Big thanks to this group for all the help. I’ll add my own success story here for others.

Applied in Jakarta for the *workcation* DTV before business hours on July 8th. Status changed to “Pending Approval” in the afternoon of July 11th. Got the approval email around 6 p.m. on July 15th.

Some questions or murky areas I wasn’t sure about during the process — sharing in case it helps others. Just my experience; your mileage may vary:

• Bank statements: 3 months was fine — just the first “summary” page showing the bank name, address, and balance (highlighted). Not the entire statement.

• Passport “Place of Issue” field: I entered the *country*, not the issuing authority.

• Proof of consistent income: I submitted 3 years of annual income tax returns, first page only, with the income highlighted.

• Address fields: My current address was different from my home address. On the form, home address goes at the top, current address goes at the bottom under “Is your permanent address same as your current address?”

Overall, I learned from this group not to take form preparation lightly. Create a clean, well-organized PDF designed for a non-native English speaker. Make their life easy. Highlight all relevant numbers. Write a clear cover letter explaining what’s included and how to interpret your documents. Eliminate all vagueness.

Example: they ask for proof of current location, so give them the passport stamp, hotel reservation, a photo of you in the hotel holding the passport stamp, plane ticket, etc. Leave no doubt.

Also — don’t use an agent. It won’t be faster. It won’t be better. I suspect that most of the people on here mentioning specific agents are just rather unethical and dishonest marketing tactics. The required documents are pretty straightforward, and the submission process itself is very easy. Just *triple check everything.*

Thanks again to everyone for the assistance! If you need me, I'll be drowning in Pad Thai.🤤