@Colin *****

Oh really? Well, it certainly brightened up my day when I was the only person in the room at 440pm and didn't have to wait. Unlike the previous day, when I waited 90 minutes along with around 20 others, only to be told I needed to supply more banking documentation. Now that was frustrating.

The whole back and forth thing also made my travels within Taiwan difficult; I had to rush back from the zoo to make it to the consulate before they closed at 5pm. I was aiming to make it by 4, but didn't reach there until 440pm.

@Jens *******

Yes, I remember that vlogger, Chris from RWFU interviewing an official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Why would this visa be canceled? What rationale is there for making such an assumption? Because one or two people such as Benjamin Hart and his buddy Barry Kenyon don't like it? So far at least, I have not seen a shred of evidence that even one of the few thousand individuals who've been issued with one have done anything against the law or acted in such a way that this visa would need to be reviewed.

Consulates are gradually tightening up on the application criteria and the very nature of the visa seems to exclude a large number of people anyway.

Last I heard, only 2500-3500 of these visas have been approved since their launch on July 15? That's nothing really. Nothing to get upset over. Nothing to hold a grudge over.

@Jens *******

Exactly. This is only one of perhaps half a dozen or more similar videos, where he goes on and on about something he knows very little about.

@Helen *******

Yes, true. Consulates are moving to the e-visa system, one by one. Only a small handful are left, that have yet to move over.

Laos will be among the last, but even they will move to e-visas (I've asked them and they said it will happen, but they don't have a specific date yet).

@Sab ****

Yes. So once that was reached, I started transferring funds to other accounts. Again, the tax thing may be a nothing burger, but I would rather be safe than sorry.

All they wanted to know was, to explain the funds on my Thai account.

I would only ever transfer a portion of my salary over to Thailand, never the whole amount. Usually only 50-67% on average.

@Ling ****

Good comment. I think, depending on your circumstances, it should also be possible to convert to another visa type, rather than have to skip the country altogether.

However, as you say, chances are, you'll be fine to use a legitimately issued DTV for its entire length, with just a 6-monthly vacation/holiday to another country for a few days or so in between.

@Helen *******

Aside from Laos, the others haven't really moved their goalposts too much. It's possible to maintain such a database and update it when changes occur.

not necessarily. Wait and see what happens

@Urs *******

Quite a few DTVers are retirees, those married to Thais etc who don't want to deal with immigration every year and/or don't want to park 400K/800K in their account for months on end every single year.

The DTV is a suitable alternative for them.