DTV Success - Hanoi - 5 Business days - German passport holder

I flew to Hanoi on 22 April after staying in Thailand for 90 days (extended tourist visa).

1. Applied for DTV (Freelancer / Digital Nomad) on 23 April at 1:12 am.

2. Status changed to "Pending Approval" on 24 April.

3. No additional docs requested.

4. Received visa on 29 April at 6:20 pm.

5. Entered Thailand through DKM airport on 1 May. Neither AirAsia employees at Hanoi aiport nor the DMK immigration officer asked me anything. The imm. officer only asked if I filled out the TDAC, and when I said "yes", he went ahead and gave me my 6 months visa after I showed him my printed out DTV.

Docs submitted (I used [members only] to merge my PDFs):

1. Docs indicating current location:

1.1 Airbnb confirmation (initially booked 4 nights & extended my stay later on)

1.2 Hotel booking Bangkok for 1 month that I immediately cancelled for free after receiving the hotel confirmation

1.3 Boarding Passes

1.4 Passport exit stamp Thailand

1.5 Passport entry stamp Vietnam

1.6 Google Maps screenshot indicating my location in Hanoi

1.7 Cute little selfie of myself in front of my Airbnb showing the street name and house number

2. Employment contracts

2.1 contract no. 1

2.2 contract no. 2

2.3 Cover letter explaining what I do (see attached screenshot)

2.4 2 Screenshots showing websites I have translated

2.5 3 Screenshots of my Malt, upwork and LinkedIn profile

3. Financial evidence

3.1 Screenshot of my German bank account indicating a sufficient amount on 22nd of April (in German, not translated to English)

3.2 Official bank statement of my German bank indicating a sufficient on my savings account on 4th of April (in German, not translated to English)

3.3 6 months of payslips of my other German bank account where I receive payments from my clients. I marked all client payments green (in German, not translated to English)

Additional notes:

- Print out your Thai DTV visa and show it to the Thai immigration officer.

- As you can see in the attached cover letter, I explained every document using red letters in the left corner so the embassy employees know straight away what each page is about.

- The authority in my German passport says "Botschaft Bangkok" which means "Embassy Bangkok". This is what I typed into the field "Issuing Authority", which has worked for me and another German passport holder who has the same authority in his passport and who also applied for the Freelancer DTV.

Has anyone had experience reapplying for a visa in Vietnam, but in a different embassy?

I was rejected once in Hanoi and am now planning to reapply with a new set of documents in HCMC. For instance, if my first application as a freelance digital nomad was denied, do I have a better shot this time applying as the contract worker for own company? It’s a small one-person startup so I wasn’t confident in applying with this initially. 😅

Thanks in advance!

Trying to find out whats the best way forward:

I've been in thailand for 5 months (1 visa run with short overstay). Tried to open a company and get a wp but got scammed (hence the overstay).

im considering going for a few months to bali, applying there and coming back on DTV.

i have the money in the bank, but my income is very unstable as i do some group coaching twice a year and thats where most of my income comes from

i have my own company, could pay myself a salary

any advice or things i should read on? would be greatly appreciated. im a south american national but also have european passport if it makes any difference.

Hello

If you have a 5 year digital nomad visa do you still have to leave Thailand every 6 months ?

Tia

Hi all,

Just want to share my DTV process:

21 April - Arrived to Jakarta, Indonesia

22 April - Sent all documents and paid for the visa fee in the evening

29 April - afternoon, the embassy asked me additional information about the bank account where I gave my financial statement. I made a separate letter explaining that my bank used my initials as the name in my account, and indeed that is my personal bank account.

Evening, received an email from the embassy that my DTV request is accepted.

More or less, the process took 5 working days for me.

Many thanks to Settle in Abroad who helped me compiling the documents and answering all my questions. As a new digital nomad with only one client, I was at first pessimist on my success rate, but my experience proves otherwise.

how is extention of DTV visa after your first 6 months in the country? I've heard they make it hard on you, better leave Thailand and come back a few days later. What's the current status on this? Thanks 🙏

Hi there im wanting to get a dtv for october. I have 2 mil baht in the bank but i wont be able to get a remote job as they are pretty hard to come by here in new zealand

Any suggestions. Thanks

I'm currently living in Bangkok on a yearly retirement visa. I'm heading back to the UK before my visa expires for a few weeks visit and am thinking about applying for a DTV whilst in London to return on, soft power Cooking. Is there likely to be an issue related to the fact that I have a retirement visa still or have been here for a number of years on different visas? all legitimate. Any friendly advice welcome.

Hey everyone,

I wanted to share that I recently got my DTV approved from London as a South Korean national.

I applied twice — first at the RTE in Seoul, Korea, and then again at the RTE in London, UK.

⸻

1st Application – Seoul, Korea

My first try was in January 2025, in my home country. I didn’t prepare much in advance, and luckily, as a Korean national, I didn’t need to pay the visa fee.

A few weeks later, the embassy contacted me asking for additional documents. That’s when I realized it might be tricky to get approved as a remote worker.

I’m a self-employed writer with book-based contracts through Korean publishing companies. That setup didn’t quite match the document requirements they were asking for (which seemed more geared toward traditional remote jobs), so I decided not to pursue it further.

I left the application untouched. Eventually, it changed to “Finished” in April — exactly three months later. It wasn’t cancelled or rejected, just silently closed.

⸻

2nd Application – London, UK (Muay Thai Route)

I moved to London shortly after and submitted a new application at the RTE in London, this time under the Muay Thai soft power route.

As a non-UK citizen, in addition to the usual documents, I had to provide:

• UK residence permit

• UK bank statement

• Proof of address

No visa fee again.

I submitted all supporting documents, including my flight ticket, by March 19. The status changed to “Pending Approval” on March 20, and I received approval on April 18.

I’m not exactly sure why it took a month, but during the wait, I visited the RTE in person to ask about the delay. They asked for my flight schedule — I had a June departure — and told me it would probably be approved by May. Luckily, it came through earlier!

⸻

A Few Extra Notes:

• They asked me to submit a letter explaining what I do for work while in the UK.

I clarified that I’m self-employed, don’t work for a UK employer, and that the same would apply in Thailand.

• I included a description of my income sources, along with two Korean business certificates (translated into English): one for my writing business and one for my real estate rental income.

• I accidentally entered an intended stay of over 1,800 days in the form — but it didn’t seem to matter at all!

⸻

Thanks again, super group!

Wishing everyone smooth applications — and I hope to see some of you in Thailand soon!

Had my DTV approved in 3 business days via Online application through Canberra Australia consulate. Very smooth process. If you're an Aussie, I reckon it's better to apply from home rather than a neighbouring country.