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expat experiences
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This page displays all the results for the Expat experiences tag, sorted by the most recent activity. There are a total of 750 questions that have been tagged with Expat experiences. Explore the questions to find discussions and information relevant to this topic.
29 July, Tue morning: Applied (along with Manager's cheque - because a direct online payment system is not in place)
29 July, Tue afternoon: Request document
30 July, Wed morning: Submitted additional document (in my case, accommodation)
30 July, Wed afternoon: Status changed from pending document check to pending approval
31 July, Thu: Got invited to an interview
1 Aug, Fri: Went to the embassy for the interview. The interview lasted for 5 mins. Questions were related to work and income. Was issued the visa right after.
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3 Aug Sunday: Landed in Bangkok
(My original flight was 9 Aug thinking that it would take time but rescheduled after getting DTV.
Experience at the airport (DMK): I handed my passport along with a print out of the visa. No question asked.
I was already in BKK on a tourist visa. Flew on 27 July Sunday. Was planning to submit the application on 28 July Monday but it happened to be a Thai official holiday, so ended up having a "rest day". So basically, I flew on Sunday and came back the next Sunday. I could have come back a day earlier but that became another "rest day" after I found out the airlines I wanted to reschedule did not have a flight that day. All done within a week, regardless.
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Why did I go to Nepal?
I am a citizen there. After I found out it's difficult for this "weak passport" holder to apply from a Thai embassy/consulate in countries other than the country of nationality, I did not have much choice.
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On documents
Financial: Submitted six months statement. I had the required amount for each month.
Work: Submitted my contract, the job vacancy as advertised, resume. Also a cover letter in a merged pdf. Also mentioning my past travel history in Thailand.
Flight tickets, return trip (at the end of six months)
Accommodation: Hotel reservations from Booking.
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Huge thanks to this group for sharing their advice and experience (especially this one on Nepal: [members only]/). I benefited from this group and posting this for the benefit of others.
Negative case from Turkey (Ankara) embassy (REJECTED).
My visa application got rejected. Just sharing the experience.
Submitted on June 18. Departure date indicated - August 4.
Received response on Saturday, August 2nd at 10 pm.
There were no additional requests for documents, just a rejected status right away. The status changed to waiting for approval 2 days before that.
The documents I submitted were all true, perfect (in my opinion) and in full (workation). A work contract confirming that I can work remotely (I work at this company for ~11 years), a bank statement (showing needed funds).
Submitted from Georgia. Provided a photo of the stamp on entry into Georgia and a housing contract for 6 months (before applying, I asked the embassy via Facebook if it's enough - they answered Yes).
So, I have no idea what exactly they didn't like about my application and why it was rejected..
Text from the refusal letter:
'Your visa application has been rejected. Submission of dubious documents.'
Los Angeles Thai Consulate DTV soft power approved in less than 2 hours! Seriously could not believe how fast that was…after reading it had taken some 4 weeks or more! Now all set to go Sept 21! Thanks all for the helpful info!
Applied for DTV through thai embassy in ottawa. Approved within the day.
Asked me for more info (broken link in one of my documents) 90 mins after me submitting application, submitted the document an hour or so later, and approved a couple of hours later.
I did however get my application pre-approved, in that they said I could send them all my documents to look over before applying so I didn't need to waste the application fee if I wasn't eligible and was pre-approved. Pre-approval took a couple of hours only also.
I see a lot of folks talking about the ottawa embassy taking quite a while but ... maybe not.
I am feeling like the low wait time is maybe because of Thailand/Cambodia stuff but don't know for sure.
I've got all my documents ready, merged and compressed, covering letters etc. but I can't upload them into the system. I've entered all my information in the first 3 pages, double checked it, but when I go to upload 3,4 and 5 - current location, proof of finance and employer details, I can't upload the files. It just keeps giving me this 403 error message. Has anyone else had this? Is there something obvious I'm doing wrong? Thanks for any help.
My dad, after hiring an agent, he has just returned to Thailand from Vietnam and was stamped with a non-o visa. His plan is to do the retirement extensions every year.
I'd love to hear about other's experiences with getting the residence certificate to sign up for a thai bank account and the process of applying for the retirement extension. Was the process easy? I'm looking for advice from people that didn't use an agent.