DTV Visa - Soft Power Approval

Recently had a soft power DTV approval for Muay Thai at Kathmandu embassy and I have made it to Thailand, so I thought I’d share in case it’s helpful:

Where: Kathmandu, Nepal (arrived here from Thailand)

Timeline:

- Sunday 25th January: online visa form completed

- Monday 26th January: 11:40am payment submitted in-person at embassy (no online payment option). Visa application officially submitted.

- Tuesday 27th: 10:20am additional document request: round-trip flight ticket

- Wednesday 28th: 11:45am (bought +) submitted (refundable) round trip flight ticket for the first 180 days

- Thursday 29th: 9:50am additional document request: accommodation booking for the whole 180 days

- Thursday 29th: 10:30am submitted (cancellable, no pre-payment needed) accommodation booking for whole 180 days

- *called and emailed embassy repeatedly as they were silent for ages with no updates, very unhelpful*

- February 18th: interview requested for February 25th

- February 19th: interview cancelled with no warning and rescheduled for February 20th

- February 20th: had interview (details below)

- February 20th: a couple of hours later the approval came though

Total turnaround time:

- Jan 26th-Feb 20th: 25 days

Entry to Thailand:

- I just printed out the visa that the Nepali Thai Embassy had emailed me and presented it at immigration, she didn’t ask a single question or request anything else besides my passport and general that online form that everyone has to fill in, and gave me the DTV stamp

Documents I initially submitted:

- I was very comprehensive with everything I submitted across the 3 documents, details below

Document 1: Finances

- I included an overall cover letter at the start of this document

- Around 150,000 of the 500,000 baht savings had been transferred into one of my accounts only a couple of days before my application by someone else (even then, I only just met the threshold in time for me to print out the statements)

- The savings were spread across 4 accounts total (I provided 3 months of bank statements for each account ), I included the combined calculations and a currency conversion to Thai baht using Wise

Document 2: Gym/accommodation/flight

- Gym booking: I booked 6 months 2x per week as it was cheapest - I spoke to the gym and they said I could redeem the amount of money payed for the booking however I wanted. Eg. I could train twice daily for 1-2 months instead of twice weekly for 6 months

- Also included some cheeky pics of me doing Muay Thai, as I saw someone on here say they’d been asked for evidence of their interest in Muay Thai

Document 3: proof of location / address

- Proof of current location in Nepal (flight booking to Nepal, selfie outside my hostel in KTM with location visible), + proof of UK residency (front page of my bank statement)

About my interview:

- it was very casual, he didn’t even seem to know I was arriving and had no questions/documents with him in preparation, just a little empty notebook which he wrote about 6 words in lol

He asked:

- What is your name?

- Where are you from?

- Were you born there?

- How long have you been in Nepal?

- Where are you staying in Nepal?

- Tell me about your employment situation

- He said so your parents will sponsor your trip - I said they may contribute but the savings I’m living off are my own earnings not from my parents

- How often do you travel to/in Thailand?

- How long do I want to be in Thailand?

- Asked if I have mobile banking proof and I said are hard copies okay - he said yes and glanced at them briefly

- He said roughly how much money do you have all together? And a rough guess is fine because he will just check the submitted documents after

- Have you been travelling in Nepal alone?

- Will you be travelling in Thailand alone?

Then he said ‘you will receive the result today’, which I did

Hope this helps someone!

Dtv experience Nepal

Hello everyone. Thanks for being super helpful in my DTV journey - so I wanted to share mine for others

I did my dtv in Nepal because I have always wanted to visit this country.. Not many experiences here so far so that part was a bit less clear but the process itself was smooth other than my natural tendency for anxiety 🙂

I did soft power using Discover Thai nature which is a program I’m really interested in and they have been incredibly helpful.

Nepali embassy was easy to reach via phone and supportive in my preparation . I have a US passport and I could apply in Nepal, but I think not every country is allowed so I recommend you check by calling

The biggest complication compared to other countries was that Nepal embassy asks plane tickets into and out of the country as well as accommodation booking. I attached these to my documents  without being asked for extra documents because I already knew from calling. The other complication is that they do not accept online payment - so you must get a manager’s cheque at IME bank using the QR code you get when you finish your application. It costs ₹50,000 to apply here. Then you must take the cheque to the embassy for application to be complete.

I applied on November 17 Monday. November 21st, Friday I got an email asking me to come in for an interview on November 24, Monday.

Interview was mostly about finances, but I was happy to share my intentions, short-term and long-term in Thailand. I was pretty nervous- but that’s my anxious nature 🙂 overall staff in Nepali embassy both Thai and Nepali were lovely.

I got my approval in less than two hours.

I am grateful for the opportunity to learn and live in Thailand. Good luck to everyone aiming for the same.

I applied in Nepal embassy monday 17th.. application status went to “processing, pending approval” same day..

it is now 20th Thursday.

I have my fingers crossed- I see for some people it’s taken a few days and for others it’s been a few weeks..

Soft power application - I hope it all goes well 😮‍💨

Hello everyone, questions about additional documents!

It turns out the embassy I’m applying from -Nepal- ask for flights in and out of Thailand too but there is no place in the application form to attach them.. so I was thinking to wait till they ask for additional documents- that’s what they do before rejecting right? And when they ask for additional documents, do they ask for them to be submitted online? Because I won’t be near the embassy after tomorrow…

Also my entry date to Thailand is 21st of December yet my visa in Nepal ends December 12 (im gonna do 15 day extension) would that be an issue?

Hi everyone.

I was planning to go Thailand for about 4 days for leisure reasons. However, because I'm just a student & I do not have the income on my own for the trip, my family members are willing to sponsor my trip. The requirements were to submit a proof of relationship to the account holder who will sponsor my trip, in which initially they asked me to submit a birth certificate certification with the Nepal Embassy in Singapore.

I managed to get a certification from the Embassy of Nepal in Bangkok as there is no Nepal Embassy in Singapore, but when i submitted that document as proof alongside with my own birth certificate, they asked me to certify it with MOFA thailand or the Nepal Embassy in Singapore.

Is there anyway I can contact MOFA Thailand fast? Or is there anyone I'm able to contact directly who can help with the process?