First entry on my DTV via Bangkok Suvarnabhumi. Gave my passport, boarding pass and my cute little passport-size laminated DTV. The latter seemed to raise concern of the officer, she pressed the yellow button and I was pulled aside. Two other officers came, one checked the visa on her mobile terminal, another one invited me to a closed desk. Scanned my passport a few times, scanned my fingerprints twice (obviously something wasn’t working properly with the computer) then asked for TDAC. Checked the printed form, retyped my accommodation address, and stamped me in for 180 days.

Generally nice, easy and calm process.

Thanks again for this group for helping me out on each and every stage of the process of obtaining the visa!

Thailand DTV Visa – Ho Chi Minh Consulate – Approved

I’d like to thank this group for all the incredibly useful information shared. Here are some details about my own application, and I hope they can help more people.

Nationality: China (Not many Chinese applicants have shared their experience here)

Embassy: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Category: Remote Work (DTV)

Timeline:

Submitted: Monday, July 21

Processing Pending Approval: Tuesday, July 22 (No additional documents requested)

Visa Granted: Wednesday, July 30

📄 Documents Submitted:

Location Files (21 pages)

- Cover letter explaining my current accommodation (hotel name and address) + list of all documents included

- Agoda hotel confirmation

- Hotel photos, selfies taken at the hotel, Google Maps location screenshot, towel with hotel logo

- Vietnam travel itinerary

- Full passport scan

- Vietnam visa and entry stamp

- Flight ticket to Da Nang

Financial Files (51 pages)

- Cover letter explaining my income structure, average monthly salary, proof of funds, and explanation for large transactions

- Bank statements + English translations, with salary entries highlighted

- Bank certificate (proof of deposit)

- Salary slips + translations

- Commission records + translations

- Screenshot of bank app showing account balance on the date of submission, converted to THB using current exchange rate

- Bank of Thailand daily exchange rate (downloaded)

Employment Files (19 pages)

- Cover letter explaining my profession, employer, products, job duties, and why I am applying for a DTV visa. I also stated I will not work in Thailand or do any market development there

- Company profile

- Business license + English translation

- Employment contract + English translation

- Company reference letter

- CV

- Screenshots of work-related chats with clients

- Screenshots of payments received from clients

- Commercial documents including invoices, shipping info, delivery notes, etc.

- Photo with clients

- Personal plan for Thailand

- 1-year rental contract in Thailand

💡 Tips:

Since the visa officer cannot meet you in person, you need to carefully consider what information they might need. Think from their perspective — not just what you have or what you think is important, but what they might require to approve your case.

One small strategy I used: I didn’t apply right after arriving in Vietnam. Instead, I waited almost a month before submitting my application to avoid giving the impression that I came to Vietnam specifically for the DTV visa.

I reviewed every shared post in this group and spent 10 days preparing over 90 pages of documents. The preparation and the wait were intense and exhausting — but I did it. Regardless of whether it was worth it or not, I made it through.

I hope all of you have good luck in your journey!

I want to personally thank everyone in this group for your immensely useful and compassionate support and guidance throughout this tedious last few weeks of visa adventure lol. Just flew back into Thailand,

Immigration: "how long will you be staying on Thailand "

Me: hands over dtv visa email

Immigration: puts stamp on passport

Loving this! So nice to hear "Ka" and "kup" again lol

Got approved for DTV in Japan

Hi everyone, I haven't posted in this group before, but I wanted to share that my DTV application was approved today and I’d like to give back by sharing some details of my process, in case it helps others.

* Nationality: Japanese

* Current residence: Tokyo

* Visa type: Workation (Freelance designer) My husband started working in Bangkok in April. His company does not allow partners to earn professional income—even from Japan—under the dependent visa.

1st submission – Tokyo – Canceled ❌

* Submitted: June 11th / Canceled: June 17th

* Reason for rejection: The "Title" field was left blank. I think this was due to writing "Ms." instead of selecting “Mrs."—though I’m not entirely sure. Apparently, the system doesn’t accept a blank field.

After reading that the Tokyo embassy tends to be strict, I contacted the Fukuoka consulate to ask if I could apply there while living in Tokyo. They told me it depends on the person in charge, but that I was free to try—so I did.

2nd submission – Fukuoka – Approved ✅

* Submitted: July 23rd / Approved: July 26th

* No additional documents or interviews were requested.

Documents submitted:

* A motivation letter explaining why I want to obtain the DTV and how important it is for me to continue my career while staying with my husband

* Bank transaction statements showing over 500,000 THB for more than 3 months (from both personal and business accounts)

* Last year’s tax return and tax payment certificate

* CV with a list of clients

* Business registration document

* Two client contracts

* Professional portfolio (12 projects)

Hope this helps others navigating the process. And thank you again to everyone who has shared their experience here—it helped me a lot.

Just did my visa extension at Korat Immigration. It was a (seriously) pleasant experience. Doing my TM30/90 day report took around 10 minutes in total and the officers at the desk where you get the forms at were extremely helpful - they explained exactly what documents I needed and helped annotate documents where needed. There's a quaint little print shop just across the road that does photos and document printing.

In the end I submitted (for workcation):

- Bank statements going back to January

- Pay slips (the company I work for uses JustWorks so it was basically just a spreadsheet showing when I was paid)

- A printout of the website for the company I work for (literally just hit print on the main page lol)

- An example of my work - I printed one of the newsletters I wrote for the company

- All the other forms they give you on the day (basically address/passport information over and over again)

I was asked to clarify which balances were my savings (Revolut's statements are a bit confusing) and then the officer asked me when I'm going to marry my girlfriend 555. They asked my girlfriend in Thai about some details about my work so I showed them some more examples of completed work on my phone. I think this might mean they care that I'm actually working, not only about the numbers in my bank account. Everything is legit so I wasn't worried.

I came in about 1:30 and finished at 5.

DTV soft power route accepted via London today🥳🥳🥳

Applied Monday evening 10pm. Tuesday 10am request for more documents. 1am this morning received an email of approved visa.

Highly reccomend Dowden Muay Thai in Koh Samui. I messaged them on instagram and they was very helpful throughout the whole process. They said they have only just started doing the DTV visa and have had less than 5 apply so far. They was very thorough and helpful. Would highly recommend. Wasn’t requested anymore Muay Thai docs so what they gave me first time round was plenty.

For anyone applying in Canada right now, just wanted to share because I was super nervous before applying and just timing everything accordingly to my move - but DTV was approved from start to finish in 1 day

Submitted everything yesterday, one more document requested at 10am today, fully approved and emailed to me this afternoon

Submitted employment portfolio, 3 months of bank statements then they just requested a copy of my business license and I was good to go!

Hello, This group has been very helpful regarding retirement visas. Has anyone used the THAI VISA CENTRE - visa agent? What is your thoughts and experience?  I would kindly appreciate any feedback. 

I applied in Jakarta, it took 3 working days only!

Submitted all the documents on 17th July (Morning) and got the approval on 21st July (Morning).

I did it with the soft power Muay Thai class.

For the occupation section, my muay thai school said to fill it unemployed. But i submitted already with student and income under 20,000 baht / year. And still got approved! If you need any questions, i would love to help and answer it!

Ill be returning to Thailand by tomorrow 🫶🏾

Good luck all! 🍀

For those of you who have already left or returned from Thailand to extend your 180-day visa, did they ask you for any documents at the airport besides the printed DTV Visa form?