I live on $2000-$2200 usd a month here. Comfortable but not extravagant, nor a lot of partying. It all depends on your lifestyle and what you're used to.

While some say they live on $1k or $1.5k a month I would be miserable in a tiny old studio apartment and living on the food that allows. There are others living on $5k or more a month as well.

I cook once a day and eat out once a day. Mainly local food and occasionally international food a couple times a week. I have a few drinks once or twice a week. Take a few trips locally for sightseeing and occasional international flight. Have a 60sqm condo with ocean view (this is still tiny compared to what I had in usa) that is comfortable but not luxury.

Visa - DTV is good. There are some other more expensive options as well.

Income - plan on having international sourced income or passive income.

@Dustin *****

I did get approved and going to pick it up tomorrow. Lots of questions and discussion to clarify documents. Two day process rather than same day for me.

Saw two others there that were having issues getting theirs approved (not denied just need clarification or additional documents). It seems if any documents or situation is a little different than normal then it takes some time to explain.

I am the majority shareholder in a USA based C-corporation and receive income both through a w-2 and also from monthly interest payments from an investment.

I provided:

one month bank statements

Letter from company showing remote work allowed

Articles of Incorporation

DBA filing

Loan agreement to show income from investment

W-2 to show income

And a personal financial statement to show networth, income, etc

They got a little confused on the DBA versus official company name but we discussed and got through it. They needed a supervisor to review it which was later in the day, therefore the two day process. They did ask if I came to Taiwan specifically to apply for the DTV. Not sure if that was a positive or negative. They didn't take the application fee until after they confirmed that it will be approved. That was definitely appreciated.

The other individuals that were turned away to come back with more info had unique income situations (one was crypto). They will also try again tomorrow with additional info. The other was asked to provide business license of their employer but they don't own the company so they didn't have that.

One thing that stood out to me was to provide the documents in sections describing the information rather than providing all the documents at once. First application form. Then bank statements. Then income information. And so forth in order to simplify things.

@Ivan ***********

thanks. I'll try a different method next time and see what the difference is. Currently I use wise to transfer from bank to bank and it takes about a week.

@Stuart ********

out of curiosity, why transfer twice instead of using wise to transfer directly from bank to bank. Is it faster or cheaper to do this way instead of directly?

@Ralph ******

an old phone then?

@Brian *************

thar method works perfectly for me. I kept my tmobile account (SIM) from usa and added AIS esim for data and calls. I set the AIS as the primary and tmobile as backup.

Works perfectly. No extra charges. No issues with the esim settings at all.

It's possible you have an incorrect setting or an issue that is Verizon specific.

@Ralph ******

yes it does. Keep the US sim installed, add the esim, then choose the esim as the primary sim.

This is what I do and am able to receive texts and calls from USA and use the Thai esim for data on a daily basis. No need to buy a second phone, swap sim cards or any of that mess.

The prerequisite is that the phone must be unlocked and it needs to be a recent phone that allows either sim+esim or multiple esims.

@Tod ********

good to know, thanks!

I previously read that they only need one month of bank statements. Has it changed?

Going there tomorrow ...

@Tod ********

the two in Laos are.listed in baht rather than the local currency. Is this an exception to your comment regarding being in "THEIR currency " ?