The airline desk staff had no idea what mine was. She had to call a supervisor over who then took a picture and presumably sent it to someone for validation. Took about 10 minutes. My wife is Filipina and tried to explain in Tagalog, but they had no clue what a DTV was.

In Singapore last year Singapore Airlines refused to let me board without a return ticket even though I had a DTV. I had to step out of line and buy an onward ticket to satisfy the desk agent. They didn't dispute the visa, just the requirement for onward travel.

I'm not sure how random airline staff would scan it anyways. They would need access to a system from Thai immigration to validate the QR code on the visa and I kind of doubt they have that.

Eh, I got a lot of questions and confusion my last trip to the Philippines due to my DTV. It’s not a common visa type so it’s not surprising.

You can apply for all the jobs you want on a DTV but once you find one you will need a non-B and work permit to start work.

My gf and I went to Japan for Xmas three years ago and she got pulled for secondary investigation/interview when we returned. She had a letter from her school detailing the school break and her travel, but the IO demanded she call the school so the letter could be verified. It was after midnight but she still made my gf call the number on the letter and of course no one answered. The IO kept accusing my gf of working illegally in Thailand and then said it was stupid to stay in Thailand on an ED visa as they were all scams. They finally let her go after almost 3 hours after she showed them pics on her phone of her with her classmates at the school. They warned her not to travel again while on an ED.

She had a valid re-entry permit issued by Chonburi IO.

I got rolled up with her since we were traveling together and had to explain why I had spent so much time in Thailand that year on visa waiver entries and TR visas. I told them because my gf was going to school in Thailand which they did not like. They let me re-enter with her finally though, but warned that I needed a proper long-term visa the next time I exited and re-entered.

After all that crap we left for the Philippines after 90 days. Stayed there until DTV became a thing and now we are back. Highly recommend getting one while you still can - I have been in and out multiple times on it with absolutely no issues other than my first entry on it. The only issue then was that the IO had never seen a DTV and had to call her supervisor to help with the processing.

Are you willing to pay a finder’s fee?

How did you buy a villa? I thought they were cracking down on company owned properties in Phuket?

@Erin *****

afaik no. My gf recently went to do her TR visa extension but they were going to fine her something like 3k baht for not having done her TM.30 properly. They told her once she paid the fine and got the TM.30 she could finish the extension the same day. She ended up doing a border run instead to restart the clock with a clean slate.

Can’t do 90 day report without a TM.30 - it’s very important to ask about TM.30 when booking long-term accommodation here. You can file the TM.30 yourself at immigration though if you have a copy of the owner’s passport and ownership docs, but expect a fine if you waited too long.

I believe there was a short period of time that you could, but no longer. It’s not really that much faster though if you have luggage to pick up.