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expat visa experience

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This page displays all the results for the Expat Visa Experience tag, sorted by the most recent activity. There are a total of 26 questions that have been tagged with Expat Visa Experience. Explore the questions to find discussions and information relevant to this topic.
Nov 22, 2025
3 days ago
Chris *********
ORIGINAL POSTER
Hi all, looking for anyone who has first hand experience applying for a DTV visa in Laos, all legit and no funny stuff 🤣

I’m heading back to SA next week and I’m loathe to apply there so just wondering if Laos is an option. TIA
Oct 15, 2025
a month ago
Has anyone applied for the DTV visa in california? what was the process like?
Oct 1, 2025
2 months ago
Humble******
ORIGINAL POSTER
Sharing since I've been lurking around for 15 months.

DTV Soft Power Cooking (House of Taste Thai Cooking, Bangkok)

Location: Jakarta, Indonesia

Application Submitted: 19-Sept

Additional Docs Req (all pages of passport): 29-Sept

Docs Submitted: 30-Sept

Application Approved: 01-Oct

Total: 7-8 Business Days

Did NOT use an agent. Provided 3 months bank statements with over 500k THB balance.

British passport, shoe size 10.
Jun 16, 2025
5 months ago
Guillermo *********
ORIGINAL POSTER
HANOI, VIETNAM 🇻🇳

This is the application for my wife. Dependent DTV visa

I applied for the main applicant on June 2nd and here was my timeline main applicant

•2June 2025 submitted application (in the evening on a Monday)

•Embassy closed for the Queen’s birthday Monday and Tuesday

•5June 2025 Document requested “blurry photo” on Thursday (submitted document within an hour of request) changing status to pending approval

•8 June 2025 (on a Sunday!) DTV approval granted!

3 Business days (2 holidays in between and a blurry photo) it could have been faster

I made another post with what i sent with my application check it up if you want to take the business owner route . It will help you secure your application

Now the timeline and documents submitted for my wife dependent dtv

10 June 2025 submitted application (in the evening on a Tuesday)

11 June 2025 Application went into Pending Approval no further documents were requested

16 June 2025 (on a Monday!) DTV approval granted!

3 business days

We ended up with 4 folders

Location Folder

Vietnam Visa

§ Boarding Pass and Passport Stamp

§ Airbnb Reservation in Hanoi

§ Long Term Lease Thailand ( This is not a requirement but i added it in case they might wanted to have an interview)

Marriage certificate folder

&Marriage Certificate

§ Marriage Certificate’s Apostille

Main Applicant Visa Holder folder

$DTV of the Visa Holder

§ Approval for the DTV of the Visa Holder ( email)

§ Passport of the DTV Visa Holder

Dependent Visa Applicant financials

§ Cover Letter “ why you qualify for this visa , what you plan on doing in thailand include you will not seel local employment and your source of income comes from seasonal sources 6 month and the money comes from outside Thailand balance over 1 million bath

§ Recommendation Letter I did this visa as a business owner so i sent a letter of recommendation from My own business.

§ Sponsor Letter This i did a personal sponsor letter where i said i was responaable for her financially.

§ Bank Statements (Bank of America. You need 6 months some people have been able to do with just 3 but again you only get one shot. Balance over a million bath . No refunds if you dont convice them you can sustain yourself with your financials. Just to give you an example 500k comes at about 17000 usd /1825 days ( 5 years) put it on a calculator comes at about 9 usd per day 🤣 not enough

*update Approvals are granted over the weekends here at Hanoi.

Check your information at least 5 times before you submit the application. We spent one hour before we submitted it. Do not trust the passport reader. Check each number one by one . When they ask you for where your passport was issued put the country of issuance. I worked many years ago as an intern on an embassy . The consulate/ embassy you applied that piece of land is considered part of that country. If your passport is American and you got it at the american embassy in Hanoi or Bangkok put United States

On the first application i was told i was Lucky this second one confirms im not lucky i just spent enough most time putting the info together and thus the results

Good luck everyone!
May 17, 2025
6 months ago
Hi everyone,

I’m applying for the DTV at the Thai embassy in Jakarta and wanted to check something. I’ve had over 500,000 baht in my savings account for a bit more than 2 months (but not quite 3 months yet). The funds were transferred from a term deposit account into my savings account more than 2 months ago. Do you think that will be sufficient for the embassy to approve the visa?

Also, would adding a Thai bank account (alongside my non-Thai one) help increase the chances of approval? Or would that just complicate things?

The official website says a 3-month bank statement is required—do you think it’s safer to submit a 6-month statement instead?

If you have any relevant experience or helpful info, I’d really appreciate your input. Thanks in advance!
Mar 6, 2025
9 months ago
Does someone have experience applying to a muy Thai school for the dtv but living elsewhere? If you would fly out every 6 months this would not be a problem right? would it be a problem if you do an extension?
Feb 28, 2025
9 months ago
Ben ********
ORIGINAL POSTER
Has anyone had an email / update from the online visa system on a Saturday or Sunday, or do they only come on weekdays?
Jan 10, 2025
10 months ago
Hello everyone, how long has someone had to wait in the "Pending Approval" section before they got and update?

Is it fair for me to say they now require no additional documents? I wonder what the "Pending Approval" process is...are they 100% happy with the application and just waiting for their boss or someone to give the final yes? lol🤣🤣
Jan 8, 2025
a year ago
Anyone got approved DTV from Laos ?

who applied after 1th of January (e-visa online)👋🏻
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