UPDATE: Stamped in last night for 6 months at DMK with no issues, no questions asked - let in with a smile. Love this country. Best of luck to all.

Just picked up my passport with a DTV sticker from the Thai Embassy here in Jakarta - making a post to hopefully help others 🙏🏽

I applied under Soft Power - Muay Thai

I had an active Education Visa that I canceled in one day with a letter from my school before I flew out of Thailand.

I purchased a 1 month course from Tiger Eye Martial Arts for ~12k baht (highly recommend this gym in general). They have options for 3 and 6 months, but since I already train Muay Thai at a couple other gyms, this was a more flexible option for me. They provided all the documents on the Soft Power side. I’ve been training Muay Thai for about 1.5 years now, so this was the best route to the DTV for me.

What I submitted:

Actual Physical Passport

5.6m IDR in Cash (go to a currency exchange service BEFORE you submit your passport - don’t use ATMs unless you want to go to multiple)

Application Form from Jakarta (downloaded, printed, and filled out before I even got to Indonesia)

2 Passport Photos 3.5 x 4.5 (attached to the Application Form with staples)

Photo Copy Passport Bio Data + All Stamps (I did this when I arrived at my hotel in Jakarta which they were fortunately able to do.)

Thai Soft Power Proof (Docs from Tiger Eye)

Bank Statement (I only had 1 statement, from September, showing a balance over 500k Baht. I also provided an August statement, showing about 200k baht in there)

Investment Account Statement (Provided this for additional financial proof just in case a 1 month bank statement wasn’t enough. I have well over 500k baht in here and notated such - I converted the USD value to baht and wrote it down on the statement)

Current Location Document (Agoda Booking in Jakarta + Flight itinerary)

If you’re intending to apply here in Jakarta - show up early (7am) and just wait til they open at 9am. Hopefully you’ll be one of the first.

If you show up at ~8am like I did, there will already be 15+ people ahead of you. Each person takes a good bit of time.

This meant I didn’t get out of the embassy until 12:45 (4 hours waiting outside on the concrete)

Those that walked up closer to 11am (they stop taking applications at 11:30am) were surprisingly still allowed in - as long as you’re inside the embassy and have a waiting number you will be processed.

Submitted on the 28th of October and just picked it up today on the 31st. Headed to the airport to make my way back to Thailand - Happy Halloween 🎃

Hello! I am getting ready to apply for a DTV visa for the freelancer catigory. I see you have to apply for the E Visa while in what ever country you choose. What countries around Thailand are processing the applications the fastest? I don’t want to get stuck for weeks away from Thailand waiting for my new visa. Also o am currently on an education visa via an agent and they want to charge me 4000 baht to cancel. Is canceling your old visa really necessary? Thanks in advance for your help!

Update: Contacted college for letter to end course. Letter was sent in a day. Went to the immigration office and cancelled ED.

Then took a trip out of the country. Stamped out with zero issues.

Also no fines when cancelling said visa.

Valid ED - multiple entry re-entry permit.

Left country, applied for DTV. Approved, just flew back in.

Handed over passport, printout of DTV and just got stamped in with no issues whatsoever.

Q about cancelling / not cancelling education visa before leaving the country

- went to immigration with my cancellation letter to find out it had expired (written in Thai so I didn’t know)

- my school told me it’s not a problem if I just leave the country without cancelling and that there would be no consequences for getting visas in the future…

Is this true/ right/ ok to do??

- I was under the impression you had to cancel before leaving otherwise you might be declined visas/entry in the future.

Pleasant experience at Chiang Mai immigration yesterday for the 60 day covid extension.

They have all the forms outside and 2 helpers who speak fluent English, after you fill out the TM7 and the various declaration forms the helpers check them and your photocopies over for you then give you a number. If you have the online / mobile print out of the TM30 you'll need to convert this to an in person notification which goes in your passport - they just directed me to a building to get it done and it took 5 minutes.

They weren't interested in the letter from the embassy or the landlords I.d. They are stamping for 15 days and you come back for the next 45.

Once inside the whole process takes about 15 minutes. The staff were quite nice, and dare I say it, almost friendly?

I was on a 3 month education visa, and they did want the cancellation letter from my school.