Part 3/3—

DTV Extension SUCCESS at Old Town Phuket for myself and my wife (Remote Worker / Digital Nomad)

First, a Note (for the 100th time)—— there's literally no need to tell me "it would've been easier if you would've just boarded an airplane." Busy family of 5 with three young kids— it would've been more expensive, more chaotic, and potentially more risky in our case. PLUS— I care about other people having access to this process. I'm happy to do it for science so people can have a little more clarity.

if you're somehow disgruntled about my doing this extension in this way, then why are you even in the group?

Timeline—

1st Day— Went to Immigration at Old Town Phuket. See previous posts about what I brought. Went through two or three rounds of varying degrees of checks. The Immigration officer was actually very kind, and let us know we needed: a *bank statement* for the *current* month. We also needed a *more recent* remote work authorization letter than the one I originally applied for the DTV with (Even though it's my own company— me authorizing myself).

2nd Day— Waited for my bank to auto-generate a bank statement for Feb-March (brought Jan-Feb, too). Wrote myself a new auth letter. Brought it all in. Waited my turn (very quick), the officer remembered us, quckly flipped through the documents and asked: "These are the new ones, right?" (he remembered us). Took our passports, docs, and money (1900THB each) gave us a little slip of paper telling us to pick up our passports on Friday (submitted on Monday).

3rd Day — Brough paper straight to Desk 5, they brought our passports out with a receipt and an extension stamp. Did our second 90-day check-in on the spot.

Tips / Takeaways :

- We were a primary holder + 1 follower. We have a shared bank account that has at 500,000 THB in it, but not much more than that. Our statements did not show that amount going below 500k at any point. There didn't seem to be concern about needing 500k per person.

- We kept all of our documents in order from the time we initially applied for the visa in Jakarta, Indonesia. This made it very easy to apply for an extension. All I had to change were the bank statements and authorization letter.

- Applying for an extension in Phuket took longer than applying for the visa in Jakarta. We submitted the application on Monday, picked up Friday (submitted on Monday, picked up Wednesday in Jakarta).

- The officers and staff, while they didn't talk much (likely because they're very busy), were very helpful and kind. Any anxiety and pressure I felt was put on myself, and never came from the staff or officers.

10/10 would do it again (but can't)

Just an update, checked put of laos to chiang khong today either the dtv. Laminated 2 sheets together took half a minute to get through laos immigration and about 3 mins in chiang khong. He did ask me some ridiculous thai questions because my Ed visa and we joked a bit as I'm proficient in speaking,reading and writing.just a heads up,simple

Hello everyone, I obtained my DTV (workation) visa at the Phnom Penh embassy in Cambodia and I wanted to thank this group for all the invaluable advice they gave me.

Application submitted on December 31, visa validated on January 17 (no additional documents requested).

I provided all the documents requested, and I put together a nice portfolio to present my business in detail. In the portfolio I put :

-screenshots of my websites

-screenshot of my payment processor's dashboard proving my customers' payments

-I've clearly explained how customers make payments on my websites, and what I use to collect payment (Stripe).

It's important that they understand your business right the first time, otherwise they'll ask you for additional documents and questions to help them understand. Providing a portfolio directly with all the important details is the right strategy to get the visa right the first time without asking for additional documents. After that, I think it also depends a lot on the person in charge of your file.

Thanks again 🙏

Tutorial.

Before applying, check the web for ppl who successfully applied from the exact same situation as yours. often they share files they provided. use them.

the application site is tricky. you can't change it, you can't trick it.

so before you finally submit, you check each and every letter of your data.

the passport scan function is the direct way to being rejected. scan, and then check and mostly edit each field, so they match your passport.

deliver what they ask for. not more, not less.

have more money on your account than the equivalent of 500k baht. exchange rates change, and the process can last longer.

you can't appeal, you can't "talk to somebody". so be diligent, don't mess around. each pdf can only be one file. if you have more pages, ask google how to connect them.

ignore facebook groups. the amount of false and guessed info is tremendous.

finally: different nationalities have different levels of requirements. different countries may ask for different documents. so think twice where you want to apply.

Hi! Anyone recently applied through the Hong Kong Consulate and can share their experience?

Any LTR Wealthy Pensioners in this group? How did you meet this requirement? "A. Health insurance policy (travel insurance NOT accepted) covering the entire course of stay in Thailand and providing at least 50,000 USD for hospitalization and medical treatment in Thailand with no less than 10 months of remaining coverage." Any of you have BCBS Federal that covered this? TIA!

Next week I am gonna apply in Jakarta and wanted to summarize all documents.

After the process I will share a detailled explanation about my experience there.

I will hand over in an ENVELOPE:

- Visa Application form

- 2 passphotos 3.5*4.5

- 5.6 Million IDR in cash

- INTRODUCTION LETTER applying for DTV workcation category, confirming can work remotely,

explaining my work, mentioning employer, position, salary and ability to take care of myself and my keen interest to live in Thailand

- REMOTE WORKING CONTRACT - employee can preform their duties remotely from any location abroad with wet stamp and signature from both parties

- 1 PAYSLIP from 1.10.24 (started to work for US Company with 1.09.24)

- BANK STATEMENTS: transfered savings from brooker and other accounts over 14k € a few days ago to wise account. On 1.10.24 first salary receivement, usually had just a few hundreds or thousands € on Account over the last couple month, provide 1-2 months statements

- PROOF OF CURRENT LOCATION: AIRBNB in Jakarta, receipt and pdf for visa purposes

-TRAVEL INSURANCE - it is mentioned in contract and supports the ability to support myself

I am from Germany, 2024 have been in Thailand for more than 180 days. More or less since 15.3 (with border runs and short travels) - stamp expiration 18.10

I have a rental Agreement(in Thailand) from 01.09.24 - open end.

In the remote working contract, which I signed in August, I have my current Thai address in - could ask for change, if necessary.

Any recommendations or adjustments? Appreciate any kind of help 🙏🏽

Posting to give back as I received a lot of advice on here....

I was approved for a DTV at Vancouver Consulate. I provided a credit card statement for proof that I was in Canada because my driver's license was expired. Also provided previous month bank statement showing closing balance over $20K CAD, though the balance was lower than $20k at certain times of the month. I own a Corp in Canada, but I'm the only shareholder, so I provided the Business registration docs all in 1 PDF. 7 days later, they ask for further documents regarding the nature of business of the Corp and how the applicant would work in Thailand. I answered those questions in an official company response and submitted it... was approved 6 hours later.

Feel free to call the consulate to ask questions before applying. They are very helpful and often pick up on the first ring.

Got my DTV visa in Ho Chi Minh Embassy under Workcation category.

I highly recommend this embassy:

- The security guard is friendly despite me being late for the appointment (delayed flight). Once arrived, you have to provide the booking of the appointment and the passport so they register you in their notebook (old school Vietnamese way of doing things)

- Hassle free booking system: can cancel within 24 hours and recommended to book within 14 days

- The attendants are very respectful and helpful. They have 2 attendants and the Vietnamese one on the left is very friendly

- Passport will be returned with 2 working days. Example: I applied on Wednesday morning and I got my results on Friday afternoon.

Documents needed:

- Passport

- Filled application form with passport photo. There is no option for DTV in the form so you can leave it blank

- Bank statement from the last 6 months, with current balance over 500.000 baht

- Freelancer contracts: I created my own contract with my clients’ signatures. I added a detail of remote work condition and my clients’ company registration

- Proof of current location: confirmation of the Airbnb booking

- Additional documents: not required however I have the printed screenshots of my works, proof of stay in Chiang Mai (lease contract) with the identity card of the landlord

- US$340, the money must be in good condition with no tears.

Upon arriving Thailand: No issue with the DTV visa though my immigration officer did not know I have the DTV visa stamp and asked me about my return day. She was curious about the paper work and fee of the visa.

Hope this is helpful.

#DTVVisa

Successful DTV Visa with spouse - Phnom Penh Cambodia 🇰🇭 🎉

Processing time- Minimum 1 week

Walk-in. No appointment necessary.

Submitted documents

1. Thai Bank Statement - 900k

2. Singapore Bank Statement - 20k

3. Uk Engineering Degree

4. Supporting letter from company director that I can work remotely

5. US Business license

6. Singapore Business license

7. Thai Vehicle Ownership Document and Thai House Rental Contract as supporting documents

8. Marriage Certificate for spouse

9. $400 visa fees per person

Our visas were approved.

Many others front of us were rejected and they refunded visa fees.

Tips: They mainly check 2 things. Financial and work supporting documents.

You need to convince the visa officer that you can work remotely. So, submit as many verified documents as you can.

Submit thai bank statement if possible so that they can confirm with their banks. Otherwise, they may ask for last 6 months statements.

They prefer work category instead of soft power or others.

Best of luck 🤞