submitted:

• italki Statement of Activity (The statement includes a clear disclaimer stating that italki is not my employer, that I work independently, and that they do not control my work or clients.)

• Previous 6 months of calendar screenshots (completed lessons)

• Screenshot of upcoming booked lessons

• Screenshot of active packages (pre-paid, ongoing lessons)

• Screenshot of my italki profile and reviews

• TEFL certificate

Cover Letter 1: Portfolio Letter

Explains each document, confirms I do not teach Thai students, and shows I have consistent work and returning students.

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2. Financial Documents

Savings (Revolut):

• 6 months of bank statements showing over 500,000 THB

• A current balance screenshot from the Revolut app

Freelance Income (italki to Payoneer):

• 6 months of italki payout screenshots

• 6 months of Payoneer receipts

Cover Letter 2: Financial Letter

Explains how I receive my income, how withdrawals are made, and clarifies the fee deductions and payout timeline. It also confirms my income and savings are separate and meet visa requirements.

⸻

3. Location Documents

To prove I was outside Thailand at the time of applying:

Submitted:

• Full passport scan (all pages), taken before entering Vietnam

• Photo of Vietnam entry stamp (since it was not visible in the scan)

• Photo of visa cancellation stamp showing cancellation of my ED visa

• Boarding pass from my flight to Vietnam

• Two photos taken of myself on 5 July 2025:

• Holding cancelled Thai visa, Vietnam stamp, and boarding pass

• Holding passport photo page and boarding pass

• Photo of myself with a white background

Cover Letter 3: Location Letter

Explains what each image shows and confirms I am currently in Vietnam.

I used ChatGPT to stitch all of my pdfs together and pdf24 to compress them to 3MB or lower.

Thanks to everyone in this group for the advice and for sharing your experiences, it really helped.

Hi group,

I got approved, thank you for the information here!!

I had been ROMing this group since last year, but was really nervous about applying until I was approved. 😅

I’d like to share my experience as an example.

📍 Embassy: Hanoi (Vietnam)

🗂️ Category: Workcation

⏱️ Timeline:

* Submitted: 18th June Wed (e-mail: 8:27 AM）

* Approved: 24th June Tue (e-mail: 1:25 PM)

There was no request for additional documents.

📁Document:

Cover letter and portfolio

I included:

* Upwork documents (certificate of earnings + profile screenshot)

* Screenshots of my blog and creations (including LINE stickers)

* A remote-work freelance service agreement from a Japanese client

My Upwork earnings were about 10k USD (last July ~ this June), I didn’t include documents for my other income sources.

Writing an English cover letter was a bit tough for me as a Japanese, we are not familiar with it 😅

I included the following in my cover letter; summary of my freelance work, my purpose for staying in Thailand, a list of portfolio items (starting on the next page)

Document Indicating Current Location

* Hotel reservation documents (from OTC)

* Passport stamp showing entry to Vietnam

Financial Evidence

* I used Wise screenshot and statements (in USD and JPY, mixed)

* 6 months of records

* I was gradually saving up money, reached 500kTHB 1 month before I applied

I hope this helps 😃

私のブログにも情報を日本語で書きましたので、参考にどうぞ☺️

I just received my Destination Thailand Visa (Workcation) via the Royal Thai Consulate in Frankfurt - Germany. Here’s a quick summary of my experience:

Timeline:

* July 3 – Submitted application & paid fee

* July 8 (morning): Status changed to *Pending Approval *early in the morning

* July 8 (later same day): Visa approved and received via email

No extra document requests, no interview

Documents:

Financial Evidence

* 3 months of bank statements

* Last statement showed a balance of ~17,000 EUR

* I transferred 15,000 EUR from my investment account about 10 days before applying

* Statements also showed regular salary payments

Remote Work

* Employment contract (Software Developer)

* Home office agreement (didn’t explicitly mention Thailand or international work)

Proof of Residence

* German national ID

* Registration certificate (*Meldebescheinigung*)

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.

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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.

Approved in Hanoi (Workcation)

July 1, Tue: Applied

July 2 Wed: Add Doc

July 7 Mon: Approved

First of all, thank you so much to everyone who shared countless application reviews.

In my case, I annotated the Financial Evidence section in detail for the past three months and even included screenshot captures on current day, but ultimately, I was asked to simply resubmit the original bank statement. Just for your reference.

Just as I’ve received help, I’ll do my best to answer any questions you may have.

Now i try to receive allowance for working in Thailand and my company say yes after four years fighting but only for 25 working days in a year. I try to contact the "Thai Konsulat in Munic" if they accept also a guarantee instead of the 500.000 deposit but i receive no answere. I try also to talk to them via phone but it is impossible to receive someone on the phone. And the risk that they deny my visa as a workcation and loose money is too high. And when it happen they don't give you the reason. So i will give up now. Sorry for try to work in Thailand. I will wait now for my retirement.

Lesson learn: sometimes you win, sometimes you loose.

A couple of questions someone here could hopefully help with.

1) If I apply based on soft power, am I allowed to work remotely? If not, would you need to exit Thailand, go to an embassy and apply for a new DTV based on workcation?

2) For soft power, e.g. muay thai classes, do you need to have proof of being enrolled in a new class if entering via airport after the first course has ended?

Sorry I tried searching this group but was not able to find answers to these questions. Thank you.

Hi guys! So, Travel information… when applying for a DTV (workcation) do they also ask this? Because i already booked my flight IN but not OUT… same with accomodation, this might change every week… how did you solve this? Thanks!

5 business days

Applied Sunday, June 22

Pending Approval June 23

Approved Friday, June 27

No further docs requested

Category: Workcation

Work Docs:

Freelance teacher portfolio with cover letter explaining what I do, where my students are sourced, how I get paid and approx monthly earnings, why I'm applying, and stated that I will not seek work locally in Thailand.

The portfolio included my TEFL cert, student roster, earnings spreadsheet, calendar schedule, 2 sample lesson plans with link to materials (3MB is too small to compress everything ), screenshots from my online classes, some teaching reviews, and WeChat communication from parents showing student retention and pre-paymemt for 10-20 classes side-by-side with the transfer pics from their account to mine.

Financial Docs:

3 mos of statements showing over 500k during all 3 months and a screenshot from the account. Included a short letter explaining the minimal activity on the account (savings, not daily use).

Location Docs:

Photos of my cxld Ed Visa and Vietnam entry stamp, vietnam visa, hotel reservation, and pic at the hotel

I am American and have been in Thailand for a while already. Most recently on an Ed Visa. Before that I had a Business Visa. Others previous to that. Though they did not look at every page of my passport, I'm sure it's evident in their system.

Pretty sure this is everything. Hopefully not forgetting anything.

Hi everyone,

I'll be reapplying for a DTV visa in the coming days. I had a previous application through the workcation route rejected. I'm going to apply again using soft power.

Should I mention the previous application within a cover letter for the new application? If so, any ideas on how to structure this letter?