About a week ago , I applied for Thai DTV online at the Embassy Wash DC . $400paid..got e receipt. Just wondering what the processing time is?

METV Question:

I'm American. I will be visiting cousins in Europe this summer, then entering Thailand.

I'm looking at the tourist visa website and I'm confused on which location I should select when I apply.

I want to apply for the METV. Should I select the Washington DC office even though I will be in Europe?

Is this process 100% online? From what I can tell from the application, it seems like its all electronic....

Also, is it easy to get the METV these days? Is one of the embassies in America better to select than others?

I dont want to waste like $200 if they are not giving out the METV.

After getting married to a Thai woman, should one report to the local embassy?(U.S. Passport). What will it change if so?

Should have my new passport from the U.S. Embassy soon and I'll need to transfer my current visa exemption stamp. Will I have to repeat the entire stamp process over again (TM30, filling out forms, copies of everything, fees, etc.) through the local immigration office? Thank you.

Want to say a big thank you for all of the sage advice and info in this group. I read through many posts to gather info before I applied for a METV in the U.S. through the DC embassy. It paid off because I received my METV within 2 days.

Some tips I would share - For the question on your flight info, you can only upload one document but I knew that I had to show my flight into BKK but also leaving and returning to Thailand, to support the need for a METV. So I included all flight info in one pdf that I uploaded.

For the bank balance info. I don't remember if they asked for 6 months of balances of $700+ but that is what I provided. The Embassy came back and asked for 6 months of $7,000 balance, so I provided it. I redacted my bank statements so that all that showed was the month end balance.

Info in this group also indicated that I would need a confirmation of employment. The online application did not ask for this info but the Embassy did ask for it, so you need to have it.

For accomodation - I showed hotel for 1st 15 days and they didn't ask for any addt'l info.

Has chiang mai U.S. embassy reopened yet?

For US...spouse doing online application and it is still asking for health insurance. Is this normal? Is it still an actual requirement for entry? Is there a work around?

Does anyone know if the U.S. Embassy can do passport renewals for those on a tourist visa? Specifically a 60-day Covid extension.

The Embassy website doesn't specify, but states applicants must "reside in Thailand", which I do... but only as a tourist in a short term rental.

I'm running out of passport pages and would prefer to just renew here while I'm on holiday.

I HAVE BEEN here on a tourist visa since March, 2020 and have traveled from Mae Sai down here to Prachaup. I have occasionally been asked for a letter from my embassy and have provided this one, which was accepted as late as this January in Pretchaburi.

But here, the officer wants a current letter. I have tried, but it looks to me like the U.S. Embassy has stopped providing these. Anyone have experience with this?

I met a Brit who said that his embassy still provides letters.

🥴🥴🥴 Update: just went to Udon immigration, I was like the first farang in the door today, applying (again) for 30 day COVID extension with a U.S. Embassy letter. This time they immediately accepted (the same man as last time, who immediately rejected them) my documents, e.g. the email version of the Embassy letter. They handed back my "hand drawn map", they didn't want it.

Note: there is a new chubby hiso lady there, who seems to be watching the office, I'm guessing sent by BKK. The grumpy gay dude who rejected my papers last time went straight over to her with my docs this time and she nodded or something, so she seems to be like QA or some sort of BKK comptroller.

Here's where things became nutty. I waited for around 45 minutes while I guess they worked through their queue of like only a few other people in front of me. Then one of the senior uniformed officers (only a few in Udon) called me up and for literally another hour or so, went through all my documents very very carefully and had me sign like 2 dozen times on things. In his defense, he was rather nice, and maybe was paranoid as fuck about BKK reviewing his work... but jeez, I have never taken more than 5 or 10 minutes in TOTAL at the Udon office over past years.

Anyway, every single person there, whether farang or Laos or otherwise ended up having a massive stack of documents in their file by the time they walked away today. It was insane, the most paperwork I've ever seen for Thai police/immigration.

Finally, the nice officer stamped something in my passport and mumbled something about September 29, and the gay dude came over and said "MONEY." I saw on the bill and remember from past times it was 1900 baht, but he took my 2000 baht and said "FINISHED, GO" and stole my change.

I stood up to leave, and looked at the stamp in my passport and it says "your application is under consideration, contact this office again on the 29th of September." I was like umm what, 2 hours later and 2000 baht and I don't have any stamp? I saw the Boss man standing outside the door and politely asked him what it meant, if I was going to be receiving an extension or not, and how many days... he opened the door again, and literally physically shoved me back inside the office and shouted "ASK THERE".

The gay dude seemed to realize, and seemed the hiso BKK lady was watching so he politely said "sir, what is your question?" and I asked him for clarity. He got upset and said "I DON"T KNOW, I MUST SEND TO MY BOSS".

So yeah idk, I've seen a lot of strange things before but this is by far the weirdest shit I've seen in such an office. When I walked back outside to leave the Boss man was huffing and puffing walking in circles like he was losing his marbles.

I'm guessing like others have surmised in this group, the COVID thing has brought together a bunch of drama at the same time, with BKK trying to crack down on fraud/etc and keeping their eye on remote Immigration offices more than ever, increased hostility to farangs across the board, cashflow drying up to remote offices and also to BKK, and just a weird mix of everything in between but yah... not a fun experience.

Anyway, I'm 2000 baht poorer today, and I got a maybe 3-day extension until 29 September, at which point they might tell me I've illegally overstayed and/or my application was rejected and to leave Thailand immediately, I have no idea.

/end